I am recovering from last weekend where we had a tremendously successful Open and Non-Life Master Sectional. The tournament held from Friday, March 31 – April 2 was successful, from a turnout, player enjoyment, and financial perspective. Here are some key data points:
- The 3-day table count for the tournament was 206 tables. This is a 28% increase in table count compared to October 2022 and 32% rise versus the November 2022 tournament.
- The Friday morning session featured 36 tables, the Saturday morning session had 40 tables and Sunday morning had 37 tables.
- There was strong attendance by NLMs, with 17 NLM tables on Friday morning and 19.5 NLM tables on Saturday morning and several teams in the Swiss Teams on Sunday.
- One of the goals of the tournament was to increase NLM attendance – this goal was achieved, apparently without impacting the participation of even our most experienced players.
We also hosted the District’s first ever one session “Local Sectional” on March 17th and had a great turnout. We continue to experiment to bring people back to the PABC and we are receiving positive feedback from our members, nearby units’ members and from the District.
The Unit needs considerably more volunteers for the Firecracker tournament this July. We need people willing to help organize the event and do all the little jobs that make a tournament special. If you are willing to help please contact Marc Cervellino.
I would remind people how joyous it is to compete and play with people face-to-face and that we have games at the Palo Alto Bridge Center (PABC) daily. I would also remind people how important it is to treat our competitors and our directors with courtesy and respect at all times.
There are more sectional tournaments coming up:
- The Silicon Valley Unit is hosting their Spring Sectional April 29th & April 30th at the PABC.
- There is a Sectional Tournament at Clubs (StaC) game each day at the Bridge Center Monday, May 1, 2023 – Sunday, May 7, 2023. 100% silver master points are awarded for these face-to-face games. Player point awards will be based on the number of players playing those hands that day throughout District 21. Thus, silver master point awards are significantly larger than normal. These StaC games are F2F only, not online on BBO.
- F2F game times and sign ups may be found at the bottom of this page from our website.
- Game registration is requested at our normal login site.
- And, of course, the FIRECRACKER is coming in July! We will be holding our biggest event of the year from July 5th to 9th this year.
Breaking news: District 21 has approved that we can run the Firecracker as an NLM Regional (GOLD Points) and a parallel open Sectional (Silver Points). This will be the first NLM Regional that District 21 has sanctioned!
Also, as stated above, we still need volunteers.
Onto other topics…
Our bridge lending library is overflowing with books to check out. We may not have the latest, but we have the greatest! Our list of available books can be found on the club’s web site Paloaltobridge.org under the Education/Library tab both by title and author. You can browse the books too. The books are in the cabinets by the front door and the key is on a paint stick in the cabinets behind the director’s table. To check out, use the slips in the middle cabinet. Please bring them back in 3 weeks. The books in the leftmost unlocked cabinet (with your back to the playing area) are free to take. Questions? Contact Valerie at valbaldwin@gmail.com. Enjoy!
The April free lecture and $4.99 game will be held on April 18 at 9:30AM and will mark the return of Lynn Yokel. The Tuesday game begins at 10:45. Thank you to H. Paul Davis for coordinating these lectures.
The Celebrity Lecture Series returns April 22nd with Barbara Seagram! Barbara is the co-writer of one the best-selling bridge books of all time, “25 Conventions You Should Know”. Her classes are fun and insightful. I cannot wait to learn how to “Be a Smart Detective” by following the clues as declarer. $25 is a bargain. Visit our site for information and registration.
At our sectional this week a couple people got their first fractional points! Congratulations to them… the first .1 of master points is both the hardest and most intimidating. Good luck in your continued adventures at the tables.
Traditionally I would list members achieving a new rank here, but ACBL is having some IT issues and has not shared the list. On behalf of the Unit 503 membership, I would like to congratulate all Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in March. We will publish your names in the near future.
If you have questions, comments or concerns I can be reached at merenbach@yahoo.com.
One more interesting occurrence in March. I played a 24 board event without once being declarer. My partner and I finished second. I spent the next week thinking my defense must be really good to get the above average result. Then I realized that perhaps my declarer play is generally that bad… oh well.
See you at the tables –
David
P.S. If you know someone who is not a member of Unit 503, but who plays often at the PABC and would enjoy this newsletter please feel free to forward it.
