Happy Fall!
Highlighting some upcoming events for you at the Bridge Center:
- Weekly Monday – Saturday club games: SignUp
- Kevin O’Leary’s birthday club game on Friday, October 4 at 10:30AM SignUp
- Annual Membership meeting – via Zoom – Tuesday, October 8 at 4:00PM.
- Monthly Swiss Team club games: upcoming Mondays, October 14, November 11, December 9 at 11:30AM. Swiss Team games SignUp
- Celebrity seminar: Adam Parrish – via Zoom – Saturday, October 19 at 9:30AM: “When Notto Draw Trump” Parrish seminar
- Saturday club games: next play dates October 19, November 16, and December 21. SignUp
- Palo Alto Open & Non Life Master Sectional: players win silver points during four days onThursday, October 24 – Sunday, October 27. Palo Alto Fall Sectional
- Halloween club game on Thursday, October 31 at 11:30AM: Halloween fun including a costume contest to win free plays. Phil Abrahamson (Teacher of the Year) will give a free lecture on how to improve your bidding at 10:30AM. $4.99/player for 499er game. SignUp
- Kathy Harper’s fall classes: Bridge classes
- Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY): Casual Fridays for youth players; check out their other programs: SiVY website
On September 26, we celebrated the Fall Equinox and held a surprise-ish 80th birthday party for Alan Templeton. Many players – from novice/newer to experienced – came to honor Alan. Board member Dan Thatte, club owner/director John Schwartz, bridge pro champion Debbie Rosenberg and teacher Kathy Harper expressed their heartfelt appreciation. Alan has been a “super volunteer” for over 2 decades helping Palo Alto Bridge grow and thrive. He continues to contribute in many ways: in technology applications, a game director, and he mentors newer players. In 2007, District 21 awarded him the Goodwill Award for his many contributions. In 2009, Palo Alto Bridge awarded him its annual Service Award. Many thanks to organizer Stephanie Youngquist and Kathy Wheeler for making this a very memorable birthday for Alan. Photos on our Facebook page!
Hope to see you at our upcoming Fall Sectional tournament – for NLM and Open players –held at the Bridge Center over 4 days on Thursday, October 24 – Sunday, October 27, where you can earn silver points. Palo Alto Fall Sectional
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. We have a fabulous Bridge Center, and friendly club directors and players who would relish seeing more of you in-person! 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
- This Friday, October 4 will be club owner/director Kevin O’Leary’s birthday. Come and celebrate Kevin’s youthfulness! He is another valuable volunteer who maintains our Bridge Center so we have a lovely venue to meet our bridge friends and play.
- Help us grow the Saturday club game – next play dates are: October 19, November 16, and December 21.
Halloween Spooktacular on Thursday, October 31 is our annual popular fun event where there will be prizes for the best costumes! The game starts at 11:30AM. We have a special promotion for $4.99/player table fee for the 499er section. As a bonus, Phil Abrahamson, Teacher of the Year (he was also featured in ACBL’s Bridge Bulletin in September), will give a free lecture on how to improve your bidding at 10:30AM. Halloween game SignUp
Our Celebrity Seminar organizer, Kathy Wheeler, has arranged for Adam Parrish to give our next seminar on “When Not to Draw Trump” on October 19 via Zoom. Registration to the seminar will include his eBook “When to Draw Trump”. Parrish seminar
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, October 14 at 11:30AM, where the boards are already shuffled and there are hand records of the game. For newer and intermediate players, these games are stratified and allow you to gain Team experience in a relaxed environment. If you need a partner, or help to be matched with another pair, let us know. 10 teams played on September 9 – congrats to the winning team: Ken Imboden – Lynn Bartz – Brenda Hatton – Anne Wilson.
The annual membership meeting will be held via Zoom on October 8 at 4:00PM. It allows all members to ask questions of the Unit Board and learn about the operations of our Unit. The membership meeting will be followed immediately by a Unit board meeting where members are also welcome.
Your bridge community needs you. If you are interested in becoming certified to be a club director, please let us know.
Another way to be happy is to get involved! Volunteer positions are 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
Palo Alto Bridge has a wealth of bridge learnings for all ability levels:
- Handouts on our website from past free lecture series: PAB Free Lectures
- Library at the Bridge Center – an index of the books is available on our website. The check-out system requires the borrower to fill out a slip. PAB Library
- a Mentor Program where we match aspiring players with more advanced players to encourage our Unit’s newer and less experienced players to develop their skills and increase their enjoyment of the game. To apply as a mentee or to volunteer as a mentor, please contact our coordinator Sid Chen: Mentor Program
Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in September:
Junior Master: Rob Boucher, Kathryn B Burns, Patricia Kantor, Shankar Rugge.
Club Master: Jan Bochnowski, Kathy Mach, David C Scherer.
Regional Master: Christine Forter.
NABC Master: Jian Fang, Cornelia Tilney.
Adv. NABC Master: Liz Koh.
Life Master: Yakov Feldman.
Ruby Life Master: Martia Fikes.
A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 members: Beatriz Aldana, Jenny Bixby, Daniel Cohen.
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.