- News - Pasadena Bridge Club

New courses: Bridge Introduction and Popular Conventions
by Morris Jones 16 Oct '24

16 Oct '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> Learn and play bridge! Mojo ABTA Master Teacher 649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201 Pasadena CA 91103 (626) 247-4457 pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> We have two great courses starting next week on Wednesday and Thursday evenings! Invite your friends to discover our game on Wednesday evenings, and join us on Thursdays to learn (or fine tune) the most common bidding conventions. We also have great games and workshops for new players, and some special events coming later this month. Bridge Basics 3 - Popular Conventions A convention is a bid that has special meaning to a partnership to help you reach the best contract on a hand. While there are literally thousands of bridge conventions, there are three or four that you'll find the most frequently used and valuable to know. In this course we'll learn about Stayman, Jacoby Transfer Bids, strong opening bids, and some tools for bidding slams. * Six Thursday evenings, starting Oct. 24, 7:00 - 9:00 PM * Full course description <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/popular-conventions> * $120 includes textbook by Audrey Grant * Click here to enroll <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment> Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction This is the launch pad course for your bridge experience! Even if you've taken the course before, seeing it again always reveals new details that you missed the first time. In the first class you'll learn the mechanics of the game and much of the vocabulary, such as /tricks, notrump, trump, declarer, dummy, opening lead, contract/. For the rest of the class, we'll learn techniques for winning extra tricks, and much of the language of bidding. The last two classes will be practice in using your new skills! * Six Wednesday evenings, starting Oct. 23, 7:00 - 9:00 PM * Full course description <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/bridge-basics-introduction> * $100 includes textbook by Audrey Grant * Click here to enroll <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…> Office Hours! Join us for casual bridge Monday through Thursday from 3:00 - 5:00. Plenty of nice partners available. We'll have an experienced bridge player on hand to help you with sticky problems. Try playing the same hands as we play in the 11:00 Open game and compare your results to theirs! Office Hours are available for a $5 donation, and a great way for newer players to develop their bridge muscles! Novice/Intermediate Games Every *Tuesday evening* from 7:00-9:15 we have a real bridge game that's specifically for newer players. No sharks in the game! Lisa Walker hosts a room of friendly newer bridge players ready to welcome you to the table. If you're looking for a partner, we almost always have one available for you. Come earn your first masterpoints in this game! *Saturday mornings* are dedicated to our novice/intermediate players. We start the morning at 9:30 with a fascinating bridge hand from Eddie Kantar's "Thinking Bridge" series. Every hand teaches /how to think/ about a bridge hand, from the perspectives of bidding, declarer play, and defense. The workshop is followed at 10:00 by a 14-15 board bridge game, finished by 12:15. Coming up at the bridge club We have another week of Club Appreciation games with lots of extra masterpoints awarded, October 21-26. Wednesday October 30 is a very special game, the ACBL-wide *Instant Matchpoint game*. At the end of the game, players get a printed booklet with expert analysis of all the hands. Matchpoint awards are pre-determined on the spot. And the winning pair in each direction can earn a *full Gold masterpoint*! (Card fee for this very special game will be $15.) Mojo, Jane and Zachary

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Reservations
by Morris Jones 23 Sep '24

23 Sep '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> When I first started attending tournaments, I was always fascinated by the planning and organization of the games, despite never really knowing who would show up to play. Would it be not enough, or would it be too many? I share this "director's dilemma" with Brenda Egeland from D.C. Like me, she was also fascinated by directing and organizing bridge games as a very new player. She told me she earned her club director certification when she had about 50 masterpoints. Brenda is also a talented software engineer. She addressed that perpetual anxiety by building RSVPBridge. I saw its value as a planning tool early on, and many other major clubs (Honors Bridge in Manhattan among others) have adopted it as well. The real value in having reservations for a game is that /I know you are coming/. If you're a couple of minutes late, I can still establish a movement and start the game, while keeping your seat available. If someone has an unintentional or forgotten reservation, it's not really a disaster. We might end up with a half table that wasn't expected, but that's not so bad. Sadly, last week I had a pair arrive about five minutes late who was not in the reservation list. With everyone present, the game had started right at 11:00, and the players were well into their first boards. The new pair thought they had a reservation, but for some unknown reason it didn't make it into RSVPBridge for the game. A more experienced director might have found a way to add a table to the movement, but it wasn't something that was part of my repertoire. Because of the reservation system, I haven't had to deal with that situation! (Studying up for next time!) The reservation system relies on email to remind players that they are (or are not) on the list for a game. The reminders are not sent automatically; I try to remember to send one the night before or at least several hours before a game. Email is notoriously unreliable. Often such generated emails are routed to junk or spam folders instead of the inbox, and many people just don't use email (I completely understand!). So I ask a couple of things: Watch out for those emails if you can. When the reminder email for each game arrives from RSVPBridge, look for "You are (or are not) signed up to play" in the email. If it's wrong, let me know! Secondly, if you're making a last minute reservation, or want to play on the spur of the moment, please try to make it to the bridge club at least 10 minutes before game time, or call (626) 247-4457 and leave a message. We can get you into the game and change the movement if we know you're coming! Club championships all week Each quarter the ACBL invites clubs to hold "Club Championships" for each of the club's weekly games. There's no extra sanction fee and no extra card fee. The point awards are significant! In addition, each game will have "overall" winners -- not just N/S and E/W winners. (This might be the week when you choose to play E/W instead of N/S if you can! If you're wondering why, ask me sometime.) Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! *Mojo's pick*: /Improving Your Judgement - Doubles/ on Wednesday evening. Add some precision to your bids after partner doubles. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles/, "Doubler's rebid and the subsequent auction" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "The takeout double" In December, I'm going to hold four individual classes from the Eddie Kantar lesson series. I've picked four excellent topics on declarer play. More about that in a couple weeks. Coming up ... I was mistaken when I listed October 7-12 as a STaC silver point week, but we will get to have two weeks of double point games during October -- the Jane Johnson Club Appreciation games. I'll add them to the schedule soon. *Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction* will begin again on Wednesday evenings starting October 23. Enrollment is open now at PCC Extension <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>! ** Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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This week at the bridge club
by Morris Jones 17 Sep '24

17 Sep '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> Zachary has been wanting to try something for weeks now -- have a short team match at "Office Hours." He reports team match last week, and may try it again! We have plans to offer a regular team game at the club, but limited bandwidth just now. I have two weeks of awkward course scheduling during the second two weeks of December. I'm in possession of some dynamite standalone lessons from Eddie Kantar on every bridge subject you can think of. I'm considering holding single-session classes that anyone can drop in for. Then we'll start up courses again in January. Let me know what you think! Saturdays full of bridge Zachary had a splendid idea for the 299ers who can't get enough bridge ... If you come to play in the Saturday morning workshop-and-game, grab some lunch then play in the 1:00 game for half price! It will be a great way to spend a cloudy chilly Saturday this fall and winter. :) Tuesday evening novice pairs Tuesday evening is our time for new players to come play in a real bridge game with other novice bridge players. Lisa Walker is your host for 14-or-so bridge hands every Tuesday evening at 7:00. The game is always over by 9:15, and it's a very friendly bunch. Lots of new players are winning their first masterpoints in the Tuesday evening game! Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! *Mojo's pick*: /Improving Your Judgement - Doubles/ on Wednesday evening. Add some precision to your bids after partner doubles. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles/, "Advancing (responding to) partner's double" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "Simple overcalls and advances" Coming up ... We'll have a week of Club Championship games next week, culminating with the special Over/Under game on September 29. These are games that pay bunches of extra masterpoints with no extra sanction fee. (We get to do that a few times a year!) The next silver point week will be October 7-12, and October is Club Appreciation Month with lots of nifty events. *Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction* will begin again on Wednesday evenings starting October 23. Enrollment is open now at PCC Extension <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>! ** Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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Let's have a party!
by Morris Jones 03 Sep '24

03 Sep '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> The final day of August was a wonderful day at the bridge club. In the morning we had a 5-table 299er game, preceded by an interesting workshop hand from Eddie Kantar's "Thinking Bridge" series. In the afternoon we held our final NAP Qualifier game with nine tables. Zachary and I got to play to fill the last table, which is always a treat for me. In the ACBL records, we had a 14-table day. Besides all that, we had a group of students from Bridge Basics 1 practice hands from the fifth session of the class. Michael Blottin and Jane Winer have been hosting student groups on the weekends to practice hands and go over material from the various lessons. Early on, Michael and Jane recognized that sometimes the best way to learn this game is to /teach it to someone else/. That's a valuable lesson in itself! They've been inviting players from the classes to join them on Saturday and Sunday mornings for practice. Wednesday afternoon bridge party! Following through with that thought — Jane and Michael have been with us at the bridge club for one year. They wanted to celebrate, and that's as good an excuse as any! During the *Wednesday 3:00-5:00 PM "Office Hours"* they're inviting us all to join them for wine and cheese at the bridge club. Sherna Foucher joined the group at about the same time, and together they're all pitching in to make it a fun party. Whether you're a rookie just discovering the game, or an old-timer who's been enjoying it for decades, this is a great opportunity meet and greet the new folks (or other new folks). Maybe instead of just playing bridge we'll break out some of the board games from the classroom! Over/Under game Sept. 29 At the club there is a sign-up sheet for newer players to join the Over/Under game on September 29. Players who are non-Life Masters under 500 masterpoints are invited to sign up. On the Sunday of the event (Sept. 29), we'll assign partnerships with an experienced player for a bridge game. For many new players this is a great opportunity to experience tournament duplicate bridge with a friendly experienced partner. You might even find yourself discovering a new partnership, and lose any fear of playing in the big open duplicate games. /There is no lower limit/ to the experience of the new players invited! Anyone who can bid and play a bridge hand is invited to join in. Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! The defense course is especially good for drop-ins! Send me a note and let me know you're coming. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Introduction to Defense/, "Second hand play" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ "Practice hands" Upcoming courses Our bridge curriculum features eight different courses for players of all levels! We currently offer courses on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, from 7:00-9:00 PM, rotating through the catalog of courses as best possible. The next courses will be: * /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/iyj_doubles>/, starting Sept. 11 * /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/competitive-bidding>/, starting Sept. 12 Each course runs for six meetings. The $120 course fee includes an excellent textbook. You can save your seat in either course at this link: https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment Coming up ... The next Pasadena Unit Game will be held on Sept. 15, and continuing on the first and third Sundays through this year. We'll have a week of Club Championship games on the third week of September. These are games that pay bunches of extra masterpoints with no extra sanction fee. (We get to do that a few times a year!) The next silver point week will be October 7-12, and October is Club Appreciation Month with lots of nifty events. *Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction* will begin again on Wednesday evenings starting October 23. Enrollment is open now at PCC Extension <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>! ** Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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NAP Qualifiers - last chance!
by Morris Jones 25 Aug '24

25 Aug '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> We do have a "lost and found" area, though it's not really marked! If you look next to the coat rack on a spare side table, you'll see a collection of sunglasses, water bottles, a watch, and convention cards that need to make their way back home. At some future date, we'll refresh the area by discarding the lost items, so give it a look next time you visit! NAP qualifiers last chance This week our Open Pairs games will all be NAP Qualifiers. The masterpoint awards are huge, and paid as 50% black and 50% red points. The $1 extra card fee goes to help pay some travel reimbursement for the pairs qualifying from District 23 to compete at the spring nationals next March in Memphis. There are three strata, non-Life Masters under 500 points, players under 2500 points, and the Open championship strat. Your qualification for a strat is determined by your masterpoint holding on May 6, 2024, when masterpoints were compiled from events through April 30. If you went over 500 or over 2500 since then, you're still eligible for the lower level. Check the back of your June /ACBL Bulletin/ to be sure. For all the details about the North American Pairs in District 23, including game reservations for the district final on October 27, visit the NAP information page here: https://nap.bridgemojo.com/ Are you curious if you've already qualified? Look for your name on the District 23 qualifier list here <https://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/play/NAP_Qualifiers/NAP_D23.htm>. (Note that the list is sorted by unit number.) Open for Labor Day weekend! Come hang out for our games on Saturday, the Unit Game on Sunday, Sept. 1, and the club game on Monday, Sept. 2, Labor Day! Upcoming courses Our bridge curriculum features eight different courses for players of all levels! We currently offer courses on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, from 7:00-9:00 PM, rotating through the catalog of courses as best possible. The next courses will be: * /Improving Your Judgment - Doubles <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/iyj_doubles>/, starting Sept. 11 * /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/competitive-bidding>/, starting Sept. 12 Each course runs for six meetings. The $120 course fee includes an excellent textbook. You can save your seat in either course at this link: https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! The defense course is especially good for drop-ins! Send me a note and let me know you're coming. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Introduction to Defense/, "Signaling against suit contracts" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ "Practice hands" Coming up ... The Pasadena San Gabriel Unit (ACBL 559) will be hosting three games in September. The club will host unit games on Sept. 1 and 15. We also have our fan favorite "Over/Under" game scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 29. Newer players will be assigned to ppartner for the day, and get a taste of a true club tournament game with an experienced partner. More about that soon! The next silver point week will be October 7-12. /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ will begin again on Wednesday evenings starting October 23. Enrollment is open now at PCC Extension <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>! ** Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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Last chance for discount cards
by Morris Jones 13 Aug '24

13 Aug '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> These are our last couple of days to get the 5-game discount card. Thursday is August 15, and the final day to buy some future games for $10. We'll sell you as many as four cards for $50 each, and a lot of people have been buying as many as they can. That's commitment! Games at the club are now $12. Next Monday we have a week of silver point games with the Western Conference Sectional Tournament at Clubs, and following that will be the last chance to get your qualifier for the North American Pairs tournament. Those games will be $13 to cover the extra sanction fee from the ACBL. For the special games, you can still use your punch cards, but we'll ask you to kick in a buck. Our coffee service, Parks Coffee, is discontinuing the sale of lemonade and iced tea, and will stop supporting the dispensers like the one I have in the club. Admittedly the dispenser has been a bit unreliable! I still love my Arnold Palmers, and would like to serve iced tea and lemonade. I'll be looking for some alternatives. We have enough supply to last another month or two. Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! The defense course is especially good for drop-ins! Send me a note and let me know you're coming. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Introduction to Defense/, "Third-hand play to the first trick" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ "Major Suit Opening Bids and Responses" Coming up ... *Silver point games, August 19-24*. The Western Conference is hosting this Sectional Tournament at Clubs. Clubs throughout California and Nevada are eligible to participate, so the overall awards are potentially pretty big! *North American Pairs Qualifiers, August 26-31*. As well as paying huge masterpoint awards (half red, half black), if you earn at least 50% in these games you qualify to compete in the NAP District Final on October 27. And that could lead to competing in the NAP finals in Memphis next March! These NAP Qualifiers are your last chance for the 2024-25 NAP. August 31 is the last day for club qualifiers. For lots more information about the North American Pairs, drop in here: https://nap.bridgemojo.com/ Finally, our next courses will be I/mproving Your Judgment - Doubles/ starting Sept. 11, and /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ starting Sept. 12. All the information is available here <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/available_courses>. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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August at the bridge club
by Morris Jones 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> We have a great new group of students in /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ on Thursday evenings. Michael Blottin and Jane Winer will be hosting practice sessions for them (and anyone else interested) on Saturday mornings at 9:30 at the club in our classroom. It's also great to see the new students popping in for Office Hours, Monday through Thursday at 3:00 PM. One of the hurdles that new players have to overcome is holding and seeing 13 cards at once, while trying to sort them into suits and rank. I just made a short video called *Sort a bridge hand <https://youtu.be/7tolBTlo74Q>* and posted it to the club's YouTube channel. It shows how I do it, which is probably one of a thousand ways to sort a hand. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/7tolBTlo74Q Still time to buy discount cards Card fees for games at the bridge club are now $12 for regular games, $13 for special games (STaC, NAP, fund games, etc.). To ease the transition, we're selling punch cards of five games for $50. You can buy as many as four if you like (that's commitment!). We'll have them for sale through August 15. They've been going quickly! I need to go make some more right after I finish this newsletter. :) Saturday intermediate/novice (299er) game Our first Saturday morning game for the I/N players had a great turnout, with seven tables. Everyone came for the 9:30 workshop, and it was very well received. The lessons will consist of a single hand with interesting bidding, play, or defense problems. Following at about 10:00 we'll play a matchpoint duplicate game of 14 boards. Everything will be done by 12:15, with the rest of your Saturday still available. (Or have some lunch and play in the Open Pairs game at 1:00, like Carol and Terri did last week!) Classes this coming week Individual classes are available to join for $25. No need to sign up for a full course! The defense course is especially good for drop-ins! Send me a note and let me know you're coming. * Wednesday, 7:00 PM, /Introduction to Defense/, "Opening Leads against Trump Contracts" * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ "1 Notrump Opening Bids and Responses" Coming up ... *Silver point games, August 19-24*. The Western Conference is hosting this Sectional Tournament at Clubs. Clubs throughout California and Nevada are eligible to participate, so the overall awards are potentially pretty big! *North American Pairs Qualifiers, August 26-31*. As well as paying huge masterpoint awards (half red, half black), if you earn at least 50% in these games you qualify to compete in the NAP District Final on October 27. And that could lead to competing in the NAP finals in Memphis next March! These NAP Qualifiers are your last chance for the 2024-25 NAP. August 31 is the last day for club qualifiers. For lots more information about the North American Pairs, drop in here: https://nap.bridgemojo.com/ Finally, our next courses will be I/mproving Your Judgment - Doubles/ starting Sept. 11, and /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ starting Sept. 12. All the information is available here <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/available_courses>. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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Defense! And welcome back the Saturday workshop
by Morris Jones 30 Jul '24

30 Jul '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> Learn and play bridge! Mojo ABTA Master Teacher 649 N Fair Oaks Ave #201 Pasadena CA 91103 (626) 247-4457 pasadenabridgeclub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> I have three great opportunities to learn and improve your bridge game. It all starts this week! I'm really excited about the return of the Saturday morning workshop. Read on for more ... And don't forget our Monday through Thursday "Office Hours" sessions from 3:00 - 5:00 PM. Drop in whenever you like and play some casual bridge with other bridge players at your level. Introduction to Defense This course introduces the essentials of good defense, helping you work with your partner to win as many tricks as you can. Good defense requires imagination, logic, communication, and puzzle solving skills. Two-thirds of your bridge play will be on defense! The textbook is by Eddie Kantar, updated by Barbara Seagram in 2019. The style is delightful, sometimes whimsical, easy to read and understand * Six Wednesday evenings, 7:00-9:00 PM, starting July 31. * $120 includes textbook * Full description and lesson plan <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/intro-to-defense> * Click here to reserve your seat <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment> Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction This is the starting point for folks who've never played bridge, and a great way to get back into the game if you've been away from it for a while. The first class teaches all of the mechanics of the game (you can't miss this one if you've never played!). The following classes introduce ways to win more tricks and find better contracts. As of this email, we only have a handful of seats left for this session. * Six Thursday evenings, 7:00-9:00 PM, starting August 1. * $85 + $15 for textbook * Full description and lesson plan <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/bridge-basics-introduction> * Click here to reserve your seat <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…> through PCC Extension Saturday morning workshop and game The Saturday workshop is back with a new starting time and a great new series of lessons. We'll meet at 9:30 for the workshop, and follow at 10:00 with a 14-15 board bridge game that /awards masterpoints/. The game will be finished by 12:15, leaving your Saturday afternoon free. If you need more, play in the Open Pairs game at 1:00! Our workshop will focus on hands from Eddie Kantar's excellent "Thinking Bridge" series. We'll start by bidding and playing a hand. Each hand will have interesting bidding, declarer play, and defense problems to solve. Every hand is a great example of /how to think/ about a bridge hand, and not just blindly follow the guidelines you've learned. Next Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction ... The next offering of Bridge Basics 1 will be held on Wednesday evenings starting October 31. The course is already available for registration <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…> in the PCC Extension catalog. For all your friends curious about bridge, let them know! Come learn and play bridge! Mojo

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about contacting the bridge club
by Morris Jones 12 Jul '24

12 Jul '24

While I'm away (or Zachary is away) at any time, we may be reasonably well connected, but might not be able to respond to requests in a timely fashion. If you're accustomed to TXTing or emailing my personal phone number or email address, it will reach me, but won't reach Zachary. It may not get attention this week. So to send game reservations or information, here's what you can do to be sure we both will see it (and any future staff): * Email: staff(a)pasadenabridgeclub.com * Telephone and voice mail: (626) 247-4457 * TXT message: (626) 247-4457 * Web site: Click the "Contact the bridge club" link and write a note I'll be back soon! Best regards, Mojo -- build message Morris "Mojo" Jones mojo(a)PasadenaBridgeClub.com https://PasadenaBridgeClub.com <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> Pasadena Bridge Club <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com>

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Silver point week
by Morris Jones 07 Jul '24

07 Jul '24

Pasadena Bridge Club Logo <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com> 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> I think the bridge club caught the leading edge of the most recent COVID wave. Those who received the most recent booster probably managed to skip this wave. It's still worth testing regularly. Los Angeles hasn't quite crested the curve of cases, but hopefully we're past the peak at the bridge club! Silver Point Week This week, Monday - Saturday, is a Sectional Tournament at Clubs. This one is hosted by Districts 22 (Southern California) and District 23 (Los Angeles County). Clubs who decide to participate throughout Southern California will be playing the same hands and combining their results to make overall awards. These can be quite large because they're based on the total number of tables in play! Card fees for all STaC games will be $11, which covers the extra sanction fee added by ACBL. Sectional Tournament July 27-28 Our local Pasadena San Gabriel bridge unit (Unit 559) will be taking over the bridge club at the end of the month, Saturday and Sunday. They'll be using the main club and the community room down the hall. The schedule includes two pairs games each day, starting at 10:00 and 3:00, with games for Open Pairs, and games limited to players under 500 masterpoints (499ers). Click here for the tournament flier <https://web2.acbl.org/Tournaments/Ads/2024/07/2407323.pdf> with all the information, and this link to join the RSVP Bridge system <https://www.rsvpbridge.com/join/PasadenaSectional2024> for reservations. Classes this coming week If you didn't sign up for a full course, you're still welcome to join any individual class for $25. Nearly all of our classes stand alone nicely for a one-time visit. Here are the topics this week: * Wednesday, 7:00 PM,//class 6 of 6/Introduction to Declarer Play /"Ruffing in the short hand" * Thursday, 7:00 PM,//class 6 of 6 /Two Over One Game Force/ "Practice Hands" Mojo's pick for this week: If you're a newish 2/1GF player, I'd pick the "practice hands" session on Thursday evening. Since hands using 2/1GF are not all that common, it's great to practice several in concentration. Coming up ... Saturday morning early Jane and I are flying to Toronto. We're early for the nationals -- each summer that's when the American Bridge Teachers Association holds it's annual convention. It's great to spend time with other bridge teachers, and I hope to get in a few games at the start of the NABC as well. We'll be back on the 23rd. The next /Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction/ is open for enrollment on the PCC Extension web site <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&i…>. The class will meet on six Thursday evenings starting August 1. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary

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