Minnesota Bridge

CBO Club Special Tournament on Monday March 1st!

First day of March tomorrow - and an opportunity for those who are college bridge players to compete against students throughout ACBL land!

Instructions below; hope many of you are able to compete in this fun event and perhaps win prizes!

 

Don't forget about the CBO Club Special Tournament this Monday, March 1, awarding masterpoints and 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. Please encourage your friends to participate so that we can continue to offer these games.   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

Premier Flighted Pairs - Fall North American Online Bridge Championships (NAOBC)

Great opportunity to play in the Fall NAOB Championships Premier Flight Pairs!  Compete against players from all over as you battle at home!

 

The newly flighted Premier Flighted Pairs event – part of the Fall North American Online Bridge Championships (NAOBC) – is this weekend. Don’t miss your chance at gold points and an NABC title!   The NAOBC Premier Flighted Pairs event features four sessions over Dec. 5-6 (Sat.-Sun.) with 24 boards per session. The top 50% of Saturday’s field qualifies to play in Sunday’s final.   Flights are set at Open, 0-5000, 0-1500. All members not playing in concurrent semifinal/final knockout matches are eligible to play.   Entries ($100 per pair per event for Open flight, $80 per pair per event for 0-5000 and 0-1500; players qualifying for the final play free) will be sold on Bridge Base Online two hours before game time for each flight.   Click the button below for detailed schedules, masterpoint awards, security information and an FAQ. Learn More Catch the film about the exhilarating, brainy world of bridge that keeps making headlines! “Aces and Knaves” will be available to screen online Dec. 13-16. Tickets are $15 and include access to the director’s live conversation with champions Boye Brogeland, Christina Lund Madsen and Mike McNamara (Dec. 13). Click here for trailer and tickets.

Paul Meerschaert and Passion for the Game!

 

In this day and age of uncertainty about our daily lives, I want to take an opportunity to thank some of the wonderful people I have had the pleasure with whom to share this game.  I for one pray for the day that I can play “Real Bridge” face to face again.  I am not a fan of playing online, not so much the specter of possible cheating.  Cheaters will cheat no matter the venue.  I just miss the people, and the pleasure of being in a room full of players all enjoying this pastime together.  Even if it is only done in pairs of two. 

While the list of players I have played with is long indeed, and I have learned things from many not mentioned here.  Yet I would like to publicly thank a few that I have had the pleasure of having a working partnership with over the years.  So, in no particular order these players are:

Robert Schachter – A brilliant mind that not only pays attention to all the little details, but has helped me understand the importance of paying attention to the odds when other information is not available.  This may seem like a simple thing  But it is something that is easy (at least for me) to forget about at times.

While using my limited Math skills is important, the greatest gift that Robert has brought to our partnership is the ability to laugh off, and forget about bad results; just focus on the next hand.  Again, easier said than done, for myself and I think many bridge players.

While I will not mention all of our past successes a few stand out.

2^nd in the Silidor Pairs in Philadelphia 2018

Making the 3^rd day of the Platinum Pairs in Philadelphia 2018

And in general - I can honestly say a slew of + scores on defense, missed by many others!

Jim Hall – A Brilliant player, that I am fortunate to have played with and from whom I learned so much.  Jim had many fine attributes and skills at the bridge table, his card play, and his defensive acumen were both top-notch.  Perhaps though his best gift to me was that playing with him gave me access to many fine teammates and players I might never have gotten to know.  From Jim Nash, to Bill Kent, from Alan Stout to Pierre Flatowitz (Sorry Pierre I am pretty sure I am misspelling your name) and many others.  I was fortunate to have many fine results playing with Jim, some of our successes that stand out are:

9^th place in our first National event together.  Bobby Nail Pairs 1998 in Orlando

6^th place in the Blue-Ribbon Pairs.  2004 in Orlando

Just Making the 3^rd day in three other Blue-Ribbon Pairs

To name a few!

Peggy Kaplan - Without a doubt the fiercest competitor I have had the pleasure of playing with.  If nothing else I always knew when playing with Peg that I was going to get her all at all times.  She too has bestowed upon me the gift of introducing me to players far beyond my ability.  To learn from and to have the pleasure of playing against.  While mostly online this list includes, Nick Nickell, Ralph Katz, George Jacobs, Claude Vogel, Steve Beatty, Walt Schafer, Richard Pavlicek and son Rich Jr, and many others.  I have many fine memories of my times playing with Peg or Pegs (my nickname for her).  They include:

Our first Event together.  Winning the Last day Swiss at the Fall Nationals in Boston 1998.  Highlighted by bidding and making 5 slams in one 7-board round against a strong Pair.

Winning our first 11 matches in the San Francisco North American Swiss 2012

Beating Meckstroth-Rodwell, Berkowitz- Cohen, Becker-Strul in the Championship Flight of the Grand National Teams Washington 2009

Among the many!

Peg Waller – One of my longer partnerships.  One of the things that I learned playing with Peg, was just learning.  Let me explain.  While I am sure this was not intentional on her part, I always got the feeling that she never really thought that much about my skills at the bridge table.  This in turn got me thinking of ways to better my play, and accelerated my learning.  So, in truth I have her to thank for probably the largest growth spurt I had playing this sport.  One thing stands out from my times playing with her though; she taught me to enjoy the successes at the table and to stop obsessing about the poor results.  Very keen of her to spot this quirk in my personality and point it out to me, so that I could work on it!

Our successes include:

Many top finishes in National events, including commonly being in the top 20 in the National Mixed Pairs

2nd Place finish in the 0-10,000 National Swiss in Washington 2016

My first Regional Pair Win (it was a long time coming for me) Mason City sometime in the late 90’s

Bob Balderson – A fine all-around player and one of the fiercest competitors I have played with.  Bob’s strength is his ability to play effectively against the opponents.  Myself, and a lot of you have learned this game as one where you work in concert with your partner, as a team.  Two against two in essence.  Bob has the ability to do this as well as we can, but he seems to have an innate sense of knowing when he needs to take over and “play against the opponents”.  Truthfully this was at times annoying.  But that was my gut reaction speaking and upon reflection I came to appreciate this skill that he has.  It is hard to describe but the more you play with him, the more one appreciates it.

I had many successes playing with Bob, they include:

My partner when beating Meckstroth-Rodwell, Berkowitz-Cohen, Becker-Strul in the Grand National Teams Washington 2009

Representing District 14 in the Championship Flight of the Grand National Teams, at least 10 times!

Winning many KO and Swiss events at both the Regional and Sectional level.  His specialty!

Michael Lee Howland – The most remarkable thing playing with Michael was simply his remarkable smile when at the bridge table!  Michael and Carole Miner share this trait, which is what makes playing with both of them truly a treat.  Michael has an innate sense at the table which is hard to define (Carole Miner has this too!)  I do not know what this remarkable trait is exactly but I do know that the two of them combine to create many opportunities at the table not normally seen.  Let’s just say the opponents seem to make more mistakes against these two players as anyone else I have played with.  I don’t really know how to describe this skill, but one thing I am sure of, is that it is not random luck.  Perhaps they just create havoc!

While I played in only one National with Michael, we did play into the 2^nd day of the Blue Ribbon’s and missed day 3 by just a hair.

I did win many Regional games with Michael and enjoyed them all.

And with his help and inspiration developed my own Club system.  While this system is not perfect by any sense.  It has something that has given me great joy and a sense of accomplishment!

Carole Miner - I have mentioned Carole previously in my tribute to Michael Lee, as they both share similar traits.  I always thought they might make a great partnership.  I can envision these two creating some enormous games together!

Carole too is a tough competitor, and while she can at times be tough on her partner it is always obvious that her intent is to get the most out of her game.  The best part of playing with Carole though is just simply witnessing the joy she gets out of playing.  It is both evident, and greatly appreciated.

While at times I have been hesitant to put some partners in what I know will be tough contracts, I never hesitate with Carole.  She loves to play hands, and does it as well as any of my other partners.

Our list of successes are:

Two top 10 finishes in National Pair games.  Providence 2014, St Louis 2013

My partner finishing 2^nd in the National 0-10,000 Swiss

My teammate for many Grand National Team Championships including knocking off Meckstroth-Rodwell, Berkowitz-Cohen, Becker-Strul in Washington 2009.

Sharon Smith/Snell/Meerschaert – As most of the lessons I learned from this remarkable lady have nothing to do with Bridge, they are MINE and MINE alone!  She did however instill in me the wonders of getting to know as many of the remarkable people that play this game as I could.  While I admit to this not being one of my strengths, it is a skill I am still working on.  I have her and another lady to thank for introducing me to the importance of comradeship and appreciation for others.

Alexandra/Sandy Fisher - The second wonderful addition to my life, and also the one that reminds me how remarkable the people who share a passion for this game are.  Again, most of her lessons are MINE and MINE alone.  While far less experienced than me she had reminded me of the power of the preempt.  Watch out folks this bundle of positive energy loves to preempt.  And I love to watch the havoc that ensues!

For all those partners out there that I did not mention in this short tribute, know that I remember my times with you as well and treasure them!

That’s it, I just wanted to let everyone know that despite my, at times grumpy behavior, I appreciated everyone in our bridge community and cannot wait to be able to do so again in person.  Be well everyone, stay safe, and I will see you on a better day!

Comments from peanut gallery Pegs!

In Minnesota we are blessed with all sorts of players who have passion for bridge.  Some have  more talent than others; some are more social than fierce.  Yet so many appreciate one another and literally for decades have reaped the fun and the fascination and the wonderment of our game.

Right at the head of the class is Paul - a fellow who has super talents, loves to learn, is fun is smart and has lots and lots of friends.

Thanks to Pauls for this most interesting column - and thanks to all our Minnesotans who also have the passion and love to play The Greatest Game!

 

 

"Upcoming" on Hold

 

Tiny buds peek through the snow. Nature is unaware of the current changes in our world.

One of those changes is the dramatic impact Covid-19 is having on our bridge world.  We are deeply hoping that bridge, like so much in life, sooner rather than later returns to some normalcy.  Yet until that occurs, we are putting all of our "upcoming" tournaments and special events on hold.  Don't look for them right now on our left column; not being scheduled!  As soon as it is safe, however, to have our tournaments and special events, they will be up and running again. 

In the meantime, we hope every single one of our Minnesota players and all their family members and friends stay safe and healthy.  And we do hope that many of us can still enjoy our favorite game by playing online!  If you haven't ever tried it - do so now!  It is fun!

Best wishes to all ...  We SHALL return one day with good news and events!

St. Cloud June Tournament is Canceled

 

St. Cloud was all ready for us to arrive and play bridge.  But alas; the fates remain against us and we shall have to wait until next year.  Big thanks to all who worked in advance for the Granite City Sectional - and appreciation to Tournament Chairs Kory Solarz and Connie Nelson for their report.

 

Due to the continuing public health emergency, we were notified today that the Unit 103 Board has canceled the 2020 St. Cloud Granite City Sectional scheduled for June 18 - 20th.  We know that the Board made this decision to protect the health and safety of all Bridge players and tournament volunteers.

We will miss seeing all the wonderful players who have participated in our tournament in the past.   We look forward to welcoming you back – along with some new faces – in St. Cloud in June 2021. 

In the meantime, stay well. 

Kory Solarz and Connie Nelson

        St Cloud Sectional Tournament Chairs

No Rochester NLM Sectional for April 2020

As expected under these unusual circumstances, the April NLM Sectional has been canceled.

Fingers crossed that in not too long, we will be able to play bridge in person with one another at clubs and tournaments!

A Beautiful Silver Lining

 

Way too much in our bridge world - and the world at large - has been sad.  Yet, Connie Nelson, our intrepid reporter, not only has been keeping us up to date on general happenings.  She and her husband, Jim Schnepf, have truly exciting news to share with us!

Little in the bridge world is more thrilling than for players with less experience than experts to shine.  Connie and Jim did just that - truly big time!  Connie's story is below.  Congrats to Connie and Jim for their super duper showing - and may it bring a smile to us all and a so appreciated silver lining of happiness!

 

My husband Jim Schnepf and I did get to play in one Regional before we came home to Minnesota to hunker down.  We played the first day of the St. Augustine/Jacksonville FL regional on March 9th.  We entered an A/X/Y pairs game.  (The “A” was unlimited points, the “X” was 2500-6000 points, and the “Y” was up to 2500 points.  Jim and I each have about 700 points.)  

 

I was hoping to place in the "Y’ category, but after we entered we found out that 11 out of 20 pairs were “A” pairs.  I thought we were doomed.

 

We ended up coming in second overall!  We did better than pro Eric Rodwell and his client, Bjorgvin Kristinsson and his client, and Sylvia Shi (the young super star woman on the cover of a recent ACBL Bulletin) and her partner.   The only pair that beat us was one that included Shannon Cappelletti, the former daughter-in-law of the man who the Cappelletti convention is named after.  

 

I am still smiling!

Motion Passed by ACBL Board of Directors this Morning

Shared with all in District 14 from our District Director Sharon Anderson:

 

Motion: The 2020 NAP Finals will be held at the Montreal Summer 2020 NABC. The 2020 GNT Finals will be held at the Tampa Fall 2020 NABC. The details of the Finals, including the scheduling of those events, will be established by management at a later date.

 

The deadline for the completion of District GNT Finals will be October 1, 2020.

Coronavirus Slams the Bridge World

 

Storms have swept through the world - and bridge in Minnesota has not been spared.

As many of you know, most now (if not all) of our bridge clubs are temporarily shuttered. 

The Edina IMP sectional scheduled for April is canceled.  Our 2020 District 14 GNT that was scheduled in April is tentatively scheduled for May 17th and 18th.

If you are wondering about any specific events or clubs occurring and when, please first check with the club or tournament chairperson to confirm what is happening. And, if you have an event scheduled and wish to share with everyone that there is a change, do contact me. I will get the details and alert all.

These are extraordinary times. We hope that everyone is safe, being as careful as possible - and - we surely hope, too, that in the not too distant future, we can be competing and enjoying the company of all our bridge friends.

 

Coronavirus and The Health of Our Players

Sadly, an announcement from Tom and Linda Grigoliet about the Rochester Spring Sectional scheduled for April.

As you can read below, unfortunately the tournament will have to be moved to another date, to be determined.

Big thanks to Tom and Linda and all the others who have worked so hard on the sectional plans. 

We look forward to better times ahead, when it will once again be safe to play our favorite game, at clubs and tournaments.

 

At this time of both federal and state public health emergencies we need to focus on the health and safety of our members and volunteers.  Therefore, we are cancelling the Rochester Spring Sectional scheduled for April 3, 4, & 5, 2020. While we realize this decision may cause an inconvenience for some, this social isolation effort is designed to protect the health of our members and volunteers, many of whom are in the high-risk population if exposed to the coronavirus. After this health crisis has passed and we have some certainty, we will let you know when the tournament will be held. A very sincere “Thank You” to all those who have worked so hard on this tournament to date. Stay safe! We look forward to seeing you in the future at the bridge table.  Tom and Linda Grigoleit Tournament Chairs

Spring Is Coming Sectional - March 13-15

 

Spring truly is here!  Little snow, shoots of green.... And the Spring is Coming Sectional!

From Friday through Sunday, enjoy both Open and 499er games twice a day at the Twin City Bridge Center.

The schedule and more details are below. Look forward to seeing our first spring players at the TCBC!

District 14 Grand National Teams Finals - April 18-19

 

Grand National Team Finals is always an exciting event for District 14. Not only are you able to compete against your peers in Flights Open, A, B or C. You also have the opportunity to win a subsidized trip to the Summer NABC.  This year, the site is Montreal, one of Canada's most lovely cities.

In addition, our Minnesota competitors don't have to travel too far; the event will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19 at the Edina Senior Center. (Please be sure to look at the flyer below; the schedule varies depending upon the flight in which you play.)

Additionally, if you are competing in GNT, you can play on Friday in the Spring IMP Sectional, again with details in our flyer.

Whether you are one of Minnesota's top competitors, fairly new to bridge OR somewhere inbetween - GNT is THE event for YOU!  Organize your team and then look forward to fun and perhaps a trip to Montreal this summer!  The details are below the line!

St Cloud Tournament in June - Bridge Travails Down South!

Connie Nelson is wise enough to have escaped Snowmageddon and the frigid temperatures of Minnesota.  Yet she is kind enough both to share the details of the upcoming St. Cloud Sectional in June. And also, Connie tells exciting tales of bridge at an Alabama regional and a Florida sectional!

We are most grateful for Connie sharing her adventures with us - and for updating us on Minnesota tournies, too.  Plus - let's give Connie and her teammates applause for battling against giants!  Facing the toughest in our game is how you get better yourself!

 

Carla Gengler - Jim Schnepf - Connie Nelson - Charlene Thul

 

At the January St. Paul sectional, I brought down flyers for the St Cloud Sectional to be held in June.  One line on the flyer was vague.  The tournament’s location just read: “to be announced.”  Well, consider this the announcement! 

We have a new location for the St. Cloud sectional which will be held June 18-20^th this year.  The tournament will be held at the Boy Scouts of Central Minnesota building at 1191 Scout Drive, Sartell MN  56377.  For most players, you will not be driving any further than our former location.  (But don’t put your car on auto-pilot and accidentally drive to the Whitney Senior Center!)  At the new location, there will still be free parking, we’ll have more control over the meal times, and we will be able to offer more nearby meal options to players between games.  The space is all one level, well-lit and we hope many of you will come.  Yes! – we will still offer the ridiculous amounts of homemade goodies for which we are known.

Our updated flyer is appended to this message.

I thought I’d also tell a few quick tales of Jim and my bridge-related travels and travails.  We arrived New Smyrna Beach, FL as of Friday night.  We are just starting to explore this historically interesting area of Florida.  On our way here, we stopped to play two days in the Orange Beach, Alabama Regional and one day at the Winter Haven, Florida Sectional.

At each stop, we were pleasantly surprised to find other St. Cloud Bridge Club players! 

At the Orange Beach Regional, we encountered St. Cloud Bridge Club’s husband and wife team Greg and Darlene Nastrom.  The four of us decided to team up for a publicized “bracketed” Swiss Team event.  Once we had paid our entry fees, it was announced that it would be a “stratified” Swiss Team event instead. 

After six rounds of six-board matches, our team had scratched and clawed our way to fifth place!  We had only two rounds to go, and I thought we’d end up fairly high – at least in C.  However, the next team we had to play consisted of professionals --- John Onstott, Drew Casen, James Krekorian, Jacob Morgan and Howard Parker III.  After the tournament, we looked up their Master Points.  Their team had over 120,000 master points!  The four of us combined had 2100 Master Points.  While we beat them on one hand where I made 3NT and their partners weren’t in game, we were blitzed overall and earned zero victory points.  I thought, “Well, we’ll get a more normal team for the last round.”  

But no, we were paired with a team consisting of pro/ client combos.   Long story short, on the last two rounds we ended up with zero Victory Points, stalling in the water and coming in 17^th out of 22 teams.  Bah humbug! 

At the Winter Haven Sectional, we walked in the door and found St. Cloud bridge players and sisters, Charlene Thul and Carla Gengler, already signed up for a Senior Pairs event.  What a small world!  However, the local players weren’t so interested in them or us as much as in the fact that Eric Rodwell was there playing with his wife.  I’m so out of it I didn’t even recognize his name, but they quickly assured me that he is one of the top bridge players in America. 

Looking him up later, I find that he is rated number three of all time in North America with 77,000 master points.  Playing against him and his wife was fun; they were really pleasant players.   Although I’m still kicking myself because I could have beat them one hand if I had only played the Ace of Diamonds against their game contract! 

Now Jim and I are on the hunt to play against Jeff Meckstroth, number one in North America, who does live in Florida. 

But, I digress.  Back to St Cloud Bridge.  It was fun to catch up with Char and Carla over lunch.  Here’s our picture, followed by the promised St. Cloud Sectional flyer!  (Flyer below the line)

District 14 Grand National Teams Finals - April 18-19

 

SAVE THE DATE! - PLAN FOR THE DATE!

GNT District Finals, April 18 & 19, 2020. 

(Flight C is 1 day only on April 18.)

The Grand National Team (GNT) Finals will be held at the Edina Senior Center at 5280 Grandview Square in Edina MN on April 18 and 19. 

Qualification is required; be sure to get qualified at the club level by playing in a GNT qualifying game. 

Check with your local club for times and dates for the qualifiers.  Two qualifiers coming up include one at the Twin City Bridge Center on 2/9/20 with pizza at noon, lesson at 12:30pm and game time at 1:00pm. The other qualifier is at the Bridge Center of St. Paul on 2/18/20 at 10:00 am.

1st place winners in each flight receive $2000 District 14 subsidy to attend the NABC event in July 2020 in Montreal, QC.  For flights B & C, a 2nd place team may attend the NABC if there are at least 8 teams in their flight.

Click on GNT Flyer or open attached informational flyer for more information on the GNT and combined IMP Sectional.

Larry Henson - District 14 GNT Coordinator - larry.henson@gmail.com

MN Winter Super Silver Sectional Results

 

When winter hits, the best tour to take is to Minnesota's first sectional of the new year!  Our wise competitors did just that; heading to New Brighton for the MN Winter Super Sectional.

At the head of the masterpoint achievement list, we find one of our long time, successful competitors who manages to do well with an array partners:  Kerry Holloway.  Kerry earned 26.59 masterpoints from two days of play with Andy Caranicas, our 2nd place masterpoint achiever with 21.20 points, and with one of our college stars in the Life Master Pairs, Sean McNally.  Third on the list was Erwin Heisler, 20.61 points, and 4th, 5th and 6th placers were super close: Gary Knippenberg grabbing 19.91, Mike Cassel achieving 19.53 and Sean McNally's earnings were 19.38.  The total list of masterpoint winners is here.

We were also thrilled to note some of our talented college students attending and competing in the non-Life Master Pairs.  Sarah Emmons and Jackson Wahl, with their excellent partnership, finished first overall in this event, scoring an impressive 60.53% game. And students Jeffrey Boitnott and Sophia Maymudes finished first in their class in the non-LM's, too, with Allie Clark and Sean Boyce 2nd in this NLM class.

Results for all of our pair and team events can be found at this link.  Kudos to everyone on the list!

Big thanks go to Tournament Chair Larry Huiras, Patti Huiras for handling partnerships, Director in Charge Kim Hayward for making sure all ran smoothly and to all volunteers.

PLUS - a big shout out to everyone who came, conquered, had fun and competed!

We hope everyone had a wonderful time - and that many more of our seasoned competitors and our new players return for more of the great upcoming events on the Minnesota Bridge calendar!

 

 

 

MN Winter Super Sectional - Jan 23 - 25

 

Today's the day!  Bundle up, enjoy the winter wonderland - and play bridge with your favorite partner!

The Minnesota Winter Super Sectional begins at 10AM in New Brighton.  The tournament flyer is below.

Have a great time with the pair/team game combos!

MN Winter Super Silver Sectional - Jan 23-25

 

Minnesota Winter Super Silver Sectional

Jan 23-25

New Brighton Community Center

400 10th St. NW

New Brighton, MN 55112

 

The weather outside might be frightful but the bridge is so delightful especially in the Twin Cities.

So come to New Brighton the Winter Capital of Minnesota!

So, brrrrriiinng a friend and we'll see you there

 

• Play Bridge
• Visit an Ice Castle: https://icecastles.com/minnesota
• See a Whale of a Snow Sculpture: www.bartzsnow.com

 

Between Sessions:

• Free Lunch 
• I/N Expert Hand Analysis

 See the attached flyers for all the details. 

 Tournament Chair:
     Larry Huiras
        phone: 715-410-8705
        email:   bridge.kibitzer@gmail.com 

  Partnerships:
     Patti Huiras
        phone: 651-343-2078
        email:   patti.huiras@gmail.com

    Tournament Director:
      Kim Hayward

Flyer Below the Line!

Michael Seamon Junior U.S. Bridge Championships - MN Players Shine!

Ben Kristensen vs Thomas Scruggs - GO Minnesota!

 

The United States Bridge Federation competition for junior players started Friday - and continues on today and beyond.  We are thrilled that a number of our Minnesota competitors are in Atlanta playing - and that four of them continue on today!

In the finals for U26, we will see the Kaplan team with one of our junior super stars, Ben Kristensen, compete against the Hallerman team.  Sean McNally, at U of MN and another of our up and coming talented players, had quite the dramatic finish yesterday.  Sean's team tied at the end of competition!  Yet the fact that his team had finished ahead of their opponents in the initial round robin sent the Hallerman team to the final match today!  Should be a thriller to watch Ben vs Sean!

In the quest for U26 #2 team, two more of our Minnesota students will be battling. Morgan Johnstone, from U of MN is on the Y Yu team.  Thomas Scruggs of Carleton College is on the Xu team.  We wish both Morgan and Thomas the best of luck today!

Finally, in the Roma event (women's teams), Alexandar ("Allie") Clark from Carleton College will compete with her teammates on Team Huang for Stage 3 of this event.  

We are so very proud of our new generation of bridge players in Minnesota!  Huge thanks to those at our schools who are training new students for our game - and applause for the students who are learning and loving bridge, as many of us did decades ago.

If you have some time available today, you can watch our competitors on BBO.  We sure hope that you do!

And - as always - thanks to the many people throughout North America who devote so much time and energy to the USBF competitions.  Big shout out to Jan Martel, who can (and does!) do anything and everything at USBF events - and Suzi Subeck for her marvelous bulletins.  Today's is below; enjoy reading about our Juniors - and cheer on our Minnesota players!

Giant Killers!

We all know what a blast it is to compete in a big tournament.  And we also know how much fun it is to do well.

But perhaps one of the biggest thrills is when we compete against elite competition in the toughest field - and beat some of the stars!

Just this past week, one of our own Minnesota college stars, Sean McNally, experienced this excitement. Sean played with one of his regular junior partners, Raphael Hallerman, and they competed with teammates George Berger and Michael Kopera in Bracket #1 of the Thursday/Friday Knockouts at the Coral Gables Regional.

As is often the case in a well attended regional, a number of world class players were in the event. Yet, when the smoke cleared, Sean, Raphael, George and Michael had seized 2nd place!  Only a mighty team of Italians could stop their juggernaut!  

 

 

Big congratulations to (from left to right) Raphael, George, Michael and Sean.  Take a gander at who was in the field - and see their impressive #2 spot appearing on the results!  Way to go, guys!

 

 

Big thanks to another world class player who alerted us to Sean's triumph:  Ron Smith.  Ron has worked with and encouraged our junior players for decades, for which we are most grateful. And - though Ron is quiet and mild mannered at the table, don't let him fool you.  He knows just what to do and when to do it - which is why Ron himself wins vastly more often than the average bear.

In fact, were you wondering who won the most masterpoints Coral Gables?  Guess who! Ronnie along with teammates Adam Grossack and Josh Donn.  Very well done, boys!

"Playing up" is a challenge. Yet when you do super well?  A super high!

 

Holiday Sectional Results

 

 

The Holiday Sectional in North St. Paul was well planned!  Great bridge and avoidance of snowstorms with frigid weather!

That fine planning was followed with excellent competition and success from a number of our players.  At the top of the masterpoint list, we find one of our areas elite players:  Robert Schacter. With an impressive weekend score of 33.01, Robert outdid the rest of the field. Two other players did grab much success, too.  Brian Crossley's 26.92 and Gary Knippenberg's 26.19 rewarded them with 2nd and 3rd overall for point tallies.

The full report for who did what is here.  And to see the overall results of each event, check out these results.

We are most grateful for our hardworking tournament chair, Tom Owens.  And big thanks also to the woman who does superb double duty:  Kim Hayward, both director in charge and partnership chairman.  Of course, there are all of our wonderful players, too; we appreciate every one of you!

The photo above is becoming a reality, everyone!  So stay safe and warm over this week - and - go to your favorite bridge club to achieve this goal!