Aces Places and Faces

volume LXiii   nUMBER  6  june  2015

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MENTORING GAME
SUNDAY JUNE 7 1 pm
     Please sign up at the Bridge Center for our Mentoring Game. We’ll have mentors at every table to give tips about the hands we play. If you want to play with a regular partner so you both can learn from the mentor, that’s OK to. Or you can come and be assigned a partner. After each round, we’ll all discuss the hands, so that we can all learn together. Mentors and Mentees, please sign up.
     Mentors please come 15 minutes early so we can discuss how to help the mentees.

THE LONGEST DAY
MONDAY JUNE 22
      This year we’ll have the Longest Day games for the Alzheimer’s Association on Monday, June 22. We’ll have three games – at 8:30 am, Noon, and at 4:30 pm.
     Some of the bridge clubs in ACBLland have raised thousands of dollars for the Alzheimer’s Association. You can make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association during the Longest Day. For those who get hungry, we’ll have pizza after the noon game. See if you can play bridge in all three games.

PLACES and FACES
     Congratulation to Dave Haberstich on becoming a Silver Life Master and to Barbara Thacker who just became a gold Life Master.
            We had lots of winners at the Visalia sectional. Belva Quattrin and Bob Durbrow won the open pairs. Victor Greener and Skip Miller took second in one open pairs and seventh in another.  Steve Sharp and Barbara Thacker were forth twice. Irene Whelchel and Judy Zimmerer were second in flight B. Kim Morris and Sheila Smith were second,  John and Della Schnell were fourth, and in flight B, Pat Huston took second. Mary Lou Pease and Rhonda Hampton were third in Flight C. Bob Durbrow, Mark Stern, Dave Haberstich, Belva Quattrin, and Bill Glass won the Swiss teams, with Jay Roll and Richard Meffley second and Naguib Abdallah, Victor Greener, Skip Miller, and Byron Steinert third. Dick Powell and Avis      Morse won Flight B. Joann Huebner, Deb Petersen, Barbara Wiedel and Cynthia Tingey were third in Flight C.
     Welcome to new members William Wilson, Frances Beazley, Joan Fritz, and Gary Pigg.
     Estee Strombotne's son Clinton won the 2014 Almond Crop Estimate Contest and the $1,000.00 prize.  His guess was 1,901,449,000 and the receipts, as shown on the March 2015 position report published by the Almond Board of California, were 1,862,195,073. We think Estee helped with the guessing. Judy Zimmerman’s granddaughters were participants in the “Star Power” dance competition at the Saroyan Theater. Reagen won first overall and Taryn was third overall for their solo dances in the 15-19 age category.
      Our condolences go to the families of Augie Paolercio, Mary Slater,  and Alma Griffin, who recently passed away.

BEGINNING LESSONS
     Laura Da Costa will start the series on defensive play on Saturday, June 6 at nine a.m. There will be eight or nine lessons on different aspects of defense. We don’t have the defensive series too often, so this may be your chance to learn a few defensive tricks. Tell your friends who may want to learn about how to try to stop the declarer from making the contract.

INTERMEDIATE LESSONS
     Skip Miller will give two more intermediate lessons on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 11 am. The first lesson on June 13 will cover forcing and non-forcing bids. That’s one area that a lot of people have trouble with. How often does your partner pass a bid you thought was forcing? Hopefully you’ll get a better understanding of which bids are forcing so your partner will know when you are making a forcing bid.
     On June 20, Skip will talk about hand evaluation and play of the hand. Remember, the important thing is how many tricks you can take, not how many points you have. Skip will also talk about play of the hand.

NABC RENO
MARCH 10-20, 2016
            District 21 is hosting the national tournament in 2016. Reno is a great city for a tournament, and it’s within driving distance. Reno is not a big unit, and most of their volunteers will be giving out information about local activities. Volunteers are mainly needed for the prize desk and registration desk. If you are going, it would be helpful if you volunteer for one or two days to help at the desk. Information about the Reno NABC is at 2016SpringNABC.org, including how to volunteer.

WINNERS
PEGGY OCHS MEMORIAL
 UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP
1AB        Laura Da Costa - Ray April
2A          Steve Sharp - Robert Durbrow
3A2B      Laura Neville - Jim McKoane
3B           Anthony Toto - Byron Steinert
1C           Lynn Green - Stephen Blumberg
2C           Marion Austin - Don Austin

UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP
1A          Della Schnell - John Schnell
 2A1BC   Deb Petersen - Barbara Wiedel
3A2BC   Kay Chrisman - Jackie Finn
3C           Mark Stern - Sally Anne Eatherly

STAC
Irene Whelchel - Monique Irion (16)
Avis Morse - Howard Arquette (21A7B)
Steve Sharp - Laura Neville
Robert Durbrow – Belva Quattrin (66)
Della Schnell - Skip Miller(24)
Skip Miller - Barbara Thacker(23)
Jim McKoane - Laura Neville(69)
Avis Morse - Dick Powell(62)
Margaret Mahaffey – Steve Sharp(6)Aux
Victor Greener - Naguib Abdallah(4)Aux
Della Schnell - John Schnell(3)Aux
Barbara Diebert – Carol Kaufman (3A1BC)Aux
Howard Arquette - Ray April[B](4B)Aux
Annie Chiljian - Olivia Stockton[B](77A)(36B)
Carol Miller – Judy Shuster (91B)(42C)
Jay Shapiro - Irene Whelchel[B](78A)(31B)
Peter Weber - Susan Vildosola[B](30A)(13B)
Ray April – David Ash (73B)
William Glass - D Zody[B](5B)Aux
Rhonda Hampton - JoAnn Huebner[C]
Don Austin - Marion Austin[C]
Carol Miller - Judy Shuster[C]
George Dalition - Jay Shapiro[C]
Laura Da Costa - Jackie Finn[C]
Kent Billeter - Judy Nicholson[C]
Pat Huston - Gerry Jones[C]  

750 STAC
Mary Ann Clark - Nancy Schubert(1)
Cynthia Tingey - Judy Nibler(3)
Pearl McGinnis – Barbara Brock(4)
Estee Strombotne - Judy Zimmerer(8)
Edward Grootendorst - Therese Grootendorst(6B)
Patricia Creede - Renee Laquerriere
Carol Miller - Mary Gullo(5)
Pat Huston - Nancy Holley
Don Myers - Doris Myers[B](5B)(1C)
Joan Deyager - Marsha Infausto[C]
Marge Field - Nancy Jones[C](3C)
Ruth Reynolds – John Donaldson (6C)
Ann Sadler - Karin Blanchard[C](4C)

OAKHURST WINNERS
Claire Molnar - Ken Doig (2)
Terri Anderson - Srinivasan
Joe Fox - Corey Cole (2)
Grant Sturm - Tom Upton
Karen McCartin - Paul Mertens
Claire Molnar - Karen McCartin
Ken Doig - Srinivasan
Pearl McGinnis- Al Ellis
Joe Fox - Ken Doig
Al Ellis - Annette Calhoun
Burke Zane - Srinivasan

INDIVIDUAL 
1             Jane A. McCoy
2             Margaret Seibert
3             Carol Kaufman
4/5          Ellen Stoneburg
4/5          Angelina Heisdorf

199er INDIVIDUAL 
 1/2          Bonnie Burns
1/2          Sue Comporato
3             Bill Burns






   

 
GRADUATION PARTY
            Please save Sunday, June 28, for our annual Graduation Party, where we honor our newest Life Masters, our Ace of Clubs winners, Mini-McKenney winners, and maybe a few others. Bring a favorite dish (with a favorite food in it) for the Pot Luck at noon. We’ll draw for partners for the Pro-Am game at 1 pm – each pair will have one “Pro” and one “Am.”

CLUB NEWS
               May leaders for Oakhurst are Ken Doig, Joe Fox, Claire Molnar, Karen McCartin, T. Srinivas, and Paul Mertens. Gary Nelson and Richard Meffley led in Madera for May, followed by Carol Kaufman and Barbara Diebert.  Gary leads for 2015, followed by Richard  and Carol. At the Fresno Bridge Center, Ray April was the top point winner for April, followed by Steve Sharp, Victor Greener, Skip Miller, and David Ash. Ray leads for 2015, followed by Steve, Mark Stern, Victor, and Jim McKoane. Marilyn Kendall was the top 99er for April, followed by Sue Comporato, Marge Field, and Don and Doris Myers. Don and Doris lead for 2015, followed by Sue Comporato and Steve Johnson. May totals are now posted here.
      The rules for STAC games have changed a bit, so that the overall awards may go down to about 100 places. However, your section award is likely better than 100th overall. We’ve listed the overall results in parentheses in the Winner’s Circle. The section firsts are listed, with the flight in brackets. Our best result was by Steve Sharp and Laura Neville playing on Tuesday morning. Their first overall paid 19.26 silver points.
                    North American Pairs games start this month, and continue through July and August. Play in the club games and win red points. Qualifiers may play later in the year in the Unit finals. Unit qualifiers may play in the District 21 finals in Palo Alto, which usually is in January.

SLOW PLAY
     Some of our games move along quickly; others move slowly. If you play in tournaments, the directors may give a warning if you haven’t moved when the next round starts, and a penalty for a repeat performance. We seldom give late play penalties; we often let the slow players set the pace for the game.

     Most of the directors use the clock. It helps us to time our play. It normally takes no more than seven minutes or so to play a board. If you look at the clock and there’s not seven minutes left for the last board, or fifteen minutes left for the last two boards, you need to hurry up, cut off discussion, and play the hand. If people are 

     Everyone is responsible to catch up if they fall behind. If another pair causes you to be late, you must still try to catch up. Say you start a round four minutes late and it’s not your fault. You must still try to catch up and start the next round less than four minutes late.
     If there’s only one minute left in the round, or the next round has started, and you haven’t started a board, director may tell you that you need to play the board later. Don’t argue with the director or point out tables which are still playing. If you play the board you may be six minutes or more late and so will another table and eventually the whole room will be six minutes late. If you play later, your table will be the only late table. We don’t think anyone has such a tight schedule that they can’t stay six or eight minutes more to play the board. Few directors penalize players who decline to play a board late, but they should.   






 


499er STAC
Madeline Lynes - Joyce Aiken(1)
James Bushman - Debbie Kemp(4)
Nancy Jones – Marge Field (6)
 
99er STAC
Brenda Ward - Walt Kelso(5)
Bill Ward - Susan Shaver

750 MEMBERSHIIP
1ABC     Don Myers - Doris Myers
2AB        Edward Grootendorst - Therese Grootendorst
3A          Ted Macaulay - Lois Layne
3B           Cynthia Tingey - JoAnn Huebner
2C           Marge Field - Nancy Jones
3C           Nadine Nemechek - Donna Berman  

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
1A          Skip Miller - Byron Steinert
2A1B      Jay Shapiro - Irene Whelchel
3A2B      Mary Lloyd - Larry Miller

SPECIAL
Barbara Thacker - Skip Miller
Mark Stern - Victor Greener
Mark Stern - David Haberstich
Mary Lloyd - Dorothy Soles
Margaret Mahaffey - Kay Chrisman
David Ash - Steve Sharp
James Oliver - John Barrere
Judy Nicholson - Bettylee Wapner
Skip Miller - Della Schnell
Kay Chrisman - Steve Sharp
Gary Nelson – Richard Meffley
Csrol Kaufman – Barbara Diebert
Carol Miller - Judy Shuster[B]
Jay Shapiro - George Dalition[B]
Judy Zimmerer - Irene Whelchel[B]
Ray April - David Ash[B]
Steve Sharp - Laura Da Costa[B]
Jay Shapiro - Linda Coppersmith[C]
Anthony Toto - Andrea Wheeless[C)
George Dalition - Linda Coppersmith[C]
John Oakshott - Peggy Oakshott[C]
Paul Boyd - Sandy Richardson[C]
Deni Glenn Boeve - Jay Shapiro[C]

  750 SPECIAL
Deb Petersen - Barbara Wiedel
Paul Boyd - Sandy Richardson
Mary Ann Clark - Gay Berry[B]
Carol Miller - Larry Miller
Barbara Wiedel - Kathryn Miller[B]
Karin Blanchard - Judy Pardun[C]
Pearl McGinnis - Barbara Brock[C]  

  299er SPECIAL
Don Austin - Marion Austin
Pamela Pigg - Sue Comporato[B]  

99er
Debbie Kemp - Jane A. McCoy[3]
Susan Shaver - Bill Ward
Brenda Ward - Walt Kelso[B]
Susan Shaver - Bill Ward(B)
Walt Kelso - Fred Schellack[B]
Gary Pigg - Pamela Pigg[B]