Upcoming events for you at the Bridge Center:
- Weekly Monday – Friday club games: SignUp
- Monthly Swiss Team club games: upcoming Mondays, November 11, December 9 at 11:30AM. Swiss Team games SignUp
- Saturday club games: next play dates November 16, and December 21. SignUp
- Royal STaC on November 18-23: earn multi-colored (gold/red/silver/black) points at club games at the week’s Sectional Tournament at Clubs: SignUp
- Holiday Party game on Sunday, December 15 – Save the Date!
- Kathy Harper’s classes: Bridge classes
- Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY): Casual Fridays for youth players; check out their other programs: SiVY website
- Frank Smoot’s Intermediate classes: starting in January 2025.
Remember to vote in-person for the Palo Alto Unit Board. Six members are volunteering to fill 6 openings. Thank you to Dan Thatte, Nominating Committee Chair, for organizing our annual board elections: https://paloaltobridge.org/2025-board-of-directors-election/
The Palo Alto Unit Board is pleased to announce that the Wednesday Night game will be run in 2025 under the ownership of Paul Davis and Allen Simon. The Friday game will continue to be run by Kevin O’Leary and Paul Davis without lunch being served. The Board is pleased to report that we will work together with the Wednesday Night and Friday club owners to build a stable of club directors. If you are interested in becoming certified to be a club director, please let us know.
We had an eventful October!
Our fun annual Halloween party on October 31, with Phil Abrahamson’s lecture, attracted over 20 tables with 3 sections (199er, 499er and Open) and the coolest costumes! Ten prizes were given out to the best costumes. The Bridge Center was scarily decorated and so were the snacks! Many thanks to special event organizer Stephanie Youngquist, Marc Cervellino and Phil Abrahamsonfor making this extra ‘scary’. Attached is a group pic; also check out other posts/photos on our Facebook page (see link below).
Congrats to the 252 players who won over 912 silver points at Palo Alto Bridge’s recent Fall sectional tournament held on October 24-27. In the Open section, many high-level players including celebrity Jeopardy James Holzhauer played in our tournament. Palo Alto Bridge’s top winners were:
- Ron Powell, 24mps – overall 1st in the tournament!
- Gary Macgregor, 20mps
- Tahir Gokcen, 18mps
- Marc Cervellino, 13mps
- Bo Han Zhu, 11mps
Thank YOU for coming to our tournament and making it a success. A huge thank-you to the tournament Chairs, Marc Cervellino and Lucy Ballard, and their team of volunteers: Stephanie Youngquist, Liz Koh, Dianne Giancarlo, David Merenbach, Josephine Ventura, Judy Huckabay, Dana Shelley, Phil Abrahamson, Randy Ryals, Steve Carr, Bill Bushnell, Craig Lewis, Beth Majchrzak, Tricia Steele, Virginia Dare, David Murray, Raymond Ochoa, Pearl Renaker, Sólveig Kjartansdóttir, Ilya Sherman, Kevin Rosenberg. Some of Amber Lin’s SiVY kids also came to play.
On October 4, we had a special Kevin O’Leary appreciation game. For over 2 decades, Kevin, as a board member, club owner/director, mentor, and “maintenance guru” has been a quiet leading force in our Palo Alto Unit. His club game lunches and desserts have been legendary! For all his contributions, he was awarded the 2017 Palo Alto Unit 503 Service Award, and 2018 District 21 Goodwill Award.
Did you notice the brand new bidding cards at the Bridge Center? This was due to the generous donation from an anonymous donor – thank you! – and to volunteers Kevin O’Leary and Liz Koh for cleaning/drying the bidding boxes and replacing the old cards with the new ones.
Happy? Research has found that playing bridge has a statistically significant positive effect on wellbeing. Playing in-person bridge facilitates socializing, meeting new people and making friends. This is another way to improve your bridge game – either with a new partner or getting free tips from more experienced opponents at the bridge table! Let us know if you need a partner.
Join us weekly Monday to Saturday club games at the Bridge Center club games schedule. SignUp
In the week of November 18-23, we have a Royal STaC (Sectional Tournament at Club) at the Bridge Center where you can earn gold/red/silver/black points.
Team games are another way of enjoying bridge with more than just your partner! Come to our monthly Swiss teams game event, next held on Monday, November 11 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. 10 teams played on October 14 – congrats to the winning team: Ken Rosenfeld – Frank Xie – H Paul Davis – Denise Pitsch.
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 myself.
Newer Players: we have novice/0-50 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
Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in October:
Sectional Master: Dale Kramer.
Regional Master: Don E Barkley.
Life Master: Carl Wolf.
Bronze Life Master: Paul Davis.
Silver Life Master: Carl Wolf, Cynthia Yock.
Ruby Life Master: Charlene Friedman.
A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 members: George Guo, Margaret Lawrence.
Play, Laugh & Learn!
Liz Koh
lizkoh4bridge@gmail.com
Palo Alto Bridge website
Palo Alto Bridge Facebook
P.S. Feel free to forward this to others who play at Palo Alto Bridge but who are not members of Unit 503.