The Bridge Gazette Page 1 of 9

The Bridge Gazette

November, 2015 Kim Howard, Editor

1520 14th Avenue, Vero Beach, FL. 32960

772-562-3008

www.verobridge.com

From the Bridge Coordinator’s desk

The October Sectional Tournament was held on October 9-11. Carmen Townsend-Sommers and Letty Hurst co-chaired this event providing the wonderful hospitality that we all appreciate. These women together with Pat Fox, Sarita Johnson,

Marilyn Klussman, Kaytee Losche and Martha

Willoughby put on a wonderful tournament and we thank them all for their continuing volunteer efforts. Eleanor Baum’s 100th Birthday was celebrated in high style on Monday, October 19. Eleanor’s family hosted club members, family and friends at a beautiful luncheon organized and prepared by Marge

Desmery. Over 160 people stayed to play in the Upgraded Club Championship game that afternoon. It was a wonderful day and we congratulate Eleanor on 100 years well lived! The Mentor Mentee program will begin in January. Novice players with fewer than 20 points can be paired with a Mentor who has less than 500 points. In a second grouping, Mentees with less than 100 points will be paired with a Mentor having more than 300 points. The intent is to have the mentees develop a comfort level playing in a higher level game than they usually play. Volunteer your time to help this next generation of bridge players. The Pro-Am pairs bridge game was held on November 8 with 46 members playing. Each novice player was paired with a “pro”, who had more than 500 points. The overall winners, Meghan Seligman, playing with Jane Garr won 4.13 Points! Thank you to all who participated. There will be many opportunities in November for extra points. We have Club Championships on November 9th, 18th and 24th. The VBBC will host Series games on Wednesdays and Fridays all month. Those players earning the most points during Series games are awarded bonus points at month end

The Bridge Gazette Editor: Kim Howard Contributors for this issue:Leslie Phelps, Kim Howard,

Martha Glassmeyer, and David Garfield

From the president’s desk

The Board of Governors has asked Bill Poole to form a committee to submit recommendations to the Board for candidates for submission to the members for election to the Board at our forthcoming annual meeting to be held on December 14, 2015. Bill has been aided in this assignment by Audrey Fetter and Jim Greene. We believe an outstanding list of candidates has been put forth by the Committee and they are strongly endorsed by the Board. Although I am the only current Governor who must step down as required by our by-laws, at present one other Governor has decided not to seek a second term and two others have graciously decided to step aside in view of the strong list of candidates.

Frannie Atchison

Ann Bottelli

Denis Conlon

Harold Phillips This group represents all levels of play at our club. Their photos and brief bios have been posted at the club. We want to thank Bill, Audrey, and Jim for their efforts to assemble this outstanding group.

David Garfield

determined by the number of points that player earned and the number of tables playing in those games. STaCs week begins on November 30 and continues to December 6. Silverpoints will be awarded all STaC week! See you at the Club.

Martha Glassmeyer

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November 1

Richard Crannell, Robin Dunlap, Gini Koehler, Barbara Price November 2

Gloria Anderson, Carole Miller November 3

Bill Baum November 4

Este Brashears, Pat Brinkerhoff, Bobbie Maffei, Ginger Winkler November 5

Paul Donaghy, Robert McBride, Barry Rowles November 6

Jill Benedict, Norm Thomas November 7

Mark Earle, Carol Mahony, Perk Moseley November 8

Karen Lind November 9

Hazel Lacks, Art Scutro November 10 Marilyn Abrams, Nona-Are Franson, Don Riefler November 11

Carol Critchell, Christine Gibbs, Phyllis Thompson November 12

Patricia Youngstrum November 13

Judy Alderman November 14

Lil Cornett, Lillian Horton, Ann Sowers November 15

Janice Ertel, Janice Glenn, Donald Houpt November 16

Mary Rianhard, Helen A. White November 17

Jim Greene, Christina Long, Clare Maher, Louann Yates November 18

Frances Ingraham, Douglas Johnston November 19

Elaine Gillooly, Ellie Lloyd, Preston Strazza, Susie Woody November 20

Richard Hunter, Judith Melchiorre, Betty Wiese, Bill Wilbur

November 21

Sandra Gross, Janice Lunn, Paula McAuley, Barbara Smith November 22

Gerry Browning, Mimi Burke, John Medley, Honey Lee Richless November 23

Betty Dalzell, Pat Pritchard, Joanne Reeves, Bob Shrauger November 25

Peggy Bradt, Sharon Sklansky November 26

Toni Brower, Jerry Coram, Rick Helfand, Bill Rose November 28

Ann Evans, Marshall Wolf November 29

Griff McClellan, Sarah Price November 30

Bizzy Cote, Lise Hounsell, Sarita Johnston, Paul Mita, Patricia White

Visit our web site at:

www.verobridge.com • for daily game results

• for tournament schedules

• to locate a member’s e-mail address

• For hand records

• For partnership’s

70% for October Congratulations to the following who achieved 70% or more

games in October:

10/23 Alfred & MaryAnn Schmidt 78.57%

10/29 Bob Flynn & Boots VanNostrand 73.34%

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

October ACBL Rank Changes Junior Master: SHIRLEY POWERS Club Master: PHILIP MOYER NABC Master: SUZANNE WILSON

THE ANNUAL HOLDIAY PARTY The Holiday Party will be held on December 10th beginning at noon. Please join us to celebrate the season. Holiday attire is encouraged! Pat Fox, Marilyn Klussman, Boots VanNostrand, and their crew will be providing a festive feast.

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Bridge Education

Bidding Review Classes Bidding review classes are held on Wednesdays from 9:30 to 11:30. No reservation or partner is re-quired and the cost is $15. Here are some of the up-coming topics:

11/18 - Opening the Bidding - Martha 11/25 - Responding to Major Suits - Lyn 12/02 - Responding to Minor Suits - Erica 12/09 - Opener’s Rebid & Reverse - Lyn 12/16 - Responder’s Rebid– Erica 12/23 - Overcalls - Lyn 12/30 - Takeout Doubles - Lyn

December Classes A 2-session “Defensive Signaling” course will be offered on December 7th & 10th with Lyn. The cost is $30. A 4-session “Supervised Play” course will be offered on December 7th, 10th, 14th & 17th with Gail. The cost is $60. Please register and pay in ad-vance. We need 8 participants to hold the course, so please sign up with Kim.

Mentoring Program FOUR SIMPLE GUIDELINES:

1. Be a member of the VBBC 2. Have a completed convention card

3. Mentor plays the Mentee’s card

4. Play 3 times between January 1st and

the Championship event March 31 The sign-up sheets are on the table for the open and limited game mentor/mentee program. We encourage both mentors and mentees to register. If a mentor and mentee have already agreed to work together, they may sign up as a pair, or you will be assigned a partner.

OPEN PROGRAM: Mentees have between 21-100 masterpoints Mentors have more than 300 masterpoints

LIMITED PROGRAM: Mentees have between 0-20 masterpoints Mentors have less than 500 masterpoints

Phone extensions 201 Kim’s office

202 Director’s desk

203 Courtesy phone by the bookcase 204 Cashier’s desk

205 Martha’s desk

9 A.M. FRIDAY STUDENT GAME

A brief lesson at a somewhat slower pace makes this a great game for students or those who want to give duplicate bridge a try. The session is 9 a.m. until noon. The fee is members $9 and nonmembers $11 .

9 A.M. TUESDAY STUDENT GAME WILL RESUME ON NOVEMBER 17TH!!!! A brief lesson at a somewhat slower pace makes this a great game for students or those who want to give duplicate bridge a try. The session is 9 a.m. until noon. The fee is members $9 and nonmembers $11 . And is held at the I.R. Shores Community Center.

MP

Level

ACBL-

Wide Rank

Ace of Clubs VBBC Member

MP thru

Sept 2015

200-300

2nd Boots VanNostand 181

2500-5000

26th Harold Phillips

241

5000-7500

21st

Bill Poole

265

7500-10000

23rd Rob Colton 262

Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney Here are the Ace of Clubs ACBL nationwide (not Unit) standings of our members for points earned at the club level through September 2015 for the top 30 in each division. Our club should be proud of the fine accomplishments of these members. Leslie Phelps

MP Level ACBL-Wide Rank

Mini-McKenney VBBC Member

MP thru Sept 2015

200-300

19th Boots VanNostrand 201

ACBL-wide Master Point

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ABC CLUB Kim Howard

Congratulations to the following C players who came in first in

all strata (C, B, A) in an open game during October:

10/07 Norma Quinn & Shirley Davies

Barbara Lowry & Marilyn Bauknecht 10/08 Betty Wiese & Christine Fletcher

10/13 Chris Smith & Lorie Heiberger

10/14 Maureen Hendricks & Carole Koontz

10/14 Christine Matus & Peter VanBennkom 10/15 Carol Koontz & Sandra Gross

John Garrison & Gary Hall

10/16 Mimi & Joe Burke

Michael Williams & Doug Ell 10/19 Melody Gabriel & Boots VamNostrand

10/20 Gloria Pappalardo & Diana Thompson

Shirley Davies & Joan Woodhouse 10/27 Chris Smith & Lorie Heiberger

10/28 Jim Andre & Dana Smith

The Top 25!

For games played in October

1 36.67 Boots Van Nostrand 2 35.72 Doris Leigh* 3 31.46 Myriam Milgrom* 4 30.29 Priscilla Knox* 5 28.64 Ronald Andrews* 6 19.95 Bob Flynn* 7 19.11 Audrey Fetter* 8 18.81 Ernie Smith* 9 18.53 Jay Baum* 10 18.46 Carol Koontz* 11 18.26 Gail Reams* 12 17.63 Nancy Marquardt* 13 16.55 Jay Prillaman* 14 16.53 Chris Smith* 15 16.34 Jim Migliore* 16 16.27 William Poole* 17 15.75 Mariangela Risso* 18 14.79 Rosalie Powers* 19 14.24 Charo Segura* 20 13.97 Harold Phillips 21 13.96 John McClenathan* 22 13.94 Kathy Baum* 23 13.88 Judith Kane* 24 13.55 Celia Phillips 25 13.41 Melody Gabriel*

OCTOBER SERIES WINNERS

Thursday Series Game Bonus Masterpoints 0-499ERS

Mary Peters 0.39 Carole Miller 0.39 Fred Nordstrom 0.40 Bill Bastian 0.40

Thursday Series Game Bonus Masterpoints Open Game

Ron Andrews 1.50 Bill Poole 0.58 Gini Hauser 0.73 Pat Martin 0.73

Tuesday Series Game Bonus Masterpoints 0-199ers

Ginger Winkler 0.30 Pat Forsdick 0.59 Priscilla Gavoor 0.13 Richard Gavoor 0.13

Tuesday Series Game Bonus Masterpoints Open Game

Charo Segura 0.78 Lyn Giuffrida 0.78 Al Killian 0.22 Nancy Marquardt 0.22

CARD SHARKS FOR OCTOBER

Martha Glassmeyer

0–5 Harold & Mary Jane Zorlen

6–20 Ruth Fleigh

21–50 Fred Nordstrom 51–100 Bill Bastian

101–200 Dana Smith

201–300 Lorie Heiberger 301–400 MJ Malloy

401–500 Boots VanNostrand

501-750 Audrey Fetter

751–1000 Carol Koontz 1001-2500 Doris Leigh

2501+ Myriam Milgro,

CLUB STATS FOR OCTOBER Black Masterpoints - 1679.26

Red Masterpoints - 22.32

Gold Masterpoints - 8.64 TOTAL MASTERPOINTS - 1710.22

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Book Review

Mel Colchamiro’s “How You Can Play Like an Expert (Without Having to Be One)” presents some really useful new rules, repackages some older ones, discusses a variety of standard topics and breaks new ground with a discussion of “Balance of Power” doubles. Your enjoyment will depend on your tolerance for excessive egocentricity, some plagiarism and an abundance of often entertaining, but irrelevant, personal anecdotes. Colchamiro writes a generally helpful monthly column for the Bridge Bulletin and clearly wants to be called Mel. The book’s main theme is that experts intuitively know all the stuff without resorting to rules, but if you are like the rest of us, rules really help. This 2007 book is in its second edition, but most of the people who would find it helpful have yet to discover it. Mel’s “Rules” include: when to pass partner’s take-out double (Rule of 9), when to use Cappelletti, DONT, Meckwell, etc., over one no-trump (Rule of 8), when to respond to a weak two opening with a forc-ing 2NT (Rule of 17), and when responder’s rebid should NOT be 2NT (the first Rule of 23). The Rules are illustrated with well-presented examples. Rules 9, 17 and 23 are not too difficult to remember and apply. To apply the Rule of 8, assuming you can remember it, you must be really adept at determining the number of losers in your hand, a skill one should cultivate anyway, followed by more math. But as Mel phrases it, “The sad truth is that bridge is a game of counting”. I was annoyed that immediately after zinging Ber-gen for not being the originator of the Rule of 20 (open at the one level if the sum of the lengths of the two longest suits plus your HCP is at least 20) Mel steals Ron Klinger’s Rule of 22. This Rule is Bergen’s Rule of 20, PLUS two quick tricks, a modification that Jay Prillaman, for one, teaches in his classes. Mel strikes new ground in discussing Balance of Power doubles, one embodiment of which is: if you know your side has 23 high card points, then the opponents aren’t going to make 2 of anything (except with grossly unevenly distributed hands). So Mel says double them, his second Rule of 23. Standard topics that are helpfully re-presented include pre-emptive bidding and loser-trick counting. At first, the negatives repelled me. Every Rule is

their title; but then I had to buy a second copy because my friend wouldn’t give me back my first, so how irritating can they be?

Maxwell Hughes

Barbara Seagram will be kicking our Celebrity Season of on Tuesday January 12th with "STRIPPING CAN BE FUN.!” Tickets purchased in advance cost $45 or $50 at the door. Second will be Marty Bergen on Tuesday, February 9th with “BETTER REBIDDING.” Third BUT NOT LEAST in the series will be Audrey Grant on Tuesday, March 8th with “HOW TO GUARANTEE THAT YOUR FINESSE WILL WORK MORE THAN 50% OF THE TIME.” You can purchase the package which includes all three of our fabulous speakers for $120 or each individual speaker for $45 in advance or $50 day of. Each event includes a lot of knowledge along with a continental breakfast. Get your tickets in advance and save ! Sign up sheets are on the table, or you can register with Kim, in the office.

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2016 CELEBRITY SERIES

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