[News] Thursday open game this week!

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> News from N Fair Oaks Mojo ABTA Master Teacher 649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201 Pasadena CA 91103 (626) 247-4457 pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> We had a great busy day on Sunday! For the North American Pairs District Final we had seven tables each in Flight A and B, and five tables in Flight C. Everyone found something good for lunch. (Sushi from Vallarta Market? Yes!) Special thanks to Stephen Licker, Robert Jennings, Ron Lu, and Toban for spending some time at the club and helping out with the event. Thursday Open Game Starts October 5, 11:00 AM, Open Pairs, 24 boards, and free pizza lunch this Thursday! We'll take a short break at 12:00 for pizza. Drop me a note to reserve a seat. Bridge Scoring Notation "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" "What do you mean? African or European swallow?" "I don't know that! Aaaauughhh!" -- the Troll from /Monty Python In Search of the Holy Grail/. In the US, since I started playing and recording scores with a pencil on a traveler, we always referred to the result of a contract by either how many tricks it made, or how many tricks it went down. For instance: 3SN+5 (three spades by north making five). For manually computing the score, this provides a mental shortcut. I could compute the trick score: 5 x 30 = 150 plus the partscore bonus for 200 total. But in Europe, and I suppose most of the rest of the world, that score would be noted as 3SN+2. Mentally I would have a tiny extra step ((3+2)*30). If there were no overtricks, it would be noted as 3SN=, rather than the American form, 3SN+3. For Bridgemates, I have an option to use "American" or "European" scoring notation. I've noticed that ACBL's "Live for Clubs" is currently using European notation for results. The Common Game is doing the same thing. Maybe this was be an outgrowth of quarantine, when we all had to play online, and most of us played on Bridge Base Online. All of the notation there is in European format. In US tournaments, the Bridgemates are still set to American format, where you'd key in "making 5" rather than "+3". As long as that's true, I'll keep it the same in the club. It will be a slightly jarring change if they make it. So what do you think? Is the American scoring format to be scrapped? It's an interesting discussion! Classes this week Drop in for a single class! Most of our sessions are small groups with opportunities for lots of personal attention. It's just $25 for an almost-private lesson. Note Slam Bidding and Blackwood on Saturday. :) * Wednesday 7:00 PM /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles/ "Advancing a takeout double" * Thursday 7:00 PM /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ "Practice Hands" * Saturday 9:30 AM /Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions/ "Slam Bidding and Blackwood" Saturday Workshop and Game 1:00 PM /to be announced/ ($10 for workshop and short game!) YouTube mini-lesson this week <https://youtu.be/E82cytO4DhY>: "Entries (2 of 2)" Learn about ducking plays. Coming up ... October is Club Appreciation Month. Let's have some club championships, with lots of extra masterpoints! We'll start with the week of October 9. Sunday October 8 we have a Pasadena Unit Game at the club. Drop me a note for a reservation. 12:30 PM start time. We have a very special game on Wednesday, October 25, the Instant Matchpoint Game. More about that later. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary