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November 2014
Upcoming Sectionals
Roadrunner
Fall Sectional
Albuquerque, New Mexico
October 31-November 2
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he Duke City Bridge Club will host
the annual Albuquerque Fall Sectional as always. Friday has single
session Stratified Pairs events and a three
session Bracketed Knockout Teams. Free
coffee and tea, as well as an abundance of
snacks and finger foods is provided at all
sessions. More information is in the ad in
this issue of ScoreCard.
Falling Leaves 299er
Fort Collins, Colorado
November 1
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his one day tournament has two single session events, with start times
of 9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and will
be held at Christ United Methodist Church
on Drake Street. The website at northerncoloradobridge.com will have more information. An inexpensive paid lunch is available, and there are prizes, trophies, and
plenty of snacks, coffee, and tea.
Kachina Sectional
Tempe, Arizona
November 6-9
Denver Winter Sectional
Golden, Colorado
January 8-11, 2015
he weather is great and the snowbirds are back! Come join the fun
at this four day Mesa, Arizona, sectional at the Pera Club on 1 East Continental Drive in Tempe. All pairs games are single session. There are two Knockout Teams
and a hot lunch during the Swiss Teams on
Sunday. More information is in the ad in
this issue of ScoreCard.
olorado’s first bridge tournament
of the year will be at the Jefferson
County Fairgrounds. It starts with
a one session Swiss Teams on Thursday
night at 7:00 p.m. and then has the usual
schedule, including a 10:00 a.m. start on
Saturday. More information is at denverbridge.com and in the ad in the next issue
of ScoreCard.
njoy Arizona’s only all beachfront resort with pleasant January
weather at the London Bridge Sectional. The four-day tournament (Thursday
through Sunday) is held at the Elks Club
Lodge and includes two Knockout Teams.
More information is in the ad in this issue
of ScoreCard.
Tucson Fall Sectional
Tucson, Arizona
November 13-16
Tucson Winter Sectional
Tucson, Arizona
January 8-11, 2015
Under 500
Non-Life Master Sectional
Tempe, Arizona
January 17-18, 2015
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T
he Holiday Inn on Palo Verde will
be the site of this sectional with two
Knockout Teams, one starting on
Thursday and the other on Friday. There are
six single session pairs events with game
times of 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. There will
be daily guest lectures at 12:30 and Complimentary buffet lunch for all two session
players on Sunday. More information is in
the ScoreCard ad below.
T
he Holiday Inn on Palo Verde just
off of I-10 will again host this sectional. Use the booking code “ABC”
before December 29 to get the reduced
room rates of $79 which includes a breakfast buffet and Wi-Fi. There is free coffee
and tea, bagels and cream cheese, smoked
salmon, and pastries every morning. See
the ad in this ScoreCard for more details.
he scenic Jefferson County Fairgrounds hosts the Denver Fall Sectional, which starts Thursday evening with the annual membership meeting
followed by a one session Swiss Teams that
has pre-duplicated boards and hand records
this year. Game times are 10:00 and 2:00
with a three session Knockout on Friday.
More information is on the unit website at
DenverBridge.com and in the ad in this issue of ScoreCard.
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he Pera Club (short for Project Employees Recreation Assn.), a private
country club on 1 East Continental
Drive in Tempe, is hosting this Non-Life
Master Sectional. There will be pre-dealt
hands even in the Sunday Swiss Teams and
between sessions a local expert will review
the deals you played. More information will
be in the ad in the next issue of ScoreCard.
Pro-Am Success in Phoenix
Yuma Fall
Sunshine Sectional
Yuma, Arizona
November 20-23
Denver Fall Sectional
Golden, Colorado
November 6-9
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London Bridge Sectional
Lake Havasu, Arizona
January 16-19, 2015
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ntroducing a new four day stratified
sectional to celebrate the arrival of
autumn and to welcome back winter
visitors. It will be held at the Quality Inn
on 32nd Street. Thursday game times are
1:00 and 7:00, then game times become
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. There will be one
session pairs events plus a three session
Knockout on Thursday and Friday morning. See the ad in this issue of ScoreCard
for details.
Pro-Am 1st
Dee Campbell - Kim Corbin
Pro-Am 3rd
John Rogers - Honey Klein
2012 Pro-Am 1st Place
Susan Schulman - Pro Helene Drake
Pro-Am Organizer (Ams) Rod Bias
Tournament Chair Sherryl Buchler
Pro-Am Organizer (Pros) JoAnne Lowe
November 13—16, 2014
Holiday Inn—Palo Verde
Thursday—November 13, 2014
9:00 AM ………………….………….......Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) and Knockout I (Round 1 )
1:30 PM………………...……………….....Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) and Knockout I (Round 2)
& Single Session Swiss Team
Friday—November 14, 2014
9:00 AM ……...………......................................... Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) and Knockout I (Finals)
& Single Session Swiss Team
1:30 PM ……...………......................................... Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) and Knockout II (Round 1)
Saturday—November 15, 2014
Free coffee , tea, pastries,
muffins, bagels, smoked salmon,
free yummy candy
Free Lunch on Sunday and
Pre-dealt hands with hand records.
12:30PM LECTURES
9:00AM…………..……...…….…...………....Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) & Knockout II( Round 2)
& Single Session Swiss Team
1:30 PM…………………….….………….…Stratified Pairs (Single Session)
Stratified 199’er Pairs (Single Session) & Knockout II ( Finals)
& Single Session Swiss Team
Sunday—November 16, 2014
9:00 AM & 1:30 PM..................Strati-flighted Swiss Teams (Two Sessions)
Stratified 199’er Swiss Teams (Two Sessions)
All Two Session Players Receive a Complimentary Lunch
THU-FRI-SAT
Fees: $12.00 per person, per session for dues paying
ACBL Members and $16.00 for all others
4550 S. Palo Verde Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85714
(520) 746-1161 or (800) 465– 4329
Rooms $79.00 Rooms include buffet breakfast and
Wi-Fi. Blocked rooms reserved until October 30,
2014. Phone reservations, use booking code
“ABC” to get preferred rates.
Visit our website at Www.SouthernArizonaBridge.com
This is a non -smoking event.
Sanction #1411033
Tournament Chair: Steve Reynolds
(520) 488-7730 or TVS1@cox.net
Director-in-Charge: Eric Bell
Partnerships: Rudy Martinez (925) 382-9454
I/N Rep: Gordon Diss g.diss@comcast.net
E-mail: Partnerships@SouthernArizonaBridge.com
Stratified Events: A=1500+; B=500-1500; C=0-500:
199’er Pairs: D=100-200; E=20-100 F=0-20
Knockouts: Bracketed by average master point
holdings of all team members - Top bracket may be
handicapped
Strati-flighted Swiss Teams: (All scored at
Victory points) A=3000+; Ax=0-3000; B=1000-1500;
C=500-1000; D= 0-500
199’er Swiss Teams: (All scored at Victory points)
E=100-200; F=0-100
T
he recent Phoenix Regional began
with their annual Pro-Am game that
had a record-popping 66 ½ tables!
What a great way to involve the rising
players and kickoff the tournament.
First place went to Dee Campbell, Durango, Colorado, who played with Pro Kim
Corbin of Scottsdale, Arizona. Second Place
was taken by Susan Howard playing with
Pro Jeannine Barnes, both from Chandler
Arizona. Third place was brought home by
John Rogers, Paradise Valley, Ariz., playing
with Pro Honey Klein, Scottsdale Arizona.
Congratulations to these, and all partici-
pants of the ever growing Pro-Am event.
Special thanks go to Tournament Chair
Sherryl Buchler, Am Coordinator Rod
Bias, and Pro Coordinator JoAnne Lowe.
It takes an enormous amount of work to
produce a Pro-Am, and even more so for
one as successful as the Phoenix Pro-Am
has been.
lashback to the 2012 Pro-Am game:
Susan Schulman (left in above photo)
playing with Helen Drake (right, as the Pro)
won the event. Susan Schulman achieved
Life Master at the 2014 Phoenix Regional.
Congratulations Susan!
F
Couch –Continued from page 9
tally is also 71%.
If, when you first looked at this deal, you
thought to yourself, “Gee, the two lines
look about equal,” pat yourself on the
back. Which line to choose? Our friend
Bart Bramley has a rule, “If you will make
when trump are 3-2, you better make it,” so
I think I would choose line one. If I went
down I could say “Bramley’s rule” to Annie and hope she would understand.
There is a competing adage: “The road
to hell is paved with declarers who didn’t
pull trump,” so line two would also have
much merit. (I sent this deal to California
expert Jeff Goldsmith, and he observed
that many opponents lead a trump from
two or three small against a grand, so the
chance of a 3-2 break may be overstated;
this argues for line 2.)
W
Train to Sleep
hich brings us, inevitably, to “How
did I end up sleeping on the couch?”
This deal caused me to think about changing our bidding agreements. After a keycard
ask, a zero or three response, and an ask for
the trump queen, there is enough room to
deny the queen, show all three of the side
kings, bid last train, show the queen with
no extras, and an Additional Unused Step.
I wrestled with the problem of whether that
“sixth step” should be stronger than last
train, or that it should just be a “non-serious last train.” (I finally concluded that a
“serious sixth step” may be more advantageous.) But when I suggested to Annie we
needed a second last train, you know where
I ended up sleeping.
And the Survey Says . . . .
W
e want your opinion! D17
President Darwin Afdahl has received very good feedback from
your emails. Now he wants your opinions
in a more formal survey.
He has put together a few questions
for you located on our district website at
d17acbl.org/index.php?page=survey
Some of you may wonder why we never
published the results of the previous survey
on game times. The answer is that they were
not conclusive. You can still leave comments on that survey at bridgeteaching.com/
polls/ but that survey itself is closed.