[News] Reboot for Office Hours

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> A year or so ago Zachary recognized the need for our new bridge students to have a time to drop into the bridge club and practice playing bridge. He had a chunk of time available in his afternoons, and "Office Hours" was born. Most large bridge clubs have some sort of "social/supervised play" session. I've played social bridge at Honors in New York, and the Andrew Robson club in London. They would give you a rubber bridge score card and leave you to it. But there was always a host (or a few) who you could call on when you were stuck on a hand. It's arguably the most important service offered by a teaching bridge club. Without it, there is no comfortable transition from classes to full duplicate bridge games. With Zachary stepping back, it's a good time for us to take a look at what works and what doesn't for Office Hours. Let's give it a reboot. One thing to realize is that there's an audience for players of some experience who aren't interested in duplicate bridge games. This group doesn't always mix well with newcomers who are learning the game. For one thing, the Zero Tolerance policy provides for score penalties for bad behavior, but in an unsanctioned game there is no structure for that. Being kind to partner and other players may be the most important skill to develop. It's mandatory that we offer something for our new players who are working out their "bridge muscles" for the first time. I don't believe we're going to be in a position to offer purely social bridge. Everyone who drops in needs to expect that they will be seated with players who are just learning the game. (We'll leave that as self-defined.) I know that we'll be looking for a small army of volunteer bridge players who support this mission and want to provide our new players with a safe and comfortable place to practice playing bridge. Now is the time to speak, whether you're a player in Office Hours bridge, or someone who has played a while and wants to support the newcomers. Please drop me a note. Office Hours will be closed for February, and we'll see what we can work out in March. Bridge Classes This Week Each week I'll post the topics for the Wednesday and Thursday classes. Anyone is welcome to join a single class for $25 without purchasing an entire course. *Mojo's pick for this week*: Wednesday "The Competitive Auction" really puts together the language of competing for the contract and preemptive bidding. ("Negative (or Responder's) Doubles" are part of this class.) This week's classes: * Wednesday, February 5, 7:00 PM /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "The Competitive Auction" * Thursday, January 23, 7:00 PM /Bridge Basics 4 - Play of the Deal/ "Play of the Deal in Trump Contracts" In addition, every Saturday morning at 9:30 we offer a mini-workshop featuring a fascinating bridge hand from Eddie Kantar's "Thinking Bridge" series. In each hand you'll discover how all of the clues you need to find the right contract, the best opening lead, successful play or defense, are all right there when you notice them! The Saturday  morning workshops are free and open to all, whether or not you stay to play in the novice/intermediate bridge game at 10:00. The next /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ class starts Thursday, April 3. It's open for registration at this link <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&int_class_id=68489&int_category_id=0&int_sub_category_id=0&int_catalog_id=0>. If you get the PCC Extension catalog in your mailbox, you'll find our class listed! *Save the date* for our next *Robert Todd* seminar: Sunday, March 30, all day. Coming up ... February 10-16 is going to be interesting! All club games will be awarding "glitter points," part black part other colors. I'm sure you'll be getting email from Bronia and ACBL about that! Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary