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 | The ACBL's program is called "Gold For Good", and if you'd like to participate there is a $30 entry fee. This entry fee is what goes as your donation to disaster relief, but it also upgrades all of your games that week to be eligible for gold points. ALL of your game scores that week are eligible for the program, including your local club games and those at the Bridge Center of St Paul's Holiday Sectional. There are two weeks during which you can upgrade your games, December 9-14 and December 16-21. You can read more about this program by clicking here. |
There is a face-to-face bridge game Friday at 6:30pm this week; but everything gets going a half-hour earlier at 6pm. Your $5 entry fee (holiday markdowns already taking place!) includes refreshments and a light supper before the cards come out. They've got a Club Championship to run, and this is the perfect venue for that rating - so look for extra masterpoints. The type of game (pairs? teams? GNT qualifier?) is up to you. Players are asked to RSVP by emailing the MGSC as follows:
2) Indicate who your partner is - OR if you need a partner 3) What type of game you would prefer (pair/team/GNT Qualifier team) |
But starting on December 1st, this lesson and game are moving up 90 minutes - so the lesson will be taught at 4:30pm and the game starting at 5:00pm. Make note of the new time for this Sunday game (and lesson) - and make a partnership to play in it! |
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 | Once again this year their local charity will be Every Meal, which fights childhood hunger; cash and food donations will be accepted at the tournament. Get your partnerships together as it's never too early to schedule them for the Holiday Tournament! |
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 | Click on the image to your left for a look at how everyone is doing - so far - and remember these masterpoint awards aren't final until the ACBL says they are. That might be some time next week (but sooner than some US Election returns, for sure). In the meantime, the link to find the results for all of this week's STAC games can be found by clicking here. |
  | 73 of the 154 players are Flight "C" players (0-750), even though they can play in any flight for D14. On the other hand, 8 Minnesota players that have qualified are over 6,000 masterpoints - and can only play in the Championship Flight. |
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   | Total face-to-face tables from April 28th to October 31st in Minnesota came in at 7,445, or an increase of +13.2% from last year's 6,575 tables over the same period. (That would be club games and tournament tables combined.) Strictly looking at club tables (and no tournament tables), our table count increased +4.8% during this six-month period. Table counts were up in both the Metro and Outstate clubs; the Edina Senior Center was closed for one of the weeks during the summer which led to a small downturn in Unit 178 tables. Tournament tables soared 51.2% with two additional tournaments this year (the Rochester Regional and Autumn Harvest Sectional). Excluding the extra 564 tables from those two tournaments, year-over-year tournament tables during this period were still up by 79 or +6.6%. Smaller games may be the case until we get to spring once again, but if the past is a prologue, indications are they won't be smaller than last winter - and that's not a bad thing. |
Typically, these STaC weeks provide silver points (remember, silver points are usually only available at sectional tournaments) - but this weeklong STaC event is a "Royal" StaC, where the silver points you earn will be converted to 1/4 each of gold, red, silver, and black at the conclusion of the week. Who will be this STaC's King and Queen here in Minnesota? Plan to play in a few games next week and get in the running.  |
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 | An excerpt from The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (seriously, this is scary stuff - click at your own risk) How to host a Halloween Party (from 1963) |
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Don't forget that D14's rules have changed for this year's GNT competition - you must qualify in a club to go on to the D14 Finals in March, 2025. There is no buy-in allowed at the end of the season. Looking at the November calendars, between Thanksgiving week and the Royal STaC there don't appear to be too many GNT games on the schedules for the month - but if you pipe up and let your club manager know you'd like to see a few, they're not difficult for your club manager to schedule. The ACBL will put together a list of Minnesota players who are eligible to go on to the D14 competition, and when they put that list together, you'll see it posted here on the Bridge Blog. |
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 | Looking back at the last fifteen years of open sectional tournaments in Minnesota (that's 109 open sectionals) - an 80% game has happened only once before. You'd have to go back to a Saturday evening in Duluth on September 10th, 2016 to find a pair that came away with an 80% game at this level of competition. Gregg Van Dyke [Key Largo FL] and Tom Grue [Apple Valley] had an 80.42% game at the Paul Bunyan Sectional back in 2016 - but they are the only pair that Sarah and Jackson are joining in this club as of now. Click on the image to your left to see the highest game percentage found in each of Minnesota's open sectionals over the last ten years. (NOTE that the I/N scores are not included here, only open, unrestricted masterpoint games.) |
The 164 tables over three days ended up as 69.0% of 2019's 3-day tables for this tournament; that's a good turnout. The last time this tournament was held five years ago, it was held at the Oak Marsh Golf Club [Woodbury], roughly 17 miles farther east. In this case, closer certainly seems better for attracting players. |  |
Remember you can qualify for the D14 GNT by playing and qualifying in any GNT game (even one that is being held nowhere near D14) - but you'll have to do so at a club-level game this year to go on to the D14 Finals. Those finals will be held online the weekend of March 29-30, 2025. |
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There is one more day of cards at this tournament tomorrow. Full results of this tournament can be found by clicking here. |
ACBL tournaments that have returned to the calendar after the introduction of COVID to the bridge world have averaged 56% of their pre-COVID table counts. (The Rochester Regional is an example of such a tournament, having overperformed slightly with 61.4% of their 2019 tables.) The last time around at the Autumn Harvest there were 78 tables in play on Thursday in 2019. That would be 75, disregarding the evening teams game (not held tonight), and 56% of 75 is 43. All things being equal (and they are not 100% equal, starting with the new venue), 12 open tables and 10.5 NLM tables this morning would meet 56% of the number from 2019. (12 open and 8.5 NLM tables in the afternoon would also meet this percentage from 2019.) We will see what takes place! Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to get a partner and blow these expectations out of the water. UPDATE: Day 1 seeing 57 total tables, that's 72.6% of 2019's day 1 tables - a great start! The NLM tables today (10 in the morning, 9 in the afternoon) came right in at the 56% number; but the Open tables today (19/19) were 90.4% of 2019's day 1 Open tables. Several NLMs have become Open players in the past five years; that may have something to do with today's table counts. Full results of this tournament can be found by clicking here. |
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Presently, the bridge clubs in Duluth and Rochester have signed up for this event (no Unit 178 clubs are participating as of this post) - but there is still time for your club manager to sign up. And if you're looking to get into the action, click here for a list of participating clubs. |
 | If you're interested in obtaining a copy, send Connie Nelson an email at connie@psg.us. If you know John (and chances are you do), you know it's good stuff. |
   
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The flyer for this tournament is to your right - click on it to enlarge it and open it in a new window (for viewing or printing) - and we will see YOU next week at the bridge table. |
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During the meeting club president Jeff Walker updated members on an Equipment Fundraising Drive to purchase a new dealing machine which is being funded in part by a $2500 grant from Unit 103. The drive also hoped to replace a number of worn out chairs by asking members to donate $40 to “buy a chair.” The cost of new chairs is being subsidized by a $500 grant from Unit 178. Finally, the club hoped to fund a new sound system, which miraculously appeared already installed for the meeting and sounding awesome! 64 players remained for the game which was a 16 table web of 26 boards. Terry Beckman and Paul Meerschaert finished first overall. Jackson and Sarah Wahl finished second, not quite a half board behind. Finishing third were Dan McIntyre and Tom Knier. The evening was a success and a fun time was had by all. --Larry" |
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Connie Nelson [Avon] provides the recap of the day's fun:
[F]orty-seven different players earned master points. The Top Ten masterpoint winners were: (preliminary points) • Dale Simson, 1st 3.35 Silver • Maclore Christensen, tied 2/3 3.18 Silver • Steve He, tied 2/3 3.18 Silver • Mark Anderson, tied 4/5 2.66 Silver • David G Hanson, tied 4/5 2.66 Silver • David Lui, tied 6/7 2.13 Silver • Richard Trachy, tied 6/7 2.13 Silver • Gloria Emerson, tied 8/9 2.0 Silver • Janet Enger, tied 8/9 2.0 Silver • Amy Roske, 10th 1.85 Silver Seven players played in their first ACBL Tournament ever: Tamara Armstrong, Marlene DeVoe, Julie Huseth, Mary Johannes, Doreen Miller, Mary Stoiber and Mary Wagner. And eleven entrants had fewer than 10 MPs. I view these players as our tournament’s “Most Valuable Players.” Introducing new people to tournament play, and encouraging them to return, makes for a brighter future for all of us who enjoy Minnesota bridge. Finally, THANK YOU to everyone in our Club for your help in putting on this tournament, especially to Sharon McKenzie who was in charge of the snacks all day, to Director Joe Lisbon, to Jane Curtis and Margi Kappes who drove in to serve lunch, to John Selden who moved our tables and other supplies, to Jim Schnepf for covering all the computer mechanics, to Saundy Fedor and Win Anderson who were the smiling faces at our welcome table, to Rhonda Rossman for serving as Partnership Chair, and ALL members of our tournament team. It does indeed take a village! --Connie"     
L to R: Dale Simson [St Cloud], 1st-time tournament player Mary Wagner [Sartell], Mark Anderson [St Cloud] and David Hanson [St Cloud], Jane Schmidt [St Paul] and Maclore Christensen [St Paul], and Wendy Hennes [St Cloud]. |
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