Our District’s Grand National Teams (GNT) qualifying events are almost over. We had 29 teams with players from all five of the states in District 20 competing over the April 5th and 6th weekend vying for Gold Points and the opportunity to represent D20 at the Philadelphia North American Bridge Championship (NABC).

D20 had more teams compete in the GNT qualifiers in most other districts. In Florida, which has more than five times as many members, there were only a total of 14 teams, for example. Why?  The D20 online format for GNT allows players to compete from their own homes without the need to travel.

Other unique aspects of the our GNT is that, despite additional Director costs, in D20 the four flights are contested on different days allowing players to compete in more than one flight. This year several teams took advantage of this and the hope is that even more players and teams will do so in the future.

The teams who will represent D20 at the Philadelphia competition in three of the four brackets have been determined:

• The Championship Bracket winners are: Eric Stoltz-Jeff Roman, John Lusky- Dennis Metcalf, and Chris Gibson- Leo Lasorta.
• The Flight A winners are: Ed Lee-Dave Green, Ray Robert-Jamie Sparks. Rick Prouser has been added to the team.
• The Flight B finalists, both of whom are eligible to represent us in Philadelphia this summer, are: Henri Jansen- Keven Kacmarynski, Roger Thomas-Jim Weider, and Alan Kosansky-Larry Denneau, Jamey Skillings-Gary Haynie. Krista Garver will be added to the Jansen team.
• The final for Flight C is scheduled for mid-May. The finalists are Judy Dauble-Jon Udell, Dana Terhune-Henry Hamacker versus Zac McClure-Stefan Mrozewski, David Toran-Shideh Nikkoo.

Our next District 20 qualifying event is the North American Pairs (NAP). Qualifying will be held at the club level beginning June 1. To be eligible to compete in the online D20 Finals, you must qualify first in an ACBL club. The D20 finals will be held online sometime this Fall and winners will be eligible to compete in the Spring 2026 NABC in St. Louis as District representatives.

Please contact me with questions or suggestions about our NAP or GNT events.

Hal Montgomery

dewitt@imaginata.com