The 2019 Open USBC will select USA2 for the 2019 Bermuda Bowl, to be held in Wuhan, China starting Sept. 14th and ending Sept. 28th.

Location & Dates

The 2019 Open USBC will be held at the Schaumburg, IL Hyatt Regency, starting on Friday, May 10th and  ending on Sunday, May 19th. Room rate for the USBC is $136 per night, including internet. You can make a reservation at our online reservation page, or by or by calling Hyatt at 877-803-7534 and mentioning USBF. If you have any problems with hotel reservations, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will try to straighten things out. The cut-off date to make reservations at our rate is April 25, 2019.

Entry Information

Entries are now closed.

Entry Fees

There will be an event entry fee of $360 for each team. In addition, each team pays session fees of $150 per session of play ($300 per day). $960 is collected at the time you enter the event: this is the event fee and fees for the first two days of play. The event fee is normally non-refundable after entries have closed. The session fees are refundable if you withdraw from the event.

Format

There will be 5 stages: the first stage will be a 2-day Round Robin among the sixteen non-bye teams to select the thirteen teams that will join the Fleisher team in the Round of 16; the other stages will be 120 board Knockout matches, starting with the Round of 16 on Sunday, May 12th and Monday, May 13th and ending with the Finals on Saturday, May 18th and Sunday, May 19th. 

Seeding

The bye teams are seeded on the basis of their bye position and then their Positioning Points, the remaining teams on the basis of Seeding Points. Positioning Point Information and Individual Positioning Point Information is now posted. Information about seeding and a list of teams with seeding points is here.

Byes

After all of the 2018-2019 cycle events, the Rosenthal team (Rosenthal-Silverstein, Berkowitz-Campanile, Ginossar-Willenken) has a bye to the Quarterfinal; the Fleisher team (Fleisher-Martel, Greco-Hampson, Grue-Moss) has a bye to the Round of 16.

system forms

Each pair is required to submit a System Summary Form on or before April 26th. To create or edit a SSF, first log in to this site, then click on "Create or Edit SSF" under the User Menu, which appears in the left hand column when you log in. You can either create a new form or copy an old one. If you have any problems, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will try to help.

 

Each pair is also required to submit an ACBL convention card on or before April 26th. We haven't yet been able to set up a way for you to upload your ACBL convention card or link to a BridgeWinners card online, so please either share your BridgeWinners card with Jan or email a PDF or JPG version of your convention card to her, and she will upload and link. If you sent Jan a convention card or link last year and it's the same for this year, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let her know to copy that card or link to this year. Thanks.

 

If you are playing a method that is allowed under paragraph 3 or paragraph 7 of Opening Bids on the new Open+ Convention Chart, and there is not now an ACBL approved defense fo the method, you must submit a full description of the method and a recommended defense at least 4 weeks before the start of the USBC. Our software no longer allows you to create an Advance Submisstion Form online, but you can download the form as a Word document and use it as an outline of the information you should submit. Complete it, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and she will convince the website to see it as an ASF and link it to your SSF. She will also send it to the USBF Conventions Committee for review. If the committee has not rejected it within 1 week of submission, it is accepted and you may play the method and must bring the recommended defense to the table with you.

Relevant Dates

Friday, April 12th: Final day to submit Recommended Defenses for any paragraph 3 or 7 methods.

Thursday, April 25th: Last day to make hotel reservations and be assured of receiving our hotel rate. The hotel may honor the rate for later reservations, but is not required to do so.

Friday, April 26th: Final day to submit System Summary Form and ACBL Convention card. Penalty for late submission is loss of seating rights in one segment of a KO match (starting with the first matche the team plays) per day that the form is late. SSFs will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the ITTC and rejected if not adequate.

Thursday, May 9th: Last day for roster changes without Credentials Committee approval.

Seeding, Setting the Bracket

After entries close and we have calculated seeding points for the non-bye teams, the teams will be listed in seeding point order on the website list of teams. After the Round Robin, the teams will be assigned bracket positions and listed in bracket number order.

Results

When the event has started, you will be able to click here to get to the results page for the USBC. Once there, you can click on the stage of the event in which you are interested.

Available Documents

Special Conditions of Contest for the 2019 USBC in PDF format

Conditions of Play for the 2019 USBC in PDF format.

The General Conditions of Contest in PDF format.

ACBL Convention Charts in PDF Format; the Open+ Chart will apply for USBF events.

Positioning Points after the 2019 Vanderbilt, Individual Positioning Points (please check yours, but note that the maximum is 26.5), and Seeding Points in PDF format.