Congratulations to Norway

Dear Bridge Player,

Norway have done the double. After winning the Bermuda Bowl last year, they have followed it up by winning the Europeans. Dislodging the long seated Italians. This is also the first time Norway have won the Euors. What makes this extra special is that only 2 members of the Bermuda team played this time. (Helgemo and Brogeland)

More here: http://www.eurobridge.org/bulletin/08_1%20Pau/pdf/Bul_15.pdf

It is remarkable that a country with a population of under 5 million can produce such strength in depth! Also, their youngest menber Espen Lindqvist is only 24!

Brogeland and Lindqvist also lead the cross IMPs in Round Robin 2. (However, it is sometimes possible to read too much into that metric.)

One further piece of credit to the Norwegians is that their system cards contained some of the best explanations particularly Brogeland/Lindqvist. You can see all system cards here …

http://www.ecatsbridge.com/Events/ebl/2008PauFrance/syscards.asp

The top 6 played will represent Europe in the Bermuda Bowl next year.

Also of note is that the its the first time since 1993 that Italy have not been on the podium.

Because I’ve had too much time on my paws, I decided to calculate the VP average across the field in Round Robin 2 Versus the top 6 teams … here are the results.

Thats quite an achievement by Bulgaria and Turkey.

Have a good game,

Rueful