ACBL Unit 431, District 19, Victoria BC
If you were planning to attend the Comox Valley Sectional (in Courtenay) next month (Oct 22-24), don’t go!
The tournament has been cancelled due to the Covid situation and is no longer listed on ACBL’s tournament calendar.
You may also be wondering about Whistler, which is not looking good either. For the latest news, check the D19 website.
The Unit 431 Board has regretfully decided to cancel this year’s Fall Sectional due to the worsening Covid situation.
The cancelled tournament was originally scheduled for October 16-17 at Mary Winspear in Sidney.
Also note that the resumption of face-to-face bridge at Monterey Bridge Club, initially planned for September 11, has been postponed until November 2.
It is likely that other tournaments will be postponed or cancelled. Check the website regularly for updates.
Today the ACBL informed units and districts that all August face-to-face tournaments have been cancelled due to the risk posed by the coronavirus Delta variant.
If you were planning on attending a face-to-face tournament in August, please click here to read the entire announcement.
With the resumption of face-to-face bridge, we were contemplating holding our Unit’s Fall Sectional around mid-September. Unfortunately no suitable venue was available at that time.
Our Tournament Coordinator is working diligently to secure a sanction number from ACBL for mid-October.
Watch this space for further developments (bridgevictoria.ca/posts).
We were all saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Matthew (Mutt) Kaiser, Debbie Wastle’s son, on Monday March 29th. The pandemic deprived us of many of our traditional markers of milestones and we have all experienced some degree of isolation. So when Roy Stefaniec proposed a memorial game in Mutt’s honour, it gave us a way to show love and convey support to a valued member of our community and a good friend.
An impressive forty pairs signed up on BBO friday evening, April 9th, divided into two sections of ten virtual tables. Kinga and Burt Voorhees were the overall winners with a remarkable score of 68.08%. Only four pairs found the slam in NT at board 18, a grand way to close this friendly competition…unless, like me, you found yourself helplessly defending against it.
Together, we raised US $400 (CA $500 equivalent) for the Calgary Food Bank, the charity chosen by Debbie and her family. The Calgary Food Bank serves families, individuals and organizations since 1982. In its last fiscal year, it distributed close to 100,000 food hampers. Like most food banks, it relies solely on the support of the community. A very worthy cause indeed.
Special thanks to Roy and Island Bridge Club for providing us with an opportunity to be together in this difficult time.
Thank you all Victoria bridge players who participated in CNIB’s fundraising bridge game, Bridging Barriers Charity Game, a couple of weeks ago. You really made a difference as you can see from the following numbers.
There were 150 participants between the online auction and bridge game. Of these, 55 played in the bridge game.
The total number of players who were based on Vancouver Island was 36, with 20 from Victoria specifically.
Overall, the event raised $10,790.00. For more information on CNIB’s program, follow this link.
Well done, everyone!
OK, there might be a bit of hyperbole in the title, but we did have a fabulous Christmas party.
Over 120 people enjoyed the pre-dinner entertainment which included the hilarious Yarborough awards, a musical event featuring not three, but four kings of Orient, and a singalong in which everyone joined.
The overall winners of the 2-section bridge game were Ewa Zwicky and Brian Fraser with 66.4%, which gave them an impressive 5.83 MPs. They also get their names engraved on the Sam Duprau Trophy (pictured).
For a complete pictorial coverage of the Christmas party, please go the Unit’s Facebook page. There are quite a few items (photos and videos), so don’t be afraid to scroll down to see them all.
Every summer, a number of Victoria players make the annual trek to Penticton in quest of some red or gold.
This year’s tournament was one of the biggest ever with a final tally of 3542½ tables! For more detailed information, go to the Penticton web page on District 19’s website. Look for the Daily Online Bulletin halfway down the page.
Many local players won points. Click here to see the complete list of point winners as compiled by ACBL.
Several Victoria area players went down to San Diego to try their luck in the NABC. Here, to the best of my knowledge, are their results. Please let me know (by emailing the webmaster) if I have missed any.
Gerry McCully and Rhonda Foster had a 60.26% game in the second final session of the Senior Mixed Pairs to win the event by less than a board (55 top). The pair garnered 80 platinum MPs. With the win, McCully became a Grand Life Master.
After competing with reasonable success in the Penticton Regional this year, our little team of four aspiring players decided to take a shot at the big time.
We booked flights and accommodations for the San Diego NABC, arriving there on Thursday evening of November 23, the hottest Thanksgiving in San Diego ever at 85 F. Not the best time to arrive in the US as most restaurants are closed to allow for turkey dinners with family. Following a semi-successful Friday morning compact KO we looked for something appropriate to our rating. The afternoon featured the start of a “Senior Knockout Teams”. Should be right up our alley, all of us being seniors (60+ and even ++).
So we pay our money (having to pay for two 30-board games at $25 each US did not seem unreasonable given this was a special game and the Nationals after all) and Keith and I get to a table where a pleasant “young” man named Mike is already seated, shuffling cards in a very professional manner. He asks us what our seeding points are. Well that’s easy enough, we don’t have any. Soon his partner Bob shows up. They’re both very proficient players and after 15 boards, have a comfortable lead. Bob does compliment us on our fast play: “You guys play in very good tempo”.
This being half the boards, they are replaced by their teammates, Jeff and Eric, also pretty good players. Their faces seem familiar, where could we have seen them before? In any case it’s soon over and they have a huge lead.
Meanwhile at the other table, our partners are battling it out with Nick and Ralph who also have a coach. Holly and Esther manage a grand slam (not bid) where the opponents (Eric and Jeff) at our table only make six, so our defence was working well for that board at least. They also put the opponents down 1 in a slam try. But that’s not enough and we concede, trailing by 100+ points.
Although we did not win, it was an interesting learning experience. We now know that “Senior” has different meanings and is not necessarily related to the age of the players.
And we got to play against the top rated team of Frank Nickell, Ralph Katz, Robert Levin, Michael Rosenberg, Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth who were very kind to us despite our obvious blunder in signing up against the big boys.
For the rest of the week, we decided it was best to stay with our peers and play in regional-rated knockouts.
Playing 18 games over 8 days, we manage to win one KO and place in a few others for a total of 40+, mainly gold, points.
So an exhilarating and exhausting week. Fortunately, San Diego has some decent microbreweries and eateries and we were able to revive ourselves daily before tackling new challenges.
Holly Boudreau, Esther Wiebe, Keith Hibbert and JP Weber
The tournament begins at 1 pm on Thursday September 8 at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney. For full information on the tournament schedule and accommodations, see the flyer.
Results will be posted on ACBL Live within one hour of each game’s end. Note that results for two-session games on Friday and Saturday will not be up until after the second session is completed. You can sign up on ACBL to receive instant notification of your results via email or text message (see below).
Victoria area players are encouraged to bring some goodies for the hospitality table (baked goods or snacks, sweet or savoury) but nothing sticky please so as not to gum up the playing cards.
How to receive instant notification of your results via email or text message: