Get a partner who has also qualified at the club level and we'll see you next Saturday! |  |
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You can register for this course by emailing Scott Krupke [Little Falls] at krupkebridge-at-gmail-dot-com or by visiting the Sartell Community Center website. It sounds like a great introduction to the game of bridge, so if you know someone who might be interested, here's your chance to get them involved! |
Friday night's 7-table open game in St Cloud saw Shirley Richardson [St Joseph] and Scott Richardson [St Joseph] earn a huge game of 76.64%. Of the 28 boards they played, 8 were outright top boards, and another 7 were tied for the top matchpoint award on the board - look for their names to be in an upcoming ACBL Bulletin soon. |  |
There are a few more of these special games coming up in 2024 - the schedule can be found by clicking here. If your local club is not running these games - ask your local club to sign up as a participating club so you can get in on the action. |
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Day 5 of 6 at the tournament saw another 47 tables in play, with Robyn Johnson [St Paul] and Erik Johnson [St Paul] coming in 1st in today's Gold Rush pairs. The Open pairs was championed by Ben Kristensen [Duluth] and Kyra Helmbold [Minneapolis]. And today's Bracketed Swiss team of Sandy Fisher [Long Lake], Paul Meerschaert [Long Lake], Dave Collins [Fridley] and Danny Collins [Fridley] took the top award there. One more day to go before the bidding boxes are put away. Click here for the masterpoint winners. Click here for the full tournament results. |
 | Here's Sarah Wahl [Minneapolis], who played in the TH/F Knockout with teammates Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis], Peter Bock [Apple Valley], and Bev Meyer [Minneapolis], getting to the semi-finals to score more than 17 Gold points and put her over the top - to become Minnesota's LATEST "Newest Life Master"! The next time you see Sarah at the table, be sure to give her a thumbs up. |
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 Tables on day 3 at the tournament came in at 79.5 in play - that's 64.8% of the day 3 tables five years ago (and best attendance of the week so far). Through three days it's Tony Ames [Minnetonka] and George Bleskachek [Eau Claire] who are atop the masterpoint winners with 41.32 gold points; 234 players in all have earned some gold so far, and there's another three days to go. Click here for the masterpoint winners. Click here for the Daily Bulletin. Click here for the full tournament results. There was an online event this week for the Gold Rush and Open players, and the Gold Rush was won by Sarah and Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis] - with Karen Lee Barrett [Elk Point SD] and Anne Beaurivage [Lincoln NE] coming in tops among the field. Congratulations to all those who played online and got some gold points! |
 Another mini-Soloway KO team event gets going tomorrow. Today's Open Pairs winners were Tony Ames [Minnetonka] and George Bleskichek [Eau Claire], and the Gold Rush pair that came in 1st overall today was Linus Bendel-Stenzel [Edina] and partner Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis].  And today's Bracketed Swiss Teams champs were Jerry Rosenblad [Stewartville], Al Larson [Rochester], Ed Prosser [Rochester], and Rod Morlock [Stewartville] - well done, all!  Five years ago, there had been 202.5 tables in play through two days, so we're at 55.3% of 2019's tables to date. (Historically, first time post-COVID-held tournaments have had 56% to 57% of their pre-COVID tables, so we are right in line with expectations.)  There is an online option for gold points with this tournament, that's open to everyone in D14. These online evening games started tonight and continue tomorrow night - and have 5 tables in the Open crowd with 11 Gold Rush tables in play. (These online tables are not included in the overall table counts here, as there was no online option in 2019.) Full results from the tournament can be found by clicking here; and the online bulletin for today can be found by clicking here. Masterpoint winners for the tournament can be found by clicking here. |
  Winners on Tuesday included Greg Caucutt [Rochester] and Carole Mataya [Rochester], coming in 1st place overall in the Open Pairs. In the Gold Rush pairs, Sydney Lund [Amery WI] and Colin Hall [Sioux Falls SD] came in 1st place overall - but there's more to the story. These two have never played together - they got hooked up at the partnership desk - and still came in 1st place! Congratulations to both these pairs (and everyone who had some fun on Tuesday). Play resumes in the morning at 10am. Full results can be found by clicking here; and it's not too late to join in on the fun! A reminder that the online Open pairs and online Gold Rush get going tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm. Just sign into BBO and look under the VACB games (just like you would for a regular club game) - you'll see the D14 Rochester Regional events listed. Get a partner and play against other D14 pairs, to get some gold points without leaving your own living room! |
- Look under "Virtual Clubs" - Look under "North America" - Under the listing of available games, you'll see the Rochester Med City Regional D14 games (both Open and Gold Rush) - Sign up for your game with your partner just like any club BBO game |
And if you're not planning to head to Rochester, remember there's a convenient stay-at-home online option for this Regional, where you can get GOLD points by playing online. It's just like any other VACB game on BBO, where you'll see the game listed for a 7:00pm start on Wednesday night. Of course, there's nothing keeping you from attending this tournament in person - AND playing online! But whether you'll be participating in person or online (or both!), it's all good to go for tomorrow's opening rounds at 1:30pm. |
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 | Everything is a "go" for this tournament starting Tuesday - and we hope to see you there. (We will definitely save one of these tables for you.) |
Players must have qualified for the NAP at their local clubs this summer to play in this Unit Final. If you are unaware of whether or not you qualified at your local club this year, click here to open the list of NAP qualifiers for Minnesota. (With 557 players having qualified, there's a good chance your name is on the list.) The games on the 21st are at 10am and 2pm, and will pay LOTS of red and gold points. The flyer for this Unit Final party atmosphere is to your right (or you can click here). September is a busy, busy month for bridge players, and this is one of the major events - so plan on getting a partner and we'll see you on the 21st. | |
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The number of Minnesota players who have qualified to go on in this competition is HUGE. This year, 557 players have qualified in the NAP - that list of all those players can be accessed by clicking here. The vast majority of these players (261) who have qualified are Flight "C" players, which is terrific. Year-over-year table data is up compared to 2023 across the board. Next up for the NAP is for these qualified players to play in the big NAP Unit Final. That two-session event will be held on September 21st at the Bridge Center of St Paul, where lots of red and gold points await. After that - it's the NAP D14 Finals, which will be held online the first weekend of October. Congratulations to everyone who has qualified this year! |    |
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 | There will be an online option for both Gold Rush (under 750 masterpoints) and Open players on BBO starting next Wednesday evening at 7pm. Just sign in to BBO and look under "virtual clubs" like any other online club game. You'll see the regional games listed there. NOTE that ALL participants in the online game option for this regional will receive our Med City Regional patch for their convention card (to impress their opponents, natch) - along with the one-of-a-kind prize for those that come in 1st place in their event. |
 International Fund Games all month long at your local clubsExtra black masterpoints Rochester Med City Regional 3rd to the 8thGold and red points with teams and pairs every day of the week ACBL-wide International Fund Game on the 11th10.00 masterpoints go to the top score in D14; participating clubs can be found here Minnesota North American Pairs Unit Final - Roseville on the 21stRed points and some gold available in this non-qualifying 2-session NAP extravaganza Fall Sectional in Mankato on the 28th and 29thSilver points at the Rambling River Sectional Grand National Teams Qualifying at your local clubAll month long, you can get red and black points in team games at your local club |
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| Open (unlimited masterpoints) 0-6000 masterpoints (Flight "A") 0-3000 masterpoints (Flight "B") 0-750 masterpoints, no Life Masters (Flight "C") |
| With the trailer coming to Rochester for the regional there next week, this seemed like an ideal time to go through all of the tables and replace the worst of the worst. A request has been made to Unit 178's Board to also purchase ten new tables (Gopher Chair Patti Stuhlman asked that the Units split the cost of this 50/50) - we'll see what they say. In the meantime, look for newer, better tables at the Gopher next year for those finesses that still might not work. |
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  | Next step in the NAP is the Minnesota NAP Unit Final on Saturday, September 21st, which will be held in person at the Bridge Center of St Paul's Roseville location. Then it is the online D14 NAP Finals October 5th and 6th (more on that by clicking here). |
But according to our Region 5 Director Dennis Carman [Chicago IL], there's a hitch involved. The ACBL's Advisory Council has asked that the District Directors reconsider their motion - there is a meeting on this Tuesday night. (We have made an effort to get some information from the Advisory Council, but have not yet heard anything.) For now, it appears as though the GNT strats for the upcoming season (starting next Sunday) will remain as they have been. (NOTE: This reversal does not diminish any level of FUN with this year's GNT.) Any updates we receive will be posted. UPDATE: Another motion made, and passed, will change the strats effective September 1st of this year. The details can be found by clicking here. |
 (Left to right, that's Mark Stiegel [St Cloud], Jane Curtis [Clear Lake], Greg Nastrom [St Cloud], and Darlene Nastrom [St Cloud].) More details on the results of this fun night of bridge can be found by clicking here. |
RUBY LIFE MASTER - Keith Thompson [St Paul] SILVER LIFE MASTER - Gene Nelson [Maple Grove] BRONZE LIFE MASTER - Michael Curran [Maple Grove] LIFE MASTER - Michael Curran [Maple Grove], Kay O'Brien [Apple Valley], John Pelegano [St Paul], Kathy Stadther [St Cloud] ADVANCED NABC MASTER - Judy Knutson [St Cloud] NABC MASTER - Nancy Brunzel [Chisago City]. David Lui [Roseville] REGIONAL MASTER - Bob Engstrom [Bloomington], Mary Helen Gill [Long Lake], Dennis Hoidal [Columbus], Diana Peterson [Ramsey], Joann Sufka [Nisswa] SECTIONAL MASTER - Diane Alshouse [St Paul], V Francis Luikart [St Paul], Robert Marx [Maple Grove], Betsy Michel {Minneapolis] CLUB MASTER - Dick Argue [Rochester], Brian-Paul K Crowder [Little Falls], Gregory Sletten [Detroit Lakes] JUNIOR MASTER - Weston Cutter [Mendota Heights], Susan Egan [St Paul], Mary Jane Edel-Joyce [Roseville], David Jann [Birchwood], Randall Shane [St Paul], Jill Wroblewski [Minneapolis] |
First, the ACBL's definition of a "session interval". That's the time between the scheduled start time of two consecutive sessions. A tournament with events at 10am and 2pm would be a four-hour session interval. 10am and 3pm would be a five-hour session interval. In a nutshell: Session intervals of less than four hours and thirty minutes (4:30) are not permitted except by special permission. Permission must be requested by contacting tournaments@acbl.org. 4:30 or 4:45 session intervals are permitted for sessions of no more than 24 boards. Session intervals of 5:00 or longer are permitted for pairs sessions up to 27 boards or team sessions up to 28 boards. |
