We are very proud of the juniors who are learning bridge, having fun and doing SO well!
ACBL recently had another CBO game for our junior players, and OF COURSE Minnesotans competed and of course played well!
We hope that more and more juniors will start learning bridge, as it truly is the greatest game. And we wish all our juniors the best, too, as they continue on to new jobs, higher levels of education - and more bridge!
Happy 4th of July to all!!
Big thanks to Kim Hayward!
Lots of news about online bridge in the Twin Cities!
Enjoy!
Over the last 10 weeks Online Bridge has become a dazzling success. Hundreds of players from all over the Twin Cities Metro are playing in these games sometimes a few times per day.Recently, the Twin City Bridge Center, the Bridge Center of St Paul and the Edina/Plymouth/Metro Bridge games have formed a coalition and now players from any of these clubs can play in the games of the other clubs. Below the line at the bottom of this message, you can open and print a PDF of the combined schedule.Please refer specific questions about games to the appropriate director, phone numbers listed below the schedule.Also note: June 20 & 21 are all elevated point games for the Longest Day to support fundraising for the Alzheimer's Association. Please look for added games and events and help ALZ Research!
Kimberly Hayward, Club ManagerBridge Center of St Paul651-490-5430 w651-271-3500 c
Continue reading "Online Bridge in the Twin Cities Metro!" »
Mike Cassel is not only one of Minnesota's successful and expert players. He is also someone who gives a great deal to our community, in a variety of ways. One of those ways is to give players hints on how to "up" their game.
Now that we duplicate bridge players are playing online - or nothing - Mike sees interesting hands and likes to share them. Along with some wisdom for all, Mike has sent us both a good hand to weigh along with additional good advice.
Thanks, Mike! And we hope that many are enjoying the online Minnesota bridge games - along with all sorts of other online bridge activities! Enjoy!
(Mike's article is below the line in a PDF. Only format your webmaster could manage!)
Continue reading "One Hand - A Micro Analysis of Bidding Opportunities" »
Hi All - Time to enjoy Minnesota summer - and -
Lots of online bridge!
Fabulous player and director, Jackson Wahl, shares exciting news!
When Connie Nelson, our fabulous St. Cloud reporter, sent me her June article, we were "only" dealing with covid-19.
Now, with the terrible events of the last 10 days, Connie's stories are appreciated even more than ever.
Thanks, Connie, for your lovely stories and for "cookies and caring". We need them more than ever!
A daughter of one of our St Cloud players recently sent her Mother a “care package” because she knew her Mom was missing the bridge table during this time of quarantine. The daughter sent the “cheer-up” cookies above. Wonderful, right?
Who was the Mom in question? None other than longtime St. Cloud Club member Charlene Thul. Char is a frequent player at the Club and Gold Life Master with almost 3000 points. Many MN Bridge Blog readers may have met her at various tournaments.
When I called Char to interview her, she was playing bridge online. She answered the phone saying, “I am playing with a robot, and he doesn’t understand my bids.” I almost laughed in her ear, because there’d be many a St Cloud partner who has felt the same as that robot! Char is an unconventional bidder, who intuitively - and notoriously – is aggressive in her bids. Once, a friend included a green “Pass” card inside Char’s birthday card. The friend wrote, “I wasn’t sure if you knew this bid exists!” But, one thing is for certain… if there is a slam or game to be made, Char will be in it!
I asked Char when she started playing bridge. She said that she remembers her Mother sitting at the kitchen table, dealing out four hands of bridge face up and practicing play of the hands. But, Char didn’t learn bridge there. Char learned at the snack bar in Mitchell Hall while attending St. Cloud State University. She said there was always a bridge game going. You could play, leave to go to class and someone would take your place. When you returned, you could sit in again. There was a game around the clock. (And Char’s job while in college was giving away “starter packs” of cigarettes, so hanging around the snack bar was perfect.)
Char said the partner who got her “hooked” on bridge was partner Helen McDonnell. Char lived in Grand Rapids from 1997-2003. Helen came to Grand Rapids each summer. Char and Helen would drive to Duluth, to Fargo, and all over the state to attend tournaments. On each drive home, Helen would take out the hand records. Reminding Char of the hand she held, Helen would ask for Char’s reasoning for each bid. Char recalled, “We would fight a lot about bids. It was fantastic! If it weren’t for Helen and her post-analyses of every hand, I would not have succeeded at duplicate.”
Char has a very caring soul. While I wanted this article to be about her, she morphed most of our call into a conversation about another of her playing partners, Rose Phelps.
Prior to Grand Rapids, when Char was a young wife and mother in the 1960s, she and her husband lived in Cold Spring MN. There, the bridge games were held in the basement of the Cold Spring Brewery and were accompanied with free beer! She says she met many great bridge players there. Two of the people she met were Rose Phelps and her husband Don.
When the game at the brewery closed down, the Phelps would pick Char up and they’d drive together to the duplicate game held at the Labor Home in St. Cloud. Char said Rose’s husband was a good player, and he could get “hot under the collar” with Rose about her bidding or play. However, the couple had one rule --- “once in the car, he was not allowed to bring up any hand.” Char says that Don always abided by that rule.
After Rose’s husband died, Char and Rose started playing together. Rose is now 94 years old, and they still play together once a month. They have played off and on for almost 60 years! Char says Rose always praises her and comments that Char has taught her so much. Char said, “I love Rose, because she loved me first. She has always made me feel like a hero.”
Based on her daughter Corie’s cookies, Rose’s admiration, and my knowledge of how St. Cloud players care about Char, I’d say she’s earned that love coming her way.
Kim Hayward, Club Manager at the Bridge Center of St. Paul, also wants to alert us to the many opportunities to play online bridge and win SILVER POINTS!
Below Kim's message, you will find a useful chart of what to do and where to go!
ENJOY!
Many of you are on the player list for BBO Virtual Club games at Twin City Bridge Center, Edina, Plymouth, Metro Bridge or Bridge Center of St Paul games. You can now attend any and all games in those clubs.
--
I think a great many of us bridge fanatics absolutely want to keep bridge alive - both for our current players and future ones, too!
So - please welcome Samantha Punch, from Scotland, masterfully giving this project her all!
Be sure to watch Samantha's video on youtube, too!
Samantha Punch - "Keep Bridge Alive" research sociologist at the University of Stirling (Scotland) - has produced a two-minute, very professional video which she shared with us and hopes we will share with others. It's a collection of snippets from bridge-players across western Europe and showcases bridge as the mind sport it is, connecting people with our universal (bridge) language. A very nice piece.It now resides on our website under Programs, is on Facebook and Twitter as well. Please share this with your bridge-playing friends.Leave a Legacy for Bridge; Encourage Others to Follow Suit.E. Kristen FrederickExecutive Director
Jackson Wahl, our newer college bridge competitor above, now rising star AND director, shares more online bridge news with us!
Jackson; thanks for all you are doing to keep our Minnesota bridge community playing and having fun online!