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| We look forward to seeing you at our annual Firecracker tournament starting next week! We re-ran a couple of popular initiatives in June and are excited to be offering a brand new event – Swiss Teams Boot Camp – next month.
Upcoming events for you at Palo Alto Bridge Center:
Attached is a current list of planned events for the year, with more to come. |
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| Palo Alto Bridge’s annual super Firecracker tournament will run next week Wednesday to Sunday, July 9-13, at the Bridge Center only. Due to space limitations, all players are required to pre-register online to guarantee your place in our tournament: Firecracker pre-register Call your partners and teammates and pre-register! Details online: Firecracker |
| Our second lecture in the Alan Cummings Free Lecture Series will be given by popular bridge teacher, Frank Smoot, on Suit Preference Signals with some Trump Promotion as a bonus, on Thursday, July 17 at 10:30AM before the 11:30AM club game. Club game will have two sections: Open & $4.99 for the 499er section. Playing in the club game requires SignUp. Thank-you to Stephanie Youngquist for organizing this. |
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| Team games! Calling newer and intermediate players! You should play team games – as they are a lot of fun (and less stressful…) and could help you earn those masterpoints needed for your next ACBL rank. Palo Alto Bridge is proud to offer a free Swiss Teams Boot Camp! Get the tools you need to play team games, featuring award-winning teacher Phil Abrahamson on Wednesday mornings, August 13 and 20 – Save the dates! More details will follow on how to sign up for this free camp. |
| Palo Alto Bridge offers monthly Swiss teams games for you to practice in a relaxed atmosphere. Next team club game is on Monday, July 21 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 SignUpAt last month’s game on June 9 – congrats to the winning team:Anne Wilson – Allen Simon – Fung Bao – H Paul Davis. Very honorable mention of the top strat C team for coming 2nd overall!: Pearl Renaker – Solveig Kjartansdottir – Lucy Ballard – Debbie Carey. |
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| Our celebrity seminar organizer, Dede Barsotti, has arranged some great upcoming celebrity seminars by: Michael Berkowitz in August 16 and 23 via Zoom, and Robert Todd LIVE in-person on October 18 – Save the Dates! |
| Palo Alto Bridge Center will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year at a special event club game on Tuesday, September 30 – Save the Date! Palo Alto Unit’s first dedicated bridge facility, the Bridge Center, opened in 1975 at Elwell Court in Palo Alto. Come and join us to celebrate this milestone and share your Bridge Center stories. |
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| Recent highlights:Due to positive feedback and demand, Palo Alto Bridge re-ran two initiatives in June: |
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| Great success as several partnerships were formed! 29 players, with a wide range of experience from newbies to Bronze Life Masters with 900mps, signed up for our Find-a-Partner games on June 11 and 25. This is similar to “speed dating”, where players played several hands and switched partners. ABTA Teacher of the Year, Phil Abrahamson, gave a free lecture before each game. Handouts available on our website: Lectures A free-play at Palo Alto Bridge was given to those who were new to F-a-P; thanks to Peninsula Bridge Education Foundation (PBEF) for funding this. Thank-you to our volunteers for organizing this matchmaking event: Phil Abrahamson, Marc Cervellino, Liz Koh. |
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| We had a super turnout for our second Pro-Am event on June 19. Each ‘Am’ player with less than 500mps was paired with a ‘Pro’ player. Thank you to all 62 players who participated; the Pros for their knowledge, guidance and time; the Ams for taking the opportunity to learn with a more experienced partner. It’s a reminder that we can learn more from playing F2F at the Bridge Center. Lots of play, laugh and learn! Thank-you to the organizing team: H Paul Davis, Phil Abrahamson, Marc Cervellino and Liz Koh. Also thank-you to PBEF for funding this event. Check out our Facebook page for more Pro-Am pairs doing post-mortem. |
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| Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY) was busy with two weekends of summer camp on June 7-8 with 20 kids and June 14-15 with 14 kids. Kids participated in many bridge activities including lessons, worksheets, team matches, a “bridge olympics” with mini-games like sorting and 3-card ending puzzles, and an end-of-weekend individual tournament with trophies. All the kids received a certificate for participation. Thank-you to all the SiVY volunteers! |
| Cornelius Duffie, a former SiVY student and SiVY volunteer, was mentioned for excellent defense in Frank Stewart’s bridge column yesterday: Frank Stewart 1 July 2025 column Cornelius learnt bridge from his grandparents, and was also very active at Palo Alto High School bridge club. Thanks to Jim Hulseman for spotting the article! |
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| We had a professional bridge player and teacher, Eddie Wold, from Texas play recently at Palo Alto Bridge Center! He was partnered with Barbara Shukov (pictured with Eddie). |
The 70% Club at Palo Alto BridgeLet’s congratulate 10 new players joining the 70% Club in June! Frank Xie and Yu Chang are our repeat overachievers appearing for their 4th time partnered together – amazing! Photo opportunity – please share your partnership photo with us! Listed below are the players who scored 70% and above at a Palo Alto Bridge club game in June.
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| Need an accessory to wear for your next club game or tournament? You can purchase your own customized name badge with our colorful Palo Alto Bridge logo – order yours online for $14: Custom Name Badge Order |
| Get involved in your community! Our events and activities are put together by our volunteers, and we want your help. Any little of your time would be appreciated! We need volunteers for marketing and publicity (photo-takers, storytellers, email blaster), coordinating the Alan Cummings Free Lecture series, and help organize a bridge tournament. Please contact either our Volunteer Chair, Gerry MacDonald (geraldinem@aol.com), or me. |
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| Newer Players: we have newcomer/0-49 masterpoint games at the Bridge Center on Tuesdays at 10:45AM and Wednesday evenings at 6:45PM. Gain experience and improve your game in a relaxed environment. SignUp |
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| Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in June:Junior Master: Brent Beutter, Louisa Bussing.
Club Master: Ping Chen, Carol Mei. Sectional Master: Julie Kaufman. Regional Master: Steve Cheng, Gil Koury, Ilya Sherman. NABC Master: Dana Bisconti. Bronze Life Master: Debbie Weinstein. Silver Life Master: Lori Mirek. Diamond Life Master (>5000mps): Fung Bao. A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 members: P.S. Feel free to forward this to others who play at Palo Alto Bridge but who are not members of Unit 503. |
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| Play, Laugh & Learn!
Liz Koh |