Welcome to the Philadelphia Regional at Valley Forge

On behalf of the Tournament Committee and the District 4 and Unit 141 Boards of Directors, I would like to welcome you to the 2019 Philadelphia Regional at Valley Forge. Besides the world famous Dupli-Swiss, there is a Bracketed Swiss-KO format for all four-session knockouts, where teams are placed in brackets that are more equitable, and each bracket will play a two-session Round Robin or Swiss to qualify four teams for the next day’s KO phase. No more one and done KO sessions – all teams that enter play two-sessions on the qualifying day. There are Mid-Flight and 3-strat Gold Rush events every day. The Philadelphia Regional at Valley Forge also is participating in the ACBL’s PurplePass experiment and will accept credit cards for entry payment (charges will appear on your statement as ACBL Tournament Entry). For more details, check out the full Welcome and Information Bulletin on the tournament website.The tournament’s daytime events will operate on a 10:00AM & 2:30PM schedule with nighttime “speedball” events starting at 7:30PM on Tuesday – Saturday night. There is a free continental breakfast served every morning, and a free lunch Tuesday through Sunday after the morning session. The free buffet lunches on Tuesday through Sunday will be immediately following the morning session (or the break after three rounds in the Dupli-Swisses) at the hotel’s T. Burke’s and Three 01 restaurants. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday there will be an assorted salads buffet (tuna, egg, chicken, tossed and Asian) while on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday there will be a pizza buffet with tossed salad.

No Philadelphia Regional would be complete without the eponymous Philly Dupli-Swiss (where everyone plays the same hands to create a fairer event) on Thursday and Sunday. The Sweet Hospitality Suite (Room 806) will offer free beer wine, snacks and desserts nightly from 9:00 to 11:00.

There is an extensive I/N program and speaker series including a free lesson and relaxed game for 0 – 20 players on Monday afternoon. As always, full time students play free.

Throughout the day, Starbucks, located across from the hotel Registration Desk, is offering all bridge players regular coffee and tea for $2. Specialty drinks are regular price but there also is a 10% discount on t-shirts, mugs and other non-consumable merchandise.