Minnesota Bridge

Goodbye Des Moines! On to Washington!

Thanks to our neighbors in Des Moines for hosting an excellent Regional!  From a pleasant venue with great hospitality to beautiful summer weather, the tournament was a success.  More folks joined the festivities as the week progressed.  Check out our Des Moines photo blog to see photos just added.  If you're curious about everyone's achievements, results for the week are here.

In just two weeks, our summer NABC in Washington D.C. will begin.  If you have never attended a national tournament, consider heading east.  D.C. should have a fine turnout, and nothing can quite equal the excitement and fun of a tournament with thousands of players from around the world.  The best of the best will be there.  Still, there are events for every level of bridge player, whether you're a Bermuda Bowl champ or still searching for your fifth masterpoint.

Springtime in Rochester

Despite more snowflakes than daffodils last weekend, our Hiawatha Valley Sectional in Rochester still enjoyed a robust turnout.  The accomplished father and son duo of Terry and John Lijewski managed to earn more masterpoints than the rest of the field. 

Congratulations to Terry and John, and to the rest of the field who conquered April snow showers and did well in Rochester!  Results from the weekend are here.

Pics and Posts to Come!

Your Editor is at a journalism conference in Florida and a bit pressed for time.  As soon as I am able, however, I will report on all the excitement from Houston!  Diane and Larry Henson had loads of triumphs - not the least of which included winning their first open regional event - a Flight A Swiss!  Jill and Mike Flader were their illustrious teammates -and Mike just kindly sent me this photo.

 

Well done, Larry, Diane, Jill and Mike!

More photos and more news about Minnesotans will be on its way soon!

Hello Houston

This afternoon, Your Editor heads Down South to the Houston NABC.  Already, despite being in chilly Minnetonka, I have a bit of news to report:  Kerry Holloway and Larry Oakey made it into the overalls for the North American Pairs - A.  Feel free to peruse Friday's Daily Bulletin to read all about the activity in Houston.

If you're a Minnesotan in Houston and something of note happens - please let me know!  I'm delighted to put it on the Minnesota Bridge Blog.  If you are staying home and watching our state morph from frozen tundra to stirrings of spring, stay tuned.  We hope to bring you lots of exciting news and photos of Minnesotans having a wonderful time at our spring NABC.

Kerry and Larry Do Houston

The Houston Nationals are under way; those who qualified for Flight A's North American Pairs are battling it out.  Our top District 14 qualifying pair, Sharon and Van Christianson, unfortunately did not make it to the second day.  Kerry Holloway and Larry Oakey, however, will be there to match wits in the finals.  You can view the results from the first day of play here.

Best of luck to one of our top Minnesota pairs!  I myself will be traveling to Houston tomorrow.  There, I will both play bridge and roam as the "roaving reporter" for the ACBL.  For those Minnesotans who will be joining me at the Houston NABC, please seek me out if you have any intriguing stories you'd like reported!

D.C. Bound

District 14's Grand National Team weekend was a great success.  Thirty-five teams were in play on Saturday, culminating in four winners on Sunday from Superflight and Flights A, B, and C.  These teams will go on to the Washington D.C. NABC in July, earning the right to compete against teams in their strata from all over North America - along with a few bucks to supplement.   

Thanks to Tournament Chairman Mike Cassel for an excellent job, to directors Mike Flader and Tony Ames for a smooth running tournament, to Judy Nassar for loads of yummy treats, to Gus Doty's two hard-working grandsons who caddied for everyone, to all the other volunteers who cooked and baked and helped with all the other activities that were necessary for a fine weekend. 

Finally - thanks to all those District 14 players who came to New Brighton in an effort to capture their prize!

Here are the winning teams.  More photos and reports from GNT 2009 will be forthcoming.

 

 

 

 

 

Superflight

Bob Balderson, Cindy Balderson, Peg Kaplan, Bill Kent, Paul Meerschaert, Carole Miner

Flight A

Dennis Dufner, John Lijewski, Terry Lijewski, Kory Solarz

Flight B

Phyllis Anderson, Paul Gutterman, Peter Litchfield, Peg Mitchell

Flight C

Judy Hansen, Jake Olson, Jeff Olson, Mary Sass

Bridge in the Val-A

Ninety-two players attended last weekend's Chatfield Sectional, achieving one table shy of 100.  Here are the results of how all those folks performed.  Congratulations to our Koch Korner overall winner, John Koch, who tied for that honor with Paolo Ranaldi. 

Well done!

Carnival Completes!

The Winter Carnival 2009 is now in the history books.  Thanks to our directors, Mike Flader and Tony Ames, caddies, all the volunteers and all of you who showed up to compete and enjoy the festivities!

Here are some photos of players throughout the weekend.  Also, our thanks to the Minnesota board members of Units 103 and 178.  They are hard at work, planning to bring you even more great tournaments, special events, and more.  Please do contact them with any input you may have, either directly or by registering comments on the MN Bridge Blog.

Results from Saturday evening and Sunday below.  Kudos everyone!

UPDATE:  If you'd like to see results from all events in one spot, here is the ACBL site.  Congratulations to overall point achiever, Jack Rhatigan, and to Kerry Holloway in the 2nd spot, less than one masterpoint away.

Winter Carnival Results!

Bridge players like results and stats.  HERE you go!  Please check below the line for happenings up through Saturday afternoon.

Winter Carnival Reports

St. Paul's Winter Carnival Sectional is well under way.  The venue of KO's, combo pair & team events, along with I/N competition has seen great attendance.

Our capable directors, Mike Flader and Tony Ames, have been handling all the action.  Experienced caddies support their efforts.   

We've got many photos to post from play.  Here are just a few from the finals of Saturday's KO.

                                                                       

   

Behind the scenes, the boards of Units 103 and 178 met.  The consultation, work and discussion of the board members will lead to even more excellent events and tournaments for all Minnesota bridge players!  Our thanks to them - and - look for more photos of everyone to come in the Minnesota Bridge Blog!