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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>
We're planning for a busy week at the bridge club! A Sectional
Tournament at Clubs kind of snuck up on me.
Our novice/intermediate program is bulging at the seams. A new /Bridge
Basics 1 - Introduction/ course started Wednesday evening with 24
students enrolled.
And then there are the other events coming this week! Here's the rundown:
Lulu Minter seminar Monday
At *10:00 AM* before the memorial game, Lulu Minter will present a
seminar on defense topics. We'll be using the "community room" down the
hall from the bridge club, so there's plenty of room for everyone who
wants to attend. No charge!
Monday Memorial game FULL
Monday is our special memorial game for Rosario "Charo" Holdo, and the
bridge club is completely full with 19 tables expected.
At the moment I have a short waiting list for seats, so it's very
important to let us know if you have a reservation but will not be playing.
The bridge unit is sponsoring a Mexican lunch from Vallarta for the
occasion. We'll take a lunch break about 12:00.
With a little time for lunch, we're expecting this game to run until
almost 3:00 PM. Please allow for some extra time to play!
Rosario's son Erik is graciously sponsoring card fees for all players on
Monday, and the bridge club is picking up the extra sanction fee for the
silver points.
Silver point games all week
This week is a Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) for District 23. Ten
bridge clubs in LA County will be playing the same boards and combining
their results for high overall awards.
All six Open Pairs games this week, Monday through Friday at 11:00,
Saturday at 1:00, will be included in the STaC. Stratification will be
Open/2500/750. Card fees are $13 to cover the extra sanction fee (except
for the memorial game on Monday).
Classes this week
Our classes are always best in the context of a full course, but they
stand alone quite nicely. If you'd like to drop in for a single topic,
you're welcome to join for $25. We'll usually have the topics for each
session on the front of the web site.
This week's classes:
* Wednesday 3:00 PM: *Improving Your Judgement - Doubles* "Responding
to (advancing) partner's takeout double"
* Wednesday 7:00 PM: *Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction* "One notrump
opening bids and responses"
* Thursday 7:00 PM: *Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions* "Jacoby
Transfer Bids"
Saturday mornings start with a free 20-minute workshop with an
interesting hand from Eddie Kantar's Thinking Bridge series. Every hand
has interesting bidding, play, and defense problems to work out. Come
for the workshop, stay for the 14-board game, finish by 12:15.
Monday afternoon workshop cancelled
We're going to have a big mess of a bridge club after Monday's game!
Let's all join Zachary next Monday for the workshop.
Best regards
Mojo, Jane, Zachary, Lisa, Susan
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>
Greetings all from the American Bridge Teachers Association annual
convention in Minneapolis this year. I'm here with 50 bridge teachers
from all over North America (and even Portugal). We're hearing talks
from notable bridge pros on materials and techniques for teaching bridge.
The ABTA also gives out annual awards for "Bridge Book of the Year" in
different categories, and certifies Master Teachers. (You can see my own
badge right there under my picture!)
ABTA also designates a Teacher of the Year. The winner this year was
Lorraine Eaglesham from Ontario, and the runner-up was Jan Weber from
Vero Beach, Fl. I felt like I had a strong application, but I'm really
delighted that we have great bridge teachers like Lorraine and Jan in
their parts of the world.
Here are the three courses that are starting up the coming week:
Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction
Here we go on a new adventure! This is the course for /non-bridge
players/ to learn the basics of the game. By the end of the first class,
the mechanics of bridge and much of the vocabulary. During the six
sessions, we'll practice analyzing bridge hands, finding extra tricks,
and introduce the the language of Standard American bidding.
* Six Wednesday evenings, 7:00-9:00 PM, starting July 15
* Enroll for $85 to PCC Extension, plus $15 materials fee for book
* Full lesson plan here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/bridge-basics-introduction>
* Register for the course here
<https://pasadena.augusoft.net/connect/ClassInfo/ClassInformation?int_class_…>
Improving Your Judgment - Doubles
In /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/, we introduce the concept of
the takeout double. Most newer players miss opportunities to use the
double call to their benefit, and this class gives you lots of practice
in doubling in different contexts. We also learn guidelines for
advancing partner's double, and potential rebids by doubler. As always
there are great "play of the deal" puzzles and defense tips as well!
* Six Wednesday afternoons, 3:00 - 5:00 PM, starting July 15
* $120 includes textbook by Audrey Grant
* Full lesson plan here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/iyj_doubles>
* Register for the course here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment>
Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions
There are a handful of bidding conventions that are the most useful and
ubiquitous for helping partnerships discover HOW HIGH and WHERE. We'll
study Stayman, Jacoby Transfer Bids, strong hand openings, and slam bidding.
Pasadena Bridge Club's resident wizard Zachary Vedro is instructor for
this course.
* Six Thursday evenings, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, starting July 16
* $120 includes textbook by Audrey Grant
* Full lesson plan here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/popular-conventions>
* Register for the course here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment>
More tidbits ...
If you're waiting for a daylight (or semi-daylight) session of Bridge
Basics 1, we have one in the fall catalog for PCC Extension. It'll be on
Wednesday afternoons starting October 28.
Don't forget you can always drop in for a single session of any course
for $25. Each class usually stands along fairly well, and I try to keep
the topics visible on the front of the web site
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>.
For the full novice/intermediate program at the club, including
workshops, games, and casual bridge, see the schedule here
<https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/schedule#novice>!
Hope to see you soon at the bridge club!
Best regards,
Mojo, Jane, Zachary, Lisa, Susan
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>
Greetings from Minneapolis! Jane and I arrived Sunday night, and we'll
be attending the American Bridge Teachers Association annual conference
Monday through Wednesday.
Yesterday at the conference I introduced Robert Todd for his
presentation. This morning at 11:00 I did a presentation of my own. I
showed the teachers how I do the Saturday morning workshops using the
hands from Eddie Kantar's "Thinking Bridge" collection. It seemed to go
really well.
One of the players last Saturday morning suggested, "Maybe you should
just keep that to yourself and have it be our own special thing." Naaah,
but duly noted!
On Wednesday morning they'll announce the winner of the Teacher of the
Year award. I'll have my fingers crossed, and let you know!
Lulu Minter seminar July 20
Monday, July 20, we're holding a special game in memory of Rosario
"Charo" Holdo. The game will be free of charge, and scored as an
"Upgraded Club Championship." The unit is graciously providing a Mexican
lunch from Vallarta. It's going to be a bit longer game than usual, so
plan to stay later! (We may postpone the "Workshop with Zachary.")
Lulu Minter will be offering a seminar on "Defense Topics" at 10:00
before the game! I've reserved the Community Room down the hall, so
there will be plenty of room for people to attend before our game
starts. Lulu says that Charo was one of his favorite students.
For all of these reasons, we expect the bridge club to be completely
full that day. As of right now, there are 11 tables reserved. We will
probably reconfigure the club to hold 19 tables, so it will be a little
crowded.
No classes this week
We have a great new lineup of courses starting next week, July 15. I'll
be sending an email with all the details in the next couple of days.
/Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ is starting up on Wednesday evening,
July 15. If you know someone who would like to attend, have them
register with PCC Extension at this link
<https://pasadena.augusoft.net/connect/ClassInfo/ClassInformation?int_class_…>.
Coming up ...
The week of July 21-25 will be NAP Qualifiers. (The Monday game will
/not/ be an NAP game, but an upgraded club championship instead.) Win
50% red points, and earn your "Q" for the the District Final game on
October 4.
Best regards
Mojo, Jane, Zachary, Lisa, Susan
