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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>
This past Saturday was our busiest Saturday ever for normal club games
at the Pasadena Bridge Club. Our novice/intermediate "workshop and game"
at 9:30 had nine full tables, and our afternoon Open Pairs had nine full
as well, for an 18-table day. So far in 2026 we're in the top 50 in f2f
bridge clubs in North America.
We have a *special guest visiting* on Monday. Brenda Egeland, the
creator of RSVPBridge, is visiting the club and playing in the game.
Drop in and say "hi," or better, join us in the game.
The ACBL you may not know ...
The American Contract Bridge League has a physical headquarters just
south of Memphis, TN.
But the bulk of the ACBL is found in their districts and units. North
America is divided into 25 districts, and each district is divided into
a number of units, sometimes containing a single sanctioned club.
Our unit (559) is the Pasadena San Gabriel Unit. We're bounded by the
Glendale Verdugo, Pomona Covina, Downey-Whittier, and Santa Clarita
Antelope Valley units. There are nine units in District 23.
District 23 is Los Angeles County, and we're surrounded by District 22,
which is everything else in Southern California (including, for
instance, Ventura and San Diego).
While the ACBL has a professional administrative staff (including CEO
Bronia Jenkins), and a field operation that includes tournament
directors, /everything else ACBL is managed by volunteers!/
From the national board of directors to the smallest unit board,
*everyone is a volunteer.* Sectional and regional tournaments are all
managed by volunteers. There are volunteer "boards of directors" at
every level.
This structure has its tradeoffs, but it speak volumes about how bridge
players are dedicated to the growth and preservation of our game.
The Pasadena San Gabriel Unit will be having its annual membership
meeting and board election at the unit game on March 1.
Our bridge club is within unit 559, but the club does not have a formal
business relationship with the unit. Most clubs, like ours, are
independent businesses. To hold unit games and sectional tournaments,
the unit rents space and hires directors.
Not an ACBL member yet? Join for free here
<https://my.acbl.org/membership/join?guest=X&club=277210&teacher=8202249>!
Opening lead recording off for now
A lot of players enjoyed being able to see the opening leads in the club
game results, About an equal number thought it was a hassle, and another
equal number (can you say "thirds?") didn't mind either way.
At this point I think we had fun with it. We may do it again for a
limited time, or for individual games (maybe the Saturday morning game?).
It's a good way to discover the effect of opening lead on results, and
was worth doing. I'm expecting an equal number of cheers and "awws."
Classes This Week
Our classes are at their best in the context of a full course, but they
also stand alone very nicely. If you can't take a full course, you can
always drop in for a single class on any topic for $25.
Here are this week's individual classes:
* Wednesday 3:00 PM /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "The
Competitive Auction"
* Wednesday 7:00 PM /Bridge Basics 4 - Play of the Deal /"Handling the
opponents"
* Thursday 7:00 PM /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles/ "Balancing and
other doubles"
*Mojo's pick for this week*: Wednesday afternoon, "The Competitive
Auction." We add a few tools, like Negative Doubles (a.k.a. Responder's
Double), and look at the competitive auction as a whole.
Every Saturday morning at 9:30 we feature a short free workshop from
Eddie Kantar's /Thinking Bridge/ series. The workshop is free, and
you're welcome to join even if you're not planning to play in the game
that follows.
Coming up ...
The next session of /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ is scheduled for
Thursday evenings starting April 2. Here is the link to register
<https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>
for the course through PCC Extension.
Sunday, March 15, a full day bridge seminar with Robert Todd. We'll
start taking signups for that in a week or two.
Best regards
Mojo, Jane, Zachary, Lisa, Susan
