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We have a lot happening at Palo Alto Bridge Center this month – hope to see you at many of these events: Upcoming events for you at Palo Alto Bridge Center:
Attached is a 1-pager current list of planned events – more will be added through the year. |
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Newer Players: At Palo Alto Bridge, we know that walking into a room of experienced (and some scary looking!) duplicate bridge players can be terrifying if you are new to bridge or have recently taken up the game after an extended absence (playing Goren?). We welcome you and your friends at Palo Alto Bridge where we have specific duplicate games made just for this group. Please also encourage any of your friends or family who need a little cajoling into the Bridge Center! We can help you find a partner. |
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On upcoming Mondays in March 9, 16, 23, join us at our new Newcomer EZ 0-49 games. There will be a short pre-game lecture at 11:00AM and the duplicate game with 12-14 boards starts at 11:15am to about 1:15pm. See attached flyer. SignUp For Limited section games, our games are on Tuesdays at 10:45AM and Wednesday evenings at 6:45PM. SignUp |
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Want to improve your bridge game by playing in a relaxed atmosphere and partnering with an experienced player? Then sign up to play in Palo Alto Bridge’s popular Pro-Am Pairs Game on Thursday, March 12. 11:00AM Meet partner and discuss bidding preferences 11:30AM Game starts ‘Amateurs’, players with less than 500 masterpoints, will be paired with more experienced ‘Pros’. The goal of the game is to have a fun time, with both players taking part in a post-game debriefing session, which should be a valuable learning experience for the newer player. |
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You do not need a partner to sign up – we’ll do the matching of partnerships. Experienced players are also encouraged to register if you are willing to partner and help our aspiring players! Pros and Ams, please register online in advance: Pro-Am game Questions: contact Denise Pitsch dpitsch@gmail.com Partnerships: contact H. Paul Davis, pauldav@gmail.com, or text 408 582 4954. |
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Come join us at our next special event club game celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, March 17. SignUp The Bridge Center will be decked out in green and there will be loads of themed treats! Wear green to be entered into our prize drawings; there will be free-plays for the Best Green Garb! World champion Debbie Rosenberg is offering a post-mortem of the game on Zoom later that evening. |
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Palo Alto Bridge will host the District 21 Grand National Teams (GNTs) Flight A and Flight B Round 1 and Finals games and Open Flight Finals at the Bridge Center in the weekend of March 21-22. It’s a great opportunity to compete against your peers in extended team play – the purest form of the game. Information and register online: D21 website |
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Palo Alto Bridge offers monthly Swiss team games for you to gain team game experience in a relaxed atmosphere. Next team club game is on Monday, March 9 at 11:30AM, where the boards are already shuffled and dealt with hand records. This is a great opportunity to practice for the GNTs later in the month. If you need a partner, or help to be matched with another pair, let us know. Swiss Team games SignUp |
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At last month’s game on February 9 – congrats to the winning team: Ken Imboden – Lynn Bartz – Jack Verson – Lynn Yokel. Honorable mention of the top strat C team: Pamela Resser – Kathy Walker – Debra Martinez – Carl Ebeling. |
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Palo Alto Bridge offers several in-person classes and seminars: |
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Highlights: Plenty of congratulations to last year 2025’s top winners of the Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney masterpoints races (attached is the list of winners). The Ace of Clubs race recognizes the top masterpoint earners in F2F club games only. The Mini-McKenney race tracks masterpoints earned in club games, sectionals, regionals, nationals, etc. |
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This year marks the 25th anniversary since the Palo Alto Bridge website was created! In February 2001, Alan Templeton created our Unit’s first website on his home computer using a simple software package. Jody Williams led the conversion to WordPress. The Games Results page continues to be the single most viewed page. Our website has been visited over 2.9 million times – also from other bridge units who visit our website for inspiration to build theirs! Alan, our webmaster, created almost all our website content and still maintains it today. Thank you, Alan, and congratulations for 25 years of presenting Palo Alto Bridge to the world in a professional and clear manner. |
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At the first part of the GNTs held in Oakland in February 7-8, congrats to District 21 Flight C champions team: Youfeng Wu, Shailesh Sampat, Henry Zhang (Saratoga), Milind Girkar. They won $2,000 stipend to go to the Summer NABC to represent our district. Their opponents in the Finals were: Emily Francis, Henry Zhang (San Francisco), David Murray, David Ochoa, who are also invited to the Summer NABC to represent us. |
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We had a great turnout with 84 players in the Open and Limited sections at our second annual Valentine’s Day game on February 13. Huge compliments to our special events master organizer, Stephanie Youngquist! She and her team of volunteers – Marc Cervellino, Liz Koh, JoAnne Matthews, Kathy Wheeler, Aster Wu – helped decorate the Bridge Center in red and hearts, fed us with aptly themed snacks – all for our love for bridge and our partners! There were prize drawings for 8 lucky red-dressed winners. Thank-you also to our Friday club directors, Paul Davis and Kevin O’Leary, for a fun game and light lunch. Check out our Facebook page for more photos! |
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We held another Find-a-Partner event on February 18, offering ‘speed-dating’ in bridge partnerships. We saw some matches made! Thank-you to our volunteers: Phil Abrahamson, Marc Cervellino and Liz Koh. Phil gave a great lecture “Card Play is Magical” – presentation slides are available on our website: Lecture Series. |
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World Champion Debbie Rosenberg gave an excellent lecture on February 19 on “Defense – When to Lead Trump”. If you missed this, her presentation slides are available on our website Free Lecture Series. This is part of our Free Lecture Series, which is funded by Peninsula Bridge Education Foundation PBEF. Thank-you to Ken Rosenfeldand H Paul Davis for organizing this. |
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A big thank-you to Virginia Dare for donating several air purifiers and filters to Palo Alto Bridge Center. We appreciate her generosity and her focus on the health and comfort of our community. |
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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) and help organize a bridge tournament. Please let me know. |
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Accessorize your outfit at your next club game, tournament or bridge event. You can purchase your own customized name badge with our colorful Palo Alto Bridge logo – order yours online for $14: PA Name Badge Order |
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Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in February: Junior Master: Justin Turcotte. Club Master: Matt Jennings, Charles Krause. NABC Master: Pamela Resser, Bill Somers. Advanced NABC Master: Marilyn Press. Bronze Life Master: Sharon Schafer. Silver Life Master: Greg Gauthier. Ruby Life Master: Anna Ravenscroft. Sapphire Life Master: Alex Martelli, Mukund Thapa. 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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