Minnesota Bridge

Bid Early - Bid Often!

The Bridge Center of St. Paul will participate in the partnership between the ACBL and the Alzheimer's Association to raise funds for Alzheimer's research.  On the longest day of the year - June 21st - the ACBL is encouraging clubs to play bridge from sunrise to sunset.

We would like to invite everyone to join us in this effort!  A continental breakfast will be served at 5:25AM; our first game will start at 6AM. We plan to have bridge until 10PM.  Free food will be available the entire day.

Additionally, we are conducting a silent auction.  Please check the day's schedule and stay tuned for a list of available auction items!

Longest Day Schedule

5:25AM        Doors open for continental breakfast and lots of coffee

6:00AM        Session 1 - Open Game

10:00AM      Session 2 - Open Game and 199er Game

2:00PM        Session 3 - Open Game, Chat Bridge and 49er Game

5:30PM        Dinner and Lesson

6:30PM        Session 4 - Open Game and 299er (if table counts warrant)  

**************************************************************************************************

Please note:  the Silent Auction closes at 10:15PM.  If you have any items you would like to donate to the auction, please contact Kim Hayward at 651.490.5430.

Also, if you need a partner for any sessions, please contact Kim.

 

 

 

 

The Longest Day

Friday, June 21st, is the longest day of the year.  It's also a day of marathon bridge to benefit the Alzheimer's Association.

Minneapolis and St. Paul Clubs will be running sanctioned games from early morning, throughout the day and into the evening.

Please save the date and watch for more details!

Calendar of Events

Our thanks to Steve Gaynor for keeping us informed about all the great bridge events this week - and into the future!

Winter Carnival

Speaking of schedules - one of our best tournaments is less than one week away! 

The St. Paul Winter Carnival has a variety of events to tempt all Minnesotans to get out and play bridge!  Next weekend, from Friday, January 25th through Sunday, January 27th you can enjoy it all.

For details on schedule, location and much more, visit this link.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Up, Up and Away!

Many of us like to plan our bridge events.  Some of us like to do it far away into the future.

For that latter group of individuals, Steve Gaynor is here to the rescue!  Steve has sent me a calendar of major events for years to come.  It's posted below for your examination. 

Our thanks to Steve for providing us with this service and info!

Upcoming Events

Good luck to all the Minnesota players competing at the San Francisco NABC!

 

Upcoming Events

Holiday Sectional at the Bridge Center of St. Paul in North St. Paul - Dec 7-9

Friday:            2:30 & 7:30         Pair/Teams and IN (0-200)
Saturday:        9:00 & 1:30         Pair/Teams and IN (0-200)
Sunday:         10:00                    Stratified Swiss Teams

                           
December is Grass Roots month, established by the ACBL to help support grass roots games, the GNT and NAP at local levels.  Please show your support by attending games
designated as Grass Roots at your local clubs in December.   

2013  Winter Carnival sectional in New Brighton - Jan 25-27    

CAN-AM Regional in Montreal - Aug 12-18

Tony Ames &  Judy Nassar are organizing a group to the regional. Events are also being
planned for non-playing spouses.  If interested, please contact Tony at ynotsema@aol.com or Judy at 952.474.3653.

Into the Future

Steve Gaynor has a master schedule.  It stretches far into the future, with a wide variety of activities and events that interest Minnesota bridge players.

Steve's schedule is here.  Be sure to get in touch with him if you think that something should be added or needs correcting.  And our thanks to Steve, too, for keeping track of all this great bridge!

Diane's Calendar of Events

Diane Henson is one of the great bridge players in Minnesota who not only loves bridge and excels at it - but - also helps the rest of us out!

With regularity, I and many other players in our state get helpful emails with schedules of upcoming events.  This both helps us to know what is coming down the road - and reminds us to take advantage of all these wonderful bridge events and tournaments!

Here is Diane's latest offering below.

Please join me in thanking Diane for providing us with this service - and - in participating in these fun upcoming bridge competitions!

Saturday Charity Game

Don't forget; tonight is the Breath of Hope Charity Game!  Dinner, a silent auction - and - a charity game with extra masterpoints!  All the details are here.

Please note also that this Saturday, the church parking lot is not available for bridge players.  Either use the TCBC lot, street parking or the Perkins lot across the street.

 

A Breath of Hope

On Saturday, August 11, Unit 178 will hold its Charity Game, benefitting A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation.

This special event includes dinner and a silent auction, plus Open and 299'er bridge games.  Lots of master points are available!

The dinner and silent auction will be held at the Twin City Bridge Center at 60th and Nicollet from 5:45PM - 6:45PM.  The games begin at 7PM.

Cost for all this is $8.00 - with all proceeds going to A Breath of Hope.

Bid on loads of excellent items, such as special bridge events and lessons, bridge books, CD's, convention card holders and "Play with An Expert" opportunities.

This is your opportunity to buy great bridge items, enjoy dinner with friends, win masterpoints and support a great cause! 

We hope to see you and your friends on August 11th at the Twin City Bridge Center at Nicollet and 60th!

 

 

 

Bridge from Here and Beyond

Steve Gaynor has been wonderful at compiling schedules for bridge happenings in Minnesota and nearby for years. Here is Steve's latest project for tournaments and special events for Units 103 and 178 and close by.

If it's bridge and it's on the schedule, Steve has it for us!

UPDATE:  The site for the Minnesota State Sectional on November 4-6 is NOT being held at Mystic Lake.  This year's site is the American Best Value Inn (formerly the Canterbury Inn.)  Please note that the schedule below shows the incorrect venue for the sectional.  We are looking forward to playing at American Best Value!

Save the Dates!

Craig Robinson, our ACBL President, will be in the Twin Cities next month! 

On August 11th, you can meet Craig at Tony Ames' evening game.  Craig will appear on the 12th at the St. Paul Bridge Center's morning game.  That evening, Craig can be found at Minneapolis' Twin Cities Bridge Center for their evening game.

Please stay tuned to the MN Bridge Blog for upcoming details!

 

Annual 178 Charity Game

This Saturday, June 11th, is the 2011 Charity Game for Unit 178.  This year's charity is Wayside House, a non-profit that helps women achieve and maintain sobriety.

At 5:30, a silent auction for Wayside and a pot luck dinner begins at the Twin City Bridge Center.  Bridge festivities start at 7PM.  We hope to see many of you, both enjoying the great meal, participating in the auction with all its goodies and playing our favorite game!

Please note that, as always, no parking in the first four rows of the church parking lot.

Six Days to Countdown!

Minnesota's big event of the year is almost upon us; the Gopher Regional.  Next Tuesday, the premier event, the Jim Hall Knock-Outs, along with an I/N game and a side game begin at 7PM.

If you have not already secured your partners and teammates for the tournament, be sure to do so!  Great competition, fun hospitality and all our bridge friends.  This is an event you do not wish to miss! 

Full schedule and highlights here.

North American Pairs 2010

Some have been having difficulty finding the flyer for the NAP District 14 Finals.  Please check out this link at our District Director's site, Sharon Anderson, to see the brochure.

My thanks to NAP coordinator Wayne Gergen for a new copy!

Fundraiser and Awards Party Tomorrow!

Unit 178 is having a fundraiser and their 2009 awards party tomorrow at the Twin City Bridge Center.  Please read this previous post for all the exciting details!

Seven Days in May

To what does this mysterious title refer?  Please check out this important message from GNT coordinator Mike Cassel!  (Hint - hint - hint!)

Unit 178 Fundraiser Update

As many of you know, Unit 178 has purchased Bridgemate scoring machines and plans to purchase a shuffling machine, also.  Fundraising has already been going well; a combination Awards and Fundraising Party is scheduled at the Twin City Bridge Center on May 8th.

Marv Riedesel, president of Unit 178, has many updates and information below about all of the above.  Our thanks to Marv and to everyone who has contributed and helped to this very worthy cause!

Technology Fundraiser News

Unit 178 has now received $8,000 in donations!  We are 2/3 of the way to our fundraising goal of $12,000.  Big thanks to all who have contributed!

Our upcoming fundraiser is scheduled for May 8th.  We will have a bake sale,silent auction and our Ace of Clubs/Mini-McKenney Awards game in the evening following.

We look forward to seeing you there and to reaching our financial goals with our technology updates!

Unit 178 Annual Awards and Fundraiser

 

16^th Annual Awards Banquet

Saturday, May 8^th, 2010

Twin City Bridge Center

5:00 – 6:25 Dinner & Silent Auction for fund-raiser

6:40 – 7:10 Presentation of Awards

7:15 Open & 299er Game

Please join the Board of Unit 178 in recognizing the winners of the Ace of Clubs and Mini McKenney competitions for 2009.  ALL PLAYERS are invited to share in a dinner, participate in the silent auction, honor the winners in the Awards Ceremony, and play in an open or 299er game.

Players placing in the top 3 in each category of each competition have received a personal invitation to the evening’s events.  They will also receive a free play in the game compliments of Unit 178.

The food will be catered by Sharon Anderson, and Roger Anderson will be the emcee of the Awards Ceremony.

This years Awards ceremony is paired with a silent auction and bake sale to raise money for a shuffling machine and score pads for the games in our unit.  Our goal is to raise $12,000 for this effort.  We currently have cash contributions of $5400.  If you wish to make a cash contribution please contact Marv Riedesel, Sue Jackson, Cindy Balderson, Verda Gould, or Teri Blu.  The Twin City Bridge Center is donating all game proceeds toward the fund raising effort.

We are also encouraging the top players in the unit to "sell themselves" to partner with other players sometime during the year.  Please contact Marv Riedesel if you are willing to auction yourself during the silent auction.