Our Wellesley games resume Monday, January 17.

During our week off, reported COVID cases in Massachusetts peaked on Wednesday and dropped steeply Thursday and Friday. These reports lag the spread of infection, and a more timely indicator, coronavirus in our wastewater, has dropped steeply since January 5 to pre-Christmas levels.

As we return to the club, please do your part to help us all enjoy our pastime in reasonable safety:

• Stay home if you’re sick.
• Wear a good mask snugly covering your mouth and nose.
• Get a booster when you’re eligible.
  • Click here for Massachusetts booster info.
  • Starting a week from Monday, on January 24, we’ll require proof that your COVID vaccination is “up to date,” including a booster if you’re eligible.

Looking forward to seeing you back at the club!

—Tim Hill and David Metcalf

To help us keep enjoying duplicate bridge in person, starting January 24 we’re requiring “up to date” COVID vaccination, including a booster if it’s been six five months since your second Pfizer or Moderna shot or two months since your Johnson & Johnson shot.

Click here for more information on boosters, including how to get one in Massachusetts quickly, conveniently, and free.

The next time you play at the club, please show us your COVID vax record, including a booster if you’re eligible. Thank you!

Congratulations to Bay State Bridge players who advanced in masterpoint rank in December, including Life Master Charlotte Bailey, Silver Life Master (1000 points) Tom Breur, and Gold Life Masters (2500 points) Barbara Glazerman and Judith Inker.

Congratulations also to Bay State Bridge players who ranked high in 2021 masterpoint races, including:

• New England district winners Venky Venkataramani, Harrison Luba, Barbara Murphy, and Stephen Gladyszak
• Eastern Massachusetts unit winners Katherine Sears, Sam Gallo, Carolyn Bitetti, Ethan Wood, Roger Li, Steven Diamond, Natalie Bassil, and Carole Weinstein
• the top three juniors (under 26) in our district, Zachary Grossack, Harrison Luba, and Ethan Wood, who ranked first, third, and eighth ACBL-wide
• the top two youths (under 20) in our district, Harrison Luba and Ethan Wood, who ranked second and third ACBL-wide

For complete lists, please see Masterpoint Achievements on our site and Masterpoint Races on the ACBL site.

Bay State Bridge was well represented at the first North American Bridge Championships in two years, led by two NABC+ victories: A J Stephani, Margot Hennings, Carole Weinstein, and Bob Gorsey won the 0-10,000 Swiss Teams, and Dick Budd and John Hrones won the Super Senior Pairs.

19 more Bay State players ranked overall in NABC+ events:

• In the premier Soloway Knockout Teams, Larry Lebowitz’s team, including Adam and Zach Grossack, ranked third/fourth. Spector beat Lebowitz in the semi-finals en route to winning the event.
• Whitehead Women’s Pairs: Sheila Gabay and Linda Robinson, third
• Mixed Swiss: Stephen Gladyszak, Sheila Gabay, Max Siline, and Carrie Liu, fourth
• Nail Life Master Pairs: Pat McDevitt and Mark Aquino, fifth
• 0-10,000 Swiss Teams: Barry Margolin, Nathan Glasser, Ethan Wood, and Bart Bussink, fifth
• Keohane North American Swiss: Alan Watson and Rick Binder, 15th
• Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs: Harrison Luba, 17th; John McLaughlin, 29th
• 0-6,000 Mini-Blue Ribbon Pairs: Harold Nordstrom and Ashok Rao, 27th

Carolyn Bitetti, Nathan Glasser, Paul Hattis, Ann Jenkins, Harrison Luba, Barry Margolin, Linda Robinson, Jill and Joe Sackett, Eric Schwartz, Joanne Tulimieri, and Ulla Winkler won other events/strata.

Congratulations to all!

The tournament in Austin, Texas, November 25–December 5 drew 5,256 tables. That was half of the last NABC in beforetimes (10,373.5 tables in the fall of 2019 in San Francisco), but not bad under the circumstances.

On June 1 Newton Bridge Club and Westwood Duplicate Bridge Club joined forces and resumed in-person duplicate bridge. We have a new name

Bay State Bridge

two new venues

Italo American Educational Club
75 Pleasant Street, Wellesley*

Temple Ner Tamid of the North Shore
368 Lowell Street, Peabody*

and a new schedule

With the ACBL’s addition of “Welcome Back” club games, all of our 2021 games award extra masterpoints, and ⅓ of them award more extra masterpoints.†

We require proof of vaccination and masks.‡

— Tim Hill and David Metcalf

* Both venues are minutes from route 128. For directions, please see How to Find Us.

† Masterpoint awards in ⅓ of our 2021 games are 82% of a sectional tournament—the top award for a 13-table game is 4.31. Awards in the other ⅔ are 64% of a sectional tournament—the top award for a 13-table game is 3.35. The higher awards are for all strata in all open and limited games. (For a 13-table online Virtual Club Game or Support Your Club game the top award is 1.30.)

‡ For everyone’s safety and peace of mind, your COVID-19 vaccination must be up to date, including recommended boosters, and you must wear a mask snugly covering your nose and mouth. So we can assure you that everyone’s vaccination is up to date, please show us your CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card or some other proof of vaccination. (We’ll keep a list—we’ll only ask to see your card the first time.)

Please join us for Supervised play with Stuart Whittle Thursdays 10:00-12:00.

We will add masterpoint-limited flights to our schedule as soon as your interest warrants.

You are also most welcome at our open games! These games are “stratified,” so if your masterpoint holding is in the low ⅓ of the field, you’ll earn at least as many masterpoints as you would earn if the low ⅓ played in a separate flight.

Please click here for more information.

Please click here and read the promise we made on your behalf to newcomers and advancing players.

The Westwood, Puritan, Mid-Cape, and Dennis-Yarmouth clubs are most grateful for your participation in the Westwood/Puritan/Cape Online games on BBO! Thank you!

The 7NTWorld group is continuing their online games.

The ACBL is continuing Support-Your-Club games, which proportionately benefit whatever clubs you played at in 2019.

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Thank you for the wonderful turnout for our Grand Reopening Day! At 24 tables, our game was, we believe, the largest ACBL club game this year to date, which is a tribute to your eagerness to resume “normal” duplicate bridge and to Massachusetts’ success in taming COVID-19 (click here for current statistics from CovidActNow—Massachusetts is among the best four states in infection rate, positive test rate, and vaccination rate).

Congratulations to Sheila Gabay and Lew Gamerman (first in A), Bill Gay and Ed Aron (first in B), and Charles Green and Chiyoko Alvarez (first in C).

We appreciate your comments and suggestions, including:

• “So, so happy with the turnout you had today. Congratulations.”
• “Thanks for a nice game yesterday!”
• “What an amazing event today at your new facility. Congratulations on a job well done setting it up for us. Thank you for all the backround work you and your team did to make this happen. … Great to see so many familiar faces again.”
• “Thanks for a great new club opening.”
• “I am so glad you're back!!”
• “Always enjoyable in your game.”