President’s Newsletter December 2024

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season, a big thank-you to all of you(and especially our volunteers) for making Palo Alto Bridge a welcoming, supportive, and fun place for our bridge community.  We would love to see you and your friends in your “ugliest” sweaters at our annual Holiday Party on Sunday, December 15.  Holiday Party –  Sunday SignUp

Upcoming events for you at Palo Alto Bridge Center:

• Daily Monday – Friday club games: SignUp
• Holiday Party game: join us in your ugliest sweater for holiday fun on Sunday, December 15 Holiday Party –  Sunday SignUp
• Gold for Good fundraiser: donate and play in our club games to earn gold points during 2 weeks in December: 9-14, 16-21.  More info and to register online: Gold for Good
• Monthly Swiss Team club games: upcoming Mondays December 9, January 20, February 3 at 11:30AM.  Swiss Team games  SignUp
• Saturday club games: next play dates (rain or shine) December 21, January 18 & 25.  SignUp
• Frank Smoot’s Intermediate classes: start on Thursday evenings from January 16 – register online:  Frank Smoot classes
• Kathy Harper’s classes: Monday evenings and Tuesday mornings – register online: Bridge classes
• Find-a-Partner game: Wednesday mornings January 15 & 22 – save the dates.  More details to follow.
• New-X game: a Newer player is partnered with an Experienced player (like a Pro-Am golf tournament) – date TBC and more details to follow.
• Celebrity seminar by Amber Lin: via Zoom Saturday, January 25.  More details to follow.
• Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY): Casual Fridays for youth players & other programs: SiVY website

Save these 2025 dates!  Upcoming tournaments at Palo Alto Bridge Center:

• Grand National Teams (GNTs): Flights A & B on Saturday 2/8 & Sunday 2/9; Open Flight finals on 2/8.
• San Mateo-Redwood City Unit 2-days Sectional: Saturday 3/8 & Sunday 3/9.
• Palo Alto Unit Open & NLM 4-days Sectional: Thursday 4/24 – Sunday 4/27.
• Silicon Valley Unit 3-days Sectional: Friday 4/4, Saturday 4/5 & Sunday 4/6.
• District 21 Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) week:  Monday 5/5 – Sunday 5/11.
• Palo Alto Unit Open & NLM 4-days Sectional: Thursday 5/15 – Sunday 5/18.
• Palo Alto Unit Open Sectional & NLM Regional over 5-days: Wednesday 7/9 – Sunday 7/13.
• District 21 Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) week: Monday 8/18 – Sunday 8/24.
• Palo Alto Unit Open & NLM 4-days Sectional: Thursday 10/23 – Sunday 10/26.
• San Mateo-Redwood City Unit 2-days Sectional: Saturday 11/1 – Sunday 11/2.
• District 21 Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) week: Monday 11/17 – Sunday 11/23.

Great turnout for Royal STaC week on November 18-23 STaC Nov – congrats to the top Palo Alto Bridge masterpoint winners:

• Tomasz Pawlowski, 8.9mps
• Ken Rosenfeld, 8.1mps
• Gary Macgregor, 7.5mps
• Robin Booth, 7.0mps
• Alex Martelli, 6.8mps
• Fung Bao, 5.9mps
• Jian Fang, 5.4mps

Team games are fun!  Join us at our monthly Swiss teams game event, next held on Monday, December 9 at 11:30AM, where the boards are already shuffled with hand records.  If you need a partner, or help to be matched with another pair, let us know.  Swiss Team games  SignUp  11 teams played on November 11 – congrats to the winning team: Ronald Powell – Steve Hubbell – Robert Dean – Marcia Dean.

ACBL has a fundraiser for 2 specific weeks in December (9-14, 16-21)  – Gold for Good – whereby you donate to charity and play in at least 2 games/sessions (at least one in-person game) for the opportunity to earn some gold masterpoints.  For details and to register online: Gold for Goodand play at a Palo Alto club game: SignUp

Our volunteers have been hard at work preparing some great programs/events for you in the new year: 

• Frank Smoot is back!  He is teaching a series of classes targeted at intermediate bridge players on Thursday evenings from January 16 – register online:  Frank Smoot classes

• Palo Alto Bridge will host some of the Grand National Teams (GNTs) events at the Bridge Center in the weekend of February 8-9.  It’s great opportunity to compete against your peers in extended team play – the purest form of the game.  Information and register online on D21’s website: D21 website

• A common challenge of bridge is finding more compatible bridge partners.  Find-a-Partner game is similar to “speed dating”, where players will play several hands and switch partners.  Details to follow, but you can save the dates for Wednesday mornings on January 15 and 22.

• New-X game is where we match a Newer player with an Experienced player to partner together to play.  This is a great way for newer players to learn from an experienced player.  Details to follow. 

Thanks for voting in our Palo Alto Unit Board election in November – 6 members H. Paul Davis, David Merenbach, Alex Narasin, John Schwartz, Dana Shelley and Stephanie Younquist were elected: 2025 BOD election

In your year-end charitable contributions, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Peninsula Bridge Education Foundation (PBEF) PBEF website or SiVY SiVY website; it would go a long way towards preserving our great game.  You can donate online Donate to PBEF or Donate to SiVY, or if you prefer by check (made out to PBEF or SiVY) to: ACBL Unit 503, PO Box 391206, Mountain View, CA 94039. 

Need a New Year resolution?  Volunteer positions are (still!) open for the special events organizer, marketing and publicity committee, coordinating our free lecture series, and help organize a bridge tournament.  Please contact either our Volunteer Chair, Gerry MacDonald (geraldinem@aol.com), or me.

Newer Players: we have novice/0-50 masterpoint games at the Bridge Center on Tuesdays at 10:45AM and Wednesday evenings at 6:45PM.  Starting in January, we plan to start one on Thursdays.  Gain experience and improve your game in a relaxed environment.  SignUp

Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in November:

Junior Master: Kenneth Wu.

Club Master: Anna Ivanovskaya.

Sectional Master: Ilya Sherman.

Regional Master: Marion M Krause.

NABC Master: Debra Willrett, Rebecca Zhang.

Silver Life Master: Marc Cervellino, Tomasz Pawlowski.

Sapphire Life Master: Henryk Szejnwald.

A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 members:

Anna Corson, Gloria Darke, Nersi Nazari.

Play, Laugh & Learn!