The Board of the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club welcomes you to our new website.  The Club, in its 81st year,  has a weekly Friday night game in a tournament atmosphere.  Club members are able to take advantage of many enhanced masterpoint games with no surcharges added.  We seek to maximize the number of pairs you play against and the number of comparisons per board with web and Howell movements.  

Each week one of our members brings treats.  The club provides coffee at no charge.  Members receive a weekly bulletin via email following the game with weekly results and commentary on key hands.

Most of our games are held at the Edina Senior Center (see directions).  During NABCs and when the ESC is otherwise unavailable games are held at the Twin City Bridge Center at 60th & Nicollet.

Partnerships are guaranteed for pair games if you arrive before 7pm.  See the Player Pool tab on the home page.  Gametime is 7:15pm

NEW CONTEST CONDITION FOR 2017-2018

A complete round robin in the Fall of 2017 will identify  four teams who qualify for the KO semifinals that will be held in April after snowbirds return.  Extending the format provides an incentive for teams who are not doing well toward the end of the round robin, gives the teams a 'double elimination' quality, and will increase the masterpoint awards.

The MGSC will sponsor and promote a set of 5-team round robins for Flight B & C players.  The 4 session event will be held on the Wednesdays that are not MnBridgeAss'n BAM nights beginning on September 27.  This event will provide advancing players the opportunity to compete against peers in preparation for the GNT in the Spring. A mini-lesson will precede the session's play. See the IMP League description below.

♦  Click here  for the MGSC RRKO 2017-18 Provisional Conditions of Contest 

♣ Click here for the 28-board continuous 20VP scale in use for the Round Robin.

Flight B & C IMP League

            Opportunities for team play are limited in Unit 178.  With D14 GNT District finals scheduled for the Twin Cities next May, the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club wants to provide Flight B and C players a "practice competition" where they can develop their IMP play strategy--where fighting for part scores, worrying about overtricks and undertricks, and whether sacrificing is right is less important than safely making the contracts you bid and finding a way to beat the contracts your opponents bid.

            Flight B & C teams will compete in a complete bi-weekly round robin team event. Each bracket will have  5 teams so that play can be completed in a series of 4 weeks on Wednesdays that are not the Wednesdays that the Minnesota Bridge Association Board-A-Match club plays.

            If there is sufficient interest a third or even fourth bracket of five is possible. Bronze & Ruby LMs could compete separately and Gold Rush teams could compete in two flights:   0-300 and 0-750. If the event is successful a second round in the spring to help teams gain additional practice before the district GNT finals is possible.         ONLY THE FIRST FIVE REGISTERED AND PAID TEAMS ($80/tm) IN EACH BRACKET ARE GUARANTEED A SLOT IN THE EVENT. Make check payable to the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club.  Checks can be given to the Twin City Bridge Center or mailed to Barry Purrington, 829 Overlook Place, Eagan, MN.   Once registered you will be expected to field a team of 4 for each night of the event.

            The event will conclude in a shorter time if at least 3, but fewer than 5 teams register.  Teams will receive a refund if the event is not 4 sessions long. 

Conditions of Contest  (Provisional)

1.  Teams of 4-6 players limited by maximum MPs.  Players do not need to be members of the Minneapolis Grand Slam Club.  Teams may have substitutes who are not team members if four team members cannot be fielded on a night.  Substitutes will not be eligible for overall awards.
2. No Gold Rush flight player can have more than 750MPs.  No Bronze/Ruby flight player with more than 2,500MPs.  The MGSC has a KO event for more accomplished players (which is open to ALL players, regardless of masterpoints.)
3. A short mini-lesson on IMP strategy will be offered at 7pm preceding the evening’s play which starts at 7:15pm.  There will be IMP penalties for teams who do not have 4 players at the table when a round begins.  No mid-chart conventions allowed.
4. A 5 team bracket plays 6 boards each night vs the other 4 teams.  The movement will not have breaks like a Swiss Team event.  Expect play to be completed by 10pm.  No late plays.  The director can pull an uncompleted board, even during the auction, to preserve the movement. If a board is pulled there will not be a penalty.  Egregious slow play, however, may result in a warning and subsequent penalty.
5. Boards will be pre-duplicated and hand records provided.  A recap and analysis of swing hands and/or other hands of interest will be provided to all players who have supplied email addresses. 
6. At the event’s conclusion the raw IMP differential over the 24 boards played between the teams will be converted to a 20pt continuous VP scale where every IMP is worth something.  A 5 team bracket will pay 2 overall places.  Small match awards (win-loss) will be accrued by the 3^rd to 5^th place teams.  A member of the team must play 50% of the boards to be eligible for overall awards.

Contact Mike Cassel mc2mikec@aol.com  with questions/comments.  651-336-8956.

We can assist players in team formation.