Our thanks to all the Unit 178 BOD volunteers! Their upcoming agenda for November 17, 2018 is posted below.
Continue reading "Unit 178 Board of Directors November 2018 Meeting - Agenda" »
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November 13, 2018
November 07, 2018
Our Volunteers; Thank You!
Keith Thompson, Larry Huiras, Sue Greenberg, Warren Nelson, Kathy Beckman, John Koch
Unit 103 Board Members Not Pictured:
Rajiv Kapidia, Sandy Casey, Amy Dutton and new secretary, Patti Huiras
During the well attended and very well run MN Autumn Sectional, Unit 103 held a board meeting.
Big focus was given to creating an environment to make our game fun and welcoming for all players!
Unit 103 encourages players to be respectful and positive to all. If players have questions or concerns about any aspect of our bridge community, or suggestions as to how to improve, please contact a board member.
Bridge is the greatest game! And the Board wants everyone to have the greatest time enjoying it!
Thanks to all our volunteers who work diligently to make our game as excellent as possible!
November 06, 2018
Minnesota Autumn Sectional Results
Once again, our fall tournament at the Oak Marsh Golf Club in Oakdale was a fine success. A varied array of events, including popular pair-team events ran from November 1st to November 3rd.
Results from each event are here. Overall masterpoint winner stats, however, have not been posted. (Rest assured that if they do pop up, I will share them with you!
Our thanks to co-chairs Kerry Holloway and Kathy Beckman for their superb work in all aspects of the tournament. Directors Kimberly Hayward and Bjorgvin Kirstinsson, as always, kept our games moving smoothly. Partnership chair Maureen Weiman helped to fix up everyone with a pard so they, too, could compete!
To all who came, who volunteered and who competed - we thank you and we look forward to seeing you next year!
November 02, 2018
November 01, 2018
BOO to YOU from Rochester!
What a day in Rochester!
We had seventeen tables for our Instant Matchpoint Game!
AND... we had our annual costume competition!
Alice Ernster and June Lamb-Kmiecik as the Bridge Fairy and Queen of Card
Marie Nelson as our resident witch
Our favorite Mountain Man, John Ryder
Genny Rice with her sticky web
Additional treats were people from Northfield, LaCrosse and other communities in southern Minnesota. All, of course, were welcomed by the Rochester Players.
Dick Estry and Al Larson topped the field with a hefty 62.73% game!
Come to our club and join us for a great session!
Sue Greenberg, Club Manager
October 31, 2018
TWO Smiles!
TWO reasons to smile today!
First, this news from Sue Jackson as to how you can help our bridge community:
AmazonSmile has donated over $100 million to charities thanks to customers shopping at smile.amazon.com.
To celebrate, AmazonSmile is donating 5% (ten times the usual amount!!) to Minnesota Bridge Education when you shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/37-1745323 through Nov 2.
AmazoSmile #StartWithaSmile
And....... another great reason to smile is the Minnesota Autumn Sectional begins tomorrow! Head to 526 Inwood Avenue N, Oakdale, the Oak Marsh Golf Club and enjoy a great THREE days of sectional competition!
The flyer is on the left; we look forward to seeing you there with a big SMILE!
October 23, 2018
Minnesota Autumn Sectional - November 1-3
The Minnesota Autumn Sectional will be here before you know it! Enjoy a great schedule of events Thursday through Saturday in a fine venue. Loads of great eating spots nearby to visit with friends and go over the hands.
Start planning your games now - and - see you soon in Oakdale!
October 22, 2018
Non Functioning Links to Clubs
Many of you have contacted me to let me know that the links at MN Bridge for clubs are not functioning. Thank you for letting me know.
I will search for solutions and get this repaired as soon as I am able. BUT - I just arrived at the Nebraska Regional and may not be able to get this accomplished immediately!
In the meantime, if you go to this link at ACBL, you can search for your club and get results and other club information there.
Thank you for your forbearance; we hope for all links to be up and running as soon as possible!
October 21, 2018
Carol Cummings - 1938-2018
Sharing the sad news that we have lost a long time member of our Minnesota bridge community remains a most difficult and painful task for me. Today I must let Carol Cummings' many friends, partners and teammates in our bridge world know that on Friday, October 19th, Carol was reunited with her beloved John.
Carol's son, Bill, shared that Carol passed away at the Rochester Methodist Hospital after a several week battle with the complications of multiple myeloma.
As you can see above, Carol always had a smile on her face, always was a welcome addition as a partner, a teammate - and yes, as an opponent. For over fifty years, she and John were a fearsome duo at the bridge table. And Carol continued her winning ways with son Bill and other partners, like Greg Caucutt, so frequently doing well.
Sue Greenberg shared these thoughts with us about Carol:
Carol will be sorely missed at Rochester bridge tables. Besides being a genuinely nice person, she always had time to listen, smile, and be involved. Her acumen at the bridge table was top-notch, but she was always patient and kind with beginner/intermediate players.
Carol personified what it means to be a world-class player - always dressed for the occasion and was ready to compete. Yet, she always took time to socialize with all, and, most importantly, Carol enjoyed herself and helped others to have fun, too!
Sue Greenberg, Rochester DBC Club Manager
Bill shares his mother's obituary with us here. Such a wonderful legacy of family, faith, work in her community - and - of course - success and joy in the bridge world.
Our deepest condolences to Bill and all of Carol's family.
A few more photos of this special lady. Carol; we are going to miss you so very much.
Two mom and son duos at the Gopher Regional! Audrey & Brian Weilke; Bill and Carol.
Carol and Bill relaxing after a successful session.
October 10, 2018
District 14 NAP Finals - 2018-2019
This past weekend, players from Flights A, B and C competed at the Edina Senior Center to become one of the (3 in Flight A, 4 in Flights B and C) to represent District 14 at the Spring NABC in Memphis.
While most winners were Twin Citians, we did have some qualifiers from other locales. In the fledgling Northfield Club, which meets twice per month, we had C qualifiers and also our first place C winners were from Avon, just outside of St. Cloud. We also had a St. Cloud qualifier in Flight A. Two of our B qualifiers hoofed it to Edina from Omaha, Nebraska, with 1 B qualifier from Morehead and another from Preston, outside of Rochester.
Another highlight was that our U of MN student pair qualified second place in C!
Flight A had 7.5 tables; Flight B had 8 tables and an impressive 11.5 tables showed up for Flight C!
Something your webmaster has never seen before occurred in Flight A. A District 14 player from Iowa was perusing the results in Flight A, and noticed an anomaly in the scoring. He contacted a friend about it, and the friend (one of our players) realized that the score could not be accurate. He got in touch with our fine Tournament Director, Tony Ames, and places were adjusted. Because of the correction, places 2, 3 and 4 were separated by a total of .14 of a masterpoint!
While this surely was a quirk, we are glad that the proper scores were posted.
Here are results: Flight A - Flight B - Flight C. And those who will be representing our District in each flight are as below.
Flight A
Ron DeHarpporte - Peg Waller
Terry Beckman - John Koch
Richard Lawson - Andy Caranicas
Flight B
Diane Henson - Larry Henson
Judy Hansen - Grant Broadwine
Gary Knippenberg - Erwin Heisler
Keith Thompson - Gerald Burdeski
Flight C
James Schnepf - Connie Nelson
Sean McNally - Morgan Johnstone
Rodney Anderson - Martin Mueller
James Finholt - David Finholt
Big thanks to both Diane Henson (winner, winner!) and coordinator for District 14 NAP - and of course to Tony Ames, our head director and Scott Smith directing Flight C.
Additional thanks to Sue Jackson for working with Diane for pre-event publicity. Sue also managed the playing site, ably assisted by Sandy Nelson for session goodies. Ann House helped, too, with the luncheon on Sunday, as did Diane and her husband, Larry.
Photos of some of our qualifiers below - then more of our competitors below the line. Apologies for not getting shots of every qualifier - but - we wish you all the best in Memphis!
October 05, 2018
Collegiate Bridge in Minnesota
Minnesota is doing a fine job of growing our junior bridge base! And Stephanie Threlkeld, the ACBL Education and Communications Manager, does a superb job aiding our collegiate players. (Thank you, Stephanie!)
The ACBL features a number of special online tournaments. Prizes and masterpoints can be won - along with honors, of course! As you can see, a number of our collegiate Minnesotan competitors did well.
Ben Kristensen, featured above with his dad, Curt achieved over 66% and was fourth overall. (As you may well imagine, being a college student, Ben is a bit more grown up now - not to mention already a competitor on the world stage!)
Congrats to all our college players who placed. Good luck next time to everyone - and remember; you have to enter to win!
Big thanks, too, to all of our other teachers, professors and volunteers who are doing a superb job at teaching and training the next generation of bridge stars!
October 1st Special Tournament Results!
Congratulations! The following have all won Amazon Gift Cards!
- 1st place, $50 GC – sunwind from University of Chicago
- 2nd place, $30 GC – ardaak47 from Fanshawe College
- 3rd place, $20 GC – sspitze from University of Georgia
- Random drawing winner, $25 GC – fox326 from Stanford
Encourage your friends to play in the dailies, and don’t forget, if you attend a school without a student bridge club or team and would like help getting one started, we can help! Also, if you are no longer enrolled in a college undergrad or graduate program, or have changed schools, please let us know.
The following won Masterpoints in Monday’s tournament:
|
Name |
College |
Score (%) |
Rank |
Points |
|
sunwind |
U of Chicago |
72.10 |
1 |
0.90 |
|
ardaak47 |
Fanshawe College |
68.77 |
2 |
0.63 |
|
sspitze |
U of Georgia |
67.12 |
3 |
0.45 |
|
benjk |
U of Minnesota - Duluth |
66.36 |
4 |
0.32 |
|
hakanberk |
U of Maryland College Park |
65.19 |
5 |
0.18 |
|
RobertLii |
UC Berkeley |
64.55 |
6 |
0.15 |
|
Jacob04 |
U of Western Ontario |
63.71 |
7 |
0.13 |
|
coolbeans |
U of Florida |
61.98 |
8 |
0.11 |
|
aj111 |
Purdue University |
61.87 |
9 |
0.10 |
|
Ude_Osae |
Columbia University |
61.54 |
10 |
0.09 |
|
royalx |
U of British Columbia |
61.44 |
11 |
0.08 |
|
r168r |
GA Tech |
61.42 |
12 |
0.08 |
|
lsanderson |
Georgetown University |
60.81 |
13 |
0.07 |
|
Elyk25 |
Northwestern University |
60.05 |
14 |
0.06 |
|
IHATEAPPLE |
Fordham University |
59.17 |
15 |
0.06 |
|
Funnel6262 |
GA Tech |
59.11 |
16 |
0.06 |
|
fox326 |
Stanford |
58.98 |
17 |
0.05 |
|
non_sapien |
U of Iowa |
58.58 |
18 |
0.05 |
|
stjacks |
U of Wisconsin- Madison |
58.57 |
19 |
0.05 |
|
acarl |
Carleton College |
58.56 |
20 |
0.05 |
|
emilyyblum |
Cal State LA |
58.39 |
21 |
0.04 |
|
schang4 |
Arizona State University |
57.89 |
22 |
0.04 |
|
Sean9816 |
U of Minnesota |
57.52 |
23 |
0.04 |
|
rajuroy |
State U of NY Buffalo |
57.17 |
24 |
0.04 |
|
roni57 |
U of Miami |
57.09 |
25 |
0.04 |
|
moga321 |
U of Minnesota |
56.98 |
26 |
0.03 |
|
cotondog |
Harvard |
56.38 |
27 |
0.03 |
Stephanie Threlkeld
Education and Communications Manager
North American Pairs District 14 Qualifying - October 6-7
Tomorrow is the day! Compete against your peers at the Edina Community Center on Saturday and Sunday - and - you and your partner might be among those earning funds to attend the 2019 NAP at the Memphis Spring NABC!
The flyer for the event can be found here. Remember; you must have qualified for the event to compete. And - registration starts early: 12PM through 12:50PM.
A super opportunity for all, irrespective of your experience level!
October 04, 2018
World Bridge Federation 2018 in Orlando
Though Steve Garner and Joe Grue have not enjoyed domiciles in Minnesota for some years now, most of us still think of both as our bridge heroes. In Orlando during the World Championships, both Steve and Joe demonstrate that they are still on top of their game!
Big congratulations to Steve and his team for earning the gold medal in the Senior Teams! Yet another feather in Steve's well feathered cap!
Joe Grue, with partner Brad Moss, earned silver in the Open Pairs. Another very distinguished accomplishment!
Applause for both of our home town guys; we could not be more proud!
October 02, 2018
Intermediate & Novice Regional - Results and Report
Some seem to think that the greatest mind game ever created - bridge - is on its last legs. It is true that in today's world, bridge is not the game that "everyone plays" as it was some decades ago.
But. If you think that people are giving up and ready to say "au revoir" to our game, you are sadly mistaken.
Wonderful people, like Tournament Chair Amy Dutton, Partnership Chair Susan Sanger and other volunteers are bringing new life - and players - to our game!
As you can see above, our I/N players are competing - and winning - and having a glorious time doing it! Surprised but elated by their victory, these players can't wait to show their trophies off to their grandkids!
Other players were also excited to win - and all had a marvelous time. In two days of play, the I/N Regional had 117 tables in play, and 140 people won masterpoints!
At the top of the list were Bernice Blaske and Thomas Botten. They earned an impressive 12.66 masterpoints! The full list of masterpoint winners is here; the results from the events are here.
As always, our thanks to Director in Charge Kim Hayward and Director Brian Weikle.
And a huge "way to go" and thanks to all our I/N players who came to compete and enjoy! Three of our players had never played duplicate before the regional! Thanks for being brave and dipping your toes in the duplicate waters.
Well done, everyone! We look forward to seeing you at the clubs and more tournaments, appreciating and attempting to tame this incredible, fascinating game!
More shots of our competitors below - enjoy all!
Continue reading "Intermediate & Novice Regional - Results and Report" »
September 26, 2018
I/N Regional in New Brighton - Sept 28-29
Are you an intermediate or novice non-Life Master bridge player with under 750 masterpoints? If so, this weekend provides a great opportunity to learn and compete!
Friday and Saturday, an I/N regional is being held at the New Brighton Community Center. Three sessions are available on Friday; two on Saturday. Lunch is provided inbetween sessions!
The flyer for the regional is here. Please do take advantage of this fine opportunity to play, learn and enjoy!
September 24, 2018
Paul Bunyan Sectional - Results
As promised, gorgeous fall colors highlighted the drive to the Paul Bunyan Sectional. And - adding color to the picture were two pairs who earned over twenty masterpoints through the weekend. Terry and Kathy Beckman were at the top of the list with exactly 25 masterpoints. Well done!
And - also earning over 20 masterpoints were Mike Cassel and Barry Purrington; 21.65. The full list of points earned can be found here.
Another beautiful sight to be hold was this one; Terry Lijewski with Diane Carr, our tournament chairman. As many of you know, Terry has battled some serious health issues lately. So, everyone was delighted to see Terry At the Table and enjoying himself!
Our thanks to Diane, Director Tony Ames, partnership chair Tess Schirmer and all the others who contributed to this fine September sectional.
Results for the rest of the tourney can be viewed here. And more photos are below the line. My thanks for receiving them from the tournament!
Warm Wishes to Jack Rhatigan
Jack Rhatigan is one of the Twin Cities' great bridge players - in every way. Smart, talented, funny, nice to all in our bridge community ... Even if you dug deep, I think you'd have a very tough time finding anyone with a negative comment about Jack.
Unfortunately, however, like the rest of us - Jack is not immune from the passing of time. And because of that reality of life, Chip and Teri at the TCBC passed on this message below from Shannon Rhatigan, Jack's daughter.
Jack was in the hospital from August 16 – 23, then in transitional care. He’ll be moving back into his assisted living apartment with his wife tomorrow morning. They’ll be hiring the assisted living facility to help a lot more than they had been.
Physically, he’s much better compared to when he entered the hospital. But his mental capacity took a big hit with whatever infection he had, and it seems unlikely that his memory is going to come back. I don’t think that he’ll ever be able to play bridge again. Without my dad to navigate, my mom has given up driving so won’t be able to transport him anymore anyway.
Dad’s personality is still pretty much intact, sense of humor and all. He knows his wife and children, but he often doesn’t remember the conversation you had three sentences ago. He can read words but his reading comprehension is almost zero. I suspect that his memory of his bridge friends comes and goes—it doesn’t seem like there’s a hard date where his memory fails.
Thank you,
Shannon Rhatigan
Shannon and I exchanged emails about her dad. I inquired about calling him. But, Shannon thought that it likely he simply could not hear well enough for a phone conversation.
Thus, if you're up for it, perhaps a visit to see Jack would be wonderful. Or, you could send him a card! If you'd like to do either, do let me know and I'll get more info from Shannon about how to accomplish this.
In the meantime, I'm sure that many of you will join me in sending best wishes for Jack to be as well and as happy as is possible under the circumstances. Thank you!
September 21, 2018
Paul Bunyan Sectional - Sept 21-13
Stunning autumn colors light up the gorgeous North Shore. Add in beautiful weather AND the Paul Bunyan Sectional - you have a weekend you don't want to miss!
The sectional starts today, with pairs and teams through Sunday. The full schedule is here.
Enjoy our great game - battle to win masterpoints - see friends and capture views like the one above! Win, win, win!