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649 N Fair Oaks Ave
#201
Pasadena CA 91103
(626) 247-4457
pasadenabridgeclub.com
A year or so ago Zachary recognized the need
for our new bridge students to have a time to
drop into the bridge club and practice playing
bridge. He had a chunk of time available in his
afternoons, and "Office Hours" was born.
Most large bridge clubs have some sort of
"social/supervised play" session. I've played
social bridge at Honors in New York, and the
Andrew Robson club in London. They would give
you a rubber bridge score card and leave you to
it. But there was always a host (or a few) who
you could call on when you were stuck on a hand.
It's arguably the most important service
offered by a teaching bridge club. Without it,
there is no comfortable transition from classes
to full duplicate bridge games.
With Zachary stepping back, it's a good time
for us to take a look at what works and what
doesn't for Office Hours. Let's give it a
reboot.
One thing to realize is that there's an
audience for players of some experience who
aren't interested in duplicate bridge games.
This group doesn't always mix well with
newcomers who are learning the game. For one
thing, the Zero Tolerance policy provides for
score penalties for bad behavior, but in an
unsanctioned game there is no structure for
that. Being kind to partner and other players
may be the most important skill to develop.
It's mandatory that we offer something for our
new players who are working out their "bridge
muscles" for the first time. I don't believe
we're going to be in a position to offer purely
social bridge. Everyone who drops in needs to
expect that they will be seated with players who
are just learning the game. (We'll leave that as
self-defined.)
I know that we'll be looking for a small army
of volunteer bridge players who support this
mission and want to provide our new players with
a safe and comfortable place to practice playing
bridge.
Now is the time to speak, whether you're a
player in Office Hours bridge, or someone who
has played a while and wants to support the
newcomers. Please drop me a note.
Office Hours will be closed for February, and
we'll see what we can work out in March.
Bridge Classes This Week
Each week I'll post the topics for the
Wednesday and Thursday classes. Anyone is
welcome to join a single class for $25 without
purchasing an entire course.
Mojo's pick for this week: Wednesday
"The Competitive Auction" really puts together
the language of competing for the contract and
preemptive bidding. ("Negative (or Responder's)
Doubles" are part of this class.)
This week's classes:
- Wednesday, February 5, 7:00 PM Bridge
Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding "The
Competitive Auction"
- Thursday, January 23, 7:00 PM Bridge
Basics 4 - Play of the Deal "Play of the
Deal in Trump Contracts"
In addition, every Saturday morning at 9:30 we
offer a mini-workshop featuring a fascinating
bridge hand from Eddie Kantar's "Thinking
Bridge" series. In each hand you'll discover how
all of the clues you need to find the right
contract, the best opening lead, successful play
or defense, are all right there when you notice
them!
The Saturday morning workshops are free and
open to all, whether or not you stay to play in
the novice/intermediate bridge game at 10:00.
The next Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction
class starts Thursday, April 3. It's open for registration
at this link. If you get the PCC Extension
catalog in your mailbox, you'll find our class
listed!
Save the date for our next Robert
Todd seminar: Sunday, March 30, all day.
Coming up ...
February 10-16 is going to be interesting! All
club games will be awarding "glitter points,"
part black part other colors. I'm sure you'll be
getting email from Bronia and ACBL about that!
Best regards,
Mojo, Jane, Zachary
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