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Hope you are enjoying yourselves at the Santa Clara Regional! At Palo Alto Bridge Center, there are many special games, two upcoming sectionals to earn your silver points, and learning opportunities this fall with classes, new mentor program, free lecture and celebrity seminars!
Upcoming events for you at Palo Alto Bridge Center: “Special Events” in September/October:
Classes:
Regular Events:
Attached is a 1-pager current list of planned events – more will be added through the year. |
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Introducing An Expanded & Enhanced Unit 503 Mentor Program We are excited to launch a new Mentor Program! The Mentor Program and our wonderful volunteer Mentors can help Unit 503 members improve their skills and enjoy bridge more. We now offer four new mentoring experiences that meet different needs of aspiring players: |
Apply as an individual or with a partner and up your game! Questions? Contact our new Mentor Program Coordinators Sandy Lee Chen and Bill Chow, mentorprogram503@gmail.com. |
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The 2026 US Mixed Team Bridge Championship was won by a team of five local players – Michael, Debbie, and Kevin Rosenberg, Amber Lin, Xin Ge, as well as Disa Eythorsdottir! Palo Alto Bridge invites you and your bridge partners to come to play bridge and celebrate our local Bay Area champions! |
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10:00AM: Pre-Game Presentation of Tournament anecdotes and interesting hands! 11:00AM: Pairs Game. Open, MidFlight 0-3,000, 0-750, and 0-99 Sections. Light lunch and snacks will be provided. For planning purposes, please SignUp |
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Newer Players: Come and join many other newcomer players at our new relaxed and friendly Newcomer EZ 0-49 games on Mondays. This game is a great way to improve your bridge and gain duplicate bridge experience in a welcoming environment! We can help you find a partner. Please encourage your friends or family who could be interested in duplicate and need a little cajoling into the Bridge Center. |
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There will be a short pre-game lecture at 11:00AM by Chris Chung and the duplicate game with 12-14 boards starts at 11:15AM to about 1:15PM. Helpers will be available to answer limited questions during the bidding. SignUp For Limited section games, our games are on Tuesdays at 10:45AM, Wednesday evenings at 6:45PM, Thursdays at 11:30AM and Fridays at 10:45AM. SignUp |
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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, September 14 at 11:30AM, where the boards are already shuffled and dealt with hand records. This is a great opportunity to practice for the upcoming sectionals this fall. If you need a partner, or help to be matched with another pair, let us know. Swiss Team games SignUp |
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At last month’s game on August 10 – congrats to the winning team: Merle Orelove – Irene Hashfield – Raymond Yuenger – Mark Pensler. Honorable mention of the top strat C team (again!): Debbie Carey – Solveig Kjartansdottir – ilya Sherman – Michael Callahan. |
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Highlights: |
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Thank you all for coming to play and support our recent 4-day sectional from August 6-9. The 264 total tables were 38% more than the Unit’s May 2025 sectional, and a Unit non-Firecracker sectional record. The income from these tournaments is vital for our Unit’s financial wellbeing. We are especially appreciative of the many volunteers who helped us run this so smoothly. A HUGE thank-you to our Tournament Chair, Dana Shelley, and her Co-Chair Sólveig Kjartansdóttir, with a lot of help from their team: Gerry MacDonald, Kathy Ormseth, Rob Boucher, Phil Abrahamson, Liz Koh, Marc Cervellino, Allen Simon, Randy Ryals, David Merenbach, ilya Sherman, Dianne Giancarlo, Irene Hashfield, Debra Willrett, Doug Boyle, Jay Wang, Li Zhang, Virginia Dare, Pamela Resser, Ed Lechner, Sandy Lee Chen, Dave Joffe, Denise Pitsch, H. Paul Davis, John Affaki, Suzy Papazian, Ken Rosenfeld, Kathy Vita, David Gin. |
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Sad news to share: Ron Powell, a Palo Alto Unit member for nearly 60 years, was a regular player at the Bridge Center, passed away on August 9. He was one of the top bridge players in our Unit. Many of you will remember Ron for his reminder of the 10-second rule. Ron proudly wore a “Viet Nam Vet” cap, having served there as an Army combat medic. There will be a write-up about Ron in the ACBL’s Bridge Bulletin magazine. |
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A shout-out to some of our recent volunteers: Debbie Carey, Rob Boucher, Debra Willrett, Steve Hubbell helping us organize our Bridge Center. We need you! Our events and activities are put together by our volunteers, and we want your help. Any little of your time would be appreciated! We need volunteers for marketing and publicity (photo-takers, storytellers, email blaster) and help organize a bridge tournament. Please let me (lizkoh4bridge@gmail.com) know. |
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Accessorize your outfit at your next club game, tournament or bridge event. You can purchase your own customized name badgewith our colorful Palo Alto Bridge logo – order yours online for $14: PA Name Badge Order |
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Congrats to the following Palo Alto Unit 503 members who achieved a new ACBL Rank in August: Junior Masters: Arthur Hung, Sandy Nakata, Dave Noice, Stephen Winters Club Masters: Nancy Kirwan, Howard Kurasaki, Kevin Zhang Sectional Master: Josephine Killen NABC Master: Ping Chen Ruby Life Masters: Michael Hu, Dmitri Stukalov A very warm welcome to our new Palo Alto Unit 503 member: Kelly Heuschkel |
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P.S. Feel free to forward this to others who play at Palo Alto Bridge but who are not members of Unit 503. |
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Play, Laugh & Learn!
Liz Koh, lizkoh4bridge@gmail.com
Palo Alto Bridge Center
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