Don't forget about the CBO Club Special Tournament this Tuesday, September 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!
Juniors playing in ACBL Sanctioned regionally rated online tournaments are eligible to have a portion of their entry fees rebated so that your final cost is only $5 per session.
Just email online.tournament@acbl.org and let them know when you played. Discounts will be applied for tournaments after 7/1/2020.
Posted by Peg on September 01, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Weekly reminder that the MGSC will be online tonight at 7:15 on BBO.
Let us know if your partner is not a regular Twin Cities player so we can get them registered to play.
Join the partnership desk to find a partner if you don't have one. This works two ways: once you sign up at the partnership desk, you can either invite someone in the pool to play or someone can invite you.
If you connect before the game starts, you'll be in your proper Flight based on masterpoints, etc. If you don't get a partner before the game starts, the director may choose to find one for you in order to fill out the movement. Note: this partner could be anyone, and you won't have time to discuss a card in great depth. Also, you will be in Flight A because you're coming into the game after it has started.
BBO is now able to host a second section along with our regular Open game. The Open game masterpoint awards will be increased based on the size of both games. We hope to see some new faces playing in our second section tonight (limited masterpoints 0-999). This game will start 10 minutes prior to the Open game.
We will have a Zoom session after the games finish.
Look for an update with that information later.
David says: See you at the table!
Posted by Peg on August 28, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thank You, Partner
Connie Nelson continues to deliver lovely news and stories about our unusual bridge world in 2020. We are SO grateful for all that she does!
In the meantime, however, the powers of the universe are scrambling some of our data and photos. So please accept my apologies for less than perfection with this post. Enjoy the happy faces, the years of enjoying bridge and remember that nothing (yes, not even bridge!) can be perfect.
But pretty good - YES!
On July 12, my husband Jim Schnepf and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Roger and Sue Knauss were nice enough to invite us over to share steaks on the grill and a bottle of wine.
Sue and Roger Knauss – Married 46 Years
The four of us play bridge together at the St Cloud Club, playing as couples. We commented that the old adage that married couples should not play bridge together doesn’t seem to apply to our Club. We counted twenty couples who play with differing frequency. Here are ten who recently answered an emailed survey from me:
So, what’s it like to be partners in life as well as bridge? After all, every duplicate game you play is 3 ½ hours of uninterrupted time together, with some fairly high emotional stakes. Like a roller-coaster, partners can rocket up and down together from ‘euphoria’ to ‘you-idiot.’
In researching this article, I discovered a fun booklet called, How to play bridge with your spouse and survive. I didn’t read the whole thing, but I loved glancing through chapters with such intriguing titles as: Premarital Bridge, Bridge Orphan Children, and After the Break-Up. Fortunately, none of us have had to navigate the break-up phase - yet!
In fact, the average years of married life across the couples mentioned above is 43 years! Although when Tom Buttweiller answered me, “Pat and I have been married almost 20 years. Pat would be able to provide a more precise answer,” I wanted to caution him that this answer could get him in serious trouble! (Pat later clarified that they have been married 17 years.) The longest married couple were Gene and Susan Peterson who celebrated 62 years on August 2nd!
Susan and Gene Peterson – Married 62 years
The average number of years these same ten couples have played bridge together (counting social bridge) was 29 years. The Olstads have played together the longest. In fact, they’ve been married 51 years, and have played bridge together for…. 51 years! Sue says: “When I went looking for a husband, one of the prerequisites was that he played bridge!”
I asked, “Who taught whom, or did you learn together?” The majority responded that they either took lessons together, or each knew some bridge before meeting. For example, Sue and Roger Knauss learned at the same time from Sue’s parents, Del and Clara Henning. (Before her death, Clara Henning was a long-time player and director at our Club.) The Buttweillers, the Richardsons, and Jim and I were the exceptions, as in each case the husband taught the wife. In all three cases, the husbands are pretty laid-back and non-judgmental which seemed to be key. As the Richardsons recall: “Scott learned in his youth from his parents and started playing duplicate in high school. Shirley started playing when we were both about 22 when a neighbor couple wanted to give it a try. Like us, the husband was experienced and the wife was brand new at it. The neighbor wife had trouble catching on, and the husband had little patience. He tended to criticize, rather than focus on teachable moments. They soon fizzled out. Shirley, on the other hand, had a knack for it and worked systematically on bidding and play. Those early years set the tone for our pleasant experience together at the bridge table to this day.”
Scott and Shirley Richardson – Married 44 years
Last, I asked if the couples had one funny, or endearing, or maddening story to tell. Here are their answers:
I know that anyone reading this far would feel cheated if I didn’t include one husband-wife “put down” joke. So here goes:
Two wives were discussing whose husband played worse. Wife A said it wasn't even close, hers did. Wife B didn't agree. Wife B said, “Listen to what my husband did last night. He was playing 7NT. He had 11 tricks outside of spades, and the dummy had the AQ of spades. He had plenty of entries to his hand to take the finesse which would have won, but instead he led the spade Queen from the dummy!”
"What's so bad about that?" said wife A. "Against my husband that play works."
Obviously, this story did not come from our Club. I think we “play nice” together. Hope you agree that we give new definition to the phrase “Thank you, Partner!”
Thank you, Connie - thank you bridge players throughout Minnesota - we so appreciate you playing, enjoying, learning and having fun at the table! Thank you ALL partners!
Posted by Peg on August 14, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Exciting Online Event Starting Tomorrow!
Saturday, August 1st, vie for masterpoints and prizes!
Details below - Enjoy!
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Posted by Peg on July 31, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Eric Hendrikson alerted me to news about our juniors. Morgan Johnstone has the details! Big thanks to Eric and Morgan!
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Posted by Peg on July 14, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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!!
Posted by Peg on July 04, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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--
Continue reading "Hot Time for BBO MN Club Games in July!" »
Posted by Peg on July 01, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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!
Kimberly Hayward, Club Manager
Posted by Peg on June 22, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted by Peg on June 16, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Please view PDF Schedule Below!
Posted by Peg on June 16, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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" »
Posted by Peg on June 07, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Hi All - Time to enjoy Minnesota summer - and -
Lots of online bridge!
Fabulous player and director, Jackson Wahl, shares exciting news!
Posted by Peg on June 06, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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.
Posted by Peg on June 03, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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.
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Posted by Peg on May 25, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted by Peg on May 23, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Important News from Director Jackson Wahl About Online Game Changes!
Posted by Peg on May 11, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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!
Posted by Peg on May 06, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)