Minnesota Bridge

Exciting News From Anshul!

Truly Thrilling News from Anshul!

I hope we old codgers can deliver applause to this great talent!!

Hi Mr. Hamman, Peggy Auntie, Carrie

I am excited to inform you that I won the World Youth Championships in Italy yesterday in the U-16 category with my partner Darwin Li from Canada. 

Thank you for all your support and encouragement,

Anshul

And Anshul - Please note that all of us are thrilled for your win!
We so look forward to seeing more of your truly remarkable abilities for so many years to come!

GNT Results for 2022!

2022 GNT Results

 

        The 2022 GNT District finals are completed!

 

14 teams competed for the chance to represent District 14 in Providence, Rhode Island to start the Summer Nationals.

4 teams came out on top of their strata.

         

The Superflight will be contested by the team of Kurt Schaeffer, Kerry Holloway, Bob Balderson, and Cindy Balderson.

         

Flight A will be contested by a 6 person team with lots of experience at the national level. Eric Hendrickson, Paul Gutterman, Andrew Caracas, Richard Lawson, Mark Krusemeyer, and Robert Schachter were the winners in Flight A.

 Flight B finalists are Connie Nelson, James Schnepf,         Wayne Reynolds, and Keith Thompson.

 Flight C winners are David Nelmark, Philip Hayne, Rolf Hoyer,   and John Schaefer.

 

Congratulations to our District Winners!

And Good Luck in Providence!

 

        

Keith Thompson

Unit 103 GNT Coordinator

Bridge Birthdays and Wishes from St. Cloud Bridge Club!

Bridge-Related Birthday “Wishes”

By Connie Nelson

Once again, we are SO fortunate to have Connie Nelson alert
to what's happening in St. Cloud's neck of the woods!
Connie - we are so grateful to you for the news you share - 
The applause you deliver to those who are doing well.

AND - we are DELIGHTED that a fun and exciting 
success on your part is popping up on YOUR birthday!

Enjoy, everyone! Here's CONNIE!!!  
*************************************************************

On February 10, Robert Nairn of the St Cloud Bridge Club turned eighty-nine years young.  You may recall that I’ve written about Robert before. He was our “Rookie of the Year” in 2018, when he won the Unit 103 Mini-McKenney race for the 0-5 master point range.   In 2020, he won the 50-100 Mini-McKenney race not only for Unit 103, but across all of District 14.  In 2021, he was one of four St Cloud players who became District 14 GNT Flight C Champions, and represented District 14 in the National GNT competition.

So what’s he done lately?

As I mentioned, his 89^th birthday was on February 10.  On that day, Robert shared that his “birthday wish” was to partner with each and every member of our St Cloud Club.  He said, “I hope to accomplish this before I turn 90!!!” 

And, I’m here to tell you…. he is making great progress.  As of March 17, he has played a Club game with thirteen different partners – and there were only fifteen games held during that time period!   He also has ten more players already scheduled for a game.   I think he’s going to make sure his birthday wish is granted, don’t you?

You know that old saying, “Leave a legacy for bridge.  Encourage others to follow suit!”  To me, Robert is blazing quite a living legacy exemplifying the love of bridge  --- as well as sharing that love of the game with many different partners.

The second birthday “wish” involves me, Connie Nelson.  My birthday is February 29^th, and I had a milestone birthday coming up… one of those where the front number changes.  To state it plainly,  I was turning seventy and I had my sights set on making my Silver Life Master before I did.  On February 28^th, I received my 1000^th point in Club play and accomplished my birthday “wish” in the nick of time.  That was really fun! – and made that front-number change a little easier to take.

So make some bridge-related birthday wishes yourself!   It turns out they are quite attainable.

Baldersons Achieve Platinum!!

The 10K Run!

Bob and Cindy Hit Platinum!
Bob Shares Stories
And I, your Editor, Plan to Do So, Too!
Applause for Cindy & Bob - with MORE TO COME!!

Last week, Cindy and I finally went over the 10,000 Masterpoint mark, with the last push courtesy of Carole Miner, Terry Beckman, Harry Sapienza, and each other. It seemed to take an eternity, with the finish line stretching on and on.

As soon-to-be Platinum Masters, I’ve been informed that we are supposed to wax philosophical at this point in the game. Cindy and I have been playing Bridge together for over 30 years (including a 10-year bridge divorce in which we played, just not as partners). During that time, we formed teams and partnerships with a multitude of players, including (but certainly not limited to) Carole Miner, Peg Waller, Kurt Schaeffer, Craig Satersmoen, Peder Langsetmo, Paul Meerschaert, Peg Kaplan, Billy Kent, Rob Schacter, Mark Krusemeyer, Harry Sapienza, Jerry Lee, Jonathan Cohen, Charlie Nauen, Patti Stuhlman, Ron DeHarportte, John Koch, Terry Beckman, and Dan Sershon.

For many years we traveled around the country, playing in Nationals, Regionals, Sectionals, and whatever, compiling a pretty good record with some great, some good, and some not-so-good results, while having a lot of fun in the process.

Cindy’s favorite team memory is actually quite a bit more exotic—she, Carole Miner, Lynn Deas, Disa Eythorsdottir, Rozanne Pollack, and Cheri Bjerkan represented the U.S. in Beijing, China at the 2013 World Mind Games. They finished 2^nd in the KO, placed high in the other events, and hobnobbed with the best players in the world (it was reported that the food could have been better).

My favorite team Bridge memory was the Kaplan-Kent-Meerschaert-Miner-Balderson-Balderson GNT team knocking Meckwell, Berkowitz/Cohen, and company out of the chance to win their 3^rd GNT title in a row. My favorite personal Bridge memory was making 6H in a National KO by picking off the stiff King of trump offside playing against the Overcall system: an overcall was required anytime the person overcalling had 7 or more points. LHO didn’t overcall, so the King had to be with RHO.

Some other “great” Bridge memories include:

In Seaside Oregon, our team won a Regional KO against a strong team by 51 in a 3-board tie-breaker after being tied in regulation.

In Madison, our team won a Regional KO by 50 against a Pro team after I told my partner, Peder Langsetmo, that “When the ladies return, we compare at halftime and we’re down by 100, we are going to drop out.” (When we compared, we were actually down by 7, which neither the ladies nor Peder and I could believe, but for different reasons.)

Some of the “good” memories include coming within inches of winning the GNT Flight A in Washington D.C. playing with Kurt Schaeffer (a feat which he later accomplished with a different team).

Or, Peg Waller, Cindy, Carole, and I losing to a very strong team in Florida by 1 after being down by 35 at the half and outscoring them 34-0 the second half.

Even some of my “bad” bridge memories aren’t too bad—in Anaheim Cindy, Carole, Dan Sershon and I spent an entire day at Universal Studios as a result of arriving too late to play on Sunday morning (forgetting that the last day of the Nationals they start the play an hour earlier).

Peder and I once played in a 2-day National Pairs event, with 70% and 65% (1^st and 2^nd), and didn’t make the overalls. During the event, we made 4HXX against Alan Truscott and his partner.

To be honest, it was never just about the Bridge. We also always focused on where we were going and how we were going to get there. For example…

We took the train to Portland to play in the Seaside Oregon Regional.

Cindy and I spent a week on the Outer Banks before competing in the Summer Nationals in Washington D.C for the first time.

In Boston, we took a day trip from the playing site to see Gloucester, Massachusetts, the town where they filmed The Perfect Storm (“A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem”), and were rained out.

In San Francisco we toured Alcatraz, went to a drag queen show, and spent the night in Bodega Bay, eating breakfast at the café where they filmed Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

In Vancouver, we had a ball sightseeing and day-tripping, but Paul Meerschaert almost didn’t make it on the plane in time. Cindy innocently asked him to carry some effervescent bath balls that she had bought, resulting in the drug-sniffing dogs really “liking him” and an extended visit to Customs.

All in all, it’s been 30+ years of great memories, Bridge, travel, and otherwise, that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Here’s to the next 30!

 

Bob Balderson

612-281-5222 (cell)
baldersonbob@gmail.com

 

"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow."

- Swedish proverb S

Balderson Team Wins Grand National Team Qualifier!

Sunday’s Grand National Team Game
And Our Thanks to John Koch
For Sharing the Exciting Finale!

              Tony Ames held a Grand National Team qualifier at Edina this past Sunday and the Balderson team narrowly edged the Grue team, 113 to 108.  The key hand in the Balderson-Grue head-to-head was a well-timed decision by Terry Beckman to balance at the two level with a four-card suit.  Here is Board 13:

♠  A K J 3                          Kerry           Koch            Joey             Terry

♡ K 9 5 4                           1♡                Pass              1NT             Pass

♢ 9 5 4                              2♣                Pass              2♡                2♠!

♣ K 2                                All Pass

Not many would risk hazarding a vulnerable two-level overcall with a four-card suit.  Terry inferred that his partner was short in hearts and therefore likely to have length in spades.  Partner did have four spades and a singleton heart.  It ended in a 7-IMP gain. 

          Paul Meerschaert advises his partners to be reluctant in taking sacrifices against freely bid games and slams unless the expected loss will be negligible.  Two of our matches were decided by questionable sacrifices.  Here was Board 2:

                     ♠ A 8 7 5 3 2

                     ♡ K Q 9

                     ♢ J

                     ♣ A 10 9

♠ 6                                    ♠ J 10

♡ 7 6 5 3                          ♡ J 8 4

♢ A 10 6 5 4                     ♢ Q 9 8 3 2

♣ Q 7 2                             ♣ J 6 4

                     ♠ K Q 9 4

                     ♡ A 10 2

                     ♢ K 7

                     ♣ K 8 5 3

          Vulnerable against not, South at both tables opened one notrump and West overcalled two diamonds, promising diamonds and a major.  At our table, North-South found their spade fit, invoked Roman Keycard, and settled in five spades. 

At the other table, Bob and Cindy Balderson reached six spades.  East, however, detected a five-five diamond fit and played partner for slightly better cards, and took the seven diamond save.  This was doubled and went for 1,700.  (The defenders grumbled for about two seconds that they passed up on the 2,000).  This was 14 IMPs, and more than offset our side’s failure to reach a grand slam on the previous hand.

          Later in the round, Board 16 showed up:

                      ♠ 8 5 3

                     ♡ K 6 5 3

                     ♢ 6 3

                     ♣ Q J 8 5

♠ K 6 4 2                           ♠ A Q J 10 9

♡ A 4 2                             ♡ 10 9 7

♢ 7 5 4 2                           ♢ A Q 9 8

♣ 4 2                                 ♣ 6

                     ♠ 7

                     ♡ Q J 8

                     ♢ K J 10

                     ♣ A K 10 9 7 3

          I was East and I opened one spade.  South overcalled two clubs, and Terry bounced into four spades.  North, noting the favorable vulnerability, tried five clubs.  There was no double, but South had only ten tricks in clubs, while four spades would have been two down. 

The lesson of these hands is that unless you are very sure of the relative values of the hands, there is nothing wrong with defending the opponents’ game (or slam) contract.

          One last deal deserves discussion—Board 1:

                     ♠ Q 10 4 2

                     ♡ Q J 10 9 5 4

                     ♢ 4

                     ♣ 10 9

♠ A K 7                             ♠ 9 3

♡ A K 2                             ♡ 7 2

♢ K 7 6                             ♢ A Q J 9 5 3

♣ A K J 8                          ♣ Q 7 4

                    ♠ J 8 6 5

                     ♡ 8 3

                     ♢ 10 8 2

                     ♣ 6 5 3 2

          At our table, North began with a weak two hearts.  This was passed around to West, who doubled with his 25-count.  East and West were playing Lebensohl, so East’s three diamonds promised eight points or so.  West could reasonably visualize 11 tricks and he took what he viewed as a practical leap to six notrump.  The queen of clubs and the sixth diamond brought the trick total to 14.

          Is there a better approach in dealing with these hands?  Yes.  When a player has a powerhouse and needs to find something extra, he should cue bid the opponents’ suit.  In this instance, the cuebid asks, “Do you have your minimum, or do you have anything more?”  In this country, a player announces a minimum by returning to his bid suit.  Thus, with ♠Jxx ♡xx ♢AQJxx ♣ xxx, he bids four diamonds. 

Many European players are a mite more sophisticated: their negative response after a double and cuebid is a one-step suit, i.e. three spades.  Any other bid shows something extra.  For example, four diamonds might show ♠Jxx  ♡xx  ♢AQJxxx  ♣ xx, i.e. an extra diamond.  The takeout doubler can ask again by cue bidding a second time, i.e. four hearts.  This time with the actual hand, ♠xx ♡xx ♢AQJxxx ♣Qxx, East would bid five clubs.  The point of all this is that the powerhouse hand does not have to make a unilateral decision on his second bid.  All he needs to do is to have confidence that his partner will continue to cooperate in response to his cuebids.

          The Brits call the one-step response “Herbert.”  In the old days when I was playing a lot with Tony Ames, we used Herbert negatives whenever we doubled and next cue bid.  Responder made a “Herbert negative” with up to 3 or 4 points.  The powerful hand then scrambled to find a decent landing spot.  Responder’s rebid of the major showed five.  Consider these hands:

You                        Partner

♠ K 6                      ♠ 8 5 4 3         

♡ A 10 4                 ♡ 9 7 6 3         

♢ A K 6                  ♢ 4        

♣ A K 10 5 3          ♣ 9 8 7 2 

South      You             North      Partner

1♠             Dbl             Pass         2♡

Pass         2♠              Pass         2NT

3♣           All Pass

After the cuebid, partner bids the next strain to show a bust.  Conventional bidders may get too high here if they have to rebid hearts to deny extras.

You                        Partner

♠ K Q 8                  ♠ 10 9 7 4   

♡ A                        ♡ 8 4 3               

♢ A 10 9 3             ♢ K Q 8 5     

♣ A K 9 7 5            ♣ 8 4             

South           You         North         Partner    

1♡                Dbl         Pass            1♠             

Pass            2♡           Pass            3♢

Pass            4♢           Pass            5♢

All Pass

This time you have questions about spades as the trump suit, so you cue bid the enemy suit.  Partner has extras and bids his second suit, leading to a diamond game.

Our best wishes to the Balderson Team
as they battle in the Grand National Teams

We hope everyone enjoyed the fine event
Great seeing everyone - and Thanks for Competing!

GNT Qualifier Results!

GNT Qualifier

12/12/2021 - Sunday Afternoon

MP Limits: None/2500/500

Rating: Grand National Teams - Club Level

Table Count: 9

Reference Data

• Handrecord File (PBN) 
  
  More Data Coming - Thanks to Kerry Holloway for getting results!

Overalls

Team #	Names	Strat	Overall			VPS	Wins/Draws	mps
			A	B	C
9	Cynthia Balderson Bob Balderson Jr John Koch Terry Beckman	A	1			113.00	7.50	1.42 Black | 1.43 Red
3	Kerry Holloway Joe Grue E Sue Grue Tom Grue	A	2			108.00	6.00	1.07 Black | 1.07 Red
2	Sharon Anderson Roger Anderson Sandy Fisher Paul Meerschaert	A	3			76.00	4.50	0.80 Black | 0.80 Red
8	Joseph Koester Erwin Heisler Gary Knippenberg Dennis Cerkvenik	A	4			74.00	4.00	0.60 Black | 0.60 Red
7	Andrew Caranicas Richard Lawson Paul Gutterman Eric Hendrickson	A	5			73.00	3.00	0.16 Black | 0.17 Red
1	Michael Flader Jill Flader Gene Brandl Del Swanson	A	6			71.00	3.00	0.16 Black | 0.17 Red
4	Judy Nassar John Schlundt Vern Swing Deborah Weiss	A	7			71.00	3.00	0.16 Black | 0.17 Red
5	Tony Ames Mark Krusemeyer John Dunstan Keith Thompson	A	8			70.00	2.00	0.11 Black | 0.11 Red
6	Rolf Hubmayr Marc Ashton Thomas Botten Arne Langsetmo	C	9			64.00	3.00	0.16 Black | 0.17 Red

Collegiate Initiative - with More To Come!

 

Last weekend, four teams and 13 pairs participated in our online college tournaments.   Congrats to Georgia Tech Gold for completing a clean sweep of this year's Collegiate Teams Championship and winning all four of their matches by at least 25 IMPs. The six-person squad was led by Captain Cyrus Hettle and anchorman Sean McNally, the only player to play all four matches. Results   In the Saturday pairs, GA Tech dominated again, coming in 1st and 2nd with Wash U and Northwestern coming in 3rd and 4th. Results   1st: Zhuangdi Xu and Shengding Sun – Georgia Tech 2nd: Santhosh Karnik and Cyrus Hettle – Georgia Tech 3rd: Evan Alexis and Issac Stone – Washington University St Louis 4th: Jacob Reinke and Ben Fisk – Northwestern University Stay cool in the dog days of summer by playing in the CBO Club Special Tournament this Sunday, 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

Grand National Teams Super Flight - Rich Newell Team and Highlights

Rich Newell's team faced many professional and elite players - but alas -

did not make the cut to today's events.  Yet Rich was kind enough to give us some of the details

of what happened to his team.  Just BEING in the event was an achievement; thanks, Rich!

 

The rank next to each opponent was how they finished the event out of 24 teams.  I sat out rounds 1 & 2

Round 1 vs Patel RANK 19 (Mike & Steve / Mike & Barry)

Only one other pair bid this vulnerable game which cannot be set, so that was a loss of 12.   Another game swing in each direction, and we lost some partscores.

 

Round 2 vs Jacobs/Vogel RANK 23 (Mike & Steve / Mike & Barry)

Well, there’s one way to get to the slam, preempt on 11hcp and tell your partner you have a good suit and a good hand.

At the other table George Jacobs and George Vogel bid 1H 2D 2H 4S (1430) 5D (2 no Q) and Clade bid 7NT.  Double dummy the jack of diamonds must be led and wasn’t, but after cashing the spades and diamonds south doesn’t have any trouble holding on to the queen of spades and ten of diamonds so -1 and 20 IMPs to Flader, which was our margin of victory.   Only two people tried 7NT so our luck equalized a bit.

Result: Win 33-13, 17.21 VP, 19.35/40 

 

Round 3 vs Debbie & Michael Rosenberg RANK 3 (Rich & Tony / Mike & Barry)

3C was not the strongest superaccept.  3S was unspecified shortness which turned out to be clubs.  The ten of diamonds was a good lead but no way for declarer to go wrong, lose 13 in a match that was lost by 19.

 

Round 4 vs Apfelblum RANK 21 (Rich & Tony / Mike & Steve)

I’m familiar with a pair on this team; Art Korth (ArtK78) and his partner GuyMath.  They are aggressive nonvul opening all 10+hcp hands, I’ve played against them many times on BBO. 

As west I played four spade partials which all gained IMPs, helping us to a 12-6 win.  Curiously my pair of +110’s  were BOTH passed out at the other table.  On one of those hands I bravely bid 2S vulnerable 3^rd seat with the west hand below.  They won two clubs, a heart, a diamond, and a diamond ruff, but never got the trump going and at the end I had a high cross ruff.  North should have sent his 87 to disturb my K6, curious.  The top teams would have me scrambling for the double dummy result of -100.

Ages ago Toby & I played a 10-12 NT nonvul and we once had success in the Silodor Pairs - I distinctly recall Toby leaving the table telling me he was thrilled at +90 knowing the hand would frequently get passed out.

Result: Win 12-6, 12.57 VP, 35.39/80 

 

Round 5 vs Munday,Oshlag,Sealy,Foster RANK 11 (Rich & Tony / Mike & Barry)

Perhaps I should bid 1NT forcing and maybe Tony could have braved 2S but I don’t know if that would have prevented this slam.  The other team bid 1N forcing and north’s 2S bid (Michaels) resulted in an immediate 4H contract by our teammates, but the 4D splinter bid was key.

All my takeout double did here was clarify to north that their heart suit was working.  5D is only down 1 but my hearts are now worthless, and if Tony has more than one heart now it could easily go for -500.  So the opponents were +420 N/S and +130 in 4D E/W at the other table, lose 11.

Result: Lose 0-34, 0.71 VP, 36.10/100 

 

Round 6 (Mike & Steve, Mike & Barry)

At this point I find out that the team with Will Engel and Ron Ashbacher (RANK 24) withdrew after 4 rounds with a score of 14.41/80, causing a sitout.  Whichever team presumably near the bottom of the leaderboard receives that sitout and 12 victory points.  Well for round 6 that team is us, so we are at 49.7/120 with two rounds to go and about 6 victory points shy of 16^th place.  Usually a 3-way in a swiss match tells you you’re not doing so well, but here they rest you and give you 12 victory points. 

Result: Sitout, 12 VP, 65.52/140

 

Round 7 vs Sloofman RANK 22 (Rich & Tony / Mike & Barry)

This was one of the weakest teams.  I was also south and at both tables it went low to the ace of hearts and another.  At my table the king was won and a club to the ten and jack, giving Tony a crucial tempo to set up hearts, and from there it was an easy down 1.  At the other table the queen of heart was won in dummy and a club to the queen.  South chose to duck this to preserve his entry and Mike lost to the J next, but with South shutout from the fourth heart Mike was able to get two tricks from the spade suit to win 10.

Result: Win 28-5, 17.42 VP, 65.52/140

At this point we are 16^th, we just need a win!!! 

Round 8 vs Robinson RANK 8 (Rich & Tony / Mike & Barry)

We got nickled and dimed here, nothing quite worth extending this.

Result: Lose 1-14, 5.07 VP, 70.59/160 

And we finished 18^th .

District 14 2019-2021 Grand National Team Champions!

Many thanks to Minnesota's Brian Weikle, Director in Charge and Manager, Bridge Operations for excellence in reporting our most recent competition for Grand National Teams in District 14!

Congratulations to those who won the opportunity to compete! 

Best wishes to the winning teams as they battle in the National Finals on July 14!

 

District 14 crowned its 2019-2021 Grand National Teams champions this weekend. A total of thirty teams across four flights entered the competition back in May, with each flight coming down to a four-team Knockout final.

In the Championship flight, the mostly-Minnesotan team captained by Mike Flader (Steve Gaynor, Rich Newell, Barry Purrington) defeated the Twin Cities based squad led by Tony Ames (Judy Nassar, Keith Connolly, Vern Swing) in a closely-fought final match. The Ames team led by 9 IMPs at the half, but a strong third quarter put Flader’s team ahead for good. They held on to win by 22 IMPs in a match that featured strong play at both tables. Records are somewhat incomplete, but I believe only Barry Purrington has previously represented the District at the National level.

In Flight A (0-6000 MPs), the team led by Eric Hendrickson (Paul Gutterman, Richard Lawson, Andy Caranicas, Mark Krusemeyer, Robert Schachter) dominated a group led by Bill Voedisch (Dennis Cerkvenik, Jonathan Cohn, Andrew Clements) by over 100 IMPs. The core of the winning team (Hendrickson/Gutterman and Lawson/Caranicas) have owned this event in recent years, winning in 2013, 2015, 2016 and (also including Krusemeyer/Schachter) 2019. Before graduating to Flight A, at least one member of this team was on the winning Flight B squad every year but one between 2003 and 2011, including a National title in 2010.

In Flight B (0-2500 MPs), the top two teams both qualified for Nationals. The Iowa-based winners were led by Steph Baumann (Dan Walker, James Graves, David Johnson) and defeated Diane Henson’s team (Larry Henson, Mark Lasoff, David Trevor). The Hensons previously represented the District in Flight C in 2007 and 2008.

Finally, Flight C (non-Life Masters under 500 MPs) was won by a St. Cloud area team led by Sue Knauss (Robert Nairn, Dale Larson, Beverly Berg). They held on to edge a Twin Cities squad led by Thomas Botten (Arne Langsetmo, Marc Ashton, Rolf Hubmayr) by 7 IMPs.

Congratulations to all of the winners! The National Final begins on July 14; it will be played online as part of the NAOBC.

Thanks to all of the players who competed this year. Thanks also to our new District GNT Coordinator Jade Barrett, and to the folks at Bridgebase for providing us with a place to play. (Next year, I hope to see you all back at the table!) Thanks especially to Tournament Director Kimberley Hayward, who ran the preliminary rounds in all four flights as well as assisting with the knockout finals.

 

Brian Weikle, Director-in-Charge

Brian Weikle

Manager, Bridge Operations

ACBL Field Operations

Grand National Teams 2021 in District 14!

Those who are still competing in GNT, Open Flight - Flight A - Flight B and Flight C are listed below.

A different world than what we've seen in previous years - yet - of course we wish everyone the best as

they continue their battle!  And - big thanks to Kim Hayward for both directing

and supplying us with current statistics!

Best of luck to all!

 

District 14 Flight C GNT Sunday Aft Session June 6, 2021
Scores after  5 rounds
Team Wins Score 
103  4  68   Q  Thomas Botten Arne Langsetmo Marc Ashton Rolf Hubmayr
106  3  60   Q  Karen Bourne John Scheafer Molly Twohig Karen Fry
101  3  55   Q  Susan Knauss Robert Nairn Dale Larson Beverly Berg
105  3  54   Q  Penny Morton Janny Walker Elise Pechek Phillip Pechek


District 14 Flight B GNT Sunday Aft Session May 23, 2021
Scores after  2 rounds
Team Win Score 
103  8  125   Q  Diane Henson Larry Henson Mark Lasoff David Trevor
111  6  106   Q  Stephanie Baumann Dan Walker James Graves David Johnson
104  5   96   Q  Amy Howells Edie Siemens Matthew Duffy 
                 Jim LaFave Cezanne Martin
109  5   89   Q  Gene Brandl Del Swanson Anne Beaurivage Mary Doyle

 
D14 GNT Flt A Semifinal Two Session June 5, 2021
Scores after  3 rounds
Team Wins Score 
  2  2   40   Q  William Voedisch Dennis Cerkvenik Jonathan Cohn Andrew Clements
  1  2   37   Q  Eric Hendrickson Paul Gutterman Andy Caranicas
                 Richard Lawson Mark Krusemeyer Robert Schachter                                 
  4  1   27   Q  Deana Liddy Tracey Ball Kenneth McNary Cheryl Gorman
  3  1   16   Q  Betty Santa Karen Siegfried Colin Campbell Warren Nelson

D14 Open Flight GNT Semi Saturday Aft Session May 22, 2021
Scores after  2 rounds
Team Win Score
105  5   72   Q  Michael Flader Steven Gaynor Barry Purrington Richard Newell
101  3   61   Q  Bob Balderson Cynthia Balderson Terry Beckman John Koch
103  3   53   Q  Tony Ames Judy Nassar Vern Swing Keith Connolly

 

Flight B MN Qualifiers for 2021 Grand National Teams

Congratulations to 1st Place Players - Diane & Larry Henson - Mark Lasoff - David Trevor

Our Four Qualifying Teams are Below!

 

2	Diane Henson	Larry Henson	Mark Lasoff	David Trevor		A	Q	1	-	-	125.00	125.00	2.16
9	Stephanie Baumann	Dan Walker	James Graves	David Johnson		A	Q	-	-	-	106.00	106.00	1.62
3	Amy Howells	Edie Siemens	Matthew Duffy	Jim LaFave	Cezanne Martin	A	Q	-	-	-	96.00	96.00	1.35
8	Gene Brandl	Del Swanson	Anne Beaurivage	Mary Doyle		A	Q	-	-	-	89.00	89.00	1.35

Final matches will take place on the weekend of June 26 & 27.

Grand National Teams Super Flight - 2021!

With the advent of Covid, many of us are aware that much of our beloved game ain't the way it usually is designed!  Such is the case for District 14 GNT, 2020.

Six teams signed up to compete Saturday for GNT Open Flight.  Four would survive - with those teams who qualified starting up again to select a winner in about a month.  (Told you some changes this year!)

Congratulations (in order of placings) to Flader, Balderson, Ames and Cassel for qualifying - and - best of luck to all in your final matchups!

 

Match	Home Team	Visiting Team	IMPs		VPs
			Home Team	Visit. Team	Home Team	Visit. Team
1	Balderson	Liddy	22	16	13	7
2	Ames	Cassel	38	14	17	3
3	Flader	Hendrickson	20	11	13	7

---

* For the team record, click on the team name
* For the match scorecard, click on the match number
• For the full Hand Record PDF(available shortly after game finishes) click here.
• For the Downloadable PBN(available shortly after game finishes) click here.
• For individual hand records, click on Match# and the on number tricks for the entire "Movie".

         Round 5 Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5       

         Player Name Tony Ames Bob Balderson Cynthia Balderson Tracey Ball Terry Beckman Andrew Caranicas Michael Cassel Keith Connolly Brian Crossley Michael Flader Steven Gaynor Eric Hendrickson Kerry Holloway John Koch Mark Krusemeyer Richard Lawson Deana Liddy Kenneth McNary Judy Nassar Richard Newell Barry Purrington Robert Schachter Vern Swing Nancy Wittwer       

 

Rankings
A
RankB
RankC
RankTeamVPs1

Flader               722

Balderson        613

Ames                534

Cassel              435

Liddy                376

Hendrickson      34

 

***A note.  My apologies for bits and pieces that are not always aligned properly.  The Great Monster of Changing How a System Works makes it more difficult (sometimes impossible) for your Editor to have all ideal.  My thanks in advance for putting up with imperfect me in an imperfect world!

Curt and Ben Kristensen & Teammates Win 0-5000 Knock-Out!

Curt - Ben - Kerry - Richard are #1 

Congratulations to Curt and Ben Kristensen, with teammates Kerry Cotterell and Richard Underwood  for winning the NAOBC 0-5000 KO yesterday.  In Saturday’s semi-final they trailed by 10 at halftime.  But they stormed back to win by 58. 

In Sunday's final they trailed by 5 points at the halfway point.  Yet they came back to win a hard-fought battle 79 - 65.  In the process they won 64 gold points.  Well done, guys! 

From Proud Unit 103 President, Warren Nelson

*********************************************************************************************************************

Many years ago, on the final day of a Gopher Regional, my partner Bill Kent and I faced Curt Kristensen and his young son, Ben.  I think that Ben was about 10 years old then.  Vern and Monte Evans were our teammates, and we won the Swiss.  Yet we did lose one match at our table, when the youngster at our table - BEN - beat us!  I was quite impressed at the abilities Ben had at such a young age.  And I was fortunate to be able to play with Ben a few times, too, over the years; quite the player!

Since then, Ben has competed in a number of major events, once knocking out the #1 team in the WORLD in the SPINGOLD when his team of juniors roughed them up!  And Ben has earned other impressive titles.

Curt plays quite well himself, and surely has given Ben a wonderful foundation both as a player when he first started - and as a young man who has an array of fine qualities in addition to his bridge prowess.  A round of applause for Curt and Ben - and here's to more successes!

From Proud MN Bridge Editor Peg!

 

Congratulatios to Our Unit 103 Competitors!

Warren Nelson Reports on Successes by Unit 103 Competitors!

So Proud of these Great Showings!

 

KUDOS TO TERRY AND JOHN!

The NAP’s were held last Thursday and Friday online.  In the prestigious Flight A event Unit 103 members Terry Beckman and John Koch finished 11^th overall.  73 pairs were entered.  Well done guys! 

Keith Connolly (playing with Vern Swing) also entered.  Unit 103 members Del Swanson and Gene Brandl played in the Flight B event.  In the flight C event, Unit 103 member Peter Bock (playing with Sarah Emmons) was entered.  Congratulations to all these players!

In other news, Duluth players Curt and Ben Kristensen will be playing in the semifinals (and finals, hopefully) of the 0 - 5000 KO this coming weekend.  A total of 38 teams were entered in that event. 

Nice going guys!  Next week I will have a report on how they finished.

March 15th Collegiate Competitors Results

With many of our collegiate players now in different cities and schools

and only nicknames present, challenging to know who did what!

Yet we congratulate all our original Minnesota players who competed

and are so glad to see that many are continuing to heighten their games!

Here's to more events - with winter (we hope) slip sliding away!

 

Thanks to those College Bridge Online Club members who participated in the March 15 special tournament; 22 of those players received masterpoints. Click here for hand analysis for board 3 from Monday’s event. Congratulations to our top finishers!

1st Place r168r $50 Amazon GC UCLA   2nd Place BruceZhu $30 Amazon GC Georgia Tech   3rd Place JimmyK4542 $20 Amazon GC Georgia Tech   Drawing Winner wcs1 $25 Amazon GC Tufts

Also, Congrats to GA Tech for their first, second and third place finishes in the March 7 Team Tournament! Washington University in St. Louis came in fourth.   We will start offering a college-only Saturday evening pair games as a test later this month. There will be a small cost involved with the most likely scenario being a $3 entry fee with a $2 rebate to your BBO account. See below for the full breakdown of masterpoints awarded in last week’s tournament, including a breakdown of the top schools:

MN Gopher Unit - #103 - Board Members

MN Gopher Unit #103 Board Members

 

President Warren Nelson                   Vice President Sue Greenberg

303 Dalewood Avenue S.W.                 4727 County Rd. 15 S.W. 

Cloquet, MN  55720-1203                     Byron, MN  55920

218-269-2724                                        507-365-8236

[email protected]                     [email protected]

Director Connie Nelson                       Director Matt Belau

902 Waters Edge Circle                          600 4th St. SW, #508

Avon, MN  56310                                    Rochester, MN  55902

320-282-7859                                          858-472-4433

[email protected]                                        [email protected]

Director Amy Dutton                             Director Kathy Beckman

668 Mulberry Lane                                  7328 Noble Ct. N

Mendota Heights, MN  55118                  Brooklyn Park, MN 55443

402-423-5406                                           763-229-2224

[email protected]                            [email protected]

Director Rajiv Kapadia                           Director Tom Owens

120 Mapleridge Dr.                                    9418 Knighton Rd.

Mankato, MN  56001                                  Woodbury, MN  55125

507-351-0133                                            651-714-0100

[email protected]                          [email protected]

Director Keith Thompson                         Non-Voting Member of the Board

1544 Minnehaha Ave. East                          Larry Huiras

St. Paul, MN 55106                                     1908 19th Terr. NW

612-239-2667                                               New Brighton, MN  55112

[email protected]                                715-410-8705

                                                                      [email protected]

 

 

MN GOPHER UNIT #103 NON-BOARD MEMBERS                                                              

Financial Advisor                                           Secretary

Lance Chamberlain                                        Patti Huiras

2670 Bandel Drive, NW                                    1908 19^th Terrace N.W.

Rochester, MN 55901                                       New Brighton, MN 55112

507-282-7319                                                    651-343-20 8

[email protected]                            [email protected]

2020 Results for Unit 103 - Mini-McKenney Standings

Our thanks yet again to Warren Nelson and Unit 103 for their 2020 efforts this year!
And congratulations to all our players!  Whether you had big tallies, are just learning bridge...
Or simply having a blast at the virtual table...  We hope that 2020 was super ...

And that 2021 is fabulous!

 

 

2020 Unit 103 Mini-McKenney Standings

 

0 - 5 Masterpoint Race

Richard Kjonaas             Maplewood, MN          122.80

Steve Rholl                     Northfield, MN               51.26

James R Noren              Woodbury, MN               27.52

 

                                                                  5 - 20 Masterpoint Race

Paul J Wehrman              Shoreview, MN              185.12

Catherine A Wehrman      Shoreview, MN              185.12

David J Katzelnick            Fountain Hls, AZ              24.88

 

                                                                  20 to 50 Masterpoint Race

John Miller                        Rochester, MN                 82.55

Andrew Lehman                St. Paul, MN                    47.87

Michael K Wilson              Edina, MN                        44.40

 

                                                                  50 to 100 Masterpoint Race

Jan Morris                          Rochester, MN               109.54

Gail M Baev                       Woodbury, MN                  64.09

Dr Wayne F Detmer           Woodbury, MN                  56.51

 

                                                                    100 to 200 Masterpoint Race

Ed Prosser                                                                 174.73

Gregory M Dorr                   Little Canada, MN            91.37

Joanne K Long                    Rochester, MN                 74.98

 

                                                                   200 to 300 Masterpoint Race

John Woog                          Rochester, MN                  232.31

Sherri Browne                     Roseville, MN                    128.64

Sheri French                       Pine Island, MN                 115.88

 

                                                                    300 to 500 Masterpoint Race

Dr Jack L Crary                   Detroit Lakes, MN              138.94

Clyde E Johnson                 Duluth, MN                         125.13

Cynthia S Schield                Fort Myers, FL                    107.17

 

                                                                   500 to 1000 Masterpoint Race

Gloria Georger                      Rochester, MN                    188.20

Connie R Nelson                   Avon, MN                            134.74

James A Schnepf                  Avon, MN                             133.34

 

                                                                    1000 to 1500 Masterpoint Race

Robert R Roediger                 Rochester, MN                     187.75

Layne E Vinje                         Rochester, MN                     133.72

Rajiv J Kapadia                      Mankato, MN                        122.74

 

                                                                   1500 to 2500 Masterpoint Race

Gene P Brandl                       Apple Valley, MN                     250.40

Dr Del Swanson                     Apple Valley, MN                     223.90

Grant Duffrin                          Roseville, MN                          204.19

 

                                                                    2500 to 3500 Masterpoint Race

Colin M Campbell                   Duluth, MN                              244.02

Bill J Heyer                                                                             197.18

Larry Johnson                         Brooklyn Center, MN               135.21

 

                                                                    3500 to 5000 Masterpoint Race

Joseph W Browan                    Maplewood, MN                       209.58

Genny Rice                               Rochester, MN                         190.24

John R Allen                              Oakdale, MN                            168.55

 

                                                                  5000 to 7500 Masterpoint Race

Greg L Caucutt                         Rochester, MN                            205.26

Kathy A Beckman                     Brooklyn Park, MN                      169.18

Carol J Mahoney                      Rochester, MN                            135.91

 

                                                                 7500 to 10,000 Masterpoint Race

Carole A Miner                           Rochester, MN                             270.73

Gregg Van Dyke                        Key Largo, FL                                   8.94

 

                                                                Over 10,000 Masterpoint Race

Terry L Beckman                         Brooklyn Park, MN                       597.89

John R Koch                                Saint Cloud, MN                          312.07

Tuesday Evening Swiss Teams Returns to the Twin Cities!

Tony Ames, both one of our top players and one of our finest directors, posted the results for the initial offering of the Tuesday Evening Swiss Teams.  Congratulations Harry, Barry, Kerry and Michael Lee Howland (MLH - your parents couldn't rhyme you, too?!?)  A nice finish for their team, and so great to see people enjoying the fun of battling as teams for a change, too.

I also asked Kerry if he would write up a little bit of what happened that evening - and he most cordially obliged.  Big thanks to Kerry, congrats to their team, and hope all of our players had fun with our new event!  Kerry's story comes next, results after that...  And I hope that more of our competitors will rally to the next Tuesday Evening Swiss Teams event!  
******************************************************************************************************************

The Plymouth Bridge Club has a new Swiss Team event every Tuesday night. After ironing out a few glitches, the Swiss format has been approved for prime time.

 

Harry and Barry invited Kerry and Michael (not rhyming any more) to play with them in the inaugural event.  We played last night.

 

One positive swing came on a slam hand. I held AQxxxx Qxxx x xx. Michael and I play precision, so most hands not opened 1C have fewer than 16 HCP.  Our weak two’s are 8-13, thus opening 1S and rebidding 2S shows 14-15 without jumping.

 

I opened 2S, pard bid 3C (relay to3D, then showing 5 hand types).  I bid 3D, pard bid 4C (exclusion for Clubs). Double by David Neiman, pass, we play R2D2 (redouble and double show second step 0 or 3), so pass shows 1.

 

Michael bid 6S, and held KJxx AKJx, AKxxx, void. Easily makes 7. 

 

A fun way to start the season.

 

Kerry

 

*****************************************************************************************************************

Subject: Tuesday Evening Swiss Teams

Reply-To: [email protected]o

Winning all 4 matches for a VP total of 61, Harry Sapienza, Barry Purrington, Kerry Holloway and Michael Lee Howland won the initial offering of the Tuesday Evening Swiss Teams.

Results were:

 

Rank	Name	Score (VP20)	Points
1	bpurringto+hsapienza,Kellog+MNgoofer	61.00	0.80
2	Cbalderson+Windsurff,Peg Waller+Ron1005	54.00	0.56
3	darlene789+jn55345,dlweiss+vswing1	47.00	0.40
4	rharha+sharonroe,tempport+bxley	45.00	0.24
5	ice33+farmboy7,caught1+njskag	33.00	0.08
5	laz49+slamster,dytrevor+dgoodrie	33.00	0.08
7	Long Lake+lvettel,slomovas+lmlhopkins	26.00	0.08
8	Nancy w T+fishtuc,L D Schram+Mike Stein	21.00	0.08

College Bridge Online -- December 15th Results

Thrilled to see a number of our Minnesota Collegiate Players

so successful!

Delighted to have more students falling in love

with the Greatest Game!

 

Thanks to those College Bridge Online Club members who participated in the December 15 special tournament; 28 of those players received masterpoints. Click here for hand analysis for board 2 from Tuesday’s event. Congratulations to our top finishers! 1st Place ardaak47 $50 Amazon GC Fanshawe College   2nd Place Sean9816 $30 Amazon GC Georgia Tech   3rd Place matthewshi $20 Amazon GC Carnegie Mellon University   Drawing Winner UMN_TrentN $25 Amazon GC University of Minnesota   See below for the full breakdown of masterpoints awarded in last week’s tournament, including a breakdown of the top schools:

On Top of the World!

Sean - Morgan - Julia - Zeren

 

Yesterday, February 24th, collegiate teams from all over the U.S. competed in the second Collegiate Tournament.  This exciting event would deliver a subsidized trip to the top 3 teams to compete in the Summer 2020 NABC collegiate event in Montreal.

We were thrilled to have multiple students from Minnesota competing in the Collegiate Tournament. And we are head over heels excited for the team from U of MN - "Gopher the Squeeze" - who not only won a trip - but were first overall!  Indeed - not only did the team win the event, they were victorious in every match throughout the day!  Quite the accomplishment!

Major congratulations to Sean McNally, Morgan Johnstone, Zeren Shui and Julia White for the big win in a big way!  We wish them the best in Montreal!  

I was chatting with Morgan last night, after the team's huge win.  After requesting some details from their day, Morgan contacted Sean; he was kind enough to send lots of details from each match on how they bulldozed their way to victory!

Please note a few items. I copied Sean's email to me about their match without editing. I thought it might be more fun and of interest to all to read one of our most talented young players' impressions and views of their matches.

Yet I feel compelled to add a few of my own thoughts to those of Sean's. 

Part of what makes our game so incredibly fascinating and compelling is how tough it is.  Our students, talented as they are, have only been playing for a few nanoseconds in contrast to thousands of others - including world class players from around the world. Sean refers to "embarrassing hands" and luck. Yet, the greatest players to ever compete at bridge commit atrocities at the table - or bring home a great result due to enormous good fortune.

At the end of the day, what really matters is that we try our hardest to do our best, never stop learning, are good teammates and partners and treat everyone with respect. 

My view is that all our Minnesota collegiate players are doing exactly that; kudos to them all!

For now, though, lots of applause to  Sean, Zeren, Morgan and Julia!  Clearly, to win every single match they were doing a lot right - and - we wish them the best of luck in Montreal continuing to do lots right - and grabbing some good fortune, too!

**************************************************************************

• • Match 1 - UMN - Gopher the Finesse
  • Match 2 - Carleton
  • Match 3 - Princeton
  • Match 4 - Caltech
  • Match 5 - Northwestern
  • Match 6 - CMU

It's a lot of boards to go through to pick something interesting.  I'd like to highlight board 5 of match 4.  I managed to go down in a cold vulnerable 4H I should make (I had a count on the hand minus one card.  It is clear and completely safe to run the c9 in the end position.  You'll see what I mean.)  BUT the girls covered my butt.  They were in 3Dx+2.  Nice to go down in a cold vulnerable game and WIN 11 imps.

 

The award for luckiest game goes to board 4 of Match 5.  Zeren and I were in 4H, needing merely the stiff K of diamonds and then the sJ onside so that lefty gets squeezed in the pointed suits. (okay, the way it was played we *should* have gone down but the fact it's actually cold is absurd).  Yes, we should just be in 3NT...

 

Tons of embarrassing hands in there, and a couple decent ones as well.  I hope you enjoy.  Thanks so much for your constant support!!