California Capital Regional By Bruce W. Blakely D21 Representative to the ACBL Board of Directors

I. Introduction to the Issue

T here has been a lot of discus-sion, both locally and nation-

ally, over the past couple of years about whether the ACBL should develop current performance rat-ings, that is, a way to rate or rank players not through a cumulative amassing of masterpoint suc-cesses, but based upon recent per-formance. The issue has arisen in least two contexts: the League does not want to lose those play-ers who have gained so many masterpoints over the course of years that they must play in a flight or bracket where they no longer feel competitive (let's call them the "Seasoned Veterans"); there is also a group of younger, ambitious players (the "Young Hotshots") who want recognition for their skill level, although they have not played long enough to collect thousands of masterpoints. In both cases, masterpoint struc-

ture and event entries do not ap-

pear to reflect a player's abilities. Both groups blame the League's masterpoint system and have sought reform, although with dif-ferent goals in mind. II. Initial Thoughts

W hen I first thought about this issue, it seemed simple

and obvious. Wouldn't it make sense to have a system that ranked players by their playing ability? Also it seemed apparent we needed a means of allowing long-time members to play in events where they could effectively com-pete. There must be a way to re-solve the Peter Principle of Bridge. (Remember that phrase from the 1970s; that people rise to their level of incompetence?) Cur-rent rankings seemed like a good idea. If a player had, for example, collected 2,000 points over dec-ades and, either due to age, infir-mity, or weakening faculties, could not reasonably compete in Flight A, should that player neces-sarily have to play there? What if a player rarely, if ever, had earned points in Flight A but now has to play all the time against the likes of the Nickel and Meltzer teams? While there are some difficulties

inherent in ranking players in our partnership game (changing part-ners with different abilities, vari-ous limited events involving play-ers at different skill levels, geo-graphic differences in player abil-ity, club play vs. tournament play, flighted events, pigmented points, on line games, head-to-head team events scored with IMPs, and so on), the math whizes in the bridge community certainly can come up with an effective algorithm to rate players. At minimum, there could be a

system using results from pair games, with a factor applied to adjust for national, regional, and local events, and for open and limited competition. It seemed clear there must be a way to keep players competitive and wanting to play in our tournaments. With a ranking system, the Seasoned Vet-erans would not be forced to play in Flight A. In addition, it seemed that the Young Hotshots would be happy. The ranking system would provide them with the recognition they felt they deserved. III. Initial Objections

A s I was calmly reflecting that current ratings were a

good way to go, and all it would take would be a hard look at how to crunch the numbers, I began to hear rumblings. Some objections were: Seasoned Veterans will be insulted if they have over (pick a number) 1000, 3000, 5000 points, and are currently rated (pick a rank) as Silver Life Master, Dia-mond Life Master, etc. and sud-denly are told they are B or C players. These players will be dis-incentivized to play if they were once Flight A and are now ranked as B or C players (or the equiva-lent on some new euphemistically named scale). On the other side of the coin, less

experienced players would resent having members with 20 or 30 years of tournament experience playing in their limited events. I initially dismissed these con-

cerns as minor blemishes over-shadowed by the benefit of rank-ings; bridge players were adults and could take the heat. Besides, we were helping mem-

bers play where they belong; we would keep long time players ac-tive whom we otherwise might be losing. Of course, none of this was moti-

vated by the Young Hotshots, and the ACBL board's interest in cur-rent rankings was not directed to them. They were going to play regardless, whether they had cur-rent ratings or not. No one needs to know the number of master-points Joe Grue or John Hurd or Jenny Wolpert has; they may not have amassed thousands of mas-terpoints, but they have already won national events. The same is true of many young

players who play far beyond their masterpoint holdings; they are winning regionals or are high fin-ishers in restricted national events. Their local peers know who they are, and they know who they are. These players obviously don't need a new ranking system to get good partners; top players are al-ready seeking them out. IV. A Deeper Concern

I kept thinking about the rank-ings issue when another,

deeper, problem struck me. Mas-terpoints are really the League's marketing tool. Like it or not, we have to recognize two things: players want to earn masterpoints, as many as they can; and the League is a business, a non-profit business, but a business that needs to insure its financial success. Let's look at each of these two issues. I have spoken to players with under 20 masterpoints and others with over 20,000 master-points, and they all want more. It brings them pleasure and recogni-tion. They enjoy opening up each issue of the Bridge Bulletin and seeing the past month's tally. I know a nationally-ranked player who had 24,999 points and came down to play at the local club, so he could get one point to surpass 25,000. It is a given: we all like to get points. And it keeps us coming back to the tables. The ACBL needs to have table

fees to pay for supplies, com-puters, directors, transportation, furniture, mailings, marketing, training, bookkeepers, account-ants, consultants, repairmen, utili-ties, housekeeping, and all the other things that a company needs to operate. We are non-profit, but must meet our expenses. Our pri-mary revenue stream is sanction fees. Without members playing, we can't support our expenses and our staff. We want more players playing in our tournaments be-cause, given fixed and variable costs both of staff and tournament set-up, the marginal return on the 5,000th player is greater than the return on the 50th. Well-attended tournaments lead to a financially healthy League. (However, let me be clear: I do not believe we should put finance ahead of other issues, such as the maintaining the integrity of the game and the du-plicate principle. This is an exten-

(See Bruce on page 16)

California Capitol Building, Sacramento, Calif.

North American Pairs By Jackie Ortiz District 21 NAP Coordinator

C ongratulations to all the district North American Pairs win-ners, and they now qualify to represent D21 at the Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky this month.

Flight A: 20 tables

1st, Li-Chung Chen & Samuel Leong 2nd, William Watson & William Harker 3rd, Edward Barlow & Peter Friedland

Flight B: 20 tables 1st, Emmanuel Vacakis & Bob Byrum 2nd, Belinda Gu & Adam Portley 3rd, Nongyu & Jiang Chen

Flight C: 9 tables 1st, Rajeeva Sharma & Amar Chunder 2nd, Sherry Larsen Beville & Susan Kovacevic 3rd, Benjamin Leitner & Michael Leitner

D21 FORUM DEADLINES

Deadlines for Forum copy and ads is the 5th of the month!

Rich Luttrell D21 Forum Editor 6550 2nd Street, Rio Linda CA 95673

Phone: 916 991-6997 luttrellr@sbcglobal.net Change of Address Send change of address to:

addresschange@acbl.org Or regular mail to: ACBL/Address Change P.O. Box 289 Horn Lake MS 38637

Tournament Trail B-E-R (Almost) Spring Sectional Community Center, El Cerrito, Calif. March 5-6, 2011 Santa Cruz Rising Stars 299er Sectional Harbor High School, Santa Cruz, Calif. March 19-20, 2011 Santa Rosa Spring Sectional Odd Fellows Hall, Santa Rosa, Calif. March 26-27, 2011 Santa Clara Valley Spring Sectional Masonic Temple, San Jose, Calif. April 1-3, 2011 Marin Spring Sectional Marin Catholic High School, Kentfield, Calif. April 9-10, 2011 Almond Valley Sectional Modesto Centre Plaza, Modesto, Calif. April 9-10, 2011 Reno April Showers Sectional Nugget Hotel & Casino, Sparks, Nev. April 13-17, 2011

Would Current Ratings Kill the League?

BERBER By the Beer Dude

T he Mini-McKenney medalists & Ace of Clubs certificate winners are official; if you see your name here,

show up at our BBQ Swiss on May 14 to claim your prizes, play bridge, & dine free! Mini-McK & AOC, they are: 0-5: Sanne Cottaar & Jim Brandley; 5-20: Doug Hey-ing; 20-50: Meg Gallaway & Catherine Warren; 50-100: Marge Hutchings & Car-rie Stoltzfus; 100-200: Stephanie Kung & Barbara Taylor; 200-300: Joyce “3 Wood” Demercurio; 300-500: Keith Freeman & Bill Jolly; 500-1K: Eugene Sor & Carl Lo-melino; 1-2.5K: Cris Barrere; 2.5-5K: Jack Scott; 5-7.5K: “H” Studabaker; 7.5-10K: Steve Kanzee & none; & >10K: Lew Stansby & Lew & Joanna tied. Brandley, Warren, Stoltzfus, & Kung I don’t know from Adam/Eve, as they don’t play in our club or Sunday games. Jan. unit games drew 14 tables, nine on

1/7; 5 on 1/30; we lost tables to Monterey Regional on the 7th. 1/7 overall cashers: Otto Edor & Wen Yen Leong 1A; Elazar Friedman & Marty Holtz 2A; Dexter Hodes & Gordon Libby 3A/1B; Art & Joanne Cobeen 4A; Jim Riesenfeld & Barbara Simpers 2B; John Love & Florence Siegel 3B, & Trudie Sinclair & Pashi Vakiva 4B. At the Sunday game, Eric & Sandi topped the field, with “H-J” 2A, Vicki Chang & Don Steedman 3A, Bill Jolly & Florence Siegel 4A/1B, Marge Hutchings & Trudie Sinclair and Barbara Gamba & Janice Kosel tied for 2/3B. March games are Fri-day 4th & Sunday 25th. Our sectional runs 5th & 6th; pair games Sat. at noon & 6:00; team games Sun. at 11:00 & 4:15. On Sat., the fine editor of this paper & I will be matching wits w/the A/Xers in the early game, with the field in the evening game. No rank advancements in the latest cycle,

but we welcome new members Wm. Hed-berg, Arlin Peters, & Gay Schrag, & bid adieu to John Wilson, who moved up to

them thar hills (Grass Valley) & now be-longs to the Nevada Co. Unit. Club MP champ for Jan. was John Begley; he also had the best Mon. & Wed. % games; 67.5% w/Bobbie Stricklin, & 66.15 w/”H,” re-spectively. Otto & WenYen had the best Fri game @ 66.4%. March free play club championship day is Friday the 18th; I’ll be away; King will be running the game. Recommended diversions for ye attending

the Louisville NABC: 1) Baseball fans: take a tour of the Louisville Slugger fac-tory; go on a weekday if you want to see the craftsmen in action; weekends, they show videos at the various work stations. 2) Zoo lovers: theirs is excellent. Reason-

able admission & well laid out; tram/train tours are available if you don’t feel like walking a lot (the layout is fairly compact, & there are plenty of benches). 3) Bourbon lovers: you have many nearby

distilleries to tour, including Maker’s Mark. www.berunit497.org has our latest news

and game results; tweak beerman1949@ gmail.com to brag/gripe/question.

Carson/TahoeCarson/Tahoe By Rich Turissini

U nit games are being held at the Carson City Bridge Center on the second Sunday and the fourth Sat-

urday of the month. Recent results are as follows: Jan. 9: 1A: Donna McLeod & Gary Nitzberg; 2A/1B: Marie Coffey & Joyce Barrett; 3A/2B/1C: Carole & John Sill; 4A: Beverly Meyer & Imogene Meyer. Jan 22: Joyce Barrett & Al Monroe; 2AB: Loni Byloff & Cora Robey; 3AB/1C: Cheryl & Wayne Kinder; 4A: Donna McLeod & Imogene Meyer; 5/6A: Julie Cardinalli & Ried Bridges; 5/6A: Gary Nitzberg & Sam Batdorf; 7A/2C: Carole & John Sill. Carson Valley Bridge Club: Jan. 31: N/S

Beverly Meyer & Julie Cardinalli; 2A: Gary Nitzberg & Viv Betcher; 3A: Gladys Turissini & Konrad Garret; E/W: 1A: Theresa Pinney & Geoffrey Stokes;

2AB/1C: Susan Carnegie & Mary Sandha-gen; 3A: Nancy Palmer & Donna McLeod; 4A/2C: Bruce Mitchener & Roxanne Hart. Jan 25: N/S 1A: Frances Coursey & Bob Allgeier; 2A: Paul Jorgensen & Eileen An-gelucci; 3A: Marie Coffey & Donna McLeod; E/W: 1A: Beverly Meyer & Julie Cardinalli; 2/3A: John McCall & Sam Bat-dorf; 2/3A: Gary Nitzberg & Betty Clamp; 4A: Aleeta Jones & Joyce Barrett; 5A/1B: Ruth Rouse & Roxanne Hart; 6A/2B Susan Carnegie & Mary Sandhagen; Jan 17: N/S 1A: Bob Garret & Sam Batdorf; 2A: Marie Coffey & Donna McLeod; 3A: Gary Nitz-berg & Paul Jorgensen; E/W: Theresa Pin-ney & Bob Anderson; 2A: Roxanne Hart & Beverly Meyer; 3A/1B: Rich Turissini & Ruth Rouse; Jan 10: 1A: Beverly Meyer & Imogene Meyer; 2A/1B: Roxanne Hart & Ruth Rouse; 3A/2B: Nancy Palmer & Marie Coffey; 4A/3B: Jony Sellers & Carole Voge; Jan 3: 1A: Rich Turissini & Ruth Rouse; 2A: Leona & Nick Pchelkin; 3A: John Guerry & Sam Batdorf; 4A: Geoffrey Stokes & Gladys Turissini; 5A: Jony Sellers & Carole Voge.

Diablo ValleyDiablo Valley By Chris Pisarra

W ell, it went just the way I thought; the new starting times in Monterey were just awful.

You can get a table in a restaurant at 5:00, you just can't really enjoy your meal. It's too early for grown-ups to be eating, and they are still setting the other tables. Even then, you have to scarf your meal quickly and rush back, just so you can be done playing your KO match by 9:15. Whoopee. I spoke to the district president, and the

past-president, both of whom claimed that while they were personally opposed to the early start “everyone else” wanted it. I have yet to meet this clamoring crowd of early diners, or perhaps I have but they don't want to admit it in person. Further, it makes me wonder if there will be fewer people playing in the seniors and then the single session “loser” Swiss at night; there simply isn't time enough between sessions to even go get a hot dog. Enough griping, they don't care about my

opinion anyway. We had plenty of winners, so I'll list a few for you: Ralph Moskowitz & Ching Chao were 2nd

in the Cannery Row side game, Cecilia Ip, Sefton Boyars, Lee Medeiros and Mike Rippey won a Bracket V KO, Randy Corr, Lynne Humprey, Trisha Oconnor and Bill Barron were 2nd in a different Bracket V KO, Roger Smith & Carol Griffin were 4th in two consecutive senior events, Mariann Kessler & Sondra Michaelson won the Sat-urday 299er Pairs, Carole Burgess & Patsy Ruth Williams won the Tuesday side game and were 2nd in C in the Wednesday Open Pairs, Mary Quinn, Joel White, Susan White and Janet Campbell won a Bracket 4 KO, Mary Krouse, Nancy Barker Pat Keenan and Winnie Smith were 3rd/4th in a Bracket 3 KO, then won a Bracket IV KO, Mike Lippitt & Bob Munson were 3rd in the Thursday pairs. There is more, but I'm running out of com-

mas. And I have other tournaments to talk about. In the San Francisco Sectional, Sandi

Cummings & Carol Harrison had an enor-mous 75.88% game to win the 20/50/100 Pairs. That's impressive. Kathy Von Dohre, Patricia Perry, Chris Stack and Glenn Boyce won the Flight B teams. In the Pleasanton Sectional, Carl Penskar

& Kathy Fernbacher won the 99er Pairs and Doris McMullen & Leslie Engler were 2nd while Max Creamer & Les Walker were 4th and Pat & Leo Rolandelli were 5th. Darned nice showing for our unit. Then the Rolandelli's won the afternoon 99er game, too. Larry Swanson, Irwin Lichtblau, Bonnie Macbride and Catherine Molnar won Bracket 6 of the Swiss Teams. Now for some club news: it's going great.

Iris is offering a free lunch on the fourth Friday, and for the first one she had a chili cook-off pitting her chili against Gail's. There were 16 tables of players, and the best chili won. There's a Valentine’s Party planned, but it's after my deadline and be-fore you will get this, so it falls into the abyss of production time. Mike Lawrence is scheduled to come out

in mid-June for a weekend of lessons at the

new facility; you will be hearing more about this, but start planning now. Mike is a great teacher and you will have a

fine time. The Ace Of Clubs list for last year is out

and I'm pretty gobsmacked by the perform-ance of the winners, the players who won the most masterpoints at the club level in the last year. I suspect that the mentoring program Ally Whiteneck is running is help-ing to make so many of our newer players into stars quickly. In any event, let us note with pride that in the 0-5 category Dennis Thomas won 37.91 points, Carol Harrison topped the 5 to 20 level with 25 points, Ralph Moskowitz won the 20 to 50 group with almost 51 points, Addie Mattox led the 50 to 100 point players with 54, Doris Wolfe topped the 100 to 200 group with 38 points, Ken Henry won almost 62 points, leading the 200 to 300 players, Jo An Reid gathered in 73.6 points to win the 300 to 500 players, Hedy Wee picked up 118 points and Dan Scaola won his field with 117.55 points just in the clubs last year. It's time to go pack for the Chris' Birthday

Regional, which will be over by the time you read this. But that will give me some-thing to write about next month, then the NABC in Louisville, then the boys are off to Gatlinburg, then our very own sectional, so we have plenty of bridge coming up. Be sure to drop me a note if you win

something; you don't really want to trust my researching skills. chris@pisarra.com

East Bay East Bay By Tom Pajak

H appy springtime to all! We have the worst of the winter storms be-hind us and we’re now seeing the

tulips and daffodils springing forth and fat robins in the trees. We have some new Unit 502 board assignments springing forth as well: succeeding the extremely capable Betty Kael as president is Tom Pajak, with Roseanne Smith taking on the mantle of vice president for another year. Mary Payne is replacing Susan Wiebe as the board sec-retary, with David Cartwright beginning his term as treasurer. We say au revoir to Betty and Susan and thank them for their many years of great service. Please let any of your board officers hear

your suggestions, ideas, complaints and worries; we’re here to make the game of bridge a happy and enjoyable experience for every person who plays. Big congratulations are in order for Sherry

Larsen-Beville & Susan Kovacevic, who placed 2nd overall in District 21’s Flight C of the North American Pairs (NAP) compe-tition held recently in Burlingame. They’ll both get a subsidy from the ACBL to play in the national finals in Louisville this month. Wish them well. Other tournament successes from the Monterey Regional were top placements by Cole Powell, Min & Hugh Ross, Lisa Euphrat, Bob Berger & Joel Teller, Lois Horwitz, Kay Andersen, Susan Wiebe & Andrea Schneider, Shirley Rodenborn, Jack Scott & Jack Beers; all placing 1st in their various events. Well done, everyone. You did our unit proud. Let’s welcome five new members to Unit

502: Carol Alliger, Jeanne Bergovoy, Peter Hannigan, Elizabeth Kuhn, and Marcia Wasserman. Please introduce yourselves at our games so we can say hello. Also, Rose Nieda transferred into our unit from Marin and we’re delighted that you did, Rose. Are you aware that the two games each

week run by Lorene Lamb and also Betty Kael’s Wednesday game turn their profits over to the City of Oakland? For 2010, Lorene made a donation to the Oakland Recreation Center of $11,500 and Betty gave $1,000 to the Dimond Library ... and this doesn’t even count the Holiday Season donations they both made to the Alameda County Food Bank. It’s a strong indication of their generosity for running those games with low (cheap) table fees that make this possible, yet taking nothing for themselves; instead passing profits onto the city. Bravo, ladies. And thank you. We give our condolences to the friends

and family of Gretchen Smith, who passed away in early 2011. Dick & Joyce Hart offered their home for a lovely memorial celebration where many gathered to re-member Gretchen warmly. And last, let’s wish quick recoveries for a few of our play-

March 2011

ers who aren’t themselves right now: Chloe Laube, Bill Williams, Sherard Wood, and Lorene Lamb, who’s coming along well after heart surgery. Get well quick, folks; you’re missed. Sandi will be back in the saddle for her April column, so send her all your news and announcements at sand-stress@mail2sandra.com and you’ll get to see your name in print.

FresnoFresno By Laura Da Costa

H ello Everyone. The Fresno Winter Sectional is about to get underway as I write this column, so any dis-

cussion concerning it will have to be in next month’s column. Beginning bridge lessons started in Janu-

ary. There are 17 students in the class: 1 who is repeating the lessons and 16 new faces. It is great to see such a large incom-ing class; hopefully, some of these indi-viduals will work their way up through 99er games, 750 games, to the open games. We should give thanks to teacher, Mike Molinari, and to all of those who spread the word. The North American Pairs had their dis-

trict playoff for Flights A & C on January 23. Congratulations go to Richard Meffley & Robert Durbrow who earned 6th overall in Flight A. There were only three teams that showed

up for the Pro-Am team game on January 16; a little less than usual, but January was a pretty busy month. Congratulations to the winning team consisting of Richard Mef-fley, Ray April, John Jonassen, & Mary Lou Pease. New LM: One new Life Master to report

from the Monterey Regional and that is, well, me. After writing about so many oth-ers reaching this achievement over the last couple of years, I now know how they must have felt; relief and, of course, gratitude to all of the partners and teammates that made it possible. There were four pairs having 70% games

in January; all from Fresno. Richard Mef-fley & Robert Durbrow started the year off right with a 73.4% game on Sunday after-noon unit championship game (1/02). Irene Whelchel & Jay Shapiro also started the year well with a 72.02% game in the Tues-day afternoon 750 Pairs game (1/04). Ki-miko Mochizuki & Sheila Smith earned a 70.45% game in the Thursday afternoon 750 Pairs game on 1/13. Finally, June We-ber & Nancy Rowland earned a 72.5% game in the Saturday afternoon 99er Pairs game on 1/15. Congratulations to all! We have a few upcoming events worth

mentioning. Some future lessons are sched-uled. Mike Molinari will be starting the second series of lessons on “Play of the Hand” starting on April 1 (cost is $90 plus $13 for the book). Richard Meffley will start the third series “Defense” through the Clovis Adult School (lessons take place at the Bridge Center) on March 22. On March 13, we will be having Knock-

outs at the Bridge Center; more on this event in the next Aces, Places, & Faces. Get a team together and come out. Finally, reserve the date of Sunday, April

17; the unit will be celebrating the second anniversary of our move to the Bridge Cen-ter on Shaw. The anniversary party last year was great fun. Plans for this event are still being made, but you should be able to read more about it in next month’s column and the April A, P, & F.

Hollister/Gilroy/Hollister/Gilroy/Morgan HillMorgan Hill

By Dian Wood Picone

I f you thought Unit 524 members were resting up after the Holidays, you’d be mistaken. Linda King is back directing

her games after leading a contingent of fellow bridge players, Fanny Curro and Barbara Earley, to the Hawaii Regional. They won some gold and red points while enjoying the sights, sun and sea. Patty Stone directed the Hollister games in Linda’s absence. We’ve all learned to fear the sight of Patty’s “turtle” on our tables. The mere threat of being “turtled” seems to accelerate the rate of play and now that Linda has adopted the creature, we’ll all have to be on our toes. Doug Stauffer & Chiong Yuan-Han just returned from a long

trip which included cruising between Aus-tralia and New Zealand. I hear they had a wonderful time “down under” and even got to play some bridge. So many of us were at the Monterey

Clambake Regional, you’d have thought they would need a special 524 section. Some familiar faces were: Gale & Katie Dimick, Win & Patty Stone, Ron & Diana Dragt, Skip Pack, Bill Millar, Al Peponis, Norm Dow, Ken Johnson, Linda King, Don Nemiro, Jonna Robinson, Mary Legrand, Sheila Peterson, Vincent McLoughlin, G.G. Garma, and Marilyn Ribardo. Not surprisingly, many of this talented

group won points. Linda King’s Relaxed Duplicate Play will

resume on Tuesdays, before her regular game, beginning Feb. 8, 10:00-11:45. Start-ing in March, Rosemary Erwin will be di-recting two Wednesday games the first & second week of each month. Congratulations to new Junior Master, Sue

Vance! Happy to hear that Armeda Dooling is doing well and hope she will rejoin us soon. It’s good to see Terri Swan back at the tables. A reminder, Linda King has been nominated for the 2011 Teacher of the Year Award. Linda has patiently, devotedly and kindly instructed many of us in the game of duplicate in a variety of ways. If you would like to support her candidacy, e-mail chair Marilyn Kalbfkeisch at em-kalb@gmail.com or write to her: c/o ABTA Master Point Press Bridge Teacher of the Year Award, 25 Brant Street, East, Orillia ON L2V 1Y7, Canada, and tell her why we value and appreciate Linda and why she should be Teacher of the Year! Gilroy Thursday Open Pairs: 1/6, Joanne

Wicker & Rosemary Erwin; 2nd, Dick Tani & Don Bugge. 1/13, Rosemary Erwin & Diana Dragt. 1/20, Marilyn Ribardo & Mary Legrand. 1/27, N/S, Ron Dragt & Suzanne Proctor, E/W, Jonna Robinson & Win Stone. Morgan Hill Monday Open Pairs: 1/3, Mike & Margot Kakalec. 1/10, Diana Dragt & Mitsuye Tani; 2nd, Jonna Robinson & Vincent McLoughlin; 3rd, Julia Robertson & Pat Kraut. 1/17, Vincent McLoughlin & Jonna Robinson. 1/24, Pat-rick & Liega Arnett; 2nd, Mary Ann Rug-gles & Pravin Lathigara; 3rd, Richard Pupko & Chris Boncich. 1/31, 1/2, Don Nemiro & Betty De Paola and Ron Dragt & Win Stone; 3rd, Joanne Wicker & Rose-mary Erwin. Unit game, 1/16, A, Linda King & Patty Stone; B N/S, Carol Nicoletti & Carol Alcock; E/W, Suzanne Proctor & Barbara Earley. Swiss Teams, 1/29, G.G. Garma, Sheila Peterson, Janis Kiernan, Patty Yelvington. Hollister Linda’s Tuesday pairs: 1/4, Con-

nie Coyne & Patty Stone. 1/11, Lanetta Bishop & Marty Schwabacher. 1/18, Marty Schwabacher & Carol Yamane; 2nd, Katie & Gale Dimick. 1/25 Glen & Kathy Hirth; 2nd, Chiong-Yuan Han & Doug Stauffer. Linda’s Wednesday game, 1/5, Win Stone & Chris Boncich. 1/12, Mary Calderone & Don Nemiro. 1/19, Chris Boncich & Win Stone. 1/26, Bill Millar & Linda King. We were sorry to hear of Nancy Adrian’s

death in December. Nancy was a relative newcomer to duplicate, taking lessons with Bob Blaine a few years ago. She said dupli-cate challenged her, and she loved it. She worked assiduously learning the game and was successful. Not only was she a regular at many of our various games within the unit, but also loved playing bridge on the internet where she honed her skills. She will be missed. Our condolences to her family. News about our bridge players is always

welcome. Contact me: dwpesq@yahoo.com

Livermore ValleyLivermore Valley By Paul Dubois

O ur annual sectional was great fun. It was made possible by some dedicated volunteers, headed by

Kathi Nelson, our chairperson. Jim Os-trowski, Tony Davito, and Wayne Vondera made the physical arrangements, while the kitchen was run by Linda Davito and Kathi. Food bringers and other help came from

Gil Reeser, Pat Vanderzyl, Carmen Meuter, Terry Duewer, Rich Osborne, Terry Ki-yoto, Penny Taylor, Art Mirin, Dan Berg-mann, John Engstrom, Vern Gabrielson, Paul Wegfahrt, Steve Brosamer, Gary and Nancy Oherle, Jan Batcheller, Sharron

Wuffendinger, and myself. But above all else we must sing the praises

of Lynn1K. Formerly known as Lynn Gast, Lynn1K baked 1088 cookies for our hun-gry contestants. That is 90 dozen cookies. The baking time alone, assuming three dozen at a time, and 15 minutes a load, is nearly eight hours. I do a lot of baking and yet I just can't fathom it; wouldn't you have every single part of your home covered in cooling cookies? And they were really good cookies, too!

All hail Lynn! Winners and seconds from our unit in-

cluded Jim & Pat Leary, Jean Barry, Jane McCoy, Gil Reeser, Gary Minnig, Stan Sitzmann, Larry Smith & Pat Vanderzyl, Ameen Paul, Wayne Vondera, Sharon Wulferdingen, Jan Batchellor, Lynn Gast, Paul Dubois, and David Silberman. Big games this month were headed by that

rarity, a 70%, by Jack Marling & Paul Wegfahrt. Other high achievers included the Learys, Ameen Paul & Sukumar Muk-herji, Sheri Erskine & Pat Vanderzyl, Vern Gabrielson & Steve Brosamer. Also notable was a 60% win by Harvey

Rosenberg & Lynn Schaeffer. When you arrive on Monday and find eve-

rything set up for you to play, it didn't hap-pen by magic. You didn't think Larry was hiring someone to help with that three dol-lars, did you? Be sure to thank Harvey Rosenberg, who is there nearly every week to carry all those tables and chairs and who carries within him the sacred knowledge of what Larry wants where. Tony Davito does the same on Fridays. Please, if you are able-bodied, help with

the cleanup. Serve on the board. Volunteer to write this column. Bring food, especially on Friday nights. This is a community, and it is going to be exactly as much fun as you make it. The annual meeting and game is on Sun-

day, February 27 at 12:30 p.m. at the IOOF in Livermore. This year it will be an IMP Pairs game; team-like scoring but for pairs.

We hope to see you there, and to hear your ideas for our unit.

MarinMarin By Bob Sampson

A t a special January meeting the unit board addressed three issues. They agreed to purchase a second deal-

ing machine so that the Crossley and Terra Linda clubs each will be a part-owner and have a machine at their club. Being consid-ered is a proposal to have some unit games on Saturdays probably at the Crossley Club. Lastly, the mentoring program is under way. For more information contact Sue Parker (331-1448). At the Monterey Clambake Regional win-

ning events or strat firsts were: Lotetta Wolf; Jane McLaughlin & Gene Simpson; Nina Tychinin & Joanne Paben; Michael Hartnett & Nancy Ferguson; Jeanne Rad-tke; Wallace McOuat & Claire Young; Ron & Anita Studen. Also bringing home points were: Susan

Angel, Charneth Belanger, Beverly Bloss, Susan Bowser, Margaret Callinan, Ann Casten, Lenore Cavallero, Julie Coffin, Christina Decker, Joan Frentzel, Pat Friesen, Nancy Girtler, Sissel Grove, Bob Haar, Cathie Hayes, Terry Hope, Elizabeth Hotchkin, Joan Katkov, Alex Kinas, Cindy & Gary Kirk, Irene Lam, Sylvia Levin, Lynn Lewis, Carole Liss, Peggy McCor-mick, Carol Morse, Ron Mulcare, Miriam McPhaul, Janet Natov, Bruce Noda, Sue Parker, P. Perring, Barbara Poole, Nancy Prothro, Ingrid Purcell, Vicki Quinn, Bob Roman, Cherril Scarth, Judith & Paul Schofield, Claudia Sims, Rose Stadtner, Ann Sweichler, Annette Tham, Gene Thornton, Jim Washburn, and Phyllis Wil-liams. Picking up points at the Honolulu Re-

gional were Hilde & Jerry Meislin and Gene Simpson. At the San Francisco Sectional, Loretta

Bromberg won the A/X Swiss Teams. Also

March 2011

Diablo Valley Spring Sectional May 20 - 22, 2011

 Elks Lodge

1475 Creekside Drive, Walnut Creek Presented by Diablo Valley Unit 499 

 

Friday Evening, May 20th 7:00 PM: Elegant Pairs Barometer Game – Suggested Attire: Black Tie 

preferred, but Business Professional is acceptable. Space Limited.   Side Pairs Game – Dress as you like, Stratified (A,B,C)   0‐50 Pairs Game – Dress as you like 

 

Saturday, May 21st 10:30 AM & 4 PM: Stratified Open Pairs (A,B,C)  Two session event 10:30 AM & 4 PM: Side Pairs  Stratified (A,B,C)  Single session events 10:30 AM & 4 PM: 199 Pairs  Stratified (D,E,F)  Single session events 10:30 AM : 750 Pairs Stratified  TBA 

 

(A: 2000+) (B: 750‐2000) (C: 0‐750) (D: 100‐200) (E: 50‐100) (F: 0‐50)  

Sunday, May 22nd 

10:30 AM & TBA:  Bracketed Swiss Teams Brackets to be posted at the tournament. Teams must play both sessions.  7 rounds/8 boards (lowest bracket plays 7 rounds/6 boards). 20 VP Scale for all brackets. 

 

Table fees: $10 per session (non‐ACBL members $11)  

Tournament Director: Nancy Boyd Tournament Chair: Jerry Chamberlain ‐ (925)376‐1125 ‐ jerry@wjasper.com Partnerships: Teresa Boyd ‐ (925)283‐3867 ‐ teresaboyd@comcast.net    Winnie Jasper ‐ (925)683‐1908 ‐ Winnie@wjasper.com Food:  Lunches (for purchase) available for Sunday Swiss teams. Refreshments Friday, Saturday, & Sunday.

picking up points were: Miriam McPhaul & Ann Casten; Jane Grimm & Susan Van Keulen; Gary Chan; Bob Liss & Ellen Schiller; Pat Friesen & Nancy Sutak; Bob Haar; Rob Roman & Lenore Cavallero; Ron & Anita Studen; John Heisler & Norma Conner; Linda Danzig; Robert Toso & Sheilah Wasserman; Suzy Doyle & George Beard. At the Livermore Sectional point-getters

were: Bruce Blakely; Roman & Cavallero; Claire Young; Wallace McOuat, Phyllis & Don Kreider. In January club games Crossley’s had four

games at 70%: Tracy & Keith Bauer (2), Ellen Coll & Malin Giddings and Roz Kahn & Liliane Kirchoff and two at 71%: Helen Orr & Lee Anderson and Lois Croke & Mary Miller. At Terra Linda Joan Eh-mann had two big ones: 70% with Sylvia Ross and 73% with Cliff Lardinois while Ellen Schiller & Bob Liss had 71% and Bram Dresden & Bruce Noda had 70%.

Modesto Modesto By Lee Striplin

C hris Brown & Barbara scored a 72% game in last month's unit game. Jan & Pieter Mastenbroek

2nd in A. Linda Kenyon & Frances Red-ington were 3rd, followed by Fred Herman & David Machado, and Joyce Ielmini & Mary Sue Moore. Kenyon & Redington were first in B, followed by Ielmini & Moore, Connie Arnold & Barbara Page, George McMahon & Cox Thornton, and Jean Chitwood & Lyn Rabinovitz. 1st in C Arnold & Page, followed by McMahon & Thornton and Barbara Bogart & Pat Gallo. The Great Western Holiday STAC games

were a bonanza for Dave Jenkins & Don Cross. They placed first in the Western Conference in C. They earned fourteen silver points. Dave has become a Life Mas-ter. Also from Sonora is the news that Bill

George has had an extended hospital stay, and Olivia Althouse is recovering from a fall. We wish them a speedy recovery. Last month I inadvertently omitted Ann

Sturm's name from the list of new board members. Richard Banks has become a Silver Life

Master, Joyce Rudesill is a new Regional Master, Barbara Page is a new Club Mas-ter, and Micky Holt has reached the level of Junior Master. Congratulations to all and to Dave Jenkins for becoming a Life Master. Masterpoint leaders last month were Chris

Brown in A, followed by Barbara Price. Linda Kenyon was first in B, and Mary Sue Moore was second. Coming in first in C was Glenn Van Denburg, followed by Lloyd Rotherham. Twenty pairs competed in the ACBL-wide

International Fund #1 game on February 5. Overall winners were Gary Capwell & Charlotte Martin, followed by Chris Brown & Barbara Price, Connie Arnold & Judy Remmers, Lyn Rabinovitz & Lee Striplin, and Robert Rodenhizer & Grace Torbohn. Jean Lucchesi & Mike Sullivan 2nd in C. Charlotte Martin who runs the 299er game

on Sundays reports that the game is open-ing up to all players except Life Masters. She hopes the games will grow in atten-dance. The games will not take place on unit game Sundays. A light lunch is served at noon, and the game starts at 12:30 p.m. The next unit game is coming up on

March 13 at 12:30 p.m.

MontereyMonterey By Barbara Genovese

W e have results from the regional Clambake at the Hyatt. The top point getter was Jackie Stewart

with 15.92 points and our second winning scorer was a 299er, Betty Prunty. Overall our club had 137 players during the week-long tournament, but no information on how many games they played. The Barometer unit game held January 16

was won by Jim & Joyce Martin N/S, 1st (o/a) won 3.12 points. E/W won by Martha Hawley & Ron Loiacono, 1.22 points. This game had results on our website displaying each hand and how each partnership played and scored on it. Our next unit game is the very popular

annual Pro-Am Pizza Game, February 27.

Jill Leach is pleased to see two young members, Adrian Murillo, a junior at Car-mel Valley High School and Matthew Campbell, a sophomore at Pacific Colle-giate HS in Santa Cruz playing her Satur-day 299er game. Not only have they found a partnership but they both are playing Pre-cision. (And they help lower the average age of our unit members.) Our club is currently running a campaign

nominating Lyde McReynolds for Teacher of the Year through an award program by the American Bridge Teachers Association (ABTA). This can be found the the ACBL website. Letters of endorsement can be emailed to emkalb@gmail.com or postal mail to Marilyn Kalbfleisch, 25 Brant St. East, Orillia ON L3V 1Y7, Canada. A reminder that favorite conventions

classes at the Bridge Center continues on Wednesdays from 3:00-5:00 for a six week series. Please reserve with Lyde 626-4796 or sign up at the Bridge Center. Easybridge! workshops taught by Jill and

Lyde on Thursdays continue through Feb-ruary. Reservations are requested - call Jill 625-4421. Our condolences to John Kneisl on the

passing of his wife Adele.

Napa/Solano/SonomaNapa/Solano/Sonoma By Joe Freeman

W hile I do not like to report old news, I want to call our attention to matters and pictures reported

and shown in the Forum for February. Bar-bara Lemme and Sue Vogtlin have their pictures in the Forum twice. Each made Life Master and won an event in Monterey that was worthy of a picture. Barb’s partner was Jeanne Radtke and Sue’s was Marlene Mohr. Sheila Malinoski, who actually made LM and BLM a few months ago has her picture in the paper too. Speaking of Life Master milestones, Jim

(James Joel) Anderson recently joined the ranks of Silver Life Master. Both Barb and Sue had other good results

in Monterey. Other players from our unit are doing so well at regional tournaments, that I can’t list them all in the 500 words allotted here. Following are names that are shown in red (winners) in the tournament results: John Rothschild & Dawne Dicken-son were listed three times: twice in team events with Theila Smith & Al Iapicca, and once in a Side Pairs Series. Tom Jacobson, teamed with players outside our unit was first in B in a Swiss Teams event. William Barron won a side series. Sigrid Price & Russ Quinnell earned 50 points, paced by a 2nd place finish in Bracket I of the first KO. Gerry Fox had a 2nd and a 3rd place finish in Senior Pairs. Turning to the Sunday unit games, Gerry

& Tom tuned up for the tournament by winning the January 2 game with a 73% game while Gay Metz & Gary Henry won B & C. Lynn Dahm & Maury Schumacher were the ABC winners on January 16 Since I misspelled Kathleen Gilmour’s

name last month, I have to follow up on her Ace of Clubs exploits. In addition to her unit win, she was first in the district and 40th in the nation. John Rothschild was first in the district Ace of Clubs and 2nd in the Mini-McKenney. He ranked 31 in the nation in the Ace of Clubs. Barbara Lemme was just behind John, being second in the district Ace of Clubs and 4th in the Mini-McKenney At the unit level, most of the Ace of Clubs

winners also won the Mini-McKenney. The two way winners were Bernard Olmstead, Diana Gallo, Susan Cook, Kathleen Gil-mour, John Rothschild, and Dawn Dicken-son. Mini-McKenney only winners were William Barron, Sheila Patterson Tom Ja-cobson and Gerry Fox. Ace of Clubs only winners were Wayne Miller, Bill Oran, Joe Freeman, and Don Powell. As I submit this document on February 5,

no one who participated in the Friday eve-ning Swiss Teams STAC game on Decem-ber 10 has received the masterpoints for the game. Wayne Gordon submitted the results correctly and on time. Both Wayne and I have pursued this matter since and are most frustrated by the lack of any response by the Western Conference. Hopefully the matter will be resolved by

the time you read this.

Palo AltoPalo Alto By Marian Kelly

H ow often do directors and board members talk about all the com-plaints they hear? Very often,

surely. But complaints are not the only thoughts that Palo Alto Unit players ex-press. The following is a testimonial from a player who transferred into our unit from another. “Why I like the Palo Alto Bridge Club: I

have no complaints about other bridge clubs, but I can see where Palo Alto does an extraordinarily good job in taking care of bridge players. I really like it here. Eve-ryone is happy and pleasant, which is much easier when everyone is happy about envi-ronment and food, and the budget for this large club seems adequate to deal with the issues. 1. The folks are downright nice all the

time. 2. Every game I have played has adequate

food, and I have never heard a director say to just take a little as there are too many people. There is always food that diabetics and hypoglycemics can eat in good con-science and good health. This is an amaz-ing and amazingly rare, plus. 3. There is good tea, says this tea drinker,

and they never run out of good green tea, or good decaf tea. (I might not be so happy if I were a black tea drinker). Quantities in the storage area are always adequate for heavy usage. Bridge is not bridge to me without a cup of tea, and I take my own teapot to tournaments. 4. There are padded chairs with arm rests.

I'm plenty strong, but I have a chronic pain-ful illness and that padding makes the dif-ference in my playing or not playing some days, and in my pain level every day. 5. I happen to enjoy the art display, but

more than that I enjoyed the thoughtfulness of someone on the art committee asking me if I would like to exhibit sometime when she learned I painted. 6. I like the solicitousness of most direc-

tors. I saw a pair that came in with one partner barely able to walk (post surgical). I had seen this same pair refused a N/S in another unit because the regulars had the spots reserved, and none of them was dis-abled. In Palo Alto the pair was quickly accommodated. 7. I very much like the organizational

overhead, where many issues are settled by the board and various committees instead of haggled over by all the directors. A good job, well done resulting in happy thoughtful members.” During the last meeting of our board,

members toured the Dymond Building next door to the Bridge Center to discuss the merits of the site as a potential bridge cen-ter when our lease expires in August. Three members provided additional information regarding the potential lease including a layout of the space and a detailed lease comparison spreadsheet. After a lengthy discussion the board ap-

proved a motion authorizing the site com-mittee to pay any applicable city and design fees, hire a contractor, sign a lease, and to handle tenant improvements on behalf of the Bridge Club.

RenoReno By Kathy Evans

H appy Groundhog’s Day. Due to a mix-up, last month you got the column from the same month last

year. So under the premise that old news is good news, I hope you enjoyed revisiting last year. I heard that someone learned something from having a chance to reread the column, so I guess it wasn’t all bad. This month’s column is extra long because it contains news from both months. I saw Paul Blumberg many times during

the Midwinter Regional and hope you all did too. Paul and his partner, Jim Paschal, went to the partnership desk and picked up another pair for the Knockouts. Everything was going well as they played their way to the semi-finals. Unfortunately, one of the pickup pair failed to show up for the semi-finals and they had to forfeit. Paul and Jim wondered what happened to their missing teammate. On the last day of the tourna-ment, Paul saw him and asked where he

had been. He had been in jail. When pressed for more details, the gentle-

man explained that he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and refused to elaborate further. So even though Paul was home, his adventures continued. I sup-pose for serious bridge players only death, hospitalization or incarceration is a valid excuse for missing a Knockout match. Sorry you didn’t make it to the finals Paul,

but it’s a great story. December was a difficult month for many

unit members and I for one, am happy to see it over. Let’s hope 2011 brings unit members health and happiness. Matt Kof-sky (Sharon Bahry’s husband) was seri-ously ill for most of the month of Decem-ber. As of this article, Matt is still in the hospital. Here’s hoping for a speedy and full recovery. The unit’s favorite director, Kathy Lane, was hospitalized during the last week in December and a good part of the month of January. Glad to have you back. In December, the Reno Youth Bridge

(RYB) program received a donation for $200.00 the North Tahoe Bridge Club. For those of you who don’t know about Reno Youth Bridge, it is a program to teach bridge in Washoe County Middle Schools. Currently RYB has over 150 students en-rolled in its program. If you are interested in helping out, contact Bud Brewer or Grace Martin. Reno Youth Bridge held their first regional tournament during the Midwinter Regional. The overall champi-ons were Jackson & Tyler Hart with a 70.32% game. Runners up were Max Prada & Jason Stevens with a 66.75% game. The regular unit game was held on De-

cember 5. First overall were Nels Erickson & Conrad Evans, followed by Charlotte Falk & Lin Goldstein, Neal Moore & Gil Ramirez, Irene Harlow & Pat Green, Rich Scoggin & Ed Plotsky, Les Balascoe & Dan Green. In B, David Weinberg & Rich-ard Michelson were 2nd; 3rd, Nancy Black-well & Maria Johnson; 4/5th, Cynthia Swezey & Rene Reid and Carol Burton & George Peterson; 4C, Linda Averett & Kathy Evans. Winners during the December Great West-

ern Holiday STAC week are as follows: the Dec. 6 & 10 winners were Nels Erickson & Conrad Evans; Dec. 7, Eleanor Waldren & Jan Schiff; Dec., 8, Charlotte Falk & Lin Goldstein; Dec. 9, Caesar Deangelo & Mike Slattery; Dec. 11, Richard Michelson & Mark Lundblad; Dec. 12, Charlotte Falk and Lin Goldstein. There were four club championship games

during December. The Dec. 4 game was won by Richard Michelson & Mark Lund-blad; Dec. 13, Tom Howell & Virginia Jen-sen; Dec. 16, Cora Robey & Luke Wooden; Dec. 21, Luke Wooden & Marlene Davis. There were three charity games during De-cember. The December 1st game was won by Nels Erickson & Conrad Evans; Decem-ber 14, Mary Ryckebosch & Reba Jo Ber-land; Dec. 19, Rich Scoggin & Kathy Lane. During the last two months the unit had a

number of rank changes. Susan Wilson, Glen Artz, and Karol McCellan became Junior Masters; Jann Carlucci, Marie Ernst and Don Logerwell became Club Masters; Carol Burton and Rene Reid became Re-gional Masters; Pat & Jim Peterson and David Weinberg became NABC Masters; and Richard Michelsen became a Life Mas-ter. Congratulations to all of you on obtain-ing your new rank. Unit members did quite well at the Mid-

winter Regional at the Grand Sierra. All the following members won points: Nels Erick-son, Conrad Evans, Pat Green, Lin Gold-stein, Dan Green, Sheila Wimer, Joyce Remsen, Mark Lundblad, David Weinberg, Virginia Kellermeyer, Neal Moore, Gil Ramirez (spelled correctly again!), Richard Michelson, Charlotte Falk, Paul Blumberg, Jim Paschal, Raija Davis, Ed Plotsky, Rick Weiss, Kathy Evans, Kaz Nojima, Tom Howell, Liz Jenkins, Jackie Chandler, Tom Quint, Rich Scoggin, Irene Harlow, Lorita Spalding, Regina Houston, Rene Reid, Cynthia Swezey, Reba Jo Berland, Eunice Parent, Jennifer Pereos, Brad Tretten, Bud Brewer, Dottie Brewer, Mona Fleischmann, Lee Dunn, Linda Averett, Sharon Bahry, Donna Deroos, Virginia Jensen, Mel Edel-blute, Diane Bishoff, Robert Mix, Marge Mix, Luke Wooden, Cora Robey, Les

(Continued on page 14)

March 2011

March 2011

Balascoe, Maria Ernst, June Lucas, Jane Schwartz, John Swanson, Molly Rakestraw, Ann Little, Mike Mendel, Joanne Onstine-Dill, Grace Martin, Martin Sklar, Ron Haines, Michael Schwimmer, Jean Milner, Addie Wells, Jeannene LeVitre, Greg Foss, Roni Maktenieks, Don Logerwell, Ed Schwartz, Pat Peterson, Jim Peterson, Marlene Davis, Helene Spinner, Lillian Johnson, Mary Ryckebosch, Cherri Ross, Bobbi Kornbluth, Glen Artz, Carol Barr, Tyler Hart, Jackson Hart, John Young, Kelly Nott, Chris Watts, Evie Ale-meleh, Jayson Nott, Allison Patrin, Marjorie Quaglieri, Maria Judd, Bruce Judd, Steven Neufeld, Owen McCluny, and Nancy Blackwell. Congratulations to one and all. There were 10 entries in the January Swiss

Teams event. The winners were the team of Nels Erickson, Conrad Evans, Charlotte Falk and Lin Goldstein. The team of Joyce Brush, Loni Byloff, George Peterson and Cora Robey were first in B & C. There were two charity games in January.

The Jan. 11 game was won by Dave Dickey & Don Parsons; Jan. 19, Ed Plotsky & June Lucas. Unit members gave up watching the foot-

ball playoffs to play in the January unit game on Jan. 23. In addition to the normal goodies that unit members bring, Sheila Wimer brought a birthday cake for Lin Goldstein. I guess the cake was an omen of things to come, because Sheila Wimer & Lin Goldstein were first overall followed by: Charlotte Falk & Les Balascoe, Rich Scoggin & Dan Green. Nels Erickson & Conrad Evans, Sharon Bahry & Rick Weiss; 1B, David Weinberg & Richard Michelson; 2nd, Tom Howell & Paul Blumberg; 3rd, Joyce Remsen & Jackie Chandler; 4th, Mary Ryckebosch & Donna Deroos. The March unit game is on March 27.

There will also be a Swiss Teams game on March 20. The Reno April Showers Sectional will be

April 13-17 at the Nugget Resort and Ca-sino. The board is excited to announce that this year all 299er entries will be only $5.00 per session. We only need five 99er tables for a separate section; we’d love to see all of you there! Advance entries will be sold at the club starting mid March and each entry includes a raffle ticket for a great prize!

San FranciscoSan Francisco By Kim Fanady

T he San Francisco Winter Sectional in January was a rousing triumph! The tournament produced overflow

attendance; we actually had to turn away eager bridge players for lack of tables! Every aspect of the event, organization, food, partnerships, etc. ran like clockwork. Thanks to all the hardworking unit board members and volunteers who made it all happen, the directing staff who made it all run smoothly, and the legions of players who turned out in force. As usual, many Unit 506ers distinguished

themselves at the Winter Sectional. Victori-ous in the teams were: In the Flight A/X Swiss: Sid Lorvan, Don Friedman, Bob Ciszek, first overall; Steve Smolen, 5th overall, 3rd in X; Marion Robertson & Doug Keller, 7th overall, 4th in X; Rob Balas, Dan Kroll, Steve Kipperman, Kim Fanady, 5th in X. In the B/C/D Swiss: Eric Groves, Jeff Reid, Chris Friday, Jeanette Shinsako, 3rd overall; Sally Foster & Lil-iane Kirchoff, 6th overall; Maxine Sigel & Mary Souza, 8th overall. San Franciscans so thoroughly dominated

the pairs games that I only have space for the first place winners: Sat. side pairs, Jack Margid & Bob Byrum, first overall! Chris Friday, B; Sat. two session Open Pairs Alan Malloy, B, Liliane Kirchoff, C; Sat. side pairs, Steve Mostica & Jack Waters, C (and second overall); Sat. 99er Pairs, Linda Han-nawalt & Nancy Stretch, E & F; Sun. side pairs, Dorothy Taylor & Hinda Gilbert, first overall! Check online at www.d21acbl.com to see

the multitudinous Unit 506ers who made the overalls. Well played, all! This month’s unit game is a Swiss Teams

on March 19. The annual party and pairs

game honoring the unit’s Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs winners will be held next month, on April 16. All games are at the Masonic Temple, 850 Brotherhood Way, and all are welcome. QuickTricks will host the ACBL InterClub

Championship on Monday, March 7. Com-pete against clubs all over the ACBL and win lots of masterpoints for placing in the overalls. Become the third overall Inter-Club winner, number one in the ACBL, from QuickTricks! Quicktricks’ very popular Easybridge!

lesson series continues on, and it’s not too late to join. It’s a great way to start learning the game or to brush up those rusty skills from long ago. Go to the club website at www.quicktricks.org for the full schedule and details. Congrats to this month’s masterpoint lad-

der climbers: new Junior Master Michael Degarmo; Club Masters, Judy Baer, Tom Blean, Dorothy Taylor; Sectional Masters, Louis Golm, Susan Kolb; NABC Masters, Joe Kushner, Maxine Siegel. Good job all! Welcome as always to our new members:

Judith Duffy, Michael Held, Sari Staver, and Ted Wiles; and transfer: Joelle Benioff (San Mateo). Be sure to welcome these new folks when you meet them at the table. Like many little girls, I was horse crazy as

a child. Since I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, only a few hours from the Kentucky Bluegrass, my horse craziness was chan-neled into a lifelong love of Thoroughbred racing. So it is with great anticipation that your intrepid columnist rides off to the Spring NABC in Louisville to play some cards, visit a Thoroughbred farm or two, and hopefully celebrate some good results with a mint julep!

San Mateo/ San Mateo/ Redwood CityRedwood City

By Nancy Chapman

O ur members were busy at the bridge tables right after the holiday season. Notable achievements

were: Bill Heid, 1st in Tue. Swiss; Tiger Woods KO, Tom Quinlan & Janice Nakao placed 1st Bracket. II; Joel Steinberg, Ed Frymoyer, Arlie Lamb & Ed Hornung placed 2nd Bracket. III; Peter Klebofski, 1st Bracket. IV; Elise & Donald Stone, 1st B Luebkman KO; Yatindra Sahae, 1st A Swiss Team; Glenna Cook & Mary Key, 1st D/E Fri. 99er Pairs; Tony Baranski, 1st A Fri. Senior Pairs; Nancy Chapman, 1st B Sat. Lee Trevino side pairs; Glenna Cook & Mary Key, 1st D & E Fri. 99er; Dan Raider, 1st John Steinbeck KO, Bracket. II; Jennifer & Philip Kuhn, 1st A & B Thu, pairs. Members who attended earned a place of honor were Hugh Huff, Bruce Bishop, Jim and Arlene Van Ness, Nancy Finney, Nancy Lee, Hong-Yi Yang, Ted Richmond, Dariush Youssef, Mie Thiem-medh, Loretta Baines, Kate Talbot, Zak Mohammed, Carole Ringoen, Sharon Le-gallet, Gretchen Schmeeckle, Gordon Binder, Margaret Connor, Marcus Balling, Elise & Jeff Falk, Pat Galligan. At the San Francisco unit game Ayako

Narumi & Tomoko Hirata, 1st F in the Sat. I/N Pairs game; Robert Thomson, 1st I the 750/2000/+ Sat. pairs. In addition to those names already mentioned in the Monterey Regional, we saw Maureen Vasquez, Kal Aziz, Pat Wong, Debbie Weinstein, Olga Longstreet, Susan Cochran, Sara Rae Miller, Nancy Pappas, Art Quey, Robert & Lisa Bates, Andrew Hoskins, Hamish Ben-nett, David Hoffman, Lois Scott, Betty Count, Hal Kellerman, Robert Ipswitch, Joan Bodenlos, Jan Grove, Carol Knowles, Bob John, Ann Javer, Kazuko Miyabaya-shi, Eileen Battat, and Patty Michael. In the Hawaii Regional, Arlie Lamb, Ed

Frymoyer, Mie Thiemmedh, 4th Thu. Com-pact KO, Bracket 3. Gretchen Schmeeckle, Penny Bellamy & teammates, 3rd Wed.-Fri. KO, Bracket. IV. Don Doolittle & Ed Frymoyer, 1st Fri. side pairs Ed Frymoyer, 1st Sat. side pairs; Tony Baranski, 4th A Sat. side pairs. Congratulations! A very special congratulation goes to An-

drew Kridl in achieving the rank of Gold Life Master. The January Mentoring Game resulted in Sec. B N/S 1st, David & Gayle Rosenkranz; 2nd, Loretta Baines; E/W 1st, Miwako Litwin & Junko Funaki; 2nd, Ruth

Tuckman & Bob Johnson. Sec. E N/S 1st, Ray Sullivan & Marsha Eisner; 2nd, Gayle Hester & Norman Kalman; E/W 1st, Margery Pacchetti & Ed Hornung; 2nd, Pauline Rizzuti & Carolyn Gevurtz. We extend a special welcome to new

members: Judy Brumm; Ted & Lois Everett; Florence Glatt; Kathleen Messing; Marcia Pade; Rae Schmidt and Katherine Stamos. Welcome to Clifford Chernick and Subramanyam Chitti who just transferred into our unit. Hope to see you all soon at the tables.

Congratulations to new Junior Masters: Paula Gleason and Stacy Hollingsworth. New Club Masters: Peter Coebergh, Betty Count, David Crampton and Linda Duncan. New Sectional Masters: Sandra Tilch. New NABC Masters: Sharon Legallet. Until next time, be well.

Santa Clara ValleySanta Clara Valley By Ray Yuenger

T he Santa Clara Valley April Fools Sectional will be held beginning on Friday, April 1 through April 3.

You will find the schedule elsewhere in this paper. The wheels are in motion to relocate the

San Jose Bridge Center to 1300 White Oaks Road in early March. The unit is buy-ing 100 new chairs for the new location. If you would like to contribute $80 towards this purchase, you will receive a nontrans-ferable free play pass for all Monday eve-ning unit games for the rest of 2011. If you contribute $40, you will receive a similar pass through June 2011. I thank those who have already contributed. At the Monterey Regional, with section

and stratification tops in pairs games were Tony Glynne (70.23%), Manuela Marani, Don-Min Tsou & Y. Chen, Ken Imboden & Rekha Nirula, Will Watson, Jennifer Gu, Bob Ritz, Mervin & Shirley Falk, Michael O’Leary, Bill Reister & Bill Langlois, Ed

Barlow & Anne Boboricken (68.59%), T-C Yang & Stephen Tu and Rich Parsons. In the limited pairs, it was Sharon

Krawetz, Janet Dekker, Bob & Carole Woldstad, Robert Lee & Pat Wong, Karen Rice & Fred Brown, and Preston Kauk & Dorr Clark. On winning Knockout Teams were Morris

Chang; Brenna Wundram; Fran Dickman; Ben Bosklopper & Leon Lee; Tony Tre-baol; Chin & Melody Chao; Cheryl Man-dala & Yul Inn; Lyle Supp; Bob & Nancy Ward; and Rajeeva Sharma, Corinne Carter and Wilson Haddow. Prevailing on their Swiss Teams were: Jan

Kiernan & Patricia Yelvington; Stu Goodgold & Bob Ritz; and Chester Jahns and Andrzej Wierzbicki. Earning section and strat tops in pair

games at the San Francisco Sectional were Michael Bodell; Lynn Shannon & Lynn Yokel; Rajeeva Sharma & Corinn Carter; and Fran Dickman. The Lynns were second overall in a two-session game. At the Livermore Valley Sectional section

and strat tops in pairs games went to Mi-chael Fleisher & Mindy Foos and Fred Brown & Mary Williamson. Mike Cailean’s Swiss team placed first.

Topping their bracket were Manju & Raghu Agarwal and Susama & Amar Chunder. Congratulations to our newest Masters:

Elaine Gallun, Jillane Pope, Michael Vinyard (Junior); Jack Dyer, Robert Lee, Parul Mehta, Pat Wong (Club); Jim Iver-son, Tim Iverson, Joan Lynch, Mo Max-field (Sectional); Sona Bhambra, Judy Kap-lan, and Kathleen Weiman (Regional). And congratulations to Li-Chung Chen,

who placed first in the District 21 Flight A North American Pairs, with Will Watson right behind him, and Peter Freidland & Ed Barlow in third. First in Flight C were Ra-jeeva Sharma & Amar Chunder with Mi-chael Leitner in third. Please send corrections or news to ray-

yuenger@gmail.com

(Continued from page 10)

March 2011

Santa CruzSanta Cruz By Irma Andrews

O ur Rising Stars tournament for 299ers is just around the corner on March 19 & 20. We're moving this

year to a roomy, bright location at Harbor High School. There are 49er games for newcomers, and pairs and team games for all, with silver points and even trophies to be won. Jim Slinger will again be sharing some insights between sessions on Satur-day, and John Hadley will fire up his fa-mous BBQ. So mark your calendar and grab your favorite partner or call Ginger Stone if you need help finding a partner. Details are available on our website. St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and Mark

Hasey is donning his chef’s jacket again to provide a corned beef and cabbage dinner at 6:00 p.m. before his Thursday evening game, on March 17. Enjoy a free meal and bring a dish to share if you wish. The Monterey Clambake Regional was a

great way to start the New Year. More than seventy players from our unit went down the coast for Knockouts, Swiss Teams and pairs games. Don Seldeen accumulated the most points among our players. Don & Neil Smyth placed first in a Senior Pairs game. Ken & Shirley Llacera with Dick & Phyllis Wasserstrom were first in B, second in A in Swiss Teams. Other winners were Howard Feldstein and Harold Rogers in the C strat of Thursday Open Pairs, Ginger Stone & Rachael Spencer in a 299ers game, and Sam & Donna Badawi with Mary Simoni & Vee Duvall in the C group of Senior Teams. Top total point winners were Susan Slinger, with Jim Slinger not far behind, Neil Smyth and Tom Snouse. Later in January, Wayne Stuart and his

partner were first in an Open Pairs game at the San Francisco Sectional. They also won the most points at the tournament. Your 2011 board of directors has a new

member this year, Susan Slinger. She has

returned for her second stint as a board member and is the board secretary. Apart from her bridge life Susan has had

three other careers along the way. She taught junior high school English right after college and marriage. That was followed by a long stretch as a mother/homemaker/PTA volunteer. When the kids began needing her less she decided to replace tennis and vol-unteer work with law school and then she worked as a lawyer. Her mother had tried, unsuccessfully, to

interest Susan and her sister in bridge when they were kids. Finally, at a new high school, they both learned because their friends were playing. In college, bridge was a nice excuse not to study. Susan really got into duplicate when she

came to Santa Cruz. Newly widowed, she discovered Dolores's 99er game on Porter Street. Later she met Jim, a fine bridge player, and together they make an excellent pair. Like all good bridge players, Susan says she is still learning. Remember to have a look in the kitchen at

the Capitola club to see the new art display, the work of some of our talented members.

Santa RosaSanta Rosa By Randee Dimond

V iral concept: The “seven heart syn-drome,” to wit: the game is going along nicely through four rounds

when out of the corner of your ear you (and everyone else) hears a disembodied voice say, “Seven hearts is cold!” Now, the inno-cent board that was played in 4♥ or 6♥, making seven, suddenly begins to see grand slams bid and made over and over. And why did this happen? The optimum score was given as a gift to the remaining players. So, why don't we talk about results at the

table? I think this little story speaks vol-umes. January was a month full of good news,

first and foremost for Barbara & Lou Meola who got their coveted LM cards. Then,

there was the rogue's gallery of winners in Monterey; too numerous to mention; see the centerfold from last month's Forum or visit the fabulous results on line. So many players did us proud in Monterey as did Patty Hertz, Richard Zalenski, Lee Grams & John Vion who were happy in Hawaii, walking away with a bracket win. Congratulations to all above and to our

club winners headed by Kathy Venton & Dave Pankratz who scored a 70+% game on New Year's Day. Also in that exclusive club are Erwin Linzer & Larry Hansen and Evelyn Holtz & Bruce Emmons. Flight C players winning an open game

were Sue Snow & Oak Sawyer and Gloria Hersch & Abbe Cohen. Unit game winners were Mark Hersko & Joanne Pransky and Jackie Ortiz & Peggy Leiser. What a way to start the year! Our other club winners are Steve Hundley,

Ramona Haller, Jane Wahler, Lee Grams, Barry Samuel, Margaret Ewald, Mimi Arm-strong, Eleanor Wales, Susan Campbell, Michael Nistler, Shirley Blum, Elise Hen-derson, Debbie Tesler, Rose Marie John-son, Tom Gee, Tim Coshow, Lynn Don-dero, Carl Tillmanns, Steve Bearg, Chris Flindt, John Richardson, Larry Borsian, Jerry Scoville, Ken Green, Bill Stead, Ira Golditch, Chris & Bob Evans, Paul Scheinberg, Sara Rothmuller, Larry Wyner, Carol Zocchi, Sally Jamison, Kathy Juarez, Gordon Larsen, Ron McEwan, Andy Hol-royd -Sills, Patricia Gittings, Gary Robin-son, Howard Jacobs, Linn Erickson, Car-lene & John Reininga, Lynn Blumenthal, Ann Slater, Donna Edwards, Fred Blatt, Joanne Argyres, Bob Klein, Jennifer Jones, Arlene Place, Kay Ritter, Larry Ruff, Hazel Garlick, Nancy Johnson, Richard Zalenski, Betty Riley & Jim Huhn. Congratulations to all. Coming events include Nancy Gunn's Ba-

rometer game on March 12. It's all about attitude and if you don't know what I mean, sign up immediately. Those of you who remember past Barometers know they are

fun and educational. The unit game is Sun-day, 3/13 and our ever-popular Santa Rosa Sectional is March 26-27. Saturday is pairs day and Sunday is teams and our spectacu-lar lunch courtesy of Jackie Ortiz and com-pany. We look forward to seeing you there. Kathy Venton can help fulfill your partner-ship wishes. Call her at 707 591-5015. For other information, call Larry Borsian

at 707 658-2284. Always keep an eye on the bulletin board to see what's coming up. Finally: Hail to the new chief! Mary

Omodt is our new unit board of directors president.

South CountySouth County By Jim Solomon

A fter six years as president of our board of directors, Mary Ramos relinquished her position in order

to spend more time with her family. During this time Mary was also the co-chair of our annual Hot August Sectional, and for all the time, energy, and strong leadership we are all decidedly grateful to her. Mary will con-tinue to serve on the board and remain our ACBL electronic contact/coordinator. Mary has been succeeded as president by

Jan Hollowell. I and many other members of our unit are pleased and excited by Jan’s ascension to the presidency. Charlie Conrad is our new board vice-president, and Marilyn Tott and Carla Francis are continu-ing in their offices of secretary and treas-urer, respectively. Jan will remain the unit’s membership chairperson, but she’s handing off the responsibility of coordinating our many unit games to Susan Lampert. We’ve also had a change in management

in two of our clubs. For health reasons Bill Hodges is relinquishing his Fremont BC at Centerville and the Bridge Club at Ashland. Barbara Dabney has already assumed the reins of the former, and Charlie Conrad has expressed his interest in doing the same at Ashland. The players at both clubs are grateful to Bill for his steady management

March 2011

and are looking forward to great things from Barbara and Charlie. Special Club and Unit Games Coming Up:

Feb. 26: Tri-City BC: ACBL Junior Fund championship. Feb. 28: Fremont BC: club championship; Redwood BC: ACBL Senior Pairs championship. Mar. 3: Hayward Easybridge! Club: C.C. Mar. 8: Marina BC: unit championship; Fremont Easybridge! Club: U.C. Mar. 10: HEC: ACBL Interna-tional Fund championship. Mar. 12: TCBC: C.C. Mar. 15: FEC: ACBL-wide charity championship. Mar. 24: HEC: ACBL Edu-cational Foundation championship. Mar. 26: TCBC:ACBL E.F.C. Swiss Teams. Apr. 8: Unit 500 Lasagna Pairs U.C. Notable Recent Tournament Perform-

ances: Monterey Clambake Regional: Win-ning events and/or flights: Richard Feinberg & Kunio Okui; Kevin Schoenfeld; Bill Beeson, Sherard Wood, Nuno Rebelo & Vicky Santos; Prakash Karamchandani. Also bringing home points were: Margaret

Halland; Jim Solomon; Steve & Colette Castellino; Morrie Pakulis; Charlie Conrad & Bob Hamilton. Bringing home points from the Hawaii Regional were: Charlie & Ann Conrad, Bob Hamilton & Valerie Byrne. From the Livermore Valley Sec-tional: Winning were: Marty Holtz & Mor-rie Pakulis; Virginia Herring, Vince De Pasquale, Bill Hodges; Charlie & Ann Con-rad, Bill Beeson, Bob Hamilton; Arnold & Cynthia George, Joanne Baumgardner, Jonathan Sloves, Jean Wood, Charlie Tonelli. Also finishing: Jim Solomon, Jan Hollowell, Mary Ramos, Rajan Jeyakumar, Venkat Sivasankaran, Richard Feinberg, Kunio Okui, and Jim Kelsey; Welcome to Our Fold: Three more of our

Easybridge! players have joined ACBL: Carol Alliger of Alameda, Terry Gardner of Castro Valley, and Rita Miller of Fremont. Drayton Swartz of Castro Valley has also joined recently, and Charlie Roberts of Liv-ermore has transferred to South County from Unit 501. Welcome to you all! Moving up the Masterpoint Ladder: Con-

gratulations to Joanne Baumgardner, who’s now a Sectional Master. Members on the Mend: Sherard Wood

suffered a transient ischemic attack in late January and was at home for a week or so after his brief hospitalization, but happily it doesn’t seem to’ve affected his bridge game (see the results above for the NLM section of our recent Unit 500 Pizza Swiss Teams game). Passing On: We in South County have

been saddened by the recent deaths of two of our longtime players, Lucille Perry and Joyce de Roco. Lucille, who entertained many of us with her delightfully naughty sense of humor, had moved away from the Bay Area a few years ago to be of support to her son with his illness; she passed away in December from her own illness. Joyce was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in No-vember and staged a brave battle against it for some two months before succumbing in late January. Joyce had an intense passion for not only bridge but life in general and was a strong presence in the lives of her family and friends. She took both pride in and care about her appearance and was always elegantly turned out at our games. Lucille and Joyce were both former part-ners of each other and also of mine in my early duplicate days, and I learned many valuable things from them. I’m joined by many members of our unit and players in our games who are deeply saddened by their passing and will miss them. StocktonStockton

By Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal

H old the press! Looks like there is gonna be a new weekly game in town. Club favorites, Mort Horn

and Dennis Del Paine, are hosting a Tues-day night game at 6:00 p.m. Their go-to gal is Maryanne Sievers at 209 759-3898. Each

week there will be a review of select hands after the play. And the game will be handi-capped to level the playing field. We all want to support this game so grab your partner and save the date. Additionally, we are now listed in 411

information: Bridge Center in Stockton, Calif. Phone number is 209 838-8994. We are located at 6235 Harrisburg Place. West on Douglas off Pershing. White strip center next to the beauty shop. No sign above the door. January was a busy month with so many of

us traveling to the Monterey Clambake Regional. We ran into a lot of players from our unit as well as neighboring clubs. Congratulations to Rio Vista player, Sue

Vogtlin for making Life Master. She and Marlene Mohr won nine gold points by placing 1st C & B, 3rd in A & 5th Over All in the Senior Pairs. Other locals on hand included Director

Howard Parker, Jerry & Darlene Barnes, Lorna Crooks, Peggy & Ron Rose, our Dis-trict Rep. Marilyn Minden, Margie Erardi, Rose Knutson & moi. Traveling cross coun-try (all the way from Houston) to play with their parents Susan Barnes and David Crooks. David & Lorna Crooks placed well enough

to come home with 11 gold points after just two days; while Jerry & Susan Barnes made new friends in the Novice game. Rose Knutson & I struck a wee bit of gold

in Senior Pairs at 1.5 and smidge of red as we slowly nudge our way toward L.M. Our district rep. Marilyn Minden along

with Sally Wheeler, District 21 hospitality chair, hosted a friendly, tasty Hospitality Suite all throughout the Monterey tourna-ment. Kudos to you both for all of the hard work and delicious goodies. Stockton unit game on Sunday, January 16

didn’t break attendance records but those of us there played a tough round. Topping the leader board Sherri Cohen & Richard Bian-chi, 2nd Rose Knutson & Ricky Elin, 3rd Margie Erardi & me. Great potluck too. You know you have all been asked to

come and play with us. So we’d really like you to make it sometime. For the 11:30 Monday game check in with

Ricky Elin: 209 472-7919. Tuesday night

6:00 call Maryanne Sievers at 209 759-3896; Mort Horn: 209 607-6437; Dennis Del Paine 209 601-7069. Friday’s 11:30 game with Ron Magin: 209 888-4116. As a courtesy, always let the directors

know you are coming. That way they can match out the pairs to avoid sit-outs and if you need a partner call the directors the day before. It is impossible to pull a partner out of the sky. Especially one that would com-pliment your game and help you win some points.

Turlock/MercedTurlock/Merced

By George Loscalzo

T his reporter is finally back in Merced having dodged quite a few big snow storms during my sojourn

to Pennsylvania; my luck held out, because the day I flew back to California was sunny everywhere; then the double blizzard hit the East! The player of the month for Sweet Bridge

was Dennis Northern, who amassed 5.78 masterpoints; Margaret Quinn was the top A player and Jim Higgins was the top B player . On Wednesday, January 19, Dennis & Jim turned in the high game for the month at 69,05%! The Monday player of the month was Jim

Higgins; section leaders were: 1/03: Judy Smith & Dee Heller; 1/10: Judy Westerberg & Art Konecny; 1/24: Ray Adams & Mar-garet Quinn; 1/31: Jack and Lenore Ellery. The Wednesday player of the month was

Dennis Northern; section leaders were: 1/12 & 1/19: Jim Higgins & Dennis Northern; 1/26: Larry Sweet & Mike Modest. The Friday player of the month was Joan

Perkins; section leaders were: 1/07: Joann Solga & Joan Perkins; Gary Smith & Larry Sweet; 1/14: Judy Lang & Joyce Couy-ghran; Ed Thiner & Dave Terry; 1/21: Betty Brown & Margaret Quinn; Joan Per-kins & Bob Ransom; 1/28: Zeb Davis & Joyce Coughran; Ed Thiner & Dave Terry. Sweet Bridge will have club champion-

ships on Monday, March 15, and on Friday, March 19. That's all, folks.

Bruce —Continued from page 1

sive topic for another article.) We have to recognize that masterpoints are

a valuable marketing tool, in some respects the best one we have. Virtually all of our players (with the exception of those who are about to cross a flighting threshold) want more masterpoints. In a way, this debate is the product of the

schism between lofty idealism and raw practicality. While in theory it would be wonderful to have rankings that would al-low some Seasoned Veterans to play in a lower flight, in practice we cannot let our desire for inclusiveness (of a small minor-ity) defeat that very desire. V. "Selling Masterpoints" Argument

I want to address another topic. There have been some complaints that ACBL

is just "selling masterpoints." I think this is a misplaced criticism. We are not selling masterpoints; rather, the League is in the entertainment business, the same as the film industry, tour companies, Broadway, or the NFL. ACBL plans, organizes, and operates tournaments, and provides regulations, sites, equipment, directors, scoring, and publications. Sometimes, there might be lectures, beverages, food, and/or companion entertainment, along with the tournament. ACBL is providing these facilities and ser-vices so there is a pleasurable, entertaining experience. (Recall all those signs we see in the clubs: "Remember, it's only a game. You and your partner are both supposed to have a good time?") And, one element of that entertainment

experience is masterpoints: awarding, tabu-lating, and maintaining them. And we are addicted to them like chocolate. Few experienced players think that master-

points are a reflection of current ability. They are a measure to some degree of ex-perience and/or longevity, which may have a correlation, but not a direct one-to-one correlation with development or maturity in the game. Masterpoints do not reflect cur-rent ability, and to a great degree, that is indeed a benefit. Amazing, revolutionary, heretical, you say? Yes, the fact that master-

points do not reflect current ability is a benefit. How so? Chess, for example, has a current

rating system. But the system is flawed be-cause it discourages frequent play. Not feel-ing well? Have a mild cold? Up too late last night? Dog ate your shoe? Cut yourself shaving? Not wanting to lose to an inferior player, the chess player finds excuses to stay home. The chess current ranking sys-tem motivates players not to compete; they play when they perceive themselves to be in top form, to harbor their rankings. Masterpoints on the other hand are only

positive. You never lose them. No matter how far off your game is, your rank never falters. The top 40% get masterpoints; the rest go home empty handed, but no worse off rank-wise for the outing.

VI. An Unresolved Issue

F inally, my impressions regarding this interesting and complex issue are

evolving. Although I am wary of the dan-gers of current ratings, I hear and appreciate the plights and wishes of both the Seasoned Veterans and the Young Hotshots. These groups have valid concerns; however, my current opinion is that we cannot allow small segments to strip the League of its success. And there is already an unofficial ranking system in play, although it has no effect on event flighting or bracketing. (If you are interested in how one group is

taking ACBL data and generating power ratings, I recommend you look at:www. coloradospringsbridge.com/pr_files/pr.htm). The ACBL Board is still considering

whether a current ranking system should be implemented, and if so, with all the parame-ters involved, how ratings would be com-puted. It is an issue that no doubt will be discussed again at ACBL Board meetings in Louisville in March, in Toronto in July, and in Seattle in November. I welcome your views. Please send com-

ments or suggestions to: bruceblakely@earthlink.net