February may be the shortest month of the year, but Unit 503 has packed it full of activity. We have classes and games for beginners, lectures for beginners and more experienced players, and finally the San Mateo Unit (498) will be using the Palo Alto Bridge Center (PABC) to host a sectional read on to see all the exciting activity.
Wow! Wolpert strikes again. After receiving rave reviews last year for his two lectures in our celebrity lecture series Galvin Wolpert has returned with two more in 2023. Last week he discussed reverses and jump shifts, this weekend February 4, at 9:30 he will discuss “Continuing After Reverses”. The feedback has been exceptional for all of his lectures. Please register here.
Kathy Harper who recently received the District 21 Goodwill award in recognition for teaching efforts will launch two new classes in February & March. “Beginning Bridge” kicks off Tuesday, February 14 at 8:30AM and “Deadly Defense” kicks-off on March 6 at 7PM. Information regarding these classes can be found on our website.
On February 21, we will continue our free lecture series targeting beginning and intermediate players. This month’s lecture will be presented by Tricia Steele and will be about “Disrupting Opponents Notrump”. The lecture will be followed by our monthly 499er game for $4.99. Please sign up here. The March lecture and $4.99 game will be held on March 21. Thank you to H. Paul Davis for coordinating these lectures.
One last note for beginners looking for an opportunity to play. We have a “Junior Game” on Tuesday mornings hosted by Prue Saunders. The game is designed to be casual and unintimidating. For more information email prue@pruesaunders.com.
Toward the end of the month, Unit 498 will use the PABC to host their Sectional on February 25 and 26. There will be pair games on Saturday and Swiss and Pairs on Sunday. The online flyer for the sectional can be found on their site. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to win silver points.
Silver points will also be available at our Unit’s Super Silver Sectional March 31 – April 2. Friday and Saturday will feature pairs games. Saturday will also include a 0-20 Master Points game. Sunday will feature Swiss Teams and Pairs games. More details can be found here.
In January, Liz Koh joined the Board of Directors of Unit 503, which expanded the Board by one person. Liz has been a valuable member of the Unit since she joined a couple years ago. She has co-chaired multiple sectionals, she has authored articles for the Bulletin and has recently started running our Mentor Program. She will be an incredible addition to the leadership team.
One of the best parts of this letter each month is to see our members achieve new levels of recognition. On behalf of the Unit 503 membership, I would like to congratulate the following Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in December:
Junior Masters: Ronald Ruth
Club Masters: Mark Zoback
Section Masters: Yakov Feldman
Regional Masters: John Hogan, Ann Porteus
Silver Life Masters: Todd Makler
Ruby Life Masters: Irene Hashfield
If you have questions, comments or concerns I can be reached at merenbach@yahoo.com.
As always, be well and we will 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.
P.P.S. My 2023 resolution is to ask somebody I have missed at the Palo Alto Bridge Center (PABC) to come back and play. I hope to reach out to a different person each month. I asked two different people to play in January… I challenge you to do the same in February.