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> Liza Billington brings an interesting story from playing bridge in Santa Cruz, CA, this past month. She reported that the club turns on a feature in the Bridgemates that lets you *record the opening lead* for every contract. The opening leads appear in the game results for each hand. For an example see the game results from one of their games at this link <https://my.acbl.org/club-results/details/1243431>. I'm going to try it at a game this week, and see what you all think. I think it'll be fun. Choosing an effective opening lead is one of the most important factors in improving your game results. Let me know if you have an opinion! Zachary is taking a family vacation next week June 8, so Lisa and I will be covering the games and workshops on the schedule. Special games coming in June *North American Pairs Qualifying games*: We'll be holding games for one week each in June, July, and August. This month the games will be Monday through Friday, the 11:00 AM Open Pairs, June 16-20. NAP games pay big points as well as qualify players to the NAP District Final. Card fees $13. *The Longest Day Benefit for Alzheimer's*: Saturday, June 21, our novice game and Open Pairs games will be part of the annual "Longest Day" benefit held in June every year. Games pay big masterpoint awards, and the extra card fee goes to benefit Alzheimer's Association. *Club Championship games*: All games the week of June 23-28 will be Club Championship games. These come with no extra card fee, but pay lots of extra points, almost equivalent to a Unit Game, with overalls awarded. Classes This Week If you see a topic for a class that interests you, you can always drop in for a single class for $25 without committing to an entire course. *Mojo's pick* for this week: Thursday evening's class in Competitive Bidding can have a dramatic effect on your game results. We'll introduce negative doubles (also called responder's doubles), and talk about how things change when the auction becomes competitive. This week's classes: * Wednesday, June 4, 3:00 PM /Introduction to Defense/ "Opening Leads against Trump Contracts" * Thursday, June 5, 7:00 PM /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "The Competitive Auction" Every Saturday morning at 9:30, we have a free workshop using a hand from Eddie Kantar's /Thinking Bridge/ series. Every entertaining hand teaches players how to think about problems in bidding, play, and defense. Coming up ... The big Bridge Week regional in Long Beach starts on Monday, June 30. At this time we're planning to close the bridge club on Thursday and Friday, July 3 and 4. We may also close on Saturday July 5. (I'm not sure if the Unit Game will be held on July 6.) /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ will start up again on Wednesday evening, July 2. The course is open for registration now, through PCC Extension. You or your friends can register online at this link <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&int_class_id=69325&int_category_id=0&int_sub_category_id=0&int_catalog_id=0>. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary