Minnesota Bridge

Eight is Enough!

 

The Minneapolis Grand Slam Club has aimed at having top competition in a local duplicate game. Since 1937, the MGSC has done just that.

In addition, however, to having great competition, the MGSC wishes to promote our great game! To that end, on Friday, October 28th, the Twin City Bridge Center and the MGSC will collaborate at 6045 Nicollet Avenue to have an Eight is Enough event.

Grand Slam Club members will team up with non- and recent Life Masters to form teams with balanced experience and skill levels. After the game, the hands will be discussed in a relaxed and enjoyable format with hand records available.  You can sign up as a pair - or a single. 

We hope that many can attend. And - as we plan on enjoying yummy food along with fun bridge, we invite you to bring a treat to share for the game and discussion.

A flyer is below. Look forward to seeing you Friday night!

Unit 178 - September BOD Minutes

Keeping up with Unit 178 BOD activities - and - a bit "thanks" to those who serve and volunteer, too!

See below.

New Life Master - Jim Snyder!

Jim Snyder - Bronze Life Master

 

Jim Snyder became a Life Master today. People become Life Masters at various times, often at a tournament.

But becoming Life Master in your home club is fun!

Jim is a busy man. He has an active family life, served as a long-term Credit Union Board President, even served on our club board. He’s a strong intermediate player. But Jim just couldn’t get himself to the Gopher regularly to get that much-coveted gold.

Several years ago along comes the Jane Johnson Club Appreciation month, where players get 5% gold in team games.  Jim got some more gold and was pretty close.

Last year Jim and his wife vacationed in Hawaii during almost all of October. When he returned we said, “You missed all but one of the team games!” He said, “I will play in that last game. I still need .13 gold.”

 

Jim achieving Life Master with Team - Karen Peterson, Jim Snyder, Janet Williams & Mary Meinecke.

 

As the day progressed, we watch his team do pretty well. During the last round it looked like second place would do the job. Amazingly, his team prevailed, got 1^st in B and 2^nd in A, totaling 2.24 black and - are you ready for this - .12 gold!!!

Today, with almost the same teammates as last year, they won the first round of Club Appreciation Swiss.

Thus, Jim Snyder became a Bronze Life Master. Congratulations, Jim!

 

Autumn Harvest Sectional - Results

From near and far, players enjoyed the beautiful colors of autumn to play at the Maplewood Community Center at our Autumn Harvest Sectional last weekend. Above, we see the smiling faces of Keith Thompson, tournament chair, and other competitors during the Sunday Swiss.

Leading the pack for masterpoints earned was Paolo Ranaldi. Paolo earned an even 27 masterpoints. Tied for second were Kathy and Terry Beckman; just under 24 each.  Others who captured 20 or more were Paul Meerschaert and Carole Miner.  The total masterpoint list is here; results from the weekend are here.

 

Additional thanks to head director Brian Weikle.

 

Brian was ably assisted by director Kim Hayward, and a new caddy.  Our caddy is not yet a bridge player; we need to get him signed up!

 

Lots of smiles and fun throughout the weekend.  Thanks to all who attended - more faces below!

Calling All Non-LM's - Sectional in Rochester

When a player is in the early stages of their bridge career, playing against the Big Guys can at times be daunting.  So - our non-Life Master players are fortunate to have a great sectional tournament opportunity coming up!

We have a non-LM sectional in Rochester, MN on October 22nd.  Silver points, expert speaker and great hospitality!  The flyer is posted below!

Autumn Harvest Sectional - Oct 14-16

 

What a glorious weekend to enjoy all the beauties of autumn! And - next weekend, we can enjoy the last days of fall plus a marvelous St. Paul sectional, too!

Unit 103 is hosting the Autumn Harvest sectional Friday October 14th through Sunday, October 16th at the Maplewood Community Center. The flyer, schedule and other details can be found here.

For those who are unsure as to what "pair-team games" are, we are providing an explanation below.  My thanks to Keith Thompson for providing it - and for all those who are contributing in so many ways to our fine upcoming sectional.

Come one - come all - and have a great time at the sectional!

The Pair/Team game is an exciting event for players at all levels of experience. Players have 2 ways to win! The pair portion of the event runs as a regular match point game. In the team portion, the players starting at your table will be your teammates. Who is on any team is determined by the computer. The game starts after your teammates move to the next table so you never play against them. Each pair will receive a score for the pair portion of the game and a separate score for the team portion. Players receive the higher number of points they earn, either as a pair or as a team. For example, if in the pair portion a pair earn 1.12 MPs but in the team game they achieve 4.5 MPs, they get the 4.5 --all for the price of one event! 

At the Autumn Harvest Sectional, both Open sections and I/N sections will be pair/team games. So, irrespective of the sections in which you compete, you will have an equal opportunity for extra points!

Carol Rynders, our partnership chair, will have pairs on call for both I/N and Open sections to best insure we have full tables.

 

 

Colin Kehe - 1943 - 2016

 

Too soon again, it is my painful duty to report yet another loss in Minnesota's bridge community.  Please join me in saying goodbye to one more of our long time, excellent players:  Colin Kehe. In today's world, at 73, Colin leaves us way too early.....

A beautiful obituary for Colin appears in today's paper. You may read it here.

 

Colin is survived by his lovely wife and bridge partner of 27 years, Theresa. And, as bridge players, we know that special, long time partners such as Evan Sachs will be grieving, too.

Please note that tomorrow, Saturday, a memorial service shall be held for Colin.  It will be at 2PM at the Lakewood Cemetery Chapel, 3600 Hennepin Avenus S. Minneapolis. Visitation begins at 1:30.  The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to Doctors Without Borders.

Every player in our bridge community is so valued.  Colin will be greatly missed.

 

Celebrating Jonathan

Jonathan and his Beloved Family

 

Monday evening, September 19th, a large gathering of family, friends, colleagues, neighbors and - of course, a great many bridge players - met for a memorial service honoring Jonathan Cohen.

 

Wonderful stories were shared by Jonathan's brother Harlan, colleagues of Jonathan's from the University of Minnesota, neighbors....  And Charlie Nauen, long time friend and bridge partner, expressed thoughts about Jonathan that were moving, complimentary - and funny.  

It still remains difficult to know that Jonathan will no longer be giving the rest of us a tough time at the table, nor attempting to share his baggie full of vegetables and rotting fruit to others.  Still, sharing memories of Jono with one another was comforting.  Tears - and smiles - were clearly both in evidence.

 

As the Minnesota bridge world celebrates years of friendship and competition with Jonathan, we also send our deep condolences to his family; wife Barbara, daughter Ilana and her husband Craig, grandchildren Nolan and Clara and others.

As a final remembrance, we will share thoughts from Dave Anderson. Though it has been many years since Dave has lived in the Twin Cities - no one who knew Jonathan could forget him. 

 

Unit 178 - Board of Directors 2016

Linda Brammer, President of Unit 178, has provided us with a new list of the Unit's Board of Directors, other key people for the Unit, plus additional information.

The link is below, and will also appear on the left column of MN Bridge.

Thank you Linda and all of our wonderful volunteers!

Unit 178 - Upcoming BOD Agenda

Unit 178's Board of Directors will meet at the Twin City Bridge Center on September 24th.  Details of the agenda are below!

Jonathan Cohen - 1947 - 2016

 

Your blogmaster so enjoys reporting our triumphs, promoting our game, photographing our parties and tournaments, plus so many other bridge activities. Just like you, I love our game and our people!

Yet, one activity breaks my heart. Reporting when we have lost one of our own is painful.

Today, I am sad to share that Jonathan Cohen passed away on Tuesday, September 13th. Many are aware that Jonathan had battled Parkinson's for some time. Now, Jonathan's fight has ended.

Good friend and partner Charlie Nauen shared this information with me:

Jonathan had not been well the past few months. Yet, this timing came as a surprise to his family and friends. Jonathan played bridge just a bit over a week ago with long time partners and friends Mark Krusemeyer and Patti Stuhlman.

Jonathan was an iconic member of our bridge community. He will be dearly missed.

A memorial service will be held Monday, September 19th. An obituary will appear in the newspaper this weekend, with details and location

We will be updating the website as we have more information, and stories about "Jono."

Please note.  Patti Stuhlman, broken hearted to have lost her friend and partner too soon, shared with me that Jonathan's service will be held at 6PM, September 19th, at the Cremation Society in Edina, 7110 France Avenue South.

Jonathan's obituary can be viewed here.  A great photo of our friend, along with memories and description that capture Jono so very well.

Deepest sympathies to Jonathan's family and his many friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Bunyan Sectional Results

 

This past weekend, many players from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada headed to Duluth for September's Paul Bunyan Sectional. There, they enjoyed 3 days of pair and team games, plus great hospitality.

At the top of the masterpoint list, no surprise to find two of our Minnesota super stars: John Koch and Carole Miner. Together, John and Carol earned 29.15 masterpoints. Two other partnerships also did quite well: Tom Grue and Gregg Van Dyke nabbed 22.68; Terry and Kathy Beckman, 19.68. The entire masterpoints earned list is here.

Tom and Gregg also performed a rarely seen accomplishment.  In the Saturday night pair game, they racked up a mindboggling percentage of 80.42%!  Not surprisingly, the next closest percentage was 25% lower!  Very well done, boys!

Our thanks to tournament chairmen Diane Carr and Warren Nelson, tournament director Tony Ames and all our other fine volunteers.

All results from the tournament can be viewed here.

The Best of Bridge

 

We bridge players well know that our game is the finest mind game ever created. Fascinating, tough, challenging, never-mastered - no matter how good you are ... One can play bridge for a lifetime - and it won't be enough.

As great as our game is, however, our people match it. And part of what is so exceptional about our people is how we can get connected with one another, no matter who we are, where live - and so on.

A short while ago, I received an email from Professor Francis Shen at the University of Minnesota Law School. His folks were going to be visiting from out of town, his dad wanted a game of bridge; did I know anyone who might be interested?

Of course I did; me - your webmaster!  Jerry Shen and I set up a game during the Labor Day Sectional for Saturday, agreed upon a card - and went on to have a very enjoyable and mostly successful game. We also learned of mutual friends we had in Jerry's home town of St. Louis - including a long ago successful Twin City player (and an early regular partner of mine) - Chris Patrias.

But - that wasn't all!

 

Near the end of the session, we faced Jenna Tichon and Freddie Mykytyshyn.  Since I'd never seen them before, I inquired if they were local players.  Nope! Visitors all the way from Winnipeg!  Jenna has been playing for about ten years; Freddie much less. Both, however, love the game and were glad to be competing in Minneapolis.

A great game - great people - new friendships.

Nothing better!

 

Bill Quinn Labor Day Sectional - Results

 

If you're pondering who might have been the top masterpoint winner at any Minnesota tournament, guessing John Koch often will give you the correct answer.  So it was over Labor Day weekend. John earner 23.72 masterpoints; about a point and a half behind was Joseph Koester.  Quite impressive was third place; Sandy Nelson has less experience than many of our competitors, yet she was the only other player to earn over 20 masterpoints for the tourney!  Well done, John, Joseph and Sandy, plus the other players who placed high in a number of events.  The full list of results is here.

 

Always wonderful to see people having a great time at the bridge table....  

 

Or - after the game has ended!

As always, our thanks to our hosts, Teri & Chip Blu, great director, Brian Weikle, and the omnipresent player, director and all around wizard at the TCBC, TGLO (The Great Larry Oakey!)

 

Many thanks to all who came, fought, contributed and volunteered!  Hope you had a wonderful time!

Gordy Anderson - 1923 - 2016

 

Our community is passionate about bridge - and equally passionate about the people who play it. Thus, whenever our community loses one of our members, the grief is significant.

August 29th, Gordy Anderson passed away.  Though friends were not aware, Gordy had been suffering from liver cancer, and lost his battle after a short hospital stay.

I requested some thoughts from Gordy's close friends and partners.  Terry Lijewski was kind enough to send me these warm and wonderful memories.

Gordy was a gem of a person.

I started playing with him in November of 1986 at the Minnesota State tournament. I put my name in for a partner and got him. Maggie Grue said "Boy were you lucky you got him!" We finished 4th overall that day and won the men's pair in the Winter Carnival in January 1987.

I played with  Gordy for thirty years and only once did we have a misunderstanding when one of us didn't show up. For seventeen years we went to local and close sectional tournaments. After that we played in many club games.

Gordy, this year, wrote up a system to use as a defense against Bergen, just one of countless systems he wrote up for us over the years.

He was a fantastic person and a superb bridge player. I and many other people will sorely miss him.

            Terry Lijewski

 

Terry also shared with me details about Gordy's funeral.

Services will be 11AM Friday, September 2nd at the Zion Lutheran Church.  Visitation is one hour prior to the service. Lunch will be served following the service.

The address is:  1601 4th Avenue, Anoka 55303.  

Gordy's obituary is in Wednesday's paper.  How amazing that Gordy played bridge at a high level through 93 years of age!

 

Addendum:

Bill Voedisch attended Gordy's funeral on Friday.  Bill was kind enough to share these reflections with us.

 

Terry Lijewski spoke at the funeral, attending with his wife and son.

 

Other bridge players at Gordy's funeral were Janet Williams, Mary Meinecke, Grant Duffrin and myself, all of us from the Bridge Center of St. Paul.

 

Hearing stories about Gordy, a most interesting fellow, was so nice.

 

His family was grateful that Gordy's bridge friends were at his service.

 

            Bill

 

 

 

 

Well-Heeled

 

MN Bridge is always looking for stories about our bridge players.  Here's a great one!

Alice Ernster is a duplicate player from the Chatfield area.  And - a self described "floozy"!

If you think that most bridge players are old and dowdy - well, you have not met Alice!

Here are the details - dressed up in 4 inch heels!

Our thanks to Greg Caucutt for a great story about a fun lady!

Bill Quinn Labor Day Silver Point Sectional - Sept 2-5

 

Celebrate Labor Day weekend in the best way possible - with a bridge tournament!

Head to the Twin Cities Bridge Center at 60th & Nicollet.  Four days of one session events; the schedule is here!

Success to the East

 

Eau Claire is outside of Minnesota and District 14. Nevertheless, some Minnesotans traveled to the nearby regional last week - and the top five masterpoint winners were all from our fair state!

Congratulations to Barry Purrington, winner of more points than anyone else with over 74. Mike Cassel was a hair behind Barry.  Tom Grue, Greg Van Dyke and Steve Gaynor were 3rd through fifth.

Mike was excited about this statistic; he entered six events in Eau Claire - and won every one!  Well done, Mike.

Mike's favorite hand was this one,

He held:  x, AQJx, x, AKQxxxx.

As he was weighing whether he should open a Precision 1C strong, forcing and artificial call, his vulnerable left hand opponent opened a strong 2C!

East bid 2D, promising game forcing values!

Mike was pretty sure that his LHO had a big two suiter in spades and diamonds. So, Mike "put it to him" and bid 6C!

Without much pause for thought, LHO bid 6S. Thinking that 7C would be a good sacrifice, Mike bid it.

His partner held the king fifth of hearts, so unless the opponents found a diamond shift after cashing one spade, 7C is only down 1.

At the other table, the auction was slower.  Holding two aces, Mike's counterpart did not wish to save.

Mike's team won by only 10 IMPS, so his judgement to preempt the auction, then save, was critical to success.

The full hand: