Minnesota Bridge

Unit 178 Awards Party and Games

Sharon Anderson, District 14 Director, earned over 767 masterpoints last year during her term as President of the ACBL!

Bridge players love their games - and love to celebrate, too!  This coming Saturday, May 4th, you can enjoy all of the above.  

At the Twin City Bridge Center, come and play in the afternoon game at 1PM.  Afterwards, a complimentary dinner will be served at 5:30PM.  Following dinner, Unit 178 will present Ace of Clubs and MiniMcKenney awards for 2012.  The evening game at 7PM is the cap to a great day of bridge and presentations!

Whether you earned 5 masterpoints or 500 in 2012 - we hope that you will join this festive bridge celebration!

2013 District 14 GNT Representatives

Our thanks to Mike Cassel for his hard work in organizing and promoting our GNT competitions.  You can find the results from this past weekend's District 14 Finals at the District 14 website.

Our congratulations to everyone and best wishes to beat the rest of the field in Atlanta!

Autumn?

Minnesotans have enjoyed a few long awaited spring days....  Sunshine, warmth and with it walks around lakes and the shedding of winter coats.

But - that does not mean that we don't think ahead about bridge events down the road!

Come September, not only will our weather begin to cool down from the dog days of summer - the Autumn Harvest Sectional in New Brighton will be here!  September 19-21, enjoy pair and team games at the Community Center.

We don't wish to rush anyone from our spring or summer.  We do, however, want everyone to enjoy our fall bridge festivities!

Special Sectional & GNT District Finals

Tomorrow is the start of the the Special Sectional in New Brighton - along with the Saturday/Sunday competition for the District 14 GNT Finals.  

Both events should be challenging and fun.  And - for those who win their flights in GNT, the bonus of a trip to the Summer NABC in Atlanta, a chance to compete against peers from around the ACBL - and a subsidized trip!

Check out the schedule and do plan on attending!

Hiawatha Valley Sectional Results

A snowstorm in April may not be common.  Yet, it's not enough to stop bridge players from attending an excellent sectional!

At the head of the leaderboard for masterpoints we find father and son Terry and John Lijewski, with just over 28 points earned.  Results from all the events can be found here.

Our thanks to Dorothy Haukom and all her volunteers for their fine efforts - and to Mike Flader for his expertise as head director.

 

Calendar of Events

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

A Fierce Competitor

Every week, John Koch regales us with stories about insightful defense or magnificent declarer play.  A few of us are up to such plays at the table; others of us can only admire such brilliance.

This week, John sent me a column about superb play by a local player:  Tim Wernz.  Most of Minnesota's players wouldn't be up to analyzing a hand as Tim did under any circumstances. Yet, Tim found this insightful line of play while suffering from severe illness and fatigue.

John shares with us this fine hand - and a remembrance of Tim, too.  Our thanks to John for both - and our gratitude to Tim.  He displayed competition at a high level - and a will to do his best under the most trying conditions.

Remembering Tim - April 19th

As many of you know, the memorial service for Tim Wernz is this coming Friday.

The directions in Tim's obituary, however, weren't very clear.  So, if you are planning on attending, please check this site for the address and directions.

Tim Wernz - 1943-2013

Anyone who has played in our bridge community during the past 30+ years knows that Tim Wernz was one of Minnesota's most successful competitors.  In partnership with John Boeder, Boeder-Wernz presented one of the most fiercesome and winning pairs to come out of our state. And for the last few years, everyone in our community has been aware that Tim fiercely fought pancreatic cancer.  We marveled at how Tim managed to battle against the disease that was so unrelenting against his body, as he nevertheless continued to produce a tough bridge game.

Yesterday, that fight came to an end.

Tim's good friend and regular partner, Irwin Boris, has kindly shared thoughts about Tim with us.  Irwin has well captured Tim and his many accomplishments - both at the bridge table and away.

A memorial for Tim will be held on Friday, April 19th.  Details can be found in Tim's obituary.

Please join me in sending condolences to Tim's wife, Susan, and the rest of his family. 

Unit 178 Board Meeting - April 2013

The next Board of Directors meeting for Unit 178 is scheduled for April 20th.  The agenda is posted below.

For those attending or interested in watching, please note.  This month's meeting will be held at 5009 Queen Avenue South in Minneapolis.

Come Rain or Come Shine - Or...

Snow, so it appears - the Rochester Spring Sectional begins tomorrow, April 12th!

Here is a flyer with all the details.  We do hope that the gremlins directing our "spring" weather cooperate enough so that many of us can enjoy this fun sectional!

Education from Two Champs

Technology continues to alter the way in which we work, play - and learn.  With the advent of online bridge, we have the opportunity to play bridge with a partner in Duluth or Dubai, play at 10AM or midnight, enjoy a tournament or match play.  And - we have the opportunity to learn bridge from the best.

Ralph Katz, one of our nation's most successful bridge professionals, has teamed with Turkish star Melih Ozdil to offer the Ozdil-Katz Online School of Bridge.  No matter where you live, if you'd like to improve your game and learn the secrets of a bridge star - now you can.

Next month's lessons begin on May 6th.  Information on Katz' and Ozdil's biographies, the Ozdil-Katz school and how to sign up for classes are all below!

One of Minnesota's Greats

As the years go by, we lose too many of our long time top notch competitors and friends.

Here is a remembrance from Bill Voedisch about one of Minnesota's leading players and volunteers:  Dorothy Kantor Buchanan.

 

I note that regarding the Top 100 discussion, many of the greats gone by have been mentioned.  I’d like to mention Dorothy Kantor Buchanan.

 

I knew Dorothy from perhaps 1965 before I ever picked up a hand of duplicate bridge.  My father-in-law was the chief business agent for the local Cement Masons Union, working out of the Labor Temple just off Hennepin across the river in downtown Mpls.  In the days way before computer calendars, emails and all the management tools we have today, a busy manager often relied 100% on a right-hand assistant to make sure they were where they were supposed to be, and when, to generally run things, and ensure that everything got done. 

Such a person was “Dorothy,” who my father-in-law, Orville “O. J.” Evenson, could not live without.  To literally thousands of workers, labor leaders and construction crew supervisors in the Twin Cities, Dorothy Kantor was the face of that union for years.  Her organizational skills, attention to detail and no-nonsense manner made her invaluable in that man’s world.

 

I can remember O.J. saying, more than once ... “When Dorothy retires, I’m done!”

 

It all translated to the game of bridge where her ability to track the cards during the play and “read” what was happening at the table, were a joy to watch, even though her great skills often delivered you a poor result as her opponent.

 

I’ll always remember Dorothy Kantor Buchanan.

 

 

                Bill Voedisch

 

Something Better

Expert players usually exercise excellent declarer play and defense.  

Still, we can recognize the difference between your "garden variety" expert - and a champion. While the expert performs at a high level, the champion imagines an odds on line of play .... and then searches for something even better.

This week, John Koch demonstrates how to go from good - to extraordinary.

GNT - Unit Finals

Saturday, April 6th, the Bridge Center of St. Paul hosted our Unit Finals for GNT.  Players had the opportunity to win masterpoints and "green points" - as Mike Cassel, GNT coordinator, likes to refer to them.

Mike has a report on the winners in Flights A, B and C - along with more promotion for the Big Finale April 27th and 28th to see which teams will be representing District 14 at the Summer NABC in Atlanta.

Congrats to the winning teams this past weekend - and good luck to all in New Brighton!  We hope that many teams will compete.  The District Finals are an excellent opportunity to play against your peers - and have the opportunity to earn a subsidized trip to the Nationals, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twin City Bridge Center Makes the Top 50!

Congratulations to Minneapolis' Twin City Bridge Center for its ranking in 2012 for table count!

More over at our District 14 website, too.

Counterintuitive

The more experienced we become at the game, the more rote many plays become.  We've "been there; done that" - and we go through the process again.

Except - sometimes the game tricks us.  We see a familiar position, and "rote" is the losing course.

Today, John Koch presents us with such a defensive hand.  Would you have gotten it right at the table?

Remember that sometimes things are not what they seem - even at the bridge table.

Unit 178 Awards Party

Saturday, May 5th, Unit 178 will recognize 2012 Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney contest winners and high finishers.  Everyone is invited to the Twin City Bridge Center to celebrate!

The Unit will sponsor a complimentary dinner at 5:30, followed by an awards program at 6:15.  After Unit 178's brief annual Membership Meeting, we'll honor our achievers in the best way possible:  with a bridge game for all!

If you have any questions about the evening, please contact Unit President Sue Jackson at [email protected]. 

We hope to see everyone there!