Service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, May 20 at Thalia United Methodist Church, 4321 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

Unit Survey Results

Greetings and Happy New Year to you all.  I'm excited to let you all know that ACBL has recently rebranded the Downgraded Sectionals (as we have been running since 2021) as Local Sectionals.  What does this mean for you?  Full Sectional master point awards, with 80% Silver and 20% Black.  Our Downgraded Sectionals were limited to 65% of the full Sectional awards.  Our next Sectional is the last weekend of January and will benefit from this change.  Our entry fees will remain at $12/player/session and will include a bag lunch between sessions.  Please find partners and teammates and plan to attend.

Some other items:

• The Unit Game for January 15th has been canceled due to expected insufficient attendance.
• The Unit 146 Quarterly Board of Directors meeting has been changed to Monday, January 16th at 1:30 PM or after that game ends, whichever is later.  These meetings are open to Unit members and there is a public comment period at the end of each Board meeting.
• (Added 1/17) The minutes for the 2021 Annual Membership meeting, which were approved by Membership in the 2022 meeting, were incomplete.  A corrected version has been posted and will be proposed for approval at the next Membership meeting.  The approved minutes omitted the names of the Board of Directors who were elected in 2021:  Louise Gordon, Peter Haglich, Marshall Hutto, Jack Mallery, and Jim Vroom.

Hope to see you at the table soon.

Pete Haglich

Date: January 27-29, 2023
Location: Unit 146 Bridge Center
                4966 Euclid Road
                Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Menu (may be subject to change):
January 27:  Chicken salad croissants, chips, and cookies
January 28:  Turkey or ham and turkey subs, chips, and cookies
January 29:  Ham, turkey or roast beef croissants, chips, and cookies

The sectional will start at 10:00am each day.

Please come join us!

Click on this item to download flyer.

Greetings everyone.  Here are some things to take note of as we end 2022 and move into 2023

• Annual Membership Meeting and Holiday Party is scheduled for Sunday, December 4th 2022.  Lunch will be provided.  Look for a flyer to be posted soon.
  • One of the items we do at the Membership Meeting is to elect members of the Unit Board of Directors.  The Nominating Committee has nominated the following individuals:
    • Michael Fairbanks (new)
    • Kathy Haglich (current)
    • Pete Haglich (current)
    • Herb Hurst (new)
    • Deborah Line (new)
    • JoAnn Tucker (current)
    • Betty Willis (current)
• Goodwill Nominations.  Nominations for the Goodwill member of the year for the Unit will be open until November 15th.  Nomination slips are available at the Bridge Center.  For those members who don't regularly go to the Bridge Center you can submit your nominations directly to Goodwill Chair Betty Willis.  The Goodwill member for 2022 will be announced at the Annual Membership Meeting
• Sectionals.  We had 72.5 tables in our October Sectional, thanks to all of you who attended.  We have 4 Sectionals scheduled for 2023, with the first happening January 27-29.  Please plan to attend!
• Unit Game.  We have a nice faithful cadre of players who participate in the Sunday Unit Game and we'd love to have more.
  • Starting with the November 6th game we will be raising the entry fee to $10/person as are the other clubs, but with a twist.  ♥ Players who are not yet Life Masters will receive a $2 discount and will only have to pay $8 to play ♥.  Furthermore, even if you're a Life Master but your partner is not then you get to enjoy the discount as well.  Summarizing, it's $20/pair if both are LMs, $16/pair if either player is NLM.
  • Throughout the year, 12 of our Unit Games are Unit Championships, which pay about 4 times as many master points but don't have an increased fee.  Our next scheduled Sunday Unit Championship Game is November 13th, so please plan to attend.

Dear Fellow Bridge Enthusiasts,

   Today’s letter is intended to provide a status on The Bridge Center’s operations and the measures we are taking to improve our financial health.   Contrary to the announcement I made at the July Sectional, there is no avenue to breaking the current lease early as the mortgage holder bank vetoed any option that reduced the tenure of the lease.

    First, why do we have a Bridge Center?  Before 2010, each bridge game was organized by the respective game owners who leased his/her own location for the game, provided boards, tables, chairs and materials to operate the game.  Games were scattered all over Hampton Roads.  In 2010, it was decided that consolidating games into a central location where the chairs, tables, boards, computers and supplies were all available to the game owners would be a step forward in promoting bridge in the region.  The site would also be available to host lessons for new and intermediate players.

     Since the establishment of the Bridge Center, there have been a few technical developments in the conduct of games – most notably the introduction of a dealing machine (that doesn’t always give you a bad trump break) and the Bridgemate scoring system that allows real-time scoring of boards and results instantly available after the game at the site and online.

    Loss of the Bridge Center and a return to a Balkanized system of games scattered all over would not only return us to traveling all over but also require each game owner to set up and secure tables for the game and likely not have access to the dealer and scoring devices at each location.

    Given that we cannot break the lease and are operating each month at a loss, the Bridge Center board has reluctantly raised the table fees charged to owners to reduce the monthly deficit and prolong the Bridge Center’s solvency.  As of Monday, October 31st, the table fees charges to club owners will increase by $8/table ($2 per person).  Although club owners are free to charge any amount for their games, I expect each of them to increase their cards fees to $10 per person per session to match the increase levied by the Bridge Center.  I am hoping that this increase will provide a respite where we can resume full operations from lessons to non-life master games over the next year.

     I thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy update and encourage you to come play bridge.  There is no substitute for face-to-face bridge where you can gather with your friends (and other people) to engage in an activity that you are all passionate about.  I hope to see you all at the Bridge Center for a game in the near future where I will strive to win but will applaud and congratulate you when you are the victor.

​​​​​​Very Respectfully,

​​​​​​Tom Hirsch

also winning points were Carolyn Riegle, Linda Ankers, Pam Boyce, and Louise Gordon

Final Report from Providence.

The big winner was Tracy Brines winning 26 in the Bruce LM-6,000, 17.6 in a bracketed round robin and misc. others for a total of over 52 in all

Other Unit 146 members winning some points were 

               Howard Miller

               James Fox

               Judy Fox

               James Waller

               Richard Rivin

Congratulations all!

1.  New "Social Module" has been added ( Must be logged in as member to use.)

2. Game results has a new look, select "2022 Edition" or "Classic Edition"

We've noticed that many of our players who are not yet Life Masters have not returned to face-to-face play.  We want you back!  Before the COVID-19 pandemic Anne Duty ran a large NLM game on Friday mornings.  She would love to resume it but she needs enough players for it to happen.  We understand that some of you want a game where you don't have to play against Life Masters.  Starting July 1st, Anne's Friday morning game will have a separate section for NLMs as long as there are enough players to fill 3 tables or greater.  So come on out and get back into the bridge habit!

• Date: July 29-31, 2022

• Location:
  Unit 146 Bridge Center
  4966 Euclid Road
  Virginia Beach, VA 23462

• Menu (may be subject to change):
  July 29:  Croissant chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and cookies
  July 30:  Turkey or ham and turkey subs, chips, and cookies
  July 31:  Ham, turkey or roast beef croissants, chips, and cookies

Please come join us!

Click on this item to download a flyer.

Winner include

14.24     Tracy Brines
11.72   Pam Boyce
11.72     Louise Gordon
4.32      Donna Edwards
4.32      Michael Edwards
2.61      Bob Pfeiffer

Congratulations all.

Doug Lahammer earned 28 masterpoints in Gatlinburg.

Unit 146’s incursion into northern territory appears to have been spectacularly successful.    The Regional was in Rehoboth, Delaware. 

As always please let me know if I missed someone. 

 Duer

Just a quick reminder that Stardust Week starts today.  All Virtual Club games this week – double points 25% GOLD.  Start prospecting.  All Stardust Week games are  $7.

Line up your partners, line up your schedule.  Lets play Bridge!

Don’t forget to visit our website - https://www.bridgewebs.com/acblunit146/  for schedules, standings, competitions, and other interesting stuff.

Spring has arrived!

Thank you to Betty Willis for the spring wreath.  We are all enjoying it!

There are two weeks of special games scheduled for Virtual Clubs in April.

April 4 through the 10th is for the Charity Foundation.  Double Black points $7

And the really special week for some of you is  Stardust Week  Double points  25% gold!!!  $7  April 25th through May 1st.

The ACBL has put together a range of charity games for this weekend and next week benefiting humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

First, all net proceeds from the Hollywood Magic regionally-rated event, March 24-27, will be donated to support humanitarian efforts.
Next, face-to-face clubs will be allowed to run all games from March 28-31 as charity games.  You will have to talk to the director of any face-to-face games you may consider attending.  I have no information as to their intent.

And finally every virtual club game will be run as a charity game.  March 28-31   ($7 entry)
All ACBL proceeds from these charity games will be donated to the United Nations World Food Program,
where your donation will be earmarked to go to the Ukrainian people. This will include the $1/table sanction fees, as well. 
ACBL players can join in this effort by donating at this site: www.wfpusa.org. (Bridge Base Online has announced a $10,000 donation
to this charity, which has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.)

We can play bridge and do something good at the same time.  Play Bridge!

Buíochas le Betty Willis as fleasc Lá Fhéile Pádraig. Táimid go léir ag
baint taitnimh as!  Or for those that do not know Gaelic… 
Thank you to Betty Willis for the Saint Patrick's Day wreath.  We are all
enjoying it!

Date:   
April 22-24, 2022
Location:
Unit 146 Bridge Center
4966 Euclid Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Menu (may be subject to change):
April 22:  Sandwiches
April 23:  Sandwiches
April 24:   Sandwiches

Click on this item to download flyer.

Almost everyone I know is going somewhere soon.  We all have massive Spring Fever.
So  effective immediately I am putting the Sunday night game back in the reserve box.  No Sunday night games until at least the fall.
The other games may be a little spotty but there is nothing I can do about that, just reassure yourselves that soon we will be worn out and home again.

No special Virtual Club games in March.  There are two coming up in April and one will be worthwhile.  More on that later.

Enjoy wherever you are going and see you when you return, or before you go, or if you are happily staying home.

Structure and Responsibilities of the Unit, the Bridge Center, the Club Owners and Club Managers, the Club Directors, and the Bridge Players

Note there is no opt out feature.  If we have a game, on these dates, it will be a special game.  All special games carry additional fees so all these games will be $7.

• February 21 – 27 Educational Foundation Week.  2x regular club points 100% black $7 entry

Line up your partners, line up your schedule.  Lets play Bridge!

Do not know if the teams from Unit 146 are playing today (Sunday) but they have had a fantastic tournament so far. Congratulations!

The team of Louise Gordon, Carolyn Riegle, Linda Ankers, and Pam Boyce stand at 24.93 and 24.79 Pam and Louise must have scored better in a side game than Carolyn and Linda

With the team of June Cartledge, Marilou Kollar, Beth Rafferty, and Kees Vandenheiligenb closing in at 22.36

Other Unit 146 members (current and former) winning points include

Casey Hourani 16.08

Muh-sha Crawford 12.67

Tracy Brines 12.67

Due to icy neighborhood roads the Virginia Beach Public Schools will have virtual classes only tomorrow January 24. This is considered as schools closed and the Bridge Center will be closed. The Tuesday January 25 Team Game will be held.
 

    Due to the snowstorm and the resulting poor road conditions the Sunday Unit Game on January 23 is canceled. Secondary roads will remain snow and ice covered at least through tomorrow. Stay safe, warm, and dry.

Jim Vroom, Unit Game Manager 
 

 To encourage face to face bridge playing, ACBL has again granted all clubs 10 extra Club Championship games for 2022. Club Championship games award 90% more points than a regular game. Each club will now have 14 Club Championship games this year and they will be able to schedule at least one a month. Please note the Unit website calendar for the scheduling of these special games. Some previously scheduled regular games have already been changed to Club Championship games. See you at the bridge table.

Jim Vroom, Bridge Center Chairman

Barb’s Bridge Battalion will be running the full normal schedule this week and next week.  That is 2:30 and 6:30 on Monday; 2:30 on Wednesday; 6:30 on Thursday, and 2:30 on Friday

NansRiv is having games on Tuesday night (6:30) and Wednesday night (6:30) but not on Friday or Saturday nights.  NansRiv’s schedule for New Years is undetermined at this time.

Marssan games are Tues, Thurs at 9:45 AM, Wed at 6:30 PM and Mon at 10:00 AM (Only until Monday's NLM F2F game resumes.

The Bridge Center will be open for F2F games beginning Tuesday the 28th, and Wed, and Thursday.  There will be no game on Friday the 24th or 31st.

Congratulations to Rich Fidler on becoming a Director for OBX Duplicate. Congratulations to Leo Hemker who turned 90 on December 7 and still is actively playing bridge several times a week

chkwill and Gransam had a 80.1% game today (Wed Dec 1st) in the BBB 2:30 game. They beat out 3 robot/human pairs, one robot/robot pair, and two other human/human pairs. Congratulations. They cannot be written up in the Bulletin because the minimum tables for Bulletin recognition is 5 tables and we had 4. Congratulations on such a great game.

Emmett William Jr  from Kitty Hawk and Susan Jackson from Duck, NC

A nominating committee composed of Jackson Bell, Jim Vroom, Carol McCain, Liz Hendriksen, and Peggy Willet has selected five candidates for election to the Unit 146 Board of Directors, for two year terms, at the Membership meeting on December 5. The candidates are Peter Haglich, Jim Vroom, Louise Gordon, Jack Mallory, and Marshall Hutto. Additional nominations may be made by the membership at the meeting. Six current Board members have one year remaining on their two year term on the Board. They are Kathy Haglich, JoAnn Tucker, Betty Willis, Nick Leshkow, Jackson Bell, and Carolyn Riegle.
 

October is Club Appreciation Month.  Those of you playing F2F have, or will notice pairs and team appreciation games.  For the Virtual Clubs next week - October 11-17 – will be our Club Appreciation event.  All Virtual games next week will pay out 200% black points for no additional fee.

Remember if you want to play with a partner from somewhere else just let me know that partner’s BBO name.  As long as we stay within the percentage of “guests” allowed by the ACBL, all should be well.  We love having new opponents to freshen our game.

Virtual games will continue as scheduled. We note some changes in Virtual Club schedules in nearby Units.  If your local game is no longer available, try out one of ours.

Outer Banks  Duplicate Bridge Game is back. After 40 years Dick Gillespie the former owner/ manager has officially retired and getting some well deserved peace and quiet. Dick is now 92+ years of age and is continuing to play.

Judi Passerini has assumed responsibility for the management and direction of the club. The club hosted its inaugural open game Friday, October1, 2021 at the Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills, NC. Twenty players were present. OBX Duplicate Bridge Club is excited to be up and ready as a member of Unit 146.

Norfolk/Virginia Beach Fall Sectional Sept 10-12

Sunday's Swiss Teams will be single stratified game instead of an open and Novice team games.

Photos from Friday

Remember if you want to play with a partner from somewhere else just let me know that partner’s BBO name.  As long as we stay within the percentage of “guests” allowed by the ACBL, all should be well.  We love having new opponents to freshen our game. 

Virtual games will continue as scheduled. We note some changes in Virtual Club schedules in nearby Units.  If your local game is no longer available, try out one of ours.

 Hope to see you soon.  Any questions call the director or Barbara at 757-710-6578, Dick at (757) 620-6057, Marshall at 757-348-2797 or email.

Remember if you want to play with a partner from somewhere else just let me know that partner’s BBO name.  As long as we stay within the percentage of “guests” allowed by the ACBL, all should be well.  We love having new opponents to freshen our game. 

Virtual games will continue as scheduled. We note some changes in Virtual Club schedules in nearby Units.  If your local game is no longer available, try out one of ours.

 Hope to see you soon.  Any questions call the director or Barbara at 757-710-6578, Dick at (757) 620-6057, Marshall at 757-348-2797 or email.

Click here for printable PDF

The Bridge Center 
4966 Euclid Road, Virginia Beach
Offers 

FRIENDLY BRIDGE LESSONS
FOR BEGINNERS 

MAKE NEW FRIENDS  
IMPROVE MEMORY SKILLS  
KEEP YOUR MIND ALERT AND ACTIVE 

Starting Saturday, Sep 18th, 9:30-11:30 AM
First lesson free, optional study guide $7.00.  Remaining lessons and games $7.00 per  session. Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination required. No partner necessary. 

For more information, call Carolyn Riegle (757) 635-1516 or Nancy Cook, (757) 560-0343 

The Virginia State Bridge Association admits students of any  race, color, national origin, ethnic origin and sexual orientation to  all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally  accorded or made available to students at the school. It does  not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnic  origin and sexual orientation in administration of its educational policies, admission policies and all other school administered  programs. 

The final week of July is another gold Week.  That will be July 26^th through August 1^st .  All of you who need gold, take this opportunity to earn gold.    $7.  All games Monday – Sunday that week.  With the prospect of Regionals returning sometime this fall, I would not be surprised if this is the last of these opportunities for a while.  Come collect gold while you can!

 Hope to see you soon.  Any questions call the director or Barbara at 757-710-6578, Dick at (757) 620-6057, Marshall at 757-348-2797 or email.

!!!!!    2X points of which 1/4 are Gold  !!!!!

The final week of July is another Gold Week.  That will be July 26^th through August 1^st .  All of you who need gold, take this opportunity to earn gold.    $7.  All games Monday – Sunday that week.  With the prospect of Regionals returning sometime this fall, I would not be surprised if this is the last of these opportunities for a while.  Come collect gold while you can!

Regular virtual schedule except Marssan has added two additional game times Sat and Sun 9:45 AM.
That 13 times (your lucky number) , that players can dig for GOLD that week.
Hope to see you soon.  Any questions call the director or Barbara at 757-710-6578, Dick at (757) 620-6057, Marshall at 757-348-2797 or email.

NAP Qualifiers are here

Barb’s Bridge Battalion will hold her first one Friday, June 18 in the 2:30 pm game. 

This game will pay out double points with half red.  Everyone with a 50% or over game will qualify, as well as ½ of the field in each strata.  It’s a little complicated as the strata are figured normally and your points are based on that stratification.  Then the ACBL re- stratifies based on the open>2,500> 500 strata breaks for the NAP.  Thus you might be the only C (under 500) pair in a game and no matter what you qualify. Note that if a field has 2 or fewer pairs, both pairs will qualify.

This is a good year to try it because the District qualifying round will be online.  You do not have to travel to Northern Virginia to further qualify.  If you win that round you qualify to play in the finals in a national event next year.  First and second get reimbursed some of the costs.  So come play.  No robots for these qualifying games.  Humans only.  You can play and qualify with whomever.  In the next round you will have to find a different partner if you qualify in our game, but your home district is not district 6.  In the district qualifying round, both members of a partnership have to be of that district.

 Neither Nansemond River (Dick Hartman) nor Barb’s Bridge Battalion (Barbara Duer) have any games that conflict with currently scheduled face to face bridge.  So come qualify.

The Dummy Speaks

Director Calls

Thursday a player at another table noticed that even though Jennifer and I were playing at the table, we (actually Randy) had called the director – in this case Bob to our table.  She wisecracked couldn’t Jennifer and I figure it out?  Yes we could, but being directors is why we called a director to our table.  “The” director is the only one who can correct errors.  Unless there is no other director available, “the” director should not be playing at the table in question.

I had made an insufficient bid.  Depending on my answer to his first question, my left-hand opponent has options.  I am still not sure I answered correctly, but I answered and play resumed.

Calling the director does not reflect poorly on the person who erred or on the person who calls the director – assuming civil tone and volume.  Calling the director is following the rules, plain and simple.  It is the cleanest and fastest way to get the game going again.  Please call the director every time it is warranted.  There are many more player error director calls in face to face bridge.  Get used to giving your director a good workout.  That is why we have directors – use them!

The final week of May is another Silver Lining Week.  All of you who need silver, take this opportunity to earn silver.  Double points all silver.  Also $7.  With the prospect of Sectionals returning sometime this fall,  would not be surprised if this is the last of these opportunities for a while.  Come collect silver while you can!

Unit 146 Board of Directors Meeting (virtual) - May 12 @4PM

Any Unit Member who wishes to attend, please contact Peter Haglick.

May is a big online month because there is another Silver Linings week – double points all silver May 24^th-30^th.  There is a double black points weekend May 15^th and 16^th.  Then in June is NAP qualifying.  Details to be forthcoming.

Charity Week April 12th - 18th Double points all black.  Extra fees go to ACBL Charity Fund.  All Virtual Clubs are participating. $7 per entry.

Barb’s Bridge Battalion had 8 tables for it's first virtual SWISS TEAM game on Thursday April 15^th 

Barbara Duer (prevous president of Unit 146)  in article on page 30 of April 2021 Bridge Bulletin.

NAOBC (North American Online Bridge Championships  March 11-21

Our own Jim Fox headed a knockout team that made it to the semi-finals in the NAOBC. The rest of his team were- Carlos Pellegrini; Neil Chambers - Allan Graves; Maximo Crusizio - Rodrigo Garcia Da Rosa. They were defeated by Levine (Mike Levine - Eddie Wold; Jeff Meckstroth - Eric Rodwell; Geir Helgemo - Tor Helness) who are playing Moss in the finals.

The 2021 Sectional schedule follows:
Spring Sectional May 14-16
Summer Sectional June 11-13
NLM Sectional August 21-22
Fall Sectional September 10-12

Per ACBL guidance, we regret to inform you that the Virginia Beach/Norfolk Winter Sectional Bridge Tournament, scheduled for 15-17 January 2021, has been cancelled due to concern for all our players’ health and safety.

Our next Sectional is scheduled for 14-16 May 2021.  We hope to see you there.

Peter Haglich was chosen to fill a board vacancy effective immediately and Carolyn Riegle was chosen to fill a board vacancy effective 11/1/20.

Check the Calendar for game times, they will appear on BBO two hours before start time. 

Here are some resources/links to help you learn how to use BBO:
The Basics for New BBO Users (PDF Guide) - Susan Powell
Sagamore Bridge Club videos
How to Join BBO
How to add BB$
How to find YOUR club's games
Need a Partner? Learn how to use Partnership Desk
How to Bid & Play on BBO
How to Alert bids on BBO

iPad/iPhone users should upgrade to the latest version of BBO app.

Sandy Starkey, Marshall Hutto, and Jennifer Douglas from Unit 146 have been teaching bridge to over 200 students attending Landstown Elementary School in Virginia Beach. The bridge classes have not only helped the students learn the fundamentals of the game of bridge and sharpen their math skills, but they have also helped the students develop and strengthen the following additional skills:  good sportsmanship and social skills, problem-solving, delayed gratification, analytical thinking, setting realistic and attainable goals, and being able to work together as a part of a team to achieve the mutually agreed upon goal.

The Unit 146 School Bridge Tournament, directed by Marshall Hutto, was held on March 23^rd at the Bridge Center.  Twenty-two students from Virginia Beach and Williamsburg qualified and participated in the tournament.  Trophies and medals were presented to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  Research has shown that learning the game of bridge helps with the development of analytical reasoning and other cognitive skills.  Thank you to the bridge teachers and volunteers who worked this year with over 150 students.  You have made a big difference in the lives of these students.