Aces, Places, and faces

 Volume LXVIII NO,10

FRESNO FALL SECTIONAL
October 6-9
      Once again it’s time to open our bridge club to players from nearby towns who want to win a few silver points. And we can win some, too. We have a new schedule on Thursday to nearly mirror the time schedule of our club games. On Thursday morning at 9 am we’ll have open pairs and 499 pairs. We repeat open and 499er pairs at 1:30 pm. Friday and Saturday, the games are at 10 am and 3 pm, all open and 499 games except for Saturday morning. Saturday morning has a 199er game instead of a 499er game. All players with fewer than 10 points play free on Saturday morning. We’ll have a special game for then if there are enough players. Sunday is Swiss teams day.
       Jackie Finn is our hospitality chairman, She plans the Sunday dinner plus refreshments every session. The sectional is run by the members of the unit. If you are a member, please help the hospitality chairman by bringing a refreshment sometime for the tournament. It always helps to hear that folks had a good time at our sectional, and part of it is the hospitality and refreshments that we provide.
     Jackie is doing double duty as our Partnership chairman. If one of your regular partners can’t play, call her at 559-435-0858.

PLACES and FACES
     At the  Santa Clara regional, Mary Jane Nevins and Robert Moon were fourth in the 299er pairs and fifth in Flight B of another 299er pairs. Farid Assemi was eleventh in the All Western Pairs. Richard Meffley was second in the Fast pairs. Bill Glass took ninth in Flight B in the Open pairs. Rick Whitworth was fourth in the open pairs. Jay Roll was fifth in one Open pairs and sixth in another. Al Crane was third in one side game, sixth in Flight B in another, and fourth in Flight B in the evening Swiss teams.
     Jay Roll was the top master point winner at the Bakersfield Sectional, taking first, third, and fourth in Open pairs with Belva Quattrin, and second in the Swiss teams with Victor Greener. Congratulations to all three.
     Jay Roll won one afternoon Swiss teams and was sixth in another at the Irvine Regional . He was also fourth in the Bracketed Swiss teams. Bill Glass was third in the afternoon Swiss teams. Congratulations to all our winners.
 
     Congratulations to new Regional master Julie Wilson, to Sectional masters Debbie Kemp and Jane Willson, and to Junior Master Cheryl Johnson.
     Welcome to Marilyn and Steve Fabian, who moved here from Kansas City.
     A big smile goes to Denny Tweed, who welcomed a granddaughter recently.
    
     Sympathy is extended to Kim and Richard Morris on the loss of their son Dusty.

AP&F
     At the last Unit board meeting, we decided to eliminate mailing Aces, Places, and Faces to all our members. Nearly seventy years ago Gladys Seymour started AP&F. She owned a letter shop and our members were delighted to receive a schedule of events every month. She made a metal plate for each member which she used to address the newsletter. She typed, addressed, and mailed about 600 newsletters every month. Nearly every Friday night she played bridge at table one with Ava Wright.
     Many of our members are reading the newsletter on the internet, so they don’t need to receive a copy in the mail. The newsletter will still be printed and available at the bridge clubs.

NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS
Victor Greener - Mark Stern
Mary Lou Pease - Jane Bragg[B]
Irene Whelchel - Stephen Blumberg
Barbara Thacker - Steve Sharp
Gerry Jones - Julie Wilson
David Haberstich - Victor Greener
 
 
B/C NAP
Karin Blanchard - Kathryn Miller
Denny Tweed - Cathleen Burden
 
STAC
Jay Shapiro - George Dalition
Naguib Abdallah - Victor Greener
Ray April - Gerry Jones
Victor Greener - J. Jay Roll
Margaret Mahaffey - Steve Sharp
Richard Meffley - Jay Roll
Mary Lou Pease - Kay Chrisman[B]
Debbie Kemp - William Glass[B]
Mary Lou Pease - Jane Willson[B]
Howard Arquette - Ray April[B]
Stephen Blumberg - Sydney Bluestone[C]
 
 
 
CLUB HAMPIONSHIP
1A           Ray April - Gerry Jones
2A           Jay Shapiro - Delia Green
3A           Skip Miller - Barbara Thacker
 
½             Barbara Diebert – Carol Kaufman
½             Paula Baraldi – Virginia Hailey
 
750 PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP
1AB        Mary Ann Clark - Larry Miller
2A           Janet Blumberg - Stephen Blumberg
3A2B      Sue Gearhart - Jeremy Newel
3B1C       Edward Grootendorst - Therese Grootendorst
2C           Don Myers - Doris Myers
3C           Mary Jane Nevins - Roger Moon
 
 INDIVIDUAL
 ½            Al Crane
 ½            William Glass
 ¾            Andrew Graves
 ¾            Carol Kaufman
 

 NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS
November 13, 2016
     Ninety players qualified in June, July, and August for the Unit NAP finals on Sunday November 13, 2016. All are invited to play on November 13. Those who finish in the top half of their flight can play in the District 21 finals in Mountain View on January 21 and 22, 2017 for Flight A and on January 22 for Flight C. Flight B plays on Saturday, February 4, 2017, in Burlingame. The top three qualify for the NAP finals in Kansas City in March.
     For me, that was a great time in 2001 since Jim Tritt and I qualified for Kansas City but did not qualify for the second day. But we were fortunate to win a NABC championship the next two days.
 
 CLUB NEWS
Jane Johnson Club Appreciation Games
     Every October each club holds Club Appreciation games in honor of Jane Johnson, former manager of the ACBL club membership department. Appreciation means the clubs appreciate the players who come to the game and make it fun to play. The appreciation games give
master points similar to club championships. There is no extra fee. Team games give 5% gold points. One club appreciation team game is schedule for Sunday October 23.
                Top players for September in Oakhurst are T. Srinivasan and Burke Zane, followed by Paul Mertens, Karin McCartin, and Ken Doig. Carol Kaufman was tops for September in Madera, followed by Barbara Diebert, Paula Baraldi and Virginia Hailey. Gary Nelson leads for 2016, followed by Carol Kaufman, Mary Gullo, and Barbara Diebert.
     The top Fresno player for August was Ray April, followed by Victor Greener, Lowell Gist, Maggie Mahaffey, Steve Sharp, and George Dalition. Top   99er was Debbie Kemp, followed by Katherine Miller and Jonel Mueller
 
     Ray April leads for 2016, followed by Steve Sharp, Victor Greener, Mark Stern and Maggie Mahaffey. Debbie Kemp leads the 99ers for 2016, followed by Kathryn Miller, Beverly Little, John Hempel, and Marilyn Kendall. Don and Doris Myers would be leading the 99ers; except they just went over 100 mp and our computer can’t keep track of that.

LESSONS
     Lesson series are completed for now and will be on hiatus during the holiday season. We’ll have a special lesson on Finesses on Saturday, October 15 at 9 am, and a lesson on signals and leads on October 22, same time and place.
 
ZERO TOLERANCE
     Zero tolerance depends on us. It depends on the players. Occasionally players are rude. What usually happens? Nothing at the bridge club. But then players tell all their friends and stop playing. What good does that do?  If another player is so annoying or rude that it bothers you, call the director. If the director finds that improper behavior occurred, the player gets a penalty in his score. If it happens again in that session, the player should be asked to leave. That is ACBL’s Zero Tolerance policy. If someone annoys you, don’t call your friends, don’t write to ACBL, call the director first.

IDIOTEST
     I was watching Idiotest on the game channel a few days ago. The $10,000 question was:
Complete the series:   AKQJ_
     One contestant guessed “R.”  The other guessed “B.”  What’s your guess? We’ll have the answer next month.

OAKHURST
Burke Zane - T. Srinivasan (2)
Ken Doig - Claire Molnar (2)
Karen McCartin- Paul Mertens
Joe Fox- Corey Cole (2)
Pearl McGinnis - Al Ellis
Jimmy Moore- Bill Carroll
Gary & Judy Smith
Bette & Paul Mertens

SPECIALS
Gerard Laquerriere - Mun Takeda
Victor Greener - Margaret Mahaffey
George Dalition - Jay Shapiro
Skip Miller - Cynthia Tingey
James Bushman - Debbie Kemp
2Naguib Abdallah - Victor Greener
Ray April - Laura Da Costa
Victor Greener - Skip Miller
Mary & Nick Gullo
Virginia Hailey - Gary Nelson
Steve Sharp - Margaret Mahaffey
Richard Meffley - Victor Greener
Judy Zimmerer - Irene Whelchel
Rita Gladding - Jonel Mueller
Gary Nelson – Richard Meffley
Judy Zimmerer - Margaret Mahaffey
Skip Miller - Byron Steinert
Steve Sharp - Ray April
Robert Durbrow - Bob Cross
Cynthia Tingey - Sheila Smith[B]
Gwen Davey - George Dalition[B]
Barbara Diebert – Carol Kaufman[B]
Patrick Carroll - John McGregor[B]
Judy Jessick - James Sweet[B]
Gwen Davey - George Dalition[C}
 
750  SPECIAL
Ron Vieira - Vic Froehmer
Jerry F. Noga - John Hempel
Lois High - Angelina Heisdorf
Jerry F. Noga - John Hempel
Helen Smades - Anna Harguindeguy[B]
 
99ER
Patricia Alviso - Walt Kelso
Karen Matthews - Cheryl Johnson
Eiko Corbin - Vera Bryan
Fred Schellack - Walt Kelso
Marilyn Fabian - Steve Fabian