by David White
The Long Beach Sectional started this year on November 2nd 2008. And here is my story of what happened.
The sectional runs three and half days and on the first night the table count was down, so I didn’t work, but rather grabbed a loose body and filled in. Had a section third or something like that. All was good, and I was looking forward to a slow weekend.
09:30 a.m.: Since I was staying with relatives Friday night there is no problem in arriving very early to reset the room. Saturday was the first time that this sectional was going to have Compact Knockouts and we had a few minor concerns about table real estate. Now last year they had 39 tables in a room that can hold 43 or 44 in a pinch. So the tournament chairman wisely got a nearby room that held another fourteen. Unfortunately it was located out the door, across the balcony, down the hall past the locked bathrooms, don’t go down the stairs, and on the right. 58 tables seemed to be a safe maximum.
10:00 a.m.: A half hour to game time and the line to buy an entry is out the door. I start resetting the room. We had been planning for 10 tables in the 299ers, 15 in the open pairs, and 20 teams. If the open pairs went over 18 tables, we could put a section in the extra room out the door, across the balcony, down the hall past the locked bathrooms, don’t go down the stairs, and on the right. Now it is obvious the 299ers will be over 13, and two sections in the open. The first call for more tables and chairs goes out.
10:10 a.m.: Now the line is out the door and down the stairs. We have already sold 58 tables, and there is definitely two sections in the open and at least 13 in the 299er game. I was thinking of stealing a few tables from the compacts because we only have room for 13 in the 299ers. Brian discovers we only have two sets of hand records; so one section will have to double duplicate. This shouldn’t be a problem except the section he chooses for the task is the 299er section. You know— the section full of players who had never played in a tournament or duplicated boards from a hand records before. I start handing out the total team point cards to those in line for a compact entry. Maybe I should warn Pete that everybody else in line is wanting in the compacts! But he has no time to align cards and set up brackets, he keeps on selling. The second call for tables and chairs goes out.
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