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Boulder Unit 359
BoardTalk
BoulderBridge.org
Letter from the President
During the recent Albuquerque Regional I
was invited, along with other District 17
members, to attend a luncheon hosted by
the new ACBL President, Sharon Anderson. The topics we discussed were volunteerism and member recognition. But primarily we discussed how to attract and retain new members. No quick and easy answers here!
Jean Hupka and Jim Steele are doing a great job bringing in
new players and I applaud their efforts. But what can you and I
do? I encourage all of you to reach out to a player that you
don't know or know very well. Offer to play with a novice
player when you have a free date. Offer constructive advice
when questions arise. Some of you do these things very well,
others of us, not so much.
You who volunteer to help in any way are the very basis of
our organization. I appreciate all that you do to help the Unit.
Your welcoming smiles and words of encouragement at the
bridge table are priceless.
And finally, speaking of volunteers, I welcome Paul Haynes
as our new publications person. If you have any news items,
please send them to Paul. His e-mail address is
[email protected] .Thanks, Paul.
Barbara
Financial Update from Jim Hoerlein
The annual financial report and year by year comparison (shown on a separate insert this year) indicate a healthy financial picture for Unit 359. We intend to make money on our sectionals, and by design, lose money on our holiday gift—the Holiday
Party. In 2011 we lost money on the Fall Sectional
because we were in direct conflict with the rescheduled Phoenix Regional. We believe it is important to
maintain a surplus to cover the possibility of another
snowed-out sectional, but also will use surplus funds
to replace equipment as needed. Please let us know
if you have any strong wishes regarding the use of
the Unit’s funds.
March 2012
2011 HOLIDAY PARTY
Curt Soloff and Bob McKenzie did a great job insuring
that the 36 ½ table Holiday Party went smoothly. The annual Unit 359 celebration was held December 11, 2011, at
the Spice of Life Event Center. Revenue from entry fees
was $1550, expenses of $4202.50 included food, rent, directors, pre-duplicated boards, ACBL fees and a few miscellaneous items. The loss to our bank account was
$2652.50 but the gain in fun and fellowship is unmeasurable. The Unit received lots of kudos for a great afternoon
as well as a few criticisms since the new kitchen staff ran
out of fruits and veggies before everyone was through the
line. They obviously didn’t realize this was a typical Boulder assortment of people with lots of vegans. If anyone
knows of a place large enough, light enough, with adequate parking, in which we might have a lower overall
cost, please let anyone on the Board know.
The Unit Championship pairs event at the Holiday
Party was scored across the field of three sections and 37
tables. Directional first place winners were:
N/S
1A
Laurel Ashburn & Suzanne Jones
1B/C Doris Drago & Roberta Mylan
E/W
1A/B Jane Baryames & Mary Ellen Nickodemus
1C
Arthur Lane & Don Tocher
(See pages 2-3 for pictures.)
Ashburn-Jones placed first overall with a score of
67.24% . Baryames-Nickodemus were second overall, and
additionally the overall winners in Strata B and C, with a
score of 63.89%.
Third-place honors overall went to Bob and Pat
Sherman, with 62.25%. Linda Sundbye and Flo Newlin
scored 60.83% for fourth overall.
The Rita Alkonis award for January through November
2011 (most masterpoints won in club games by a player
who started the year between 500 and 1000 masterpoints)
went to Sally Ann Rhea.
The McKenna Cup for 2011 (most masterpoints won
by a Boulder Unit member in the two Boulder Sectionals)
went to Gary Greene.
Suzanne Jones and Laurel Ashburn,
Holiday Party Unit Championship
Ann Gruidel, Mini-McKenney
Doris Drago and Roberta Mylan,
Holiday Party Unit Championship
Jean Hupka,
Mini-McKenney
Betsy Messerschmitt, Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs;
Vince Bates, Ace of Clubs;
Diane Mayer, Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs;
Jane Baryames, Ace of Clubs and Holiday Party Unit Championship
(not pictured: Jane’s partner at the Holiday Party, Mary Ellen
Nickodemus)
Questions? Comments? Your own “Wouldn’t it be
nice”? Ideas for articles or articles themselves?
E-mail [email protected]
Amar Chopra, Ace of Clubs;
Harry Benton, Ace of Clubs;
Larry Dolan, Ace of Clubs;
Daniel Ziskin, Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs
Sally Ann Rhea,
Rita Alkonis Award
Gary Greene, GNT
and McKenna Cup
Michael Perlman and Gary Steiner, GNT (not
pictured : Bob Sherman)
Mike O’Brien, Ace of Clubs
Roger Miller, Patricia Miller, Kurt Simmons, and Sally Ann Rhea, GNT
Amar Chopra, Paula Giarratano, Bill Ashbee, and Daniel Ziskin, GNT
First Row:
Susan Schweppe, Mini-McKenney;
Kate Yates, Ace of Clubs;
Sally Ann Rhea, Mini-McKenney;
Second Row:
Diane Mayer, Mini-McKenney and Ace of Clubs;
Jim Smith, Mini-McKenney
Not pictured:
Jeanne Gray, Mini-McKenney;
Scott Needham, Ace of Clubs
Mini-McKenneys
The Mini-McKenney for 2011 in Unit 359 is
awarded to the Boulder Unit player starting the
year in each masterpoint range who earned the
most masterpoints (from all sources) in 2011:
0-5
5-20
20-50
50-100
100-200
200-300
300-500
500-1000
1000-2500
2500-5000
Susan Schweppe
Daniel Ziskin
Ann Gruidel
Jim Smith
Diane Mayer
Betsy Messerschmidt
Jean Hupka
Sally Ann Rhea
Kate Yates
Jeanne Gray
(See pages 2-3 for pictures.)
GNT QUALIFYING RESULTS
Sixteen teams competed in the Grand National Teams
Qualifying game on Saturday, February 25, at Mountain View United Methodist Church. This was a singlesession, four-match Stratified Swiss Team competition,
the highest possible Victory Point score being 80.
(See pages 2-3 for pictures.)
Placing first in Stratum A was the team of Bob
Sherman, Michael Perlman, Gary Steiner, and Gary
Greene, with 65 Victory Points.
Taking first-place honors in Stratum B was the team of
Sally Ann Rhea, Kurt Simmons, Roger Miller, and
Patricia Miller, with a total of 55 Victory Points.
Stratum C winners were Bill Ashbee, Daniel Ziskin,
Amar Chopra, and Paula Giarratano, with 51 Victory
Points.
As usual, more than half the teams qualified for the
next stage of the Grand National Teams, to be conducted at the Rocky Mountain Regional in Denver in
May. But if you’re looking for another GNT Qualifying
game, try the Longmont Duplicate Bridge Club game
at the Niwot Grange Hall on Thursday evening, March
22, at 6:30 p.m.
Beware the partner
by Mike Stabler
I recently got to play bridge with my dad at his
regular club game in Houston. I’ve played with
him off and on and am well aware that some of
his bidding conventions aren’t exactly current.
We talked about a couple of conventions and settled in to play.
Early on I got a bidding challenge. Dad opened
1H. I had S: A-9-5; H: 8-6-4; D: A-K-Q-6-3; C:
K-5. Of course I wanted to bid my favorite artificial strong heart raise, which I knew he didn’t
play. So what’s wrong with 2D? I bid it. He bid
2H. I bid 4H. He only had 5 H himself but extra
values. He made slam.
Later he ventured another 1H opening. My RHO
doubled. I had S: 8-7-4; H: void (of course!); D:
K-J-10-9-8-6-2; and C: 10-7. Ooooooh how I
wanted to bid 3D! A wonderful chance to shut
out the opps! But my dad and I had actually
talked about this sequence and he had said he
would take a jump shift over a double as a strong
bid…ooooooh! Well, I bid the 3d anyway [Ed:
Did you consider a 2D bid?], knowing that disaster could happen, knowing that I was “outside” of
our agreement, knowing that I’d have to take responsibility…HOPING that my dad would have
forgotten the conversation and pull out the green
card! Well, of course he didn’t; he bid 4C, all
pass, down a few…and we still got a good board
because the opps had a cold Spade contract!
Beware the partner; he might well be me!
(By the way, we came in fourth out of 17 pairs.)
CHANGING EDITORS
With this issue of Board Talk, Sally Ann Rhea is stepping down as editor, and Paul Haynes is stepping up.
Please be patient with me as I learn the ropes..
— pH
CLUB NOTES
Jim Johnson’s Longmont Club
News flash #1: For 2012, Jim is offering a halfprice entry to any pair consisting of one Life Master
and one player with less than 50 masterpoints.
News flash #2: Jim is starting a series of Saturday Unit games at the Niwot Grange Hall. The first
of these will be March 31. Watch the Unit website
for details.
The winners of the Club Championship on Thursday, March 1 were Tim Auckland and Jenny Glendenning.
Upcoming events at 6:30 Thursday night:
March 22 Swiss Team Game, GNT qualifier
March 29 Barometer pairs. Jim is asking players to
let him know if they intend to play in this game, as it
is a matchpoint game where all players play the same
boards every round, and scores are posted after each
round. He needs to know how many board sets to
make up, so it is important that people let him know
they are coming. He will be seeding the field, and
will try to accommodate N/S E/W requests. This is a
game that is a lot of fun, but hard to get into in the
regional—and they don't always even have it so you
are urged to take this opportunity to give it a try!
Suzanne’s Wednesday and FAC
The winners of the most masterpoints for the last
half of 2011 were these:
•
•
•
Larry Dolan in Stratum A
Scott Needham in Stratum B
Diane Mayer in Stratum C
Larry won dinner for two at the Olive Garden, as
usual. The others won bridge books, hopefully aiding
them in repeat performances.
Ace of Clubs
The Ace of Clubs for 2011 in Unit 359 is
awarded to the Boulder Unit player starting in
each masterpoint range who earned the most
masterpoints in club games (regardless of club
location) in 2011:
(See pages 2-3 for pictures)
0-5
5-20
20-50
50-100
100-200
200-300
300-500
500-1000
1000-2500
2500-5000
Harry Benton
Daniel Ziskin
Mike O’Brien
Amar Chopra
Diane Mayer
Betsy Messerschmidt
Jane Baryames
Scott Needham
Vincent Bates
Larry Dolan
Director’s Corner
by Paul Haynes
Alert! (or Announce?)
Only six bidding agreements are to be Announced instead of Alerted in today’s ACBL. They
are easy to find, too — just look for items preprinted in blue on the convention card:
1. Opening 1NT point range;
2-3. Jacoby and Texas transfers;
4. Forcing 1NT response to major opening;
5. Semi-forcing 1NT response to major;
6. Non-forcing minor-suit opening that could be
shorter than three cards.
The announcements for these are, respectively, “1517” (or whatever your range is); “Transfer” (for
both Jacoby and Texas); “Forcing;” “SemiForcing;” and “Could be short.” Outside of these
few items, do not announce any of your agreements. Simply say “Alert” and wait for questions.
In particular, do not announce any offbeat transfer, such as (for instance) 2S transferring to Clubs.
Just say “Alert.” Brevity is the soul of ACBL wit.
Jim Hoerlein
4804 Gibbs Ave
Boulder, CO 80301
Unit Clubs
Boulder Bridge
Club
Gary Steiner,
303-494-9518
Jean Hupka
720-255-2136
Every Monday at
12:15 pm
The Wednesday
Club and FAC
Suzanne Jones,
303-447-0915
Every Wednesday St. Andrews Presbyterian
& Friday at noon Church
3700 Baseline; Boulder
Every Thursday at Niwot Lefthand Grange
6:30 pm
2nd & Franklin; Niwot
Every Monday at
6:00 pm
The Carillon at Boulder
Creek
2525 Taft Drive; Boulder
Longmont Bridge Jim Johnson
720-840-6145
Club
Mountain View Methodist
Church
355 Ponca Place; Boulder
Carillon Bridge
Club
Jim Steele,
303-530-4772
Summit Bridge
Club
Steve McCammon Every Monday &
970-262-7931
Friday at 1 pm
Summit County Community
and Senior Center
0083 Nancy’s Place, Frisco
Niwot Bridge
Club (0-499)
Jim Steele,
303-530-4772
Niwot Lefthand Grange
2nd & Franklin; Niwot
Bridge on Thurs- Jean Hupka
720-255-2136
day (0-299)
Gary Greene
303-682-1237
Every Tuesday at
6:30 pm
Every Thursday at St. Andrews Presbyterian
12:30 pm
Church
3700 Baseline; Boulder
Unit Directory
Jim Hoerlein has distributed the 2012 directories to area clubs. Pick one up at a game or if that doesn’t
work for you, contact him at 303-443-8082 by e-mail [email protected]. Also contact Jim for corrections for NEXT year’s directory and [email protected] for immediate corrections in the newsletter. Here’s the first one: Michael Cooperman’s phone number is 303-532-9884.