Liz Koh

Liz Koh

Hope to see you at our special events this month and then at the Fall North American Bridge Championship (NABC) in San Francisco!  It’s not every day you get the Nationals in your ‘backyard’ – the last time was in 2019 (which was my first and only NABC).

 

Upcoming events for you at Palo Alto Bridge Center:

  • Daily Monday – Saturday club games: Bridge Center is open every weekday and some Saturdays.  SignUp  Free Post-mortem sessions for some Tuesday daytime and Wednesday evening club games.
  • Monthly Swiss Team club games: upcoming Mondays November 10, December 15 at 11:30AM.  Swiss Team games  SignUp The November 10 game is your last chance to get team game practice for the upcoming SF NABC.
  • Pro-Am Swiss Team game & Free lecture: an aspiring player is partnered with a more experienced player – Thursday, November 13 at 11:00AM; Free team game lecture at 10:30AM by Phil Abrahamson – sign up online for the game: Pro-Am Team game
  • Josephine Ventura memorial game: Saturday, November 15 at 11:00am: SignUp
  • District 21 Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) week: earn gold/red/silver/black points at Bridge Center club games during the week of Monday-Friday November 17-21: SignUp
  • ACBL Centennial club games: 100 years of contract bridge – earn gold this month at our club games on selected dates: Centennial games  SignUp
  • NABC in San Francisco: Thursday 11/27 – Sunday 12/7: Palo Alto Bridge Center will be closed – see you in SF!: SF NABC
  • Kathy Harper’s classes: Monday evenings and Tuesday mornings – register: Bridge classes
  • Frank Smoot’s intermediate classes: Thursday evenings – register: Smoot Fall 2025 classes
  • Palo Alto Bridge Holiday Party game: Sunday, December 14 – Save the Date!
  • Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY): Casual Friday evenings & some Saturday Pizza party games: SiVY website

 

Attached is a 1-pager current list of planned events for the year.

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, November 10 at 11:30AM, where the boards are already shuffled and dealt with hand records.  If you need a partner, or help to be matched with another pair, let us know.  Swiss Team games  SignUp
At last month’s game on October 13 – congrats to the winning team (also top strat C): Liz Koh – Dianne Giancarlo – Marc Cervellino – Steve Carr.  Honorable mention of the top 2nd strat C team: Kathy Walker – Louise Kirkbride – Dale Kramer – Edward Lechner.

 

Pro-Am Swiss Team game & lecture

Sign up to play in Palo Alto Bridge’s 1st Pro-Am Swiss Team Game on Thursday, November 13

  • 10:30AM  Free Swiss Team lecture by award-winning teacher, Phil Abrahamson.
  • 11:00AM  Meet partner and discuss system & conventions.
  • 11:30AM  Game starts.
Our Pro-Am games have been very popular!  You do not need a partner to sign up – we’ll do the matching of partnerships and teams.  Experienced players are encouraged to register if you are willing to partner and help our aspiring players!

Pros and Ams, please register online in advance: sign up to play.

Questions: Contact H. Paul Davis, pauldav@gmail.com, or text 408 582 4954.

 

Josephine Ventura was a long-time player and volunteer at Palo Alto Bridge.  A memorial bridge game to remember and celebrate Josephine will be held at Palo Alto Bridge Center on Saturday, November 15 at 11:00AM.

All are welcome, including young players. SignUp

Royal STaC at Palo Alto Bridge

Palo Alto Bridge is holding face-to-face Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) games daily at the Bridge Center on Monday-Friday, November 17-21 in our usual club games.  These games award royal (gold/red/silver/black) masterpoints.  STaC ‘overall’ masterpoint awards for each section (Open/750/499er) are especially large.  STaC Reservations

Palo Alto Bridge Center will be closed during the NABC in San Francisco.  We hope to see many of you there!  Please remember to purchase your game entry online through Entry Express to get the local $10 per session discount.  SF NABC
Free Post-Mortems for Palo Alto Bridge Club Games

Palo Alto Bridge is excited to offer free review (or post-mortem) sessions for some of our club games.

If you play in-person in our Tuesday daytime and Wednesday evening club games, you are invited to attend – for free – a post-mortem session on Zoom, led by some of our top players.

World champion Debbie Rosenberg will lead the post-mortem session for the 3rd Tuesday (of the month) club game for the next 5 months.

Top players, Ken Rosenfeld and Michael Bodell, have been leading the post-mortem sessions for the Wednesday evening club game.

Unless there is no club game, or there are conflicting schedules, the post-mortem sessions will run:

Palo Alto Bridge Club Game Post-mortem session Session led by
3rd Tuesday* 10:45AM same-day 3rd Tuesday 7:30PM Debbie Rosenberg
Wednesday 6:45/7:00PM next-day Thursday 6:45PM Ken Rosenfeld;

Michael Bodell

*3rd Tuesday of the month: 11/18, 12/16, 1/20/2026, 2/17/2026, 3/17/2026.

 

When you make a reservation online for a Palo Alto Bridge club game SignUp, please ensure that your email address is already in the system.  Or, please give your email address to the Club Director, so that you can be invited to the Zoom session after the game.

A huge thank-you to Debbie, Ken and Michael for kindly volunteering their time and skills to help us all improve our bridge!

Highlights:

A rather eventful month!

We had six informative celebrity seminars this year, and it was fitting that we ended this year’s series with an in-person all-day workshop by bridge professional Robert Todd (center in photo) at the Palo Alto Bridge Center on ‘Compete When They Open’, and ‘Defensive Strategies & Tools’ on October 18.  His 260-page “On the Road with Robert Todd” served as a companion workbook.  Players from rookie to advanced experienced levels found his workshop helpful!
A huge thank-you to our super celebrity seminar organizer, Dede Barsotti (above right), for arranging this year’s seminars and making this one a great and engaging workshop!  Thank you also to our webmaster and technical expert, Alan Templeton (above left), for helping with all the background, online and physical tech set-up.
Thank you all for coming to support Palo Alto Bridge October sectional on October 23-26 held at Palo Alto Bridge Center.  Big thank-you to Tournament Chair, Marc Cervellino, and his volunteer team: Stephanie Youngquist, Liz Koh, Li Zhang, Jay Wang, Randy Ryals, Phil Abrahamson, Dana Shelley, Jian Fang, who helped make our sectional a success.

Check out our Facebook page for more photos!

 

Congrats to Palo Alto Bridge top masterpoint winners U503 Oct sectional results:

  • Debbie Rosenberg – 27.1mps – 4th overall!
  • Kevin Rosenberg – 24.7mps –5th overall!
  • Alan Malloy – 18.7mps
  • Gary Macgregor – 18.5mps
  • Ron Powell – 18.0mps
  • John Hoffman – 11.7mps
  • Allen Simon – 10.2mps
  • Ying Liu – 9.4mps
  • Shao-Heng Chu – 7.8mps
  • Rich Nielsen – 7.8mps
  • Tomasz Pawlowski – 7.7mps
92 players came to play at our scary fun annual Halloween Spooktacular on October 31.  Five prizes were awarded for the best costumes!

Prior to the game, there was a free (courtesy of PBEF) lecture by one of our club owners/directors, Will Watson, how to end play your opponents.  He had also prepared some boards for us to practise!  Thanks to Ken Rosenfeld for arranging this lecture.

Huge thank-you to Stephanie Youngquist for her wonderful decorations of the Bridge Center.  Special thank-you to Alex Narasin for organizing the Halloween treats and prizes!  Thanks also to other volunteers: Marc Cervellino, Liz Koh, Brenda Hatton, Dana Bisconti, Eunice Menezes, Gerry MacDonald.

Check out our Facebook page for some scary costume photos!

Congrats to the Palo Alto Bridge top masterpoint winners at San Mateo Unit 498’s Fall Sectional this past weekend on November 1-2 held at Palo Alto Bridge Center U498 Fall sectional results: – the top 5 spots were held by our members!:

  • Tahir Gokcen – 16.0mps – joint 1st overall
  • Gary Macgregor – 16.0mps – joint 1st overall
  • Debbie Rosenberg – 12.8mps – joint 3rd overall
  • Max Schireson – 12.8mps – joint 3rd overall
  • Amber Lin – 11.4mps – top 5th overall
  • Ying Liu – 7.9mps
  • Virginia Dare – 7.4mps
Accessorize your outfit at 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
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
Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in October:

Junior Master: Chengjun Mo, Holly Ward.

Sectional Master: Kathy Mach, David Scherer.

Bronze Life Master: Rajeev Jog.

Gold Life Master: Brenda Hatton.

 

A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 members:
Ignatius Bezzam, Susan Catan, Deshan De Mel.

 

P.S.  Feel free to forward this to others who play at Palo Alto Bridge but who are not members of Unit 503.

 

Play, Laugh & Learn!

 

Liz Koh

lizkoh4bridge@gmail.com

Palo Alto Bridge website

Palo Alto Bridge Facebook

Comments are closed.