You might enjoy this lighthearted article, published last week in The Age, an Australian newspaper:
Feel like a bit of you-know-what?
The quiet passion that took off during lockdown.
A familiar face wins the September It’s Your Call, Victoria!
Congratulations to Shelley Burnham who wins It’s Your Call for a second consecutive month! Shelley receives a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.
Find the complete list of participants and scores under IYC Monthly Results in the It’s Your Call section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also see comments from participants and even add your own!
And to see who’s ahead in the hotly contested race for top annual player, check out the Leaderboard.
To play in the October 2021 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over It’s Your Call (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices.
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.
Three days left to test your bidding skills
Dear Victoria area player,
Just a friendly reminder that you have until Monday evening (9 pm) to participate in our monthly bidding quiz, It’s Your Call, Victoria!
Your chances of winning a prize are way better than with the 6/49 and it’s free! Plus you get to exercise your brain.
Why not give it a shot? Click here for direct access to this month’s problems.
We have winners for our Unit Directory quiz!
As mentioned in a previous post, our Unit member directory is now exclusively online, and with over 700 entries, it’s a great resource to help you communicate with other local players. The directory includes BBO handles, when available.
Our short quiz ran for the last two weeks and was designed to help members familiarize themselves with the directory.
Participation in the quiz was decidedly modest, with only 13 Victoria players submitting entries. The participants mostly did very well with 6 of them obtaining perfect scores. Each receives a free play, valid on BBO. The winners are (in alphabetical order):
- William Birney
- Shelley Burnham
- Ron Grove
- Bob MacDonald
- Esther Wiebe
- Margot Young
Congratulations to our winners and thanks to all who participated.
As a reminder, the directory is private and accessible only by registered Victoria players, all of whom received a personal username and password in April. You can also use your email instead of your username when logging in. If you have forgotten your password (no worries, it happens!), simply request a new one from the login screen. And if you need help, just click on the “Contact Us” button on the right side of every page on the website.
New Bridge Buzz published
The latest Bridge Buzz, Unit 431’s newsletter, is now available on our website.
You’ll find it of course on the Bridge Buzz page, under Members.
And for your convenience, here’s a direct link to said page.
Madeleine Tremblay, BB Editor and our Communications Coordinator, will be happy to receive your feedback at communications@bridgevictoria.ca
Just like the Olympics!
Masterpoint Milestones have been updated as of September 1.
This month’s awardees include new gold, silver and bronze lifemasters!
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.
We have a winner for the August It’s Your Call, Victoria!
Congratulations to Shelley Burnham who scored a perfect 500 in the August quiz. She receives a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.
Find the complete list of participants and scores under IYC Monthly Results in the It’s Your Call section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also see comments from participants and even add your own!
And to see who’s ahead in the hotly contested race for top annual player, check out the Leaderboard.
To play in the September 2021 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over It’s Your Call (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices.
Try our directory quiz and win a prize!
Our unit member directory is now exclusively online, and with over 700 entries, it’s a great resource to find other local players.
If you’re not sure how to use the directory, our short quiz will help you get comfortable with it. The top three winners will each receive a free play valid on BBO.
The directory is private and accessible only by registered Victoria players, all of whom received a personal username and password last April. You can also use your email instead of your username. If you have forgotten your password (no worries, it happens!), simply request a new one from the login screen. And if you need help, just click on the “Contact Us” button on the right of the page.
How to play the quiz
- Click on “Log In” in the top menu (on the right)
- Enter your username (or email) and password
- You are now on the directory page. The quiz is on the right side of the page.
- Fill in the answers. There is no need for tedious counting, but be sure to use the “sort” and “search” features of the directory to quickly find what you’re looking for.
- The deadline for submissions is Monday, September 6, 2021 at 9 pm.
You might find it easier to do this on a large screen (computer) rather than a phone, but it will work on any device. Feel free to try again if you didn’t like your first answers. Only the last set of results you submit will be considered.
Public service announcement
You are probably aware that there will be a federal election on September 20.
As with preceding ones, Elections Canada is looking to hire poll workers. This could be of interest to bridge players as they have the necessary competences, which include:
• Basic literacy skills (reading, writing and comprehension)
• Basic interpersonal skills, including the ability to exercise impartiality and to deal with people who may be impatient
• Ability to serve electors with disabilities
• Ability to perform repetitive tasks
• Basic analytical skills
• Good attention to detail
• Ability to follow directions and adhere to standards and safety measures
• Ability to learn quickly
• Ability to work long days (at least 13 hours)
For more information, go to Election Canada’s website
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.
It’s Your Call July results are in!
Participation rebounded from last month’s nadir with forty-two players submitting results for the July quiz.
Sheldon Spier won with an impressive score: 470 out of a possible 500. He receives a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.
Find the complete list of participants and scores under IYC Monthly Results in the It’s Your Call section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also see comments from participants and even add your own!
And to see who’s ahead in the hotly contested race for top annual player, check out the Leaderboard.
To play in the August 2021 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over It’s Your Call (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices.
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).
We have a new Life Master!
At the beginning of each month, ACBL sends us the list of new masterpoint rank holders for the previous month.
To find out who our new life master is, go to the Masterpoint Milestones page, located under “Members” in the top menu of Unit 431’s website, bridgevictoria.ca. You will also see what other players are climbing up the masterpoint ranks.
Should you have any questions or comments regarding Masterpoint Milestones or other aspects of our website, please click on the “Contact Us” button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
Results for the June It’s Your Call, Victoria!
Our little quiz reached a participation nadir with only 28 players submitting results for June. Not surprising, perhaps, with the longer days and nice weather we’re currently enjoying.
Congratulations to Cliff Kindree who won with an impressive 460 out of a possible 500. He receives a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.
Find the complete list of participants and scores under IYC Monthly Results in the It’s Your Call section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also see comments from participants and even add your own!
And to see who’s ahead in the hotly contested race for top annual player, check out the Leaderboard.
To play in the July 2021 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over It’s Your Call (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices.
Masterpoint Milestones updated!
At the start of each month, ACBL sends us the list of new masterpoint rank holders for the previous month.
Our updated roster includes a new Bronze Life Master and a new Life Master. For the full picture, go to the Masterpoint Milestones page, located under “Members” in the top menu of Unit 431’s website, bridgevictoria.ca.
Should you have any questions or comments regarding Masterpoint Milestones or other aspects of our website, please click on the “Contact Us” button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
Very limited time offer!
Here’s a cute movie about today’s up and coming bridge players. Follow this team of American junior bridge enthusiasts in their journey to the world championships.
It’s available to stream until May 30 at 9PM PDT
Online Youth Bridge Summer Camp
If you have kids or grandkids who are looking for a fun summer activity,
have a look at this:
The links within the image don’t work but you can access the facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/B4Youth/
And you can contact the organizers here: camp@b4youth.org
Finding the online directory and other tips
Our website, www.bridgevictoria.ca, is dedicated to providing useful and timely information to Victoria bridge players. Here are four tips to help you make the most use of it.
1) Online directory
The online directory is private and accessible only by registered Victoria players. Last month, I sent all of you a username and password to allow access. You can also use your email in lieu of your username.
Once you’re on the website, you can reach the directory by clicking on the “Log in” item in the top menu. As soon as you’re logged in, you will be taken to the directory.
If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new one.
2) Getting the latest news automatically
The website consists of pages and posts. Pages contain relatively permanent information, such as the list of board members, games on BBO, Masterpoint Milestones, etc. They are updated regularly, but unless you go onto them, you won’t know.
This is where posts come in. Posts are short announcements, found under “What’s New”. They will inform you of new developments such as new events or updates to pages. If you don’t want to miss any, you can choose to receive them by email by clicking on the Subscribe button, at the bottom of each page. Currently, 95 Victoria players have subscribed to this service.
Posts have a publication date, author and other info in the header, as in this example:
Notice the publication date (April 22, 2021), the post author and categories (in blue). If you’re logged in, you can add a comment, by clicking on the speech bubble (
) which currently shows no (0) comments for this post.
3) Finding anything on the website
There is a Search box on every page. Just type in a relevant word or short phrase. For example, “Christmas” to look at pictures of past Christmas parties.
4) Asking for help
If you need any help using the website, just click on a “Contact Us” button. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.