APRIL 2018

ACBL UNIT 505 SACRAMENTO

Highlights In This Issue

Unit Game SBC April 8

Spring Sectional

ORANGEVALE Comm. Ctr May 4-6

Philadelphia NABC

Team OSMO & Friends

Bridgeworks Swiss Team Game April 10

Folsom Bridge Center Classes Begin in April

Table of Contents

Page 2 President’s Message

Page 3 Unit Game April 8

Page 4 Spring Sectional

Page 5 199’r Table

Page 6 New Rankings

Page 7-8 Folsom Bridge Center

Page 9 Foothill Bridge Center

Page 10 Sun City Lincoln Hills

Page 11 Bridge Works Club

Page 12-19 Sacramento Bridge Club

Page 20-22 Team OSMO-Philadelphia

NABC

District 21 Reps Katherine Ewing, Pres. 916 395-1987 turtle7nt@att.net

Dave Willmott Tournament Chair 916-709-8958 dwillmott@yahoo.com

Newsletter Created by MoraBeyondMarketing.com 11230 Gold Express Dr. #310-187 Gold River, CA 95670

E-mail: emorab@comcast.net Phone: 916 635-5234

Katherine Ewing President 916-395-1987 turtle7nt@att.net Ed Estberg Vice President 916-488-7865 eestberg@winfirst.com Jim Coke Secretary 530-409-3361 jcoke@yahoo.com Margaretha Logus-Audit / Treasurer 916 966-4296 logusa@sbcglobal.net Sam Sandusky Education, co-Tournament Ch. 916 705-5557 samelayne@gmail.com Harry Struthers Marketing/Membership 916 977-0478 hstrut9392@yahoo.com Pat Ingoglia Membership/Parliamentarian 916-456-3343 patingoglia@hotmail.com Miriam Steinberg Publicity/Partnerships 916 971-4947 mirsteinbergsac@gmail.com Marc Grunseth Partnership 916 971-3988 mrgrunseth@aol.com Sharon Neff-D21 Rep 916 543-8897 Neffsm@aol.com Craig Stalker 916 337-7608 cstalk@sbcglobal.net

Katherine Ewing, President Unit 505 Board of Directors

April showers bring May flowers . . . One way to stay dry and have a little fun is playing bridge at one of the local bridge clubs. Hope to see you there, not only on rainy days but also on cloudy or sunny days, too.

Overall winners of the last Unit Game were: 1. Dave Willmott / Nancy Cook 2. Gary Soules / Jan Soules 3. Judi Callaham / Rich Perry

Congratulations to them and all of you who attended and earned points. Remember it only takes 3 tables (6 pairs) to have a separate section for those under 500 points. Please attend our next Unit Game on April 8th, at the Sacramento Bridge Center.

There was no Board meeting in March. We will have one this month at 9:30 a.m. before the Unit Game at the Sacramento Bridge Center. These are open Meetings, so if you are curious, please stop by and have a listen.

Our Sectional is coming soon, May 4th – 6th. It is never too early to plan on attending and spreading the word for folks to attend. It will be at the Orangevale Community Center. Flyers are out, so please take a look and plan on attending as many sessions as you can.

Any new player to the ACBL and our Unit should have received a letter welcoming you. There is a coupon in it to use at a Unit Game, so please use it. Remember Unit games give more points than a club game so if you need points this is a nice way to get them.

See you at the bridge table, Katherine

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Games include:

Stratified Pairs A/1500+, B/1500-750,

C/750-0 / or by attendance

Separate NLM Game (under 300 pts)

with 3 or more tables

SUNDAY, April 8, 2018 Sacramento Bridge Center

Cost $10

Pot Luck Lunch 11:30 am—Game at Noon

For Partnerships call:

Miriam Steinberg 916 971-4947

mirsteinbergsac@gmail.com Or ask at the partnership desk Director:

Ted Muller

See website for details at: www.

playbridgesacramento.org

LOCATION

Sacramento Bridge Center 2035 Hurley Way

Sacramento, CA 95825 Ph: 916 925—6322

Sacramento Unit 505 2018 Spring Sectional

Friday, Saturday & Sunday

May 4th, 5th & 6th

Friday, May 4th only

9:30 am Non Life Master Seminar

Presenter TBD

Friday, May 4th

10:30 am and 3:00 pm

2 Session Open Pairs Strats: 2500+ / 1000-2500 / 0-1000

2 Single Session Side Pairs:

Strats: 2500+ / 1000-2500 / 0-1000

2 Single Session Non Life Master Pairs:

Strats: 200-500 / 100-200 / 0-100 No one over 500 MPs may play

Saturday, May 5th

10:30 am and 3:00 pm

2 Session Open Pairs: Strats: 2500+ / 1000-2500 / 0-1000

2 Single Session Open Pairs:

Strats: 2500+ / 1000-2500 / 0-1000

2 Single Session Non Life Master Pairs:

Strats: 200-500 / 100-200 / 0-100 No one over 500 MPs may play

Sunday, May 6th

10:30 am Play Through (mid-game break for lunch) Game over around 5:30 pm

2 Session A/X Swiss Teams: Strats: 4000+/0-4000

2 Session B/C/D Swiss Teams: 1000-2500 / 500-1000 / 0-500

No one over 2500 MPs may play

10:30 am Single Session 299er

Swiss Teams

Strats: 200-300/50-200/0-50 No one over 300 MPs may play

Entries $12 per Session Unpaid & Non-members $15

Results Daily at Playbridgesacramento.org

and at ACBL Live

Tournament Chair

Dave Willmott 916-709-8958

dwillmott@yahoo.com

Co-Chair Marc Grunseth 919-971-3988

mrgrunseth@aol.ccm

Hospitality Chair Sharon Neff

Unit 505 welcomes you with coffee, tea and snacks

Friday, Saturday and Sunday Sandwich Lunch available Daily

Partnerships

Miriam Steinberg Cell: 916-607-4947

mirsteinbergsac@gmail.com Or at the partnership desk

Director in Charge Diane Barton Payne

Master point awards are silver Sanction # S1805080

Suggested Hotels: Hawthorn Inn, Rancho Cordova

Hwy 50 and Hazel Avenue Tel: 916-351-9152

Lake Natoma Inn, Old Town Folsom

Tel: 916-351-1500

All Events Use Pair/Team Averages All Strats may be adjusted

by the Director Based upon attendance A Zero Tolerance Event

Please avoid wearing perfumes and fragrances that may cause allergic

reactions in others.

Orangevale Community Ctr 6826 Hazel Avenue

A "cuebid" is a bid of the opponent's suit. This is not the same as a "control" bid as in this auction:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1 Pass 3 Pass

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We should use the term "cuebid" only when bidding a suit which the opponents have bid.

These cuebids come in many flavors, the main ones being:

Michaels Cuebid

This popular convention uses the following scheme:

WEST NORTH

1 2 MAJORS

1 2 MAJORS

1 2 +minor

1 2 +minor

Cuebid after our takeout double:

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH

1 Double Pass 2

South can't want to play in clubs (he could have passed the double). This bid shows a good hand with no clear direc-tion. Partnerships need to discuss how high this bid is forcing. More articles

Your place for events, lessons and recognition of achievements!

Welcome!

199’rs are IMPORTANT to our Unit!

Each club has daily open and stratified

games.

199’r games are:

Folsom Bridge Center Tuesday, 10:10 am Wednesday, 9:00 am Thursday, 11:00 am Fridays, 9:00 am

Foothill Bridge Center Wednesday Non-Life Masters (0-500) 10:00 am Thursday Non-Life Masters (0 - 500) 10 am

Sacramento Bridge Center 299’r Tuesday, 11:00 am 299’r Saturday, Noon

Go to: www. playbridgesacramento for more information.

Club Championship and Unit Games award

more points!

RACE FOR THE POINTS!

Mini-McKinney top 3 in each category 3-6-18:

0-5 Jane Plocher 5.61 Jane Blum 3.72 Alice Woodside 3.42 5-20 Judy Orchard 20.92 Kasondra Gerth 10.40 Geri Douglas 9.09 20-50 Rona Sherriff 11.92 James Sherriff 11.03 Mike Edelstein 8.37 50-100 Julie Chenu 10.72 Dana Daugherty 8.98 Dana Daugherty 2.76 100-200 Takwah Tsang 19.49 Gary McCormick 18.47 George Han 14.42

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CUEBIDS

Here 4 shows the ace or king (or a singleton or void) in diamonds and slam interest.

Published 7-15-17

NEW SECTIONAL MASTER Joseph Albert

NEW CLUB MASTERS Dianne Conforti

Catherine Curran Geri Douglas Mary Fahel

James Monnin Judy Orchard

NEW JUNIOR MASTERS Betsy Jennings Ray Lindstrom Jane Plocher Annette Ruby

Alice Woodside

NEW SAPPHIRE LIFE MASTERS Steve Kolodney

Teri Smoot

NEW GOLD LIFE MASTER Stanley Shamitz

NEW RUBY LIFE MASTERS Bill Allgood

Susan Savage Jack Uppal

NEW SILVER LIFE MASTER

Richard Pankopf

NEW NABC MASTER Kathy Van Sickle

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Special Dates for April 2018

April 1st Easter Sunday Closed!

April 3rd Taco Tuesday Club Championship!

April 5th Thursday NLM Pairs

April 8th Sunday SBC Pot Luck Unit Game

FBC Closed!

April 12th Thursday NLM Pairs

April 15th Sunday *Mentor/Mentee Pairs

April 18th Wed. Club Championships 11 & 5:30

April 19th Thursday NLM Pairs

April 22nd Sunday NLM Pairs w/ Lesson

April 26th Thursday Pot Luck Swiss Teams

April 28th Saturday Hot Dogs & Chili

April 29th Sunday *Coaching NLM Pairs

*Advanced Sign-ups required. If you sign up, show up!

Bridge Classes Resume After Easter

More Commonly Used Conventions will begin on

Tuesday, April 10th and on Wednesdays,

beginning April 11th, both Beginning Bridge and

Defense will be offered

All Classes are 2:30-5.

(Stay on Weds. for the NLM game at 5:30)

$79 for 9 Lessons (Classes are free to those who have

prepaid them in the past.) Drop-ins $10; Books $15

Sign Up at the Club or call

Susan Haynie: 916-212-9130

Ongoing Lessons by Al Beckner:

Tuesdays at 10:15 Free Open Forum

Fridays 9-10:30 Playing the Hand, $5 No partners needed for any lessons.

NLM Games: April 15th, M/M & April 29th Coaching Sundays

All Weds. 5:30 pm (includes a light dinner)

Thursdays, April 5th, 12th & 19th

at 11 am

(last Thursday, April 26th, will remain

Pot Luck Swiss, as usual.)

And Fridays at 11 am following the lesson,

$5 with 2 or more tables

As well as any day there are 2+ tables

NLM Pairs w/ lesson Sun. April 22nd

*Mentor/Mentee Sunday April 18th

Coaching Sunday April 25th

*Advance sign-ups required. If you sign up, show up!

Game Times

Monday through Friday: 11 am Open Pairs

Thursdays 11 am NLM Games

(Last Thursday Pot Luck Swiss, as usual.)

(Fri. Open & NLM game w/2+ tables)

Sat.(Open) and Sun. (Special Games): 12 Noon

Wednesday afternoon NLM: 5:30 pm

Call the Center for partnerships &

See Website for Calendar

8680 Greenback Ln., Suite 107

In the California Family Fitness Center

Phone: 916-353-1139

Email: folsombridge@gmail.com

Website: bridgewebs.com/folsombridge

Pot Luck Swiss Team Champions! February 22nd

Bill Allgood, Bill Martin with Bob Donaldson & Bob Null

Score: 55

Folsom Bridge Center is a Mutual

Benefit Non Profit Corporation

Nellie Curdy’s Birthday Party!

On Wednesday, March 28th we held Nellie Curdy’s 98th

Birthday party! Congratulations!!

* * *

Notes:

Pot Luck Swiss is last Thursday of every month,

as usual: April 26th

* * * Regular Game Price is $10. Includes lunch.

All old tickets will be honored at $10.

Masterpoint/Charity Week was March 4th - 10th

We Raised $456 for Twin Lakes Food Bank!

The Raffle Prize Winners were:

Karen Nelson won the $100 bill.

Jack Blyskal won the $75 Gift Certificate to Scott’s Seafood as well

as the $40 Gift Certificate to Waves Hair Salon (for his wife!).

Jackie Hutton & Jeremy Maurer won their choice of art

from the Feb./March Art Wall (Photography by Dave Willmott).

Bob Houghton won the 10 Free Plays.

Regan Johnson won the 6 Bottles of Wine from Nelson Vineyards.

And Linda Steffan won the Set of 6 Larry Cohen Books.

A total of 167.80 Masterpoints were awarded during the week!

The top MP winners that have their names on the 2017 plaque are:

From Monday - A Joanne Merry & John Jefferson

B Norm Bessette & Bob Shiner

C Susan Haynie & Charles Smith

From Tuesday - A Dick Wilson & Marvin Arnold

B Bill Allgood & Dennis Uthe

C Jim Kraus & Charles Smith

From Wednesday A.M. - A Gary Soules & Bill Sanford

B Hildie Kroeger & Bob Houghton

From Wednesday P.M. - A Charles Peer & Dan Humphries

B Lou Ann Wiles & Ron Hoffman

From Friday - A, B & C Jim & Susan Haynie

From Saturday - A Dave Willmott & Judi Callaham

B Bill Robertson & Elizabeth Smith

C Cynthia Fredrickson & Kathryn Le Gro

From Sunday’s Unit Charity Gme - A Dave Willmott & Nancy Cook

B Dennis Uthe & Ginny Curtis

C Janice Levin & Nancy Fisher

* * *

SAVE THE DATE!

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Welcome New Foothillers

David Davis

Cecilia Finch

Karen Killackey

Margaret Lockwood

Robin Renfrew

The Foothill Bridge Center

Barry Wold, Manager Foothill Bridge Center,

236950 4050 Durock Rd, Shingle

Springs CA 95682 www.bridgewebs.com/

foothillbridge 530 391-3743

Partnership

Barry Wold 530 391-3743 Sandy Wold 530 906-8506

*Requires you to sign-up with mgeldorado@gmail.com*

April 6, Friday 6:30 pm ACBL Membership Game

April 16, Monday Noon Open Pairs, Club Championship

April 22, Sunday 1 pm Swiss Teams Game

April 25, Wednesday 6:30 pm Open Pairs Unit Level Game

March Swiss team winners: L to R Al Farrar, Suzi Bogan, Bill Taggart, Jim Coke. And no, I didn’t make a mistake, this team has won 2 months in a row! Way to go, guys!

Good news! Sandy Wold is recovering from neck surgery nicely. Hope to have her back at the table soon! Good to see John Dutton doing well and back at the bridge table!

Thank you to Jim Coke for submitting this month’s Foothill news in Barry Wold’s absence. He says the competition has been cutthroat this past month – no 70% games! In fact we’ve gone a bit the other way – on Friday the 16th, the winning score was a tie at only 54% by 2 A pairs and two B pairs tied with 52%. Considering it was only a 3 table game, it was a real rarity, in that master points were paid to 2/3 of the players!!

SUN CITY LINCOLN HILLS DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB by Lynne White

The SCLH duplicate bridge club is an invitational club with games open to residents of Sun City and their invited guests. Our games are played in the Kilaga Springs Lodge on Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m., (includes a 199er sec-tion), Fridays at 5:00 p.m., and Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. (includes a 299er section). Our game table fees for non-members who are invited guests are $5.00. For additional information about our club, please visit the club website: www.bridgewebs.com/lincolnhills.

Is it true that April Showers bring May flowers? April isn’t a rainy month across the United States and flow-ers begin blooming a lot sooner than May in many parts of the U.S. It turns out, the saying originates in the United Kingdom where it can be pretty soggy in the spring. Lucky for bridge players! April is great weather to play! Our Lincoln Hills Bridge Club players come out in all weather.

THE LIFESTYLE EXPO, FEBRUARY 27TH Our Club participated in the Lifestyle Expo at Orchard Creek. We can’t thank our Association enough for such a great opportunity to participate. Because of their terrific staff, we were able to have our Club reach out to the community. Our committee of 4, Lynne White, Sharon Duley, Sue Schmidt and Sandy Sullivan had so much fun. We worked hard to organize our tables and worked even harder to introduce our Club. We had time before the crowd arrived for a quick picture.

ROSEVILLE EXCHANGE, March 9th Every year we host Sun City Roseville for a brunch and an afternoon of bridge. This has been a long standing tradition between our two Clubs. It’s a day when we get to visit with our friends from Roseville. Our social committee works hard to make it a special day. Of course, the bridge is fun, but our social time with Roseville is what the day is all about.

LINCOLN HILLS BRIDGE DAY, MAY 9TH Our next social event will be something NEW for all the bridge clubs in Lincoln Hills. Here are the details: All bridge players are invited, Duplicate and Social Bridge players This will be held in Orchard Creek Lodge with a brunch at 10:30 and bridge to follow. Reserve a spot for this amazing and fun game. Call Joanna for Social Bridge 10

QUESTIONS?

Contact Manager/Director Joe Blackford at:

bridge-works16@gmail.com

CLICK HERE for Game Results

PARTNERSHIP DESK:

Contact Joe Blackford at:

916.206.0313

GAME LOCATION

Granite Springs Church Main Conference Room

1170 E. Joiner Pkwy Lincoln, CA 95648

TUESDAY GAME Sign in 11:00 Game 11:30

SWISS TEAM GAMES Bridge Works will be hosting two Swiss Team Games during 2018, the first on Tuesday, April 10th. Please start forming your teams for a special day of bridge!

Entries are to be submitted NO LATER than Tuesday, April 3rd.

The day will begin with a lunch PROVIDED by Bridge Works at 11 am, along with the usual snacks and beverage. Swiss Team games usually require slightly more playing time, so we would hope to get the actual game started by 11:30 am. The game will have three stratified sections based on the total average MPS of the four players as follows; A = 4000+ MPS, B = 1000 - 3999 MPS and C = 0 - 999 MPS. Hopefully, each stratification will only participate against other teams within their respective groups!

So what about the Bucks ($$$$)? In addition to lunch and bridge, Bridge Works will reward the winning team members, in each stratification, free play certificates to any future game of their choice. Imagine having all this for a very nominal entree fee of $10 per player! Should any pair be in need of partners, or for further information, please contact Joe Blackford at <bridgeworks16@gmail.com>.

DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!!!

Bridge Works ACBL Unit 505

Lincoln, CA

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With entries closing on April 3rd, please get your teams submitted to Bridge Works, as soon as possible. We currently have 18 teams that have entered and are in need of several players and pairs that wish to play in our "B" and "C" stratifications. Please contact Joe Blackford at bridgeworks16@gmail.com for any further information.

John Hughes

Charles Smith

SUNDAY - 12 p.m. Stratified Open Pairs Ted Muller, Director 916 359-6688 ted@winfirst.com

MONDAY - 11 a.m. Stratified Open Pairs & Invitational Pairs John Hughes, Director 916 965-7695 Ojoy24u@aol.com

TUESDAY - 11 a.m. Stratified Open Pairs & 199'er Pairs Albert Chow, Director 916 878-7566 albertchow@sbcglobal.net

WEDNESDAY - 11 a.m. Stratified Open Pairs & Invitational Pairs Albert Chow, Director 916 878-7566 albertchow@sbcglobal.net

Albert Chow

Carl Oeser

WEDNESDAY - 6:30 pm Stratified Open Pairs

Carl Oeser 916-241-6155

carl.oeser50@gmail.com

THURSDAY - 11 a.m.

Stratified Open Pairs Ali Topcu, Director

916 925-6322 havut@yahoo.com

THURSDAY - 6:30 p.m.

Stratified Open Pairs Charles Smith, Director

916 967-1105 smithec@pacbell.net

FRIDAY - 11 a.m. Stratified Open Pairs &

Invitational Pairs Albert Chow, Director

SATURDAY - 12 p.m. Stratified Open Pairs

Ali Topcu, Director 299’r Pairs-John Hughes, Dir

Ted Muller

Ali Topcu

2035 Hurley Way, Suite 270 916-925-6322

Confused? We’ve got you covered!

BIDDING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

INSTRUCTOR- JIM BOWMAN

Tuesday, February 13th, 10:00 am—Noon

CLASS HELD IN THE LESSON ROOM

AT SACRAMENTO BRIDGE CENTER

2035 HURLEY WAY – SUITE 270

This class is designed for

BEGINNING STUDENTS

wanting to learn bridge or

refresh their bidding skills.

Some of the SUBJECTS COVERED are:

Hand Valuation

Points needed to open 1 NT

Responding to 1 NT

Rebids by both Opener & Responder

Overcalls & Takeout Doubles

JIM BOWMAN:

Phone: C 916-599-1842 – H 916-359-0161

E-mail: bowmanplaza@aol.com

Sunday April 1 EASTER—Bridge Center Closed Sunday, April 8 Noon Unit Game at SBC—Potluck! Tuesday, April 17 11:00 am Club Championship—Open & 299’er Friday, April 20 11:00 am Club Championship—Open & Invitational Monday, April 23 11:00 am Club Championship—Open & Invitational Wednesday, April 25 6:30 pm Club Championship

Here are the 2 quilts by Jan Soules now on display at SBC:

Jan calls this quilt, "Wine Country". It is 46” W and 47” L. June 2012

“Total Eclipse of the Sun” by Jan Soules, February 2014 This quilt is 67 “ wide and 77 1/2 “ long.

Come and see these quilts at the UNIT GAME on APRIL 8th at Sacramento Bridge Center!

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NEW CLASS Advanced Beginners and Intermediates

Two Over One Bidding System

Fridays, April 6—April 27, 2018 (4 Weeks)

9:00 am to 10:30 am

Instructor: Sam Sandusky samelayne@gmail.com

916-705-5557

Cost: $40

Introduction to the 2/1 bidding system. This system is very similar to standard bridge

but does allow you to reach games and slams much more easily than with standard.

You will become familiar with game forcing bids and

forcing 1NT responses.

You are always welcome to ask questions during and after the lesson.

Sacramento Bridge Center

2035 Hurley Way Suite 270

Sacramento CA 95825

916-925-6322

Book:

Not Required, but it is suggested that

you purchase

25 Steps to Learning 2/1

by Paul Thurston

Pat Ingoglia shared pictures from the “Sacramento Girls at the Kona Hawaii Sectional” Feb 23-25 -

check our team shoes!!

Also Celebrating Mary Kay’s birthday!!

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Eileen Hayes, Cindy

Daugherty and Mary Kay

Hjelmeland enjoy bridge in

Hawaii

CONGRATULATIONS!

The winners of the March Unit Game in Folsom:

Dave Wilmott and Nancy Cook

Teri Smoot’s artwork will be featured in an art show called “OUT THERE” in Placerville from May 25 through August 12. Teri’s artwork is images of sky, space, and planets—digital data that is processed into images (they look like photos) of astronomical objects.

See more at: http://motherlodeshow.com/ and at: https://www.mtdemocrat.com/prospecting/heavenly-news-imaging-the-heavens/

By Joy O’Dell . . . Joel Lesser was honored with three cheese cakes for his birthday on Monday, March 12th. I am not sure if that is his exact date or not. We sang happy birthday to him and of course we all enjoyed the cheese cake brought by Judy Travis. Joel is one of the younger players at our club and really enjoys the game. Below is a picture of the Saturday 299er game. We regularly have six tables and can run up to seven or eight. This game was set up for new players and also for the working players. You will find that most of the players have well below 50 points. Right now there is a Defense class at 10:30 before the game. When the Defense class ends Joy will offer a free mini class which offers many different subjects. The players often bring questions about hands they have had during the game. This is a friendly game and includes players from as far away as Stockton. Any player who has taken the Bidding in the 21st Century class will enjoy this game.

Come join us for a fun day. A light lunch is served.

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HAPPY 92nd BIRTHDAY,

Eldon Raber celebrating with bridge

partner, Cindy

Daugherty !!!

Saturday game 3-10-18

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Play Ball!

Opening day of the Baseball season on Thursday, March 29,

2018, Jim Bowman taught

his Play of the Hand class decked out in gear appropriate

for cheering on his favorite team!

In other news, John Chan and his team tied for 3rd

overall and 1st in X, and came in 1st in Y in the Sunday

A/X/Y Swiss Teams. Congratulations, John!

What’s more, former 505-er Tony Barre and his team

won the 5-day 0-10,000 Knockout Teams. Way to go, Tony! The tournament was held at the downtown Marriott, a very nice venue, and was well attended. It seems that people from other countries came in droves to this tournament. There were bridge events for players at all levels, with quite a nice turnout of folks in the 299er and below range.

OSMO OTRA 505’ers at the Philadelphia Nationals

by Mary Ose & Teri Smoot

Unit 505 players spotted in Philadelphia at the NABC include:

Ronnie McMurdie, John Chan, Chris Panos, Teri Smoot, and Mary Ose. The biggest news of the entire tournament is that Ronnie and her partner, Mark, performed stunningly in the Rockwell Mixed Pairs event. This is a 2-day, 4-session event with many top players from around the world. Ronnie and her partner came in second.

Congratulations, Ronnie!

Runners-up in the Rockwell Mixed Pairs: Mark Itabashi and Veronica McMurdie.

(NABC Daily Bulletin, Thursday, March 15, 2018, p.5) 2 days after her birthday Ronnie and Mark came in 2nd of the 192 pairs in the finals of the Rockwell Mixed

Pairs and won 75 Masterpoints. Ronnie earned a total of 155.87 Masterpoints for the tournament, the most she

has ever won in a tournament.

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John Chan with Alfred Lee

Bridge players occupied two full floors of the hotel plus a large space in the convention center for the bridge games and related activities. Every night there was some sort of snack after the evening session (10:30 PM), and on several nights there was live entertainment. On one night, the tournament organizers re-created the Atlantic City boardwalk in the common area. We enjoyed boardwalk games (similar to Santa Cruz), magicians, balloons, and dress up photography. We ate hotdogs, cotton candy, salt water taffy, sno-cones, and funnel cake. It was FUN!!

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On other nights, there was dancing and a marvelous a capella group from the University of Pennsylvania. Sightseeing around Philadelphia offers something interesting for everyone. Of course, there is so very much pertaining to US history as well as the Postal Service and the US Mint. The Philadelphia Art Museum is well known for not only it’s marvelous collection but also its Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) steps. Philadelphia has also a program for painting murals on buildings; there must be 30 to 50 large murals around town. American Flag Tree of Life

“It seems the origins of the game of Monopoly were in the greater Philadelphia area (many of the street names were actually in Atlantic City, home of the games originator and summer playground of many Philadelphians): the Reading Terminal (take a ride…), the federal penitentiary (go to jail...), Waterworks, and more...” All in all, a terrific experience! Mark your calendars for the Atlanta NABC in July, and for the NABC in Honolulu in November. See you there!

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