Aces, places, & faces

FRESNO FALL SECTIONAL
October 20-22, 2017
It’s time to get your partners signed up for our annual Fall Sectional. We’ll have the usual array of pair games, morning and afternoon, stratified open pairs and stratified 499er pairs every morning and afternoon on Friday and Saturday. The exceptions are Saturday morning has 199er pairs instead of 499 pairs, and a Fast Open Pairs is added for Friday evening at 6:30 pm. The afternoon game times are earlier than usual – 2 p.m. Be sure to get to the game on time. The morning games are still at 10 a.m.
The Sunday Swiss team is two sessions for both open and 499er teams, starting at 10 a.m. Jackie Finn, hospitality chair, and her assistants will prepare lunch for between sessions. Unit members are encouraged to help with hospitality during the tournament by bringing a snack items for a session. There will be signup sheets at the Bridge Center for hospitality.-
If you haven’t lined up a partner, you can call Mary Lou Pease at 288-2340 for a partner or e-mail marylou121@comcast.net . For more information, get a flyer at the Bridge Center or on-line.

PLACES AND FACES
At the All Western regional in Santa Clara, Pete Weber was third in Flight C in the Daylight pairs. Farid Asemi and Richard Meffley were 20th in the All Western Open pairs and sixth in the A/X Swiss teams. Anthony Toto was sixth in the side game. Al Crane won the C/D Swiss teams, took second in the Senior Swiss team, and second in the side game.
At the Costa Mesa regional, Jay Roll and Richard Meffley were eighth in the open pairs and fourth in the Fast pairs. Jay was also 14th in another open pairs
Bill Glass took a second and three fourths in the side games. Congratulations to our tournament winners.
Al Crane is now a Ruby Life Master. Betty Cole is a new Junior master. Congratulations on your new rank.
Welcome to new member Judy Van Winkle.
 
Our condolences go to Vincent Cheng of Visalia, whose wife Lorna Cheng passed away recently. Lorna was active in the Visalia Unit, always involved with their sectionals and other activities.

STOP CARDS
                The only way we are allowed to communicate with our partners is by the calls we make and the cards we play. All the other communication – alerts, transfer statements, STOP card warnings – are meant for the opponents, not our partners. Players are required to wait about 10 seconds when the preceding player makes a skip (or jump) bid. The STOP card is to remind them of that obligation.
                The ACBL requires all sanctioned tournaments to remove the stop card as of January 1, 2018, and encourages clubs to do so as well. See page 23 of the September Bridge Bulletin. The reason is that is frequently misused – to alert partner rather than the opponent. We have seen players at our club games misusing the stop card. The use of the stop card has never been required. It’s always been optional. Removing the stop card is a good idea – but it can still be used until next year. 

WINNERS
UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP
1A       Mark Stern - Victor Greener
2A1BC            Don Austin - Marion Austin
3A2B   Rosalie Jorgensen - Laura Neville
3B2C   Mary Lou Pease - Jane Bragg

UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP
 1/2 1A1B             Laura Da Costa - Ray April
 1/2A                      Belva Quattrin - Robert Durbrow
3A           Victor Greener - Richard Meffley
2BC        Deb Petersen - Cynthia Tingey
3B           Anthony Toto - Jackie Finn
 
UNIT CHAMPIONSHIP
1A                           Lowell Gist - Gerard Laquerriere
2A1BC                  Debbie Kemp - James Bushman
3A2B                     Anthony Toto - Kim Morris
3/4B2/3C              Gwen Davey - Patrick Carroll
3/4B2/3C              James Sweet - Jason Mcalexander
 
NORTH AMERICAN PAIRS
1A           Joseph Fox - Gerard Laquerriere
2A           James Sweet - William Glass
3A           Cynthia Tingey - Skip Miller
1B           Sheila Smith - Gerry Jones
2B           Carol Miller - Larry Miller
3B           Mary Ann Florio - Mike Florio
 
STAC
Gary Nelson – Richard Meffley
Mary & Nick Gullo (3 OA)
 
MEMBERSHIP GAME
1A           Lowell Gist - Mark Stern
2A1B     Anthony Toto - Kim Morris
3A2B1C                Laura Da Costa - J Mcalexander
3B2C     Paul Messner - Jane Bragg
3C           Mary Lou Pease - Sally Anne Stern
 
CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
1A           J. Jay Roll - Delia Green
2A           Robert Durbrow - Belva Quattrin
3A1BC  Judy Dodd - George Dalition
2BC        Kent Billeter - Sydney Bluestone
3C           Skip Miller - Barbara Thacker
 
 
 750 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
1AB        Deb Petersen - Barbara Wiedel
2AB1C  Sandra Beebe - Judy Pardun
3AB2C  Rita Gladding - Lois High
3C           Joan De Yager - Marsha Infausto

INDIVIDUAL
1              Barbara Diebert
2              Patricia Alviso
3              Andrew Graves
4              Judy Jessick
 

    
MENTORING GAME
October 15, 2017
If you’d like to have someone help you with your game, sign up for the mentoring game on Sunday, October 15 or call Laura Da Costa at 999-2825. We’ll discuss the hands we play after each round. If you’d like to be mentored with a regular partner, please indicate that when you sign up. Please sign up by October 14 so we can be sure to match everyone up with a mentor. We won’t be handing out any master points – just some helpful lessons.

LESSONS ON DEFENSE
Laura Da Costa will be teaching a lesson series on Defense starting on Tuesday October 10, 2017. This is the ACBL series started by Audrey Grant. If you need a few tips on defensive signaling, leading, and more, come to the lessons.

TUESDAY MORNING IS BACK!
Bob Durbrow will direct the Tuesday morning game, starting Tuesday October 10 at the usual 9 a.m. start time. We’ve been without Tuesday morning bridge all summer. There were several players who enjoyed playing on Tuesday morning. This is their chance to come back and enjoy bridge with their friends. Call Bob at 779-7460 for more information.

CLUB NEWS
Gary Nelson is the top master point winner in Madera for September, followed by Richard Meffley, Barbara Diebert, and  Carol Kaufman.  Virginia Hailey celebrated her 99th birthday on September 29 by scoring a 70% game two days earlier with Gary Nelson. Gary still leads for 2017, followed by Richard Meffley, Barbara Diebert, and Carol Kaufman. Mary and Nick Gullo were third overall in the STAC Auxiliary Pairs.
               Top Oakhurst players for September were Claire Molnar, Karen McCartin,Ken Doig, Burke Zane, Paul Mertens, and Ira Estin.
     Top Fresno Bridge Center winner for August
  was Mark Stern, followed by Victor Greener, Skip Miller, Laura Da Costa, Lowell Gist, and Bill Glass. Mark leads for 2017, followed by Maggie Mahaffey and Ray April. Mary Claire Ewing leads the 99ers for August  , followed by Rita Gladding, Kathryn Miller, and Steve Johnson. Debbie Kemp leads for 2017, followed by Mary Claire Ewing and Jonel Mueller.
     Maggie Mahaffey is taking October off. Kay Chrisman will run the Tuesday afternoon 750 game; Laura Da Costa will run the Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday morning is starting up again on October 10, directed by Bob Durbrow.

Treasurer’s report for October
Good, and long awaited, news for the bridge players of Unit 522. Our financial issues have been resolved, at least for now. We are going to be staying in our current location at Starpoint complex for the next five years. We were able to renegotiate our lease to bring it in line with our income and expenses.
Here is a short version of the story. The unit moved into our current location at the peak of the last real estate bubble and the terms of a ten-year lease, with high escalating rent, must have seemed reasonable to those who negotiated for us at that time. The former treasurer, John Simpson, did a great job to get a couple of years of relief, but it became obvious when we had three years left in our lease that we would be close to bankrupt at the end. The rent we have been paying the past year ($5790/month) is almost double the market rate for commercial space, and it would escalate much higher the last two years of the lease. We would have to pay out all our reserves and have no money left to move to a new space.  
For over 18 months, we tried to get the Starpoint property owner to talk to us about renegotiating our lease, but they would not talk to us. They had all the cards, so to speak. If the old lease put us in bankruptcy at the end of the lease, so be it. The original lease legally obligated us to pay all our reserves to them.
A unit member came forward and offered to help by providing us a smaller space at market rates. This was like finding a king hidden in your hand when playing no trump. It gave us the opening we needed. We gave Starpoint our “intent to vacate” notice that got their attention.
The negotiations went back and forth, while the board of directors weighed the costs of relocating (remodeling and moving expenses) with the costs of staying where we are. Starpoint’s final offer of reduced rent over five years became the most prudent financial choice for us. It will save us approximately $1600 a month, making it possible for us to break-even financially with the current table fees.
Now we have five years to enjoy this space that fits our club and to plan for the next move. We can take time to look for the right space and raise money if a move becomes necessary. You should be hearing from the board about some other initiatives to build a better foundation for the unit.
So play nice, be encouraging to new players and enjoy our clubhouse for at least the next five years.

OAKHURST WINNERS
Ken Doig - Jim Luther
Karen McCartin - Paul Mertens (2)
Judy Bingham - Martha Robrahn
Ken Doig - Claire Molnar (2)
Karen McCartin - Claire Molnar
Burke Zane - T Srinivasan
 
 
SPECIAL
Byron Steinert - Anthony Toto
Dana Brown - Joseph Fox
Howard Arquette - Lowell Gist
Gary Nelson - Richard Meffley
Paul Messner - Delia Green
Victor Greener - Naguib Abdallah
Gerard Laquerriere - Mun Takeda
Steve Sharp - Karin Blanchard
Richard Meffley - Victor Greener
Lowell Gist - Gerard Laquerriere
Robert Durbrow - William Glass
Skip Miller – Joann E. Evans [B]
Dick Powell - Avis Morse [B]
Cynthia Tingey - Judy Zimmerer [B]
Carol Miller - Carol Rodder [B]
Gay Slates - Larry Slates [B]
Virginia Hailey - Barbara Brock [B]
Stephen Blumberg - Robert Cherry [C]
Carol Miller - Carol Rodder [C]
Robert Durbrow - Lowell Gist
Skip Miller - Byron Steinert [B]
Laura Da Costa - Carol Miller [C]
John Oakshott - Peggy Oakshott [C]
Sheila Smith - Gerry Jones [C]
Barbara Wiedel - Deb Petersen [C]
Mary Lou Pease - Sheila Smith [C]
Jeff Nevins - Debbie Kemp [C]
 
 
 750 SPECIAL
Patricia Creede - Mary Claire Ewing
Estee Strombotne - Virginia Johnson
Mary Claire Ewing - Sandy OwYoung-Chu
Jerry F. Noga - John Hempel
Barbara Wiedel - Linda Town [B]
Nalini Jeyapalan - Jei Jeyapalan [C]
Karin Blanchard - Mary Gullo [C]
 
 
99er SPECIAL
Jeff Nevins - Debbie Kemp
Steve Johnson - Margot Cegielski [B]
Walt Kelso - Fred Schellack [C]
 
 
99ers
Suzanne Sobenes - Julia Kendall
Margot Cebrelski - Steve Johnson
Fred Schellack - Walt Kelso
John Cadwalader - Carol Fiorentino