Welcome to The Villages Duplicate Bridge Club.  Our club is located in The Villages (Florida's Friendliest Hometown) which is in central Florida.  Our ACBL sanction number is #217489.  We are in District 9, Unit 128.

This is an invitational club so guest passes must be obtained for a guest to play.  All regular game fees are $3 per person for a resident and $5 per person for a guest.   We are a non-smoking club and adhere to the ACBL Zero Tolerance Policy.

Paul Matheson reported that we went over our room capacity a couple of times in the last week and expect to be doing the same in a lot of games in the near future.   As a reminder our Seating Policy is as follows:   

a.  Resident's have first priority.  If we are reaching capacity or expect to reach it, a list of those with Guests will be started.  Also if all the tables are filled with more than 15 minutes before game time, a list of residents waiting for a table will be started. 

b.  Those reserving a seat must have at least one of the members at the table by 30 minutes before the game.  Both must be at the table by 15 minutes before the game.

c.  At 15 minutes before game time all players must be at the table.  If all the tables are full but one of the partners is not present at a table they must leave.  Their seats will be filled with those on the waiting list: 

               First priority is a pair of residents;

               Second to a pair with a resident and a guest;

               and last priority is a pair of guests.

Listed below are some new classes being offered to our members to improve their bridge skills.

Thursday October 13, 20, and 27 - Course on Preemptive Opening Bids taught by Jon Williams.

Want to improve the effectiveness of your preemptive opening bids?  Jon Williams will be teaching a three-part course over three weeks.  Topics to be covered include Weak 2 and Weak 3 opening bids, responder's options, and what to do when the opponents come into the auction.

For this course you need to sign up directly with Jon at jdwmrw@earthlink.net.  Cost is $5 per session, total $15.  Class size limited to 40.

Thursday November 3 - Course on Improving Your Bridge Game Through the Use of Defensive Signals taught by Buck Buchanan.

Fifty percent of the game of bridge is defense. The most important part of defense is the use of signals between you and your partner. A nationally-known bridge player recently remarked that every card she plays on defense is an attempt to convey information to her partners.

There are three types of signals which are commonly used. “Attitude” signals, wherein you tell your partner whether you like a suit or not, are the most common. “Count” signals, wherein you try to tell partner how many cards you have in a given suit, is a second type of signal. “Suit preference” signals, wherein you try to tell partner what suit you would like him to lead, is the third.

Buck Buchanan will give a two-hour presentation on the use of defensive signals.  Buck will discuss each of the above three types of signals and give several examples of each.

To sign up for any of these lessons or to get additional information please email Bob Matthews at classesdbc@gmail.com or bobmatthewsusa@gmail.com unless otherwise stated above.  The classes, unless otherwise stated above, are $5 and are held at the O'Dell Recreation Center from 9 to 11 am on Thursday morning.

If you qualified in one of our games in June, July or August, you are eligible to play in the next stage. They are  being held in St Pete, Palm Beach Gardens or here (using BBO) on October 29 at 2pm and 7pm.  The cost is the same $52 per pair but you don’t have the cost of the travel.

The Strats are:

A 2500 to infinity

B up to 2500

C up to 500

Top 4 Pairs receive Subsidized Travel to Spring National - Kansas City.

ACBL and District 9 subsidy will be as follows:

1st Place -    $800 per person

2nd Place -  $500 per person

3rd Place -   $400 per person

4th Place -   $300 per person

If you are interested please contact Janet Matthews at  janetmatthewsusa@gmail.com with your names and Strat as soon as possible and then practice on Bridge Base Online and get ready…..

Click on this paragraph for a full explanation of why our club increased our bridge table fees from $2 to $3 effective Wednesday September 21.  Refer to the October Special Game Schedule article below to see the specific games that will be special games in October. 

Click on this paragraph to see a chart comparing the MPS we earn in The Villages through ACBL for our regular "Invitational" games versus the "Special Games" which generally cost about $1 more.

As part of our change in converting some of our games (as many as ACBL allows) from "Invitational" to various "Special Games" we will be posting a list of these games on this web site each month so you know what games will be what.  Generally this article will be just above the Regular Game Schedule article which is usally at the very bottom of the Home Page.  This list of special games will change every month; some months will have almost all special games, some like October won't have nearly as many as Paul has explained in his Bridge Fees Increase from $2 to $3 article above.  Click on this paragraph to view the October Special Game Calendar.  The Calendar part of this web site will now just list holiday closures, special events, etc., but NOT special games since the chart in this article will replace what we used to put in the Calendar.

If you need to contact a Director, click on the Staff > Director menu button to obtain contact information.  Note that because of the numerous games we play each week, the Calendar link only lists the Special Games.