Minnesota Bridge

Calling All Juniors!

Exciting Online Event Starting Tomorrow!

Saturday, August 1st, vie for masterpoints and prizes!

Details below - Enjoy!

 

 

Don't forget about the CBO Club Special Tournament this Saturday, August 1, which will award masterpoints and special prizes.   First through third place finishers will receive an Amazon gift card. Additionally, ACBL will draw the name of one random CBO tournament participant to receive a gift card.

You do need to be an ACBL member (only $5 for ages 25 and younger), have a BBO account (free) and be registered as a CBO member to participate in a CBO Tournament. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours to gain access to the CBO Club on BBO.   If you've never played in a CBO tournament before, simply log into BBO and click Competitive / Tournaments / All Tournaments or Free Tournaments / Collegiate. The CBO tournament should be first on the list.   If you have any bridge playing college friends, encourage them to join the CBO. Membership is open to any college undergrad or grad student age 35 and under. If you don’t have a student bridge org/club at your school, consider starting one. We can help! www.acbl.org/college

Discounts for Juniors playing in online tournaments!   2020 Online Event Schedule   Junior members playing in ACBL-sanctioned regionally rated online tournaments are now eligible to have a portion of their entry fees rebated so that their final cost is only $5 per session.   Just email online.tournament@acbl.org with your information and let them know when you played. Rebates are for tournaments held after 7/1/2020.

Junior Championships!

Eric Hendrikson alerted me to news about our juniors.  Morgan Johnstone has the details!  Big thanks to Eric and Morgan!

Captains,

 

Congratulations on advancing to the Knockout Stage of the 2020 Online Collegiate Bridge Championship! At the meeting held earlier this evening, a random draw was conducted to form the bracket for the KO stage, as per the CoC. The captains from 5 of the 8 KO stage teams were present to witness the KO draw, and I believe Giorgio Casinovi sent out a video.

 

The quarterfinal matchups are:

A1: Harvard - Crimson Aces vs B2: Minnesota - Gopher the Squeeze

C1: The Claremont Colleges vs D2: UChicago

B1: UC Santa Barbara - Overbidders Anonymous vs C2: Northwestern - NORTH deals, east-WEST vulERNable
D1: Georgia Tech Gold vs A2: UNC Chapel Hill

The semifinal matchups are:
Winner of A1-B2 vs Winner of  C1-D2

Winner of B1-C2 vs Winner of  D1-A2

 

The KO bracket is now on the results spreadsheet. I will add a KO Results tab for y'all to report match times and results. As a reminder, quarterfinal matches must be scheduled and played by the end of Sunday 7/19. As per the CoC, quarterfinal matches must be 32 boards long. Also, they will be divided into two segments of 16 boards, unless the team captains agree otherwise. If captains can't come to an agreeable arrangement regarding seating rights, email Giorgio Casinovi (giorgio.casinovi@ece.gatech.edu) and he will conduct a random draw to sort that out. 

 

We would like to publicize this event as much as possible. In particular, if your college bridge club has a Twitch channel, feel free to stream quarterfinal matches on a 30 minute delay. If your college bridge club does not have a Twitch channel or other method of streaming, email Sriram Ganesan (sganesan34@gatech.edu) and he might be able to stream it himself or find someone else to do so (on a 30 minute delay, of course). 

 

Also, the following issues need to be decided no later than Sunday 7/19:

1. Do we want directors for the semifinal matches? If so, those matches will most likely need to be scheduled in advance and completed on a single day at times that work for both teams and the director. 
2.  What date should the final be held? Right now, we seem to be leaning towards Sunday 7/26, but other dates are possible. Since we will have a director for the finals, the finals will likely need to be played in one day, and scheduled in advance.

3. Do we want a match between the 3rd and 4th place teams? If so, we probably want to set the date in advance to publicize it. 

We will likely have a meeting on Sunday 7/19 to finalize these issues. 

 

Anyway, good luck to all in the KO stage of the 2020 OCBC!

Santhosh.

--

Morgan Johnstone
University of Minnesota Class of 2020

Bridge for Juniors - Happy 4th of July!

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!!

 

Hot Time for BBO MN Club Games in July!

Our thanks to Kim Hayward for updates on the July club schedules on BBO!

Enjoy great games in the comfort of your own home!

The new schedule can be found below the line--

 

Valid as of today, 7/1/20. Here is the new schedule with a few edits. NOTE: there will be a week of special games at the end of July, so look for an expanded schedule that week.

 

Kimberly Hayward, Club Manager

Bridge Center of St Paul

651-490-5430 w

651-271-3500 c

Bridge in the New World

Some unexpected quirks in our online bridge world.  Our thanks to Kim Hayward, Jackson Wahl and Tony Ames for helping us to play bridge online!

 

Last night BBO did a reset. All of our manually added guests have been washed away. All non-original players must be added again. Please give your directors at least 30 minutes before you play to verify your guests is on our player list. 

 

Going forward ACBL wants us to add them each time they play. Thanks for your patience.

 

And please remember, all players from Twin City Bridge Center, Edina, Plymouth, Metro Bridge, St Paul, Mankato, Duluth, and St Cloud are already on the list. 

Kimberly Hayward, Club Manager

Bridge Center of St Paul

651-490-5430 w

651-271-3500 c

 

TCBC

Jackson 

612.280.1274

jackson.wahl.1999@gmail.com

 

EDINA

Tony

952.200.2871

 ynotsema@aol.com

 

ST PAUL

Kim

651.271.3500

bridgecenterofstpaul@gmail.com

 

 

Twin City Bridge Center - New Online Schedule!

I'm sorry to spring so many announcements on you, but I feel that I have to make a change. Ever since we started sharing memberships with the St. Paul and Plymouth clubs, we've experienced a downturn in attendance. I've received many comments that 3:30 is much too late for people, while 9:30 is a touch too early. Again, I'm sorry for so many changes, but I feel I must make edits, because I want you to feel like you are guaranteed to get to play when you take the time out to sign up.

 

Below is the new schedule, effective immediately: 

 

Monday -        1:00; Open only

Tuesday -       11:30; Open and 0-500

Wednesday -  11:30; Open and 0-500

Thursday -      10:00; Open and 0-500

Friday -           1:00; Open only

Saturday -       10:00; Open only

 

Finally, at the request of some loyal TCBC members, there is another announcement I need to make. While the Twin Cities clubs are all now sharing memberships, and you are free to play in any of the games that you wish, I must remind you that we are not at the moment sharing profits. When you choose to sign up for a particular club's game, you are supporting that club.

 

In this time that is difficult for all of us, the TCBC desperately needs your support.

 

Please share your feedback with me - I am always trying to meet your needs as best I can.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jackson

BB Online Twin City Schedule Updates

Please view PDF Schedule Below!

One Hand - A Micro Analysis of Bidding Opportunities

 

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!)

THREE Online Bridge Games for Minnesota!

 

Hi All - Time to enjoy Minnesota summer - and -

Lots of online bridge!

Fabulous player and director, Jackson Wahl, shares exciting news!

 

Hi Folks--

 

I'm excited to announce that, with the end of my school year, I will begin to hold more games for the TCBC starting on Monday, June 8. Many people have requested additional games at more times, and in particular many people have indicated interest in limited games with different limits. I have revised our schedule as seen below in an attempt to hold games at different times than are already available in the Twin Cities. Here is the new schedule:

 

Monday, 3:30:             Open and <300

Tuesday, 11:30:           Open and <500

Wednesday, 11:30:     Open and <300

Thursday, 9:30:           Open and <500

Friday, 3:30:                Open and <500

Saturday, 9:30:            Open

 

I'd like to remind everyone that the TCBC is peering with both the Bridge Center of St. Paul and with the clubs run by Tony Ames. This means that all players who are regulars at any of those clubs may play in games run by all three clubs online. Please pass this new schedule onto friends from St. Paul and beyond!

 

Please also note that guests continue to be allowed, as long as they play with a player on the approved list. Please let me know in advance if you wish to play with a guest.

 

Both of the other games in the Twin Cities are moving to a $5 entry fee, and, in solidarity with them, I have also chosen to modify the entry fee to $5 (which seems to have become the national standard).

 

Finally, I'd like to remind you to review the alert and announcement procedures for playing on BBO, particular if you are unfamiliar with online play. They are not the same as in-person alerts. Here is a decent tutorial on how to alert.

 

Hope to see you all soon!

 

Best--

 

Jackson

Cookies and Caring

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.

More Silver!

 

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. 

This week the ACBL is offering 100% Silver points for all games on BBO Virtual Clubs and a 3X multiplier on the usual club point rating. This is not a STAC, but just your usual games with bonuses. Fees this week will be $6 per player.

 

The attached file is the full schedule for all the clubs. Included are the director contact numbers if you have trouble getting into a game or have any questions. 

 

After this week you are still authorized to play in any and all of the games around the Metro. Thank you for your continued support helping all of these clubs through this difficult time.

--

Kimberly Hayward, Club Manager

Bridge Center of St Paul

651-490-5430 w

651-271-3500 c

 

Silver Points at the Twin City Bridge Center

 

Hi Folks -

 

I'm writing to let you know that next week's Virtual Club games, held on Monday the 25th through Sunday the 31st, will all be worth three times as many masterpoints, and that the points earned will all be silver. Twin City Bridge Center will be holding its usual schedule and usual games during the week. We will be charging $6 to cover the extra table fees, which matches the price at St. Paul. I hope to see you all there - let me know if you have any questions!

 

I have an additional point to discuss as well. It is important for everybody who plays in the online games to know how to alert bids and speak to their opponents. Online, you alert your own bids by typing in the box where it says "alert" before you make the bid. (You can also click the "alert" button to indicate that the bid is alertable.)

 

Note that your opponents can see what you typed as your alerted bid, but your partner can't! If you'd like to know about an opponent's bid, click on the bid itself. If you do that, a text box will appear on their screen, and they should type what it means. If you aren't satisfied by their response, private message them at the bottom of the screen by clicking on the blue button with "->Table" and selecting "Private".

 

Everyone should be watching the chat at the bottom of the screen as well; if your opponent asks for clarification, you have a responsibility to clarify bids.  The meanings should NOT be discussed in the whole table chat until a hand is complete. 

 

Thanks for your continued support of the online games!

 

Best - 

 

Jackson Wahl

ONLINE ACBL Club Game Updates

 

Important News from Director Jackson Wahl About Online Game Changes!

 

Hi Folks-

 

Thank you all for continuing to show up and support the Twin City Bridge Center in this strange time! Our first week of <750 games went well! Thank you so much for playing to support two full sections!

 

I have an exciting announcement. ACBL has officially allowed players to invite partners from other clubs, who have never played in a particular club, to play in games for their own clubs. If you'd like to play in a TCBC game with a partner who only plays in St. Paul, or Rochester, or any club across the U. S., you are now welcome to. 

 

It is important, though, that you let me know your partner's username at least 30 minutes before the game starts, so I can approve them for the game. 

 

Please let me know every time you play with a guest that you are doing so, even if it's not their first time playing as a guest. 

 

Thanks again!

 

Jackson

More Online Games & Updates!

 

 

 

 

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!

 

Hi Folks--

 

Thank you all for your valuable feedback regarding the time and length of TCBC games. I've come to the following decisions:

 

1. Limited Games

 

There has been an outpouring of support for limited games. Because of this, I am adding a third game limited to less than 750 masterpoints on Thursday morning. Like Tuesday, there will be two sections, one Open and one <750. For now, we'll keep Wednesday restricted to less than 750, but I may open it up if we don't get enough tables. If you like the restricted games, keep on coming to them - I need to consistently hit 6 tables in order to keep those games running!

 

2. Timing of Games

 

I am shifting Saturday's game to 9:30 AM. The 9:30 votes more than doubled the 11:30 votes, so the choice is clear. For those who asked for earlier Tuesday/Thursday games, or more later games, I fear I can't make that happen - for now, I have classes, and my schedule is a bit restricted. I'm trying to provide a variety of times that work for everyone!

 

3. Board Timing

 

In a huge majority, more than 70% of people preferred a slower game. It is incredibly frustrating to have a tricky hand or slow opponents and have to get your board adjusted, especially if there are multiple ways a hand could have gone. With 6 minute boards, only about 50% of tables finished on time; with 7 minutes, about 90% finish in time. If it's a quick round, the game will automatically progress to the next round when everyone's done, too. Therefore, we are moving back to 7 minute boards for the time being.

 

Whew! To recap the schedule:

 

Tuesday, 11:30, Open and <750

Wednesday, 3:30, <750

Thursday, 11:30, Open and <750

Friday, 9:30, Open

Saturday, 9:30 Open

 

Thanks again! See you on BBO!

 

Best--

 

Jackson