Bridge Victoria

Victoria Bridge Centre Head Street closure

As you may have heard, Bill Wastle has closed the Head Street location of the Victoria Bridge Centre.  Bill is currently storing his bridge supplies and equipment and when circumstances allow, he may reopen in a new location.  In the meantime, the Victoria Bridge Centre continues to run virtual club games on BBO.  Thank you, Bill, for your hard work and dedication to the Victoria bridge community. Click here for a complete list of local BBO games.

Rita and Nev are moving!

Rita Beny and Nev Hircock, long time bridge teachers and supporters of Victoria duplicate bridge are moving up island to French Creek.  They assure us that once face to face bridge is active again, they plan to visit Victoria on a monthly basis.  All the best Rita and Nev and we hope to see you at island tournaments and clubs in the future!

Victoria players have taken to online playing like a duck to water. As a result, we have two new Silver Life Masters, one Bronze Life Master and three Junior Masters for August.

To see who they are, head to our Masterpoint Milestones page on our website, bridgevictoria.ca

Marguerite Watson passed away on August 14.

Find more information and access her obituary on our In Memoriam page.

Response was down significantly this month with only 38 players submitting results. 

Judging from the scores, this was a difficult set of problems, which maybe discouraged some from submitting results. Congratulations to Sophie Watt who came in first with 430 points (out of a possible 500). This is Sophie’s second win in the past year or so. She merits herself a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.

All participants in the August game have received a personalized email with their detailed scores.

Find the complete list of participants and scores under It’s Your Call-Results in the MEMBERS section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also check comments from participants and even add your own!

Even more improvements to It’s Your Call, Victoria!

It’s now impossible to make an insufficient bid or to double your partner or redouble when no double has been made. Note that when (if) we get back to playing at clubs, all those possibilities will exist anew, possibly to the delight of your opponents.

To check out the September 2020 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over Members (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices, one of which is It’s Your Call, Victoria!

Tony Farr handily won our website quiz with a perfect score! He receives $20 (US) in BBO $. Four players tied for second place. As specified in the contest rules, a random draw was held among these four to determine second ($10) and third ($5) prize. The recipients are respectively Judy Irwin and Terry Foster. Congratulations to all.

And thanks to all seventeen Unit 431 members who participated.

Yes, turnout was quite modest. It looks like my premise, that bridge players enjoy games, was probably flawed. It seems more likely they enjoy games as long as they’re spelled b-r-i-d-g-e!

For those interested in the details of the quiz (distribution of results, difficulty of questions, etc) please head to the quiz page.

JP

Dear Unit 431 member,

Our Unit’s website has been active under its current moniker (bridgevictoria.ca) since April 2015. The purpose of the website is to provide timely and comprehensive bridge-related information to our local duplicate bridge community.

Bridge players enjoy games, so, to celebrate the site’s five-year anniversary, I thought it might be fun to set up a little quiz exclusively for Unit 431 members. You might think of it as a treasure hunt through the website.

There are 15, mostly easy questions. The winner will receive $20 in BBO dollars. Second place gets $10 and third place $5.

If you’re already familiar with the website, you shouldn’t find it too difficult. If you’re not, here’s a great opportunity to learn about how useful bridgevictoria.ca can be to you as a Victoria bridge player.

The quiz will be available for one week, starting Sunday, July 26 at 9 am and ending Saturday, August 1 at 10 pm.

You can take the quiz as many times as you want, but only your last attempt will be considered when we compile the scores.

All the answers are found on the website. If there is any discrepancy with data from an external source, the website data will be deemed correct.

In case of one or more ties, a random draw will determine the top three winners.

Click here to get to the quiz. You can also find it under Members in the website’s top menu.

Hope you enjoy the challenge!

JP

JP Weber,
Webmaster, Unit 431

We had a very good response this month with 48 players submitting results. 

The winner is Bob MacDonald with a near-perfect score of 490 (out of a possible 500). The prize for winning is a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.

All participants in the July game have received a personalized email with their detailed scores.

Find the complete list of participants and scores under It’s Your Call-Results in the MEMBERS section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also check comments from participants and even add your own!

New and improved interface for It’s Your Call, Victoria.

Our quiz has a new look and an improved interface, tweaked slightly from last month. You no longer have to worry about submitting multiple bids on a problem.

To check out the August 2020 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over Members (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices, one of which is It’s Your Call, Victoria!

We had an excellent response this month with 52 players submitting results. And there was a tie for first place.

The winners are Mort Nelson and a player who chose to remain anonymous with an impressive score of 480 (out of a possible 500). The prize for winning is a free game at VICTORIA CLUBS on BBO.

All participants in the June game have received a personalized email with their detailed scores.

Find the complete list of participants and scores under It’s Your Call-Results in the MEMBERS section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also check comments from participants and even add your own!

New and improved interface for It’s Your Call, Victoria.

Our quiz has a new look and an improved interface. You will no longer have to worry about submitting multiple bids on a problem.

To check out the July 2020 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over Members (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices, one of which is It’s Your Call, Victoria!

On June 17, ACBL announced it will not staff any sectionals or regionals with tournament directors for the remainder of 2020.

This removes any possibility for face-to-face tournaments during the balance of the year but does not preclude online tournaments from taking place.

These will most likely be hosted on BBO. We will regularly update our BBO Resources page with any new information. 

The VICTORIA CLUBS will be hosting Day of Bridge benefiting Alzheimer Society of BC, which equates to the Longest Day in the USA.

The Bridge Games and Auction will be held online. All sanction fees, donations, and auction items go directly to Alzheimer Society British Columbia.

We broke last month’s participation record with 53 players submitting results. 

Congratulations to Michael Hargreaves who won with an impressive score of 450 (out of a possible 500).  He receives a free game certificate, valid at local clubs, courtesy of Unit 431. A little patience might be in order before it can be used however.

All participants in the May game will be receiving a personalized email with their detailed scores within the next few days.

Find the complete list of participants and scores under It’s Your Call-Results in the MEMBERS section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also check comments from participants and even add your own!

To play the June 2020 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over Members (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices, one of which is It’s Your Call, Victoria!

Many Victoria players have discovered they could play daily at their local club through the magic of BBO.

If you don’t know about this yet, check out our BBO-Resources page. You’ll also learn how to find your friends on BBO, and see the schedule for online local club games as well as weekly (almost) Unit mentor games.

But wait, theres more!

From May 25-31, you can earn silver points playing at your local club games.

Click on the banner below to get all the details from ACBL.

Although BC will be gradually reopening starting next week, this won’t apply to bridge clubs for a good long while.

So it’s nice to know that you have many online options for playing in local games. You already know about the VICTORIA CLUBS daily games on BBO.

If you’re looking for a mentor/mentee game, Heather and Terry have greatly increased their availability with a Sunday game three times a month. The next ones are on the following dates: May 17 and 31, June 7, 14, 21.

For complete information on these and other local games available on BBO, go to our BBO Resources page which you can also access from the top menu (look at “Resources”) on this website. 

“We are getting close to the point where we can open up,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday. Encouraging news, but don’t expect to be back at the physical bridge table any time soon, though.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t play at your local club with your favourite partner. All three Victoria ACBL-sanctioned bridge clubs have joined forces and are now offering online games on BBO (Bridge Base Online) every day of the week, except Sunday. 

Find detailed information on these club games on our new BBO Resources web page. Just click on the link or hover over “Resources” in the top menu.

If you’re not familiar with BBO, it’s actually very easy, and on the BBO Resources, you can access several short videos showing you how to use the BBO website.

And finally there is a section explaining how to find your friends on BBO.

We had a record participation this month with 52 players submitting results. And, once more, we have a 3-way tie for first place.

The winners are (in alphabetical order) Don Copeland, Sheldon Spier and Bree Watts who scored 420 (out of a possible 500) and are each awarded a free game certificate, valid at local clubs, courtesy of Unit 431. They might not get to use them for a little while, though.

All participants in the April game will be receiving a personalized email with their detailed scores within the next few days.

Find the complete list of participants and scores under It’s Your Call-Results in the MEMBERS section at the top of the page. For quicker access, follow this link. You can also check comments from participants and even add your own!

To play the May 2020 quiz, either click here, or hover your mouse over Members (at top of page) to see a pull-down menu of choices, one of which is It’s Your Call, Victoria!

Nev Hircock, our Bridge Buzz editor, has been working hard preparing a very interesting and relevant April 2020 edition.

Due to the current situation, no paper copies have been printed. You’ll find it exclusively on our website, bridgevictoria.ca.

Cast your eyes upward to the top menu and there it is: The Bridge Buzz.

You could also just click on this direct link: The Bridge Buzz.

Nine days ago, I received an email from Ed Crews, who was looking for an easy way to connect and play with local players on BBO (bridgebase.com). Ed suggested making available a list of people and their username (handle). 

To implement this excellent idea, I set up a web page on our Unit 431 website for interested local players to share their handles. We had a great response and as of today, 69 Victorians have signed up. The page is only accessible to players who have registered. If you wish to do so, just go to bridgevictoria.ca/register-bbo and follow the instructions.

One of the things you can do on BBO is support your local clubs by playing one of the three daily SYC games (under ACBL World). 80% of the table fee goes to your local club. ACBL knows where you play and distributes the money accordingly.

And for a change of pace, you can of course play our online bidding game, It’s Your Call, Victoria, right on our website! (bridgevictoria.ca/members/its-your-call-victoria/)

Feel free to contact me at webmaster@bridgevictoria.ca if you have any questions.

JP

All local clubs being closed for an indeterminate period, players are looking for alternatives. Online bridge playing is one of these.

BBO (Bridge Base Online) offers a variety of different games, some which allow you to win ACBL masterpoints. You can play by yourself or with your partner, against robots or other human players. BBO has just added a game designed to help your local clubs. Here’s an excerpt from their announcement:

“Starting Thursday, March 19, daily at 5 p.m. Eastern time, ACBL members can play with any other ACBL member in a specially created game on BBO and earn black masterpoints^®. When you play in one of these games, the majority of your table fees will be given back to your club. This way, you can help to support your club while also having the opportunity to win black masterpoints. “

Unfortunately, the first game was limited to 300 persons and was quickly swamped. They are now considering adding a 7:30 pm Eastern (4:30 pm our time) game.

Another thing you can do on BBO is set up a table and invite 3 friends. It’s free and you can play as long as you want.

Tournaments are being cancelled: The Victoria Spring Sectional, and Vancouver Regional, scheduled for April have both been cancelled.

The ACBL District 19 Board will be meeting online on April 21 and hope to be in a position to make a decision about the 2020 Penticton Regional at that time. Members are advised not to make nonrefundable deposits on accommodation or transportation.

We will strive to keep Unit 431 members updated with any relevant news concerning bridge. Check our site regularly.