The Next Unit Game is Sunday, March 14 at Rossmoor, 1pmOur next Unit Game will be held at Rossmoor and is open to the public. Starting time is 1pm at Rossmoor's Gateway Clubhouse at 1001 Golden Rain Rd., Walnut Creek, CA 94595. Diablo Valley Sectional To be held at Pine Valley Middle School April 16-18Our annual Spring Sectional will be at a different location this year, Pine Valley Middle School, at 3000 Pine Valley Road, San Ramon. We will start out with the fabulous Elegant Pairs on Friday, April 16th at 7:30pm. Pairs Games will be held on Saturday April 17th (10:30am & 4pm) and Swiss Teams on Sunday April 18th (10:30am & 4pm). See our flyer for details. Next Mentor Session April 3rdThe first Mentor session was quite a success with 14 tables in attendance. Ally Whiteneck, the organizer could use some help with more advanced players serving as mentors. Our next session will be at Pleasant Hill's The Bridge Center, from 9:30-11:30am. Please see details in Ally's latest announcement. The sessions are also listed a month in advance on our Calendar. Check our Events CalendarPlease check out our Special Events Calendar to see all the bridge events for this month. Intermediate/Novice Opportunities at NABC in RenoThere is a great Weekend Event at Nationals for beginners on March 12, 13 and 14, 2010 with Jerry Helms and Audrey Grant speaking with lots of free plays for 0-50 MPs. On Friday March 12th, there are two games at 10 am and 3 pm which are free to 0-5 MP players. On Saturday there is free coffee and pastry at 9:30 am followed by a free two hour lesson with Jerry Helms for all players. At 12:30 pm there is a free game for 0-5 MP players. At 6:15 pm there is a free reception for 0-49 players followed by a Newcomer game (0-5mp) at 7:30 pm. The following day, there is a free two hour lesson with Audrey Grant and in the evening a special newcomer game at 7:30 pm. There are trophies for the winning pair in all events. The roundtrip train ticket to Reno is quite reasonable. $85 with AAA or the senior fare with an additional 10% off. The hotel is Grand Sierra Resort & Casino with a special rate for bridge players (around $99). Dealing Machine News FlashPre-dealt hands are now being used for most of the games at The Bridge Center in Pleasant Hill. Please give feedback to Ron Olswang about the newly available hand records used with all pre-dealt hands. Ron (with enthusiastic support and subsidization from the Unit) purchased the new dealing machine to offer more to the bridge playing public. New Officers Selected at Jan. 17th Board Meeting2010 Unit 499 Officers were selected by the Board of Directors at the Jan. 17th, Unit 499 BOD meeting. Iris Libby is President, Grant Robinson is Vice-President, Brian Eisenberg is Treasurer and Teresa Boyd is Secretary. Congratulations to all! Thank You, Mentors!Unit 499 is grateful to all who have shared their skills, knowledge, and expertise by mentoring a newer player. Their enthusiasm and positive attitude about bridge are an example to us all. Our mentors this year are: Donna Barker, Teresa Boyd, Randy Corr, Dorothy Frohwein, Judy Guillen, Keith Gunn, Cass Hawes, Marilyn Horan, Fran Howard, Bradley Komsthoeft, Iris Libby, Charles Manning, Larry Miller, Robert Munson, Miriam Newman, Marvin Suchman, David Terris, Lorin Waxman and Reginald Williams The Unit 499 Mentoring Program pairs life masters with newer players for playing and coaching. The guidance and constructive feedback help advancing players increase their success and satisfaction with bridge. See the details of the Mentoring Program Would you like to expand the bridge horizons of a newer player? A number of players are eager for your help. Send an email to Grant Robinson at acbl499mentor@gmail.com, or call 1.201.983.6383. |
Get Forum Newsletter OnlineDid you know District 21 puts their monthly newsletter, the "Contract Bridge Forum" on-line? See the current issue and back issues at their Western Conference web Site. It's also in living color. Join the ACBLThe American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) keeps track of masterpoints (MP) when you win or place at bridge clubs or tournaments. ACBL sends an MP report embedded in the excellent publication, the "Bridge Bulletin" to every member, every month. They actually print your personal masterpoint total, and what you won the previous month. You can also look up your personal masterpoint history online and compare yourself to your peers in Mini-McKenney contests. You need to know what unit you're in (499 - Diablo Valley). This is just one benefit of joining the ACBL. Almost everyone in the U.S. who plays duplicate is a member of the ACBL. Tournaments will charge as much as $2 more if tournament entrants don't belong to the ACBL. Check out the ACBL Login page to review your masterpoint totals or click on " Join" from the ACBL home page to find out more. |
Intermediate Newcomer (I/N) News
Free Learn to Play Bridge software is available from the ACBL web site.
We have a number of games in our unit that have upper limits on master points. Common limits are 49r, 99r and 199r, meaning that no one can play in the game that has more than 49, 99 or 199 master points respectively. The available games and their master point limits are listed on our competition page. There are also links on that page where you can find your YTD master points and where you rank in the unit.
For players between 0 - 49 master points, there is a game every Thursday afternoon from 1pm to 4pm at the Orinda Community Center, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda, CA Tel (925) 254 2445. Everyone is allowed 2 questions per session on difficult bidding or play issues. No need for a partner. And there is always a warm welcome to newcomers. Director Carol Griffin also offers a 0-199 mp section at the same game. See more on her web site.
There is a 199r (0 - 199 master points or less per contestant) ACBL duplicate bridge game every Wednesday morning, at the Walnut Creek Senior Center, 1375 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, 94596 (ma). Phone: 925-943-5851. The director is Larry Miller. His email is oldlw@aol.com and this is his website
For players between 0 - 299 master points, There is a Thursday evening game at The Bridge Center, 2219 Morello Ave, Pleasant Hill, 925-676-4414, run by Greg Vance. 6:45-9:30 pm. See their web site.
There is a 0-299 game every Tuesday Morning at 9am The Bridge Center, 2219 Morello Ave, Pleasant Hill, 925-676-4414. Marvin Suchman (email marvim019@sbcglobal.net) runs the game and is very helpful to newer players. Here is the website.
And finally, there is the Carol Griffin 0 - 299 game on Tuesday afternoons (beginning in Sept.) at the Orinda Community Center supported by her web site.
There are a number of Bridge Lesson programs in our unit. Please check our Bridge Learning web page to contact the teacher you're interested in.
Bridge in our Unit
Unit 499 belongs to the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). Its mission is to promote the game of Bridge. We have small business owners and Bridge teachers that conduct weekly duplicate games and teach Bridge. Almost all of our tournaments use a style of Bridge called "Duplicate" where the same hands are played by multiple contestants and the results compared to determine winners. This means success is due to skill rather than receiving good cards. Rubber bridge players are encouraged to attend a weekly duplicate game and see how enjoyable it is. One interesting thing about duplicate tournament bridge is that (if you choose to) you can play against the best players in the world in big tournaments. You may also want to join the ACBL for a nominal annual fee and have the time of your life.
Units, Districts, Western Conference, ACBL
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) uses a bridge volunteer organization to promote Bridge. It divided North America into "Districts" and "Units". We are in District 21 (Northern California) and Unit 499 (Contra Costa County) with a Board of Directors. There is also an association of Districts 17, 21 and 22 called the Western Conference that combine forces to produce the monthly Forum newsletter, mailed to all ACBL members in these districts. The ACBL mails an excellent monthly publication to all its members.
Results are Uploaded for all Games
A service provided by our unit is online duplicate bridge game results created by each club. To see them, find "Weekly Results" in the upper left hand corner of our Home page, then select the city, game and date of the game. Another way is to go to the competition web page where all games in the unit are displayed, and click on a game and date. Please allow a few hours for the games to be uploaded The directors create the game reports and then volunteers upload the reports to the web site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have questions about Rubber Bridge, Intermediate/Novice Games, Weekly Duplicate Games or ACBL Tournaments? We have answers for you on our FAQ page.
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