Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
News from North Fair Oaks
Mojo
ABTA Master Teacher
649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201
Pasadena CA 91103
(626) 247-4457
pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
It was a big day on Sunday! Our club hosted the district final for the
North American Pairs. It was a long day for me! I worked the bridge club
from 8:30 AM 'til about 7:00 PM. We used the Community Room down the
hall to add an extra nine tables in capacity to the club.
Our own players had a great showing. In Flight B Thompson Jin and Dan
Lubesnik earned seats in the final, and Joerg and Andrew Rottenbacher
may get an invitation as the first alternate.
In Flight C, Kim Gundlach and Toban placed 4th to qualify for the
national event. Fred Register and Leslie Klein placed 5th to become the
first alternate if one of the top four decline to play.
Instant Matchpoint Game
Here's one last reminder that the Instant Matchpoint Game will be played
Wednesday (tomorrow). It's a unique event and pays big awards, including
a bit of precious gold masterpoints for the winners. Card fee for this
game is $15.
The parking lot at the club is being resealed and striped this week, so
the number of spaces available may be quite a bit lower. It's worth
coming early to find your spot, and consider taking a parking spot on
the streets nearby if you find one.
Classes this coming week
Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for
a full course!
* Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/, class 2 of 6
"One notrump opening bids and responses"
* Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions/ "Jacoby
Transfer Bids"
Coming up ...
Sunday November 3 is the next unit game. The Pasadena San Gabriel Unit
hosts the game and provides a pizza lunch at 12:00 noon, followed by
great bridge competition at 12:30. Still $10 cash! Make your
reservations for the game.
November 18-23 will be a "Royal" Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC)
week. Points awarded are sectional rated, with 25% each black, red,
silver, and gold points.
We're in the midst of planning games around the Thanksgiving holiday. Do
we want to have a game on Wednesday before Thanksgiving? I think we will
- though the parking lot might be full of grocery shoppers!
Best regards,
Mojo, Jane, Zachary
Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
News from North Fair Oaks
Mojo
ABTA Master Teacher
649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201
Pasadena CA 91103
(626) 247-4457
pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
The Southern California Bridge News is published monthly and only
distributed as a PDF on the district web site. It's usually out around
the 17th of each month or so. It includes columns from the district
president, our regional director on the ACBL board, and columns
submitted from each of the units.
You can find all of the issues from the past year and a half or so here:
https://d23acbl.org/2023/12/02/southern-california-bridge-news/
I call attention to this month's issue because I tried to offer advice
to clubs and groups who also might like to offer "over/under" or
"pro/am" games. If it's something you're interested in, have a look at
my column from the Pasadena unit.
Club Appreciation Week
All of our open games pay lots of extra masterpoints this week. It's our
second week of Club Appreciation games, gifted to clubs as part of Jane
Johnson Club Appreciation Month. This comes around every October.
Instant Matchpoint Game Wed. Oct. 30
This is another special event we'll be offering next week. The Instant
Matchpoint Game is a one-of-a-kind event! Instead of waiting until the
end of the game to find out your matchpoint score, the matchpoints for
every score have been determined ahead of time. After playing each
board, NS and EW split 100 matchpoints, and you can see how you're doing
in real time.
In a way, you're not competing against the other N/S or E/W pairs, but
against the score chart that was painstakingly developed for the game.
(I don't know how it comes to be!)
At the end of the game, everyone receives a booklet with expert analysis
of every hand. The awards for doing well are very good, including one
full *gold point *for the winning pair in each direction!
As a special game with lots of printed material, the card fee for this
game is $15. Last year the game took a bit of extra time to play as
well, so plan for a slightly late departure on Wednesday, October 30.
Make reservations early! It was very popular last year.
NAP District Final
The club is hosting the district's North American Pairs final game this
Sunday, October 27. If you qualified in an NAP game in June, July, or
August, you're invited to compete in this game for a chance to represent
District 23 at the Nationals in Memphis next March.
Here's an information page with everything you need to know, including
how to make a reservation for the game: https://nap.bridgemojo.com/
Classes this week
Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for
a full course! This week starts two new courses. We have great groups
signed up for both!
For Bridge Basics 1, I'm always looking for "teaching assistants" who
are willing to come help fill a table, so everyone gets to play. If your
Wednesday evenings are free and this interests you, let me know! I'll
only ever need three at most for a given class.
* Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/, class 1 of 6
"Introduction"
* Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions/ class 1
of 6 "The Stayman Convention"
Coming up ...
The week before Thanksgiving we're going to have a Royal STaC week. The
games will pay like a sectional, but the awards will be 25% each black,
silver, red, and gold masterpoints.
Unit games next month are on Sundays, November 3 and 17.
Best regards,
Mojo, Jane, Zachary
Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
Learn and play bridge!
Mojo
ABTA Master Teacher
649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201
Pasadena CA 91103
(626) 247-4457
pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>
We have two great courses starting next week on Wednesday and Thursday
evenings! Invite your friends to discover our game on Wednesday
evenings, and join us on Thursdays to learn (or fine tune) the most
common bidding conventions.
We also have great games and workshops for new players, and some special
events coming later this month.
Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions
A convention is a bid that has special meaning to a partnership to help
you reach the best contract on a hand. While there are literally
thousands of bridge conventions, there are three or four that you'll
find the most frequently used and valuable to know.
In this course we'll learn about Stayman, Jacoby Transfer Bids, strong
opening bids, and some tools for bidding slams.
* Six Thursday evenings, starting Oct. 24, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
* Full course description
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/popular-conventions>
* $120 includes textbook by Audrey Grant
* Click here to enroll
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment>
Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction
This is the launch pad course for your bridge experience! Even if you've
taken the course before, seeing it again always reveals new details that
you missed the first time.
In the first class you'll learn the mechanics of the game and much of
the vocabulary, such as /tricks, notrump, trump, declarer, dummy,
opening lead, contract/. For the rest of the class, we'll learn
techniques for winning extra tricks, and much of the language of
bidding. The last two classes will be practice in using your new skills!
* Six Wednesday evenings, starting Oct. 23, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
* Full course description
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/bridge-basics-introduction>
* $100 includes textbook by Audrey Grant
* Click here to enroll
<https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>
Office Hours!
Join us for casual bridge Monday through Thursday from 3:00 - 5:00.
Plenty of nice partners available.
We'll have an experienced bridge player on hand to help you with sticky
problems. Try playing the same hands as we play in the 11:00 Open game
and compare your results to theirs!
Office Hours are available for a $5 donation, and a great way for newer
players to develop their bridge muscles!
Novice/Intermediate Games
Every *Tuesday evening* from 7:00-9:15 we have a real bridge game that's
specifically for newer players. No sharks in the game! Lisa Walker hosts
a room of friendly newer bridge players ready to welcome you to the
table. If you're looking for a partner, we almost always have one
available for you.
Come earn your first masterpoints in this game!
*Saturday mornings* are dedicated to our novice/intermediate players. We
start the morning at 9:30 with a fascinating bridge hand from Eddie
Kantar's "Thinking Bridge" series. Every hand teaches /how to think/
about a bridge hand, from the perspectives of bidding, declarer play,
and defense.
The workshop is followed at 10:00 by a 14-15 board bridge game, finished
by 12:15.
Coming up at the bridge club
We have another week of Club Appreciation games with lots of extra
masterpoints awarded, October 21-26.
Wednesday October 30 is a very special game, the ACBL-wide *Instant
Matchpoint game*. At the end of the game, players get a printed booklet
with expert analysis of all the hands. Matchpoint awards are
pre-determined on the spot. And the winning pair in each direction can
earn a *full Gold masterpoint*! (Card fee for this very special game
will be $15.)
Mojo, Jane and Zachary
