Spingold Day 5 - 8 is enuff - close!

I was 6 out of 8 in the predictions yesterday, the 2 matches wrong involving the lower seed "Cinderella" teams Markowicz and Lusky. I had a chance to watch the Lusky final quarter on the vugraph and they are playing in fine form. Stamina and stress management will be keys for these two teams - however they will be cheered on as everybody loves a "Miracle at the Bridge Table", aside from the pros and their clients!

Again we use the IMPs given up as a key predictor, and the most recent match is given first:

Nickell (99, 92, 94)
Meltzer (73, 138, 88)

Gromov (115, 112, 137)
Markowicz (111, 87, 135)

Weed-Cayne (106, 74, 36Withdrawl)
Sadek (108, 91, 81)

Lusky (106, 92, 113)
Welland (120, 117, 168)

First this tells us that Lusky should beat Welland, so let's go with a huge upset - they certainly can win if their weak notrump style fits the hands of the day (the Cinderella shoe fits theory). We like Weed-Cayne over Sadek, as the table read of Levin-Weinstein doesn't have the same pizzazz against the Italians. Zia and Hamman played well yesterday, and we will pick Nickell in a nail-biter. Finally I'll take the higher seed Gromov against Markowicz.