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> Silver point week! Lulu  Minter! New courses! But first ... I just finished the new novel /A Reluctant Spy/ by good friend of the club Roselyn Teukolsky. (She and Saul won the Pasadena Unit Game today.) It's a great adventure of a read. I loved getting to see Ithaca and Cornell academia through the eyes of Roselyn and her characters. I cringed through her heroine's many fumbles and missteps, and enjoyed the twists and turns along the way to a crescendo of a climax. Well worth a read! Meanwhile we have new bridge courses starting up next week. I'm going to follow up this newsletter with one to our "classes" email list with details. You might get two emails from me today. Silver Point Week All Open Pairs games this week will pay silver points. Our games will be combined with other clubs in LA County for potentially large payouts for overall winners! It's a Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC). Card fees for the open games will be $13 to cover the addtional sanction fees. Stratification for all open STaC games will be Open/2500/750, based on the average point holding of each pair. Free Lulu Minter Seminars Monday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings Lulu Minter will be offering free pre-game talks at 10:00 before the 11:00 Open Pairs games. His topic for all three sessions will be "Bridge Problems, Thinking Outside the Box" No reservations required, doors will open at 9:45 on all three days. Bridge Basics 1 - Introduction Oct 8 Our first weekday offering of Bridge Basics 1 has 19 students enrolled as of this moment. We limit the course to 28, so it's a good time to have your friends reserve their seats as soon as they can! Here's the registration link at PCC Extension <https://pasadena.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassInfo.ClassInformation&int_class_id=69937&int_category_id=0&int_sub_category_id=0&int_catalog_id=0>. Popular Conventions Oct 15 Here's a six-week course to learn and practice the most useful bidding conventions in bridge: Stayman, Jacoby Transfer Bids, strong Hand openings, and slam bidding. This is Bridge Basics 3. * Wednesday evenings, 7-9 PM * Six sessions starting October 15 * $120 includes textbook by Audrey Grant * Click here for the full description <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/popular-conventions> * Click here to reserve your seat <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment> Intro to Defense Oct 16 This course may well have more positive impact on your game than any other we offer. Come learn how to work with your partner to take as many tricks as possible on defense. Learn to visualize the placement of key cards and communicate with partner when you can't see each other's cards. * Thursday evenings, 7-9 PM * Six sessions starting October 16 * $120 includes textbook by Eddie Kantar * Click here for the full description <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/course/intro-to-defense> * Click here to reserve your seat <https://pasadenabridgeclub.com/contact/course_enrollment> Classes This Week For all of our courses, you're welcome to join a single class for $25. It's a great way to get a good bite of a subject without a six-week commitment. This week we really only have one session, but it's very worthy of a drop-in! This is a makeup session for Bridge Basics 2, and it's a great opportunity to learn and practice competitive bidding skills. * Thursday, 7:00 PM, /Bridge Basics 2 - Competitive Bidding/ "Practice Hands" I am also planning a makeup session on Friday at 3:00 PM for practice hands for Two Over One Game Force. If you'd like to drop in for that session, drop me a note. Coming up ... Our next two weeks of games following the STaC will be Club Appreciation games, with lots of extra masterpoints and overall awards for every open game. On Sunday October 26, the club will be hosting the North American Pairs District Final. It's a full-day two-session event. If you qualified at a club game, make your reservation to play and get information here: https://nap.bridgemojo.com/ On Wednesday, October 29, we'll host a game in the ACBL-wide Instant Matchpoint Pairs, a very special annual event! More about that in a future newsletter. Personal health wise, I'm in a little bit of a holding pattern for the next two or three weeks, and expecting to use this time to be active at the club teaching classes and directing. Best regards, Mojo, Jane, Zachary, Lisa, Susan