As reported in a previous post, a large contingent of Victoria players participated in the Penticton Regional. Left out was how they performed.
To find out, click here.
Tournaments and Events
Penticton Regional Roundup
The Penticton Regional Tournament was held last week, from June 13 to 19. You can read all about it on ACBL District 19’s website.
With respect to our little island, 48 players from the Victoria area (Unit 431) participated in the tournament, with another 42 coming from up-island (Unit 429), for a total of about 12% of attendees.
Perennial tournament chair Marv Norden was happy with the turnout (table count of 1655.5), a bit over 50% of 2019’s.
He also reported five cases of Covid, one of which from Victoria. If you attended and are exhibiting any symptoms, please test yourself and check with your partners and teammates.
Face-to-face tournament play is back in Victoria!
The unit is happy to announce the Victoria Fall Sectional will be held September 16 to September 18, 2022 at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney.
Click here to see the flyer for details.
Feel free to contact the Chair at tournamentchair@bridgevictoria.ca.
To find a partner, email partnerships@bridgevictoria.ca.
Victoria team strikes gold in Leavenworth
Leavenworth, Wa successfully reinvented itself as a Bavarian town in the 1960’s after logging petered out and the railroad moved out of town. It was never known as a mining town, yet there’s gold to be found in them thar hills and our four plucky miners struck the mother lode!
Congratulations to Gail Richardson, Danielle Goulet, Jill Plasteras and Madeleine Tremblay for their win in the Edelweiss Knockout which gave them 14.58 gold points. Coupled with another 6.08 in the Alpenhorn KO, and sundry points from other events they collected well over 20 points, all gold. Well done, ladies!
Eddie Crews of Sidney was another successful prospector, garnering 9.86 gold in Gold Rush events.
Good news for bridge players crossing the border!
According to CBC, the federal government is set to end pre-arrival Covid testing by the end of the month.
So if you were considering going to Leavenworth for the April Regional, but were put off by the need for a Covid test upon your return, it’s something you won’t need to worry about.
Victoria Spring Sectional Cancelled
Due primarily to the Omicron situation and with no face-to-face Bridge happening in our Unit at this time, the Unit Board has regretfully decided to cancel the Spring Sectional which was to be held March 18-20, 2022.
However, the Board will explore the possibility of rescheduling an event for the late Spring or early Summer should the COVID situation have improved sufficiently by then.
If you wish to add a comment, just click on the Comments bubble near the top of the page. This is what it looks like:
The great bridge boycott
Here’s another very interesting article (I thought so, anyway) about goings-on in the bridge community, this time from the New Yorker magazine.
I haven’t received much feedback regarding the previous one (“Bridge down under”) but if you feel moved to express yourself, just click on the Comments bubble near the top of the page. This is what it looks like:
As you can see, it currently shows 0 comments. Why not try adding one!
Note: Since posting this item, I have received several comments which you can read by clicking on the Comments speech bubble. And you can even respond to them!
Courtenay Sectional cancelled
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.
Fall Sectional cancelled!
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.
ACBL cancels Sectionals and Regionals for August
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.
Unit 431’s Fall Sectional : an evolving situation
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).
Upcoming ACBL online events
Detailed information can be found on ACBL’s website.
Charity game a great success!
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.
A successful CNIB fundraiser
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!
Best Unit Christmas Party Ever!
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.
Penticton Regional highlights
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.
Victoria players win big at the San Diego NABC
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.
Winners of the Senior Mixed Pairs:
Rhonda Foster and Gerry McCully
Duncan Smith and Karen Turner received 16 platinum points in the same event.
In the NABC+ Mixed Swiss Teams, Karen Turner, Barbara Stewart, Michael Roche and Duncan Smith scored 25 platinums.
Jim Galand, playing with Calgarian Doran Flock won the Fast Open Pairs.
Playing in various knockouts, Holly Boudreau, Esther Wiebe, Keith Hibbert and JP Weber obtained 40.4 points, mainly gold. Their San Diego adventure is chronicled in a separate post, “Innocents Abroad“.
Tom and Dallas Goodchild struck gold competing in Gold Rush events.
Innocents abroad: notes from the San Diego NABC
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
Ace of Diamonds results
The Ace of Diamonds Sectional for players with fewer than 100 MPs was held today.
Sheila Collye and Sharon Shalinsky, playing N-S were first overall in the morning pairs game while Gillian Mouat and Jo Albinati came first in E-W.
The afternoon Swiss Teams game was won by the team of Audrey Mactier, Aimee Botje, Bakh Dhillon and Douglas Beard.
Detailed results are shown below. Interactive results can be found on Monterey Bridge Club’s website.
Morning Pairs:
Afternoon Swiss Teams
Victoria Fall Sectional starts on Thursday
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:
- Log into your MyACBL Portal
- Go to Privacy Settings
(Located under “Membership”) - Change privacy preferences to SUBSCRIBE for General Email Communication and/or SUBSCRIBE for Cell Phone Text Communication