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649 N Fair Oaks Ave
#201
Pasadena CA 91103
(626) 247-4457
pasadenabridgeclub.com
When I first started attending tournaments, I
was always fascinated by the planning and
organization of the games, despite never really
knowing who would show up to play. Would it be
not enough, or would it be too many?
I share this "director's dilemma" with Brenda
Egeland from D.C. Like me, she was also
fascinated by directing and organizing bridge
games as a very new player. She told me she
earned her club director certification when she
had about 50 masterpoints.
Brenda is also a talented software engineer.
She addressed that perpetual anxiety by building
RSVPBridge. I saw its value as a planning tool
early on, and many other major clubs (Honors
Bridge in Manhattan among others) have adopted
it as well.
The real value in having reservations for a
game is that I know you are coming. If
you're a couple of minutes late, I can still
establish a movement and start the game, while
keeping your seat available.
If someone has an unintentional or forgotten
reservation, it's not really a disaster. We
might end up with a half table that wasn't
expected, but that's not so bad.
Sadly, last week I had a pair arrive about five
minutes late who was not in the reservation
list. With everyone present, the game had
started right at 11:00, and the players were
well into their first boards. The new pair
thought they had a reservation, but for some
unknown reason it didn't make it into RSVPBridge
for the game.
A more experienced director might have found a
way to add a table to the movement, but it
wasn't something that was part of my repertoire.
Because of the reservation system, I haven't had
to deal with that situation! (Studying up for
next time!)
The reservation system relies on email to
remind players that they are (or are not) on the
list for a game. The reminders are not sent
automatically; I try to remember to send one the
night before or at least several hours before a
game.
Email is notoriously unreliable. Often such
generated emails are routed to junk or spam
folders instead of the inbox, and many people
just don't use email (I completely understand!).
So I ask a couple of things: Watch out for
those emails if you can. When the reminder email
for each game arrives from RSVPBridge, look for
"You are (or are not) signed up to play" in the
email. If it's wrong, let me know!
Secondly, if you're making a last minute
reservation, or want to play on the spur of the
moment, please try to make it to the bridge club
at least 10 minutes before game time, or call
(626) 247-4457 and leave a message. We can get
you into the game and change the movement if we
know you're coming!
Club championships all week
Each quarter the ACBL invites clubs to hold
"Club Championships" for each of the club's
weekly games. There's no extra sanction fee and
no extra card fee.
The point awards are significant! In addition,
each game will have "overall" winners -- not
just N/S and E/W winners.
(This might be the week when you choose to play
E/W instead of N/S if you can! If you're
wondering why, ask me sometime.)
Classes this coming week
Individual classes are available to join for
$25. No need to sign up for a full course!
Mojo's pick: Improving Your
Judgement - Doubles on Wednesday evening.
Add some precision to your bids after partner
doubles.
- Wednesday, 7:00 PM, Improving Your
Judgment - Doubles, "Doubler's rebid and
the subsequent auction"
- Thursday, 7:00 PM, Bridge Basics 2 -
Competitive Bidding "The takeout double"
In December, I'm going to hold four individual
classes from the Eddie Kantar lesson series.
I've picked four excellent topics on declarer
play. More about that in a couple weeks.
Coming up ...
I was mistaken when I listed October 7-12 as a
STaC silver point week, but we will get to have
two weeks of double point games during October
-- the Jane Johnson Club Appreciation games.
I'll add them to the schedule soon.
Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction will
begin again on Wednesday evenings starting
October 23. Enrollment is open now at PCC
Extension!
Best regards,
Mojo, Jane, Zachary
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