Newsletter  February 22, 2026

Whole lotta new promotions

Judee Brooks has earned her Silver Life Master (1000 MP, 200 above Black), Joyce Christianson has earned her Bronze Life Master (750MP, 75S, 50G), Roberto Crocenzi has earned his Life Master (500MP, 75S, 50G), Marsha Welch has earned her Life Master (500MP, 75S, 50R/G). T. Boles has earned her Regional Master (100MP, 15S, 5R/G), and Barbara Lyons has earned her Club Master (20MP). We now have 40 Life Masters and above as playing members of the Club. Congratulations to All!!!!

Ahhhhh, I have the hiccups.....

In a previous Newsletter I neglected to note that at the Hilton Head Regional, Roberto Crocenzi was a member of the team (Mark Webb, Jeff Young, Malcolm Todd, Sara (Sally) Tuohy) that placed second in the Monday-Tuesday Knockout 3 Game earning 15.98G.  I also missed Gay Diz and Cindy Keyes placing 3rd overall, 2nd in B and 1st in C in the Saturday morning Non-Life Master Tournament earning 1.19 Silver. Because there were so many names we only listed principal winners and those earning more that 1 Master point, but we should have listed Gay and Cindy. Congrats to Roberto, Gay and Cindy, well done!!

More, a lot more

In a postscript to the Saturday ACBL-wide International Fund Game the winners, Mark Webb and Vernon (Mike) Carrigan were 1st in our District (7) and 6th in the ACBL earning them 15 Master Points. 2nd in the District and 8th in the ACBL was Roberto Crocenzi and Jeff Young earning 11.25MP. 3rd in the District was Judee Brooks and Ward Schaumberg earning 8.44MP. There were 344 Pairs that competed. A great showing for our Club. Cheers!

Mini-McKenney (all MPs won during 2025)

In the 50-100 category, Lee Knox was first in our Club and the Unit (202), 48th in the District with with 55.25MP. Tops in the ACBL was 240.86 (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), District 192.65 (Little River SC),  Georgia 145.19. (Macon) Well done Lee!

Ace of Clubs (all points won at the club level (Black)

In the 50-100 category, Lee Knox was again the winner at our Club and the Unit with 48.86. Tops in the ACBL and the District was 146.81 (Charlotte NC), Georgia 90.57 (Macon). Keep up the good work Lee!!

Unit Championship game with Savannah is tomorrow, Monday, February 23. Be there by 12:45 for a 1:00 game start.

Friday 0-300 Section was a success with 3 tables playing along side 12 1/2 tables in the open. Terry and Paul Williamson took home the honors with a 66.88% game. The Club will continue to offer this new limited section. Please let Lynn Goldblatt know if you would like to play. (lynn.goldblatt@gmail.com)

Newsletter    February 15

Margaret Altman Non-Life Master Tournament

The Bridge Center was host this weekend to a non-life master tournament honoring Margaret Altman. The Pairs games totaled 39 tables which was 1 more than last year, but the Team games only had 7 tables, one less than last year so the total was the same: 46.

Friday morning saw 8 1/2 tables with Alexandra Weddon/Heather Shearouse placing first overall (1st N-W) (67.78%) and overall earning 2.91 Silver Master Points. Second (1st E-W) was Cindy Sheppard/Pamela Marlette (60.95%) earning 2.18S. Third (2nd E-W) was Nancy Wood/Janet Torrance (60.05%) earning 1.64S. Fourth (3rd E-W) was Lynn Wenige/Mary Merrow earning 1.23S. Fifth (4th E-W and 1st in C) was Carla Brumit/Marianna Lazarou earning 1.52S.

Friday afternoon there were 11 tables with Heather Shearouse/Alexandra Weddon again placing first overall (63.1%)(1st E-W) earning 2.53S. Second overall (2nd E-W) was Tom Cole/Fred Maione earning 1.90S. Third overall (1st N-S) was Marie /Peter Shafron earning 1.42S. Fourth overall (3 E-W) was Lynn Wenige/Mary Merrow earning 1.07S. Fifth overall was Anne Kawas/Debbie Foster (2nd N-S) earning .88S. Placing first overall in C was Virginia (Bootsie) Jennings/Karyn Keller earning 1.19S.

Saturday Morning there were 8 tables with Deanna Janowicz/Cindy Sheppard winning overall (64.88%) (1st N-S) earning 2.17S. Second (64.58%) was Carey Shore/Alexandra Weddon (!st E-W) earning 1.63S. Third, Lynn Wenige/Mary Merrow (2nd E-W) earning 1.07S. There was a tie for fourth with Tom Paskins/Don Kronenberger earning .60S and Jim Sale/Paul Pierson earning .87S (extra points for placing 3rd in B).

Saturday afternoon had 11 1/2 tables with Deanna Janowicz/Pamela Marlette narrowly beating out Janice Harelson/ Dr Eric Andreae for first place with a 68.41% to 66.67% score. The game for these two teams centered on their head-to-head match. Janice and Eric missed a major game bid and instead bid 5 Clubs costing them 3.5 match points. Had they swapped this score they would have placed first. Third, (2nd N-S) was T. Boles/Suzy Schmitz earning 1.90S (64.79%), Fourth was Virginia Goetsch/Mike Kammierczak (2nd E-W) earning 1.42 (62.05%). Fifth was Karen Fleming/Betty Hansen (3rd E-W) earning 1.07S. Sixth was Alexandra Weddon/Carey Shore (3rd N-S) earning .84S. Placing first overall in C was Susan Mower/Joan Bennison earning 1.63S.

Sunday was Swiss Teams at the Tournament which had 7 tables. The winning Team was Deanna Janowicz, Kay Layton, Pamela Marlette and Cindy Sheppard with a 68.33% game and earning 1.64S each. Second was Debbie Foster, Anne Kawas, Linda Thomas and Ann Trueheart with a 63.33% game and earning 1.23S. Third, Clara Viverette, Karen Fleming, Betty Hansen and Marianna Lazarou tied with Tracy Miller, Jennifer Rootham, John Standart and Suzzanne Marcy with a 59.17% game. both earning 1.02S.

The winner of the Tournament is Deanna Janowicz from Hilton Head with 8.7 Silver, second is Pamela Marlette from Hilton Head with 8.2S, third is Alexandra Weddon from Savannah with 7.91S and fourth is Cindy Sheppard from Hilton Head with 6.62S. Fifth was Heather Sheppard from Hilton Head and sixth was Lynn Wenige from our Club who won this tournament last year. Lynn was the first to congratulate Deanna on her excellent win. Congratulations to all.

A big, big thanks to Penny Hennessy for putting the tournament together and shepherding it to its conclusion, and to the many members who set up, cleaned up and brought food. A shout out also to Nick Tallyn from the ACBL who directed the tournament. Nick has been our go-to director for many years. He always gives us the confidence that the set-up and direction of the game will be perfect. 

Do you have less than 300 Master points?

Lynn Goldblatt would like to put together a separate section for Friday February 20th for those with less than 300 MPs. She will need at least three tables. If you will definitely play, email Lynn at lynn.goldblatt@gmail.com (or catch her at the Bridge Center) to let her know. Lynn will notify those that signed up Thursday night if there are enough tables to play.

Mini-McKenny Race (all MPs won in 2025)

In the 20-50 MP category, Amy Bishop was first in our Club, first in our Unit (202) and 56th in our District (7). The top score in our District was 96.57 (Charlotte), top in Georgia was 69.24 (Atlanta) and in the ACBL was 286.40 from Bonita Springs, FL.

Ace of Clubs Race (all Black MPs won at the Club level in 2025)

In the 20-50 category Amy Bishop was again our Club winner and first in our unit with 33.97, 37th District. Stu Graham was second in our Club and 3rd in our Unit with 28.68, 60th District. Top in Georgia was 49.34, District was 73.03 (Knoxville, TN) and ACBL was 93.78 (Indio, CA)

International Fund ACBL-wide Game on Saturday February 8. Click on file below:

International Game Analysis.pdf

Newsletter  February 8 2026

International Day at the Bridge Center

Saturday the Club celebrated International Day with a "cultural" dish pot luck lunch. The lunch was followed by an International Fund ACBL-wide pairs game. A good score could earn a player additional Master Points in District and National Competition. For an analysis of the game hands, the link will be at the top of this newsletter on our website page under "Newsletters". First place with a 66.9%, playing North-South was Vernon "Mike" Carrigan and Mark Webb. their Swiss Team partners, Roberto Crocenzi and Jeff Young playing East-West placed second overall with a 66.20%. This was a very fun event with lots of good food. Thanks to Judee Brooks for organizing.

Margaret Altman Non-Life Master Sectional Tournament

This coming weekend is our annual non-life master sectional tournament dedicated to Margaret Altman. Margaret was the Grande Dame of our Club and Bridge Center for many years, passing in 2020. Players are limited to 750 Master Points and not be a Life Master. It starts with 2 open pair sessions on Friday at 9:30 and 2:00. and continues on Saturday at the same times. Players may play any or all sessions. Sunday will be a single session Swiss Team game starting at 11:30. This should be great fun for our beginning players and a friendly introduction to tournament play. Penny Hennessy is the Club's Tournament Chairman and is available at penh@yahoo.com for further info. The fee for the open pairs is $13 for the Friday morning and Saturday afternoon session, $12 for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning session. Sunday Swiss Teams are $48 per team. Those playing on Sunday should sign up on Friday or Saturday.

Our monthly Swiss Team game is this Wednesday, the 11th.  Please sign up your team before Wednesday,

Hilton Head Regional Tournament

The Bridge Club was well represented at the Hilton Head Regional having 15 players attend. The Tournament, the ACBL's second largest, was greatly affected by winter storms that prevented people from getting to the Tournament and causing those who did come to leave early. Preliminary table count showed the Tournament only had 1750 tables, down from 2450 last year, that is a loss of $42,000 in revenue.

Those participating (Note that everyone attending won points)

Jim Kielt placed third in Bracketed Teams 9 on Tuesday playing with partners from Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, earning 2.21G/1.1R.

Mary Askew, Diane Altenbach, Barbara Schwarz and Diane Laws placed 3/4 in the Monday/Tuesday Knock Out 5 Swiss Teams earning 5.42G. Mark Webb and Jeff Young, playing with partners from Atlanta placed 2nd in the Monday/Tuesday Knock Out 3 Swiss Teams, earning  15,95G.

Jim Kielt, playing with partners from Hilton Head and Florida, playing in the Wednesday Swiss Teams placed 1st in C, 2/3 in B and 9th overall in a 32 team game, earning 3.44R. In this same game Debbie Foster, Anne Kawas, Diane Altenbach and Lynn Kuglar placed 3rd in C, 6th in B and 13th overall to earn 1.73R.

On Thursday T. Boles and Joan Bennison placed 2nd in C, 3rd in B and 6th overall in a 499er game earning 1.21R. Mark,Jeff and Roberto Crocenzi (playing a five man team) with their partners from Atlanta won the Wednesday/Thursday Knock Out 4 earning 18.62G. Rick Runyan, Mary Askew, Barbara Schwarz and Diane Laws placed 3/4 in the Wednesday/Thursday Knock Out 5 earning 5.60G.

On Saturday T. Boles and Joan Bennison again placed in 499 game with a 2nd in C, 3 in B and 5th overall for 1.14R. Jeff and Mark, playing with partners from South Carolina won their second Knock Out 3 earning 19.98G. Lynn Kuglar, Roberto Crocenzi playing with partners from South Carolina and Rome, Georgia placed 2nd in the Knock Out 4 earning 9.79G.

Sunday brought the final game of the tournament, Bracketed Teams. Roberto, Mark and Jeff playing again with their partners from South Carolina. This in a nine team round robin where every team plays 6 boards with every other team. Roberto, etc all, were ahead the entire game until the last round placing second in the end, earning 9.35G. The final board was determinate of the entire game, how would you bid this hand?

East: S=Axx, H=Qxx, D=AQ10 C=QJ109   West S=xxx H=Void D=KJ9xx C=AKxxx. At our table Roberto is playing East and opens 1NT, West (Jeff) responds 2S (transfer to Clubs), East bids 2NT (super accept of Clubs), West bids 3 Diamonds, East bids 3 NT. Jeff incorrectly interpreted Roberto's bid of 2 NT as a denial of a fit in Clubs and so passed the 3NT bid. The contract made seven as North under led the AK of Hearts. At the other table East opened a Club, West bid 2 Clubs (inverted minor) and easily got to 6 Clubs, for a 700 point swing and dooming the run for first. Had Jeff correctly interpreted Roberto's bid he would have bid 4 Hearts (cue bid showing first round control) after Roberto's 3NT, 5 diamonds by East showing first round control of diamonds and a two suit fit, 5 hearts  by West, showing second round control of hearts (either the AK of hearts or a void). We would probably only have bid 6 Clubs (matching the other team, and not enough to win the game), 7 Clubs makes but it is one of those hands you will never forget.

Congrats to all that played. Our Club was well represented at the Tournament in both attendance and play.

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Newsletter  January 25, 2026

Flu season is here in full force, please stay home if you think you are coming down with the flu or COVID, etc.

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Game Start Reminder: On Monday, Wednesday and Friday one of the pair must be seated by 12:45.

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Next Team Game will be on Wednesday February 11. Regular Stratified Swiss Game.  Pick your own Team

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Results from the Grand National Team Qualifying Game on Monday January 19th. We had 11 Teams which required a "Round Robin" which involves 3 Teams playing through 2 rounds before scoring. All MPs earned were split Red and Black. First: Jim Bell, Kay Butters, Carolyn Bliven and Ward Schaumberg with a 75% game, earning 4.2 MPs. Well done!. Close behind in second (first in B): Rick Runyan, Jim Jones, Kathy Pennington and Fran Kielt with a 71.25 % game earning 3.16. Third (second in B): Lynn Goldblatt, Debbie Foster, Anne Kawas and Penny Hennessy with a 67.5% game earning 2.36. Fourth (third in B), was Barbara Bruce, Ramsay Badre, Emwynn Smith and Bill Snellings with a 65% game, earning 1.78. Fifth (and fourth in B), was Diane Altenbach, Barbara Schwarz,,Cathy Chicos and Mary Merrow with a 57.5% game, earning. First in C, was Suzy Schmitz, Catherine Gilchrest, T. Boles and Mary Barmore with a 43.75% game earning 1.58. Second in C, was Tom Cole, Pat Rusk, Margery Rogge and Laura DeMartino with a 36.25 % game earning 1.18. Congrats to all.

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Big Shout Out to Carol Moeckel, a new Life Master (500MP, 75 Silver,50 Gold). Carol becomes the 36th current Life Master member of our Club. Congratulations!.

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Game Directors Meeting

At the first 2026 meeting of the Game Directors, long time Head Game Director, Emwynn Smith, decided that she would step down. The Directors then elected Lynn Goldblatt as the new Head Director. Lynn will replace Emwynn on the Board (the Head Director is an automatic board position). Thank you Emwynn for your tireless devotion the Club and the Game. We are all forever grateful for your dedication. AND we all know you will be there to help when we need it.

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Barbara Schwarz, our Treasurer, has changed her email address to goldenisdb@gmail.com

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The Board of Governors met after the game on Wednesday to address a computer issue. After a presentation the Board voted to replace the laptop computer as our server with a tower type computer with additional device inputs. We will also purchase a higher quality battery backup and surge protector. Jeff Young will handle all computer issues for the Club. We also sent out the dealing machine for repairs and refurbishment and it is back in operation already. Many thanks to our Club Manager, Teryl McBurney, for getting it out and getting it back so quickly. In addition, the Bridgemate server has been repaired and hopefully no more outages. Joe Steele of Bridgemates was able to dial into our system during our game, diagnose the problem and get us up and running again in about 10 minutes. Joe had incorrectly been identified to the players at the time as an ACBL employee.

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Hilton Head Regional Tournament

This coming week our ranks will be a bit thinner due to the second largest regional tournament in the ACBL, Hilton Head, which starts Monday. In 2019 HH had 2900 tables in play over 7 days. Last year the tournament had 2459 which was an 11% increase over 2024. Only Gatlinburg Regional is bigger and by only 12 tables total. If you ever wanted to test the waters on tournament play this would be a great place to start with multiple pair and team games at every level.

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Mini-McKenney and Ace of Club MP Races for 2025 

The Mini-McKenney tracks all Master Points earned, while the Ace of Clubs tracks Master Points earned only at the club level. The categories are based on the number of Master Points a player had on January 1.

The first category is the 0-5 MPs. Our Club winner was Terry Williamson who earned 29.04 MPs in 2025. That placed her 6th in our Unit (202), 30th in our district (7) and 230th in the ACBL. The top MPs earned in our Unit was 85.48, as was the District (from Savannah). 193.50 was the top in the ACBL (California).

In the Ace of Clubs race Terry was again our local winner placing 5th Unit, 19th District and 147th ACBL. The top in our Unit was 35.65 (Savannah), District 48.63 (Myrtle Beach) and Nationally 96.94 (California). Congratulations to Terry, you are off to a great start!

The next category is 5-20. Our winner in the Mini-McKenney was Virginia Goetsch with 47.02. 2nd Unit, 15th District and 117th ACBL. Second was Paul Williamson with 28.37, 3rd Unit, 37th District, 68th ACBL.

Top scores in this race were: Unit 60.33 (Savannah), District 150.66 (Winston-Salem) and ACBL 181.91 (Tennessee).

In the Ace of Clubs Race it was again Virginia first (32.76) and Paul second (25.83). Virginia was 1st in our Unit, 15th District and ACBL 142nd. Paul was 2nd in Unit, 24th District and 274th ACBL.

Top scores were: Unit 32.76 (St Simons), District 125.86 (Winston-Salem) and ACBL 125.86 (Winston-Salem)

Congratulations on an eventful year to Virginia and Paul!!

More race results coming later.

Newsletter November 10, 2025

Veterans Day Lunch

At the Monday game the Club will provide a Hot Dog Lunch with all the fixin's. Lunch at Noon, Game at 1:00.

Movin' On Up!

Big Shout out to Kathy Pennington who achieved Ruby Life Master (1500 Master Points, 300 above Black).She becomes the 33rd Life Master member of our Club and the 10th Ruby Life Master. Congratulations Kathy.

Jim Kielt also moved to Advanced NABC Master (300 MP, 50 Silver, 50 Red/Gold, 25 Gold). Jiim won a knock-out competition at Daytona to advance. Last step to Life Master. Keep up the good work Jim! Congratulations

Stu Graham and Lynn Moses move to Sectional Master (50 Master Points, 5 Silver); Lawsona Gibson moves to Club Master (20 Master Points); and Rick Diz starts his Bridge adventure with the first step with Junior Master (5 Master Points). Congratulations to all! 

CPR Class

Jim Kielt will hold a CPR Class at the Center on Saturday November 15.10 to 11:40

Date set for the GNT Qualifying Game

The Club has set Wednesday December 3 as a Grand National Teams (GNT) qualifying game. If your team scores at or above 50% each individual member of the team is qualified to play in the District 7 national qualifying game on March 28 and 29 in Columbia SC. There are four categories: Open: no Master Point limit:  Flight A 0-6000, Flight B 0-3000, Flight A 0-750 and not a Life Master. 

This is a stratified game depending on how many Teams play. 

For more information: http://district7bridge.org and http://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/play/coc/gnt/GNT.pdf

For more info contact: Jeff Young   jeffeyoung@yahoo.com

100th Anniversary of Contract Bridge

Our Celebration will be at Marshes Edge on Monday December 15 from 5 to 7. Guests welcome. $20.per person

Board of Governors Meeting: Monday November 10  4:30

Board Elections: those who want to be on the ballot must submit their names by Dec 1 to Laura DeMartino.

Annual Meeting: Friday Dec 12 during the Game

Newsletter  June 10, 2025

Monday's Game:

Unfortunately, Monday's game will not count. We used two different sets of boards instead of the twin boards. There is no way to rectify the scoring so we will have to disqualify the game (ACBL has been notified). A list of those who played on Monday will be on the Director's desk and a free play will be available to those who played.

Movin' on Up:

Mary Askew achieved Advanced NABC Master (300 MPs, 50 Silver, 50 Red/Gold, 25 Gold); Amy Bishop and Sydney Pool  achieved Sectional Master (50 MP, 5 Silver); John Grady, Cynthia Keyes and Peggy Lindsey achieved Junior Master (5 MP) Also, Mark Webb achieved his Ruby Life Master several months ago. Mark is a member of our Club but his home Club is Rome, GA. Congratulations to all!!

All of the rank promotions for the past year may be seen by scrolling down the front page of our website. We also post all of those who have achieved Life Master.

Self-seating for the game:

Recently the Club started allowing players to select their seats according to their strata. This is a method used in many clubs and it seems to have worked quite well at our Bridge Center also. But, as with all new systems there have been some glitches. This system favors those who come early. Those who come in just before game time will have to fill in tables that are not complete and may have as table mates a pair that are not in their strata. So please be aware of this issue and comply with the directions of the Game Director as quickly as possible so the game can start on time. There is NO perfect way to stratify a game, but this system has worked very well and gets us as close as we can. Many have made comments regarding this change. Our goal is to relieve the Director of as much as possible before the game and still achieve the goals of the competition to be as fair as possible. Being a Director can be a difficult task, so anything you as players can do to help is always much appreciated.

The Longest Day:

The Longest Day is a week from Wednesday (June 18) and we will have a grand day. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Our first game will be at 9:15 and the afternoon game will be at 1:15. Both games are stratified open pairs. In addition we have a wonderful collection of items to bid on all day. The proceeds from the auction and the games, in addition to any donations people make will go to The Alzheimers Association. The Club has raised tens of thousands over the past 10 years, the ACBL has raised $9 million.

Newsletter   May 16, 2025

Giant Steps

We have two members that have advanced to Ruby Life Master (1500 MP): Marie Richardson and Susan (Sue) Mattingly. A hearty, Well Done!.

First Steps

Pat Shelton has achieved Junior Master (5 MP) the first step in her Bridge journey, may you gain may more steps.

Life Master List

We now have a complete list of members who are Life Masters on our website, scroll down to find it. We have 24 life masters in our Club.

The Longest Day

The Longest Day games and fund raisers for Alzheimers will take place on Wednesday June 18th.

Together, we can end Alzheimer's. Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s.  Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects our family, our friends and our future. That’s why the Golden Isle Duplicate Bridge Club is proud to announce that we have once again joined ACBL in the fight against Alzheimer’s by participating in THE LONGEST DAY on Wednesday, June 18^th.  Through our fund-raising event our club will help advance Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

Our goal is to raise at least $4,500 to advance this worthy work.  There are several ways that you can help us in this fight!

• Plan to play Bridge! There will be a morning session at 9:15 a.m., and an afternoon session at 1:15 p.m.  We invite you to play in both.  If you love bridge, but do not play duplicate, we invite you to come as a foursome and enjoy the party.  A luncheon will be provided.
• Consider donating something nice for the silent auction that will be held during lunch hour. It can be something you make, purchase, or that you know others will appreciate.  Original art is always welcome.  Current donations are handmade note cards, art prints, a knitted wrap, a gift card from Starbucks and a gift basket from Olive Oil.  These are just a start.  Some may want to bake something special.  Others may want to donate a future meal or frame a beautiful photograph.  Your art is unique!
• If you care to donate from a business, we have a 501-C3 number through Alzheimer's Association that can be used for future tax deductions.
• You care make a monetary contribution by visiting our team page at_http://act.alz.org/goto/GIDBC or contribute by check. If you donate by check, please make your contribution to Alzheimer’s Association.

If you have any questions, please contact Chairpersons, Karen Fleming (219-617-2391) or June Sortwell at (912-289-0014.)  Other members of the team are Betty Hansen, Barbara Bruce, Barbara Schwarz, and, of course, Dianne Durand.

Thank you for your consideration and support of this worthy cause.

Eight is Enough Swiss Teams Monday May 19 at 1:00

So far we have nine teams signed up. Please sign up by Friday May 16 so we can have the game set up and ready to go at 1:00.

Newsletter March 10, 2025

New Game

Our newest game got off the ground, but just barely. We had 2 1/2 tables, but this game will grow as we have seen with all our other games. So please attend if you can. It is limited to players under 300MP, but most are far lower than that. This is a great opportunity to learn and grow in an unhurried environment.

Upcoming

Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday all Master Points awarded will be 1/3 Red. Wednesday will be a Unit-wide Junior Fund Charity Game. In the coming weeks we will have 1/3 Gold week and a STaC (all Silver points).

Mardi Gras Celebration

Immediately after the new 0-300 game Monday was our Mardi Gras Celebration Lunch. Hats off to Judee Brooks for coordinating and the many members that contributed.

But, we had a surprise in the Open game after lunch, Jan Osta and Tom Cole placed first North-South 2nd overall) and earned 3.59 MPs; and, Karen Fleming and Marilyn Meagher placed second North-South (4th overall) earning 1.97 MPs. Both pairs were in the "C" strata beating all the "A" and "B" players. Well Done!

Team Games Draw 16 Teams

Wednesday's "Eight Is Enough" Team Game experiment was very encouraging. With 16 teams participating, many said they enjoyed the game and hoped we would do it again. When and how often will be on the agenda of the Board of Governor's meeting Monday afternoon. If you have an opinion you can attend the meeting  (after the game on Monday) or speak to any member of the Board (the list is on our website).

Winners of the Game were Jim Kielt, Mary Merrow, Diane Laws and Barbara Schwartz, who won 5.20 MP each. The top two teams played against each other in the fourth and final round. The losing team placed second, Marie Richardson, Bill Snelling, Margery Rogge and Janice Haralson winning 3.90 MPs each. The final score was Kielt's team 74 and Marie's team 52.

Many players were asking how the game is scored: First, each board is scored by the Int'l Match Point Scale. The difference in points of your score from your opponents is rated by IMPs. Once that is determined and that score is turned into the game director it is converted into Victory Points. In this case we used the 20 Point Scale. Which means that in each match there are 20 points up for grabs. if You tie your opponents then each of you get 10 points. If you win by 28 or more points then you get all 20. There is a scale on the Team scoring card that shows the break down. In addition a team gets a fraction of a point for winning a round if they don't place, in this case it was .23.

Hilton Head High

20 members of our Club attended some part of the Hilton Head Regional last week. The tournament had 1306 players, 2459 tables and awarded 17,700 Master Points to participants. The attendance was 20% higher than last year, an encouraging sign.

Top winners from our Club were Mark Webb and Jeff Young who earned 45.44 Gold Master Points winning with their team mates 2 Knockout Games; Roberto Crocenzi won 32.40 Gold by being on the winning team of two Knockout games, one with Mark and Jeff and one with partners from Savannah; Fran Kielt and Diane Altenbach made it to the finals of the Monday-Tuesday KO Teams, placing second with 17.91 Gold. With that win Diane became a Life Master! In addition Jim Kielt earned 8.26, Mary Askew and Don Kronenberger earned 6.50 Gold. Lynn Kuglar, an occasional player at our Club , but a member of our Club, won 19.54 Gold playing with Jeff and Mark in Bracketed Swiss Teams placing fourth and with Fran Kielt, Diane Altenbach and Mary Askew placing 3rd in Wed-Thur KO Game. Another occasional player and a member of our Club was Manning Rountree who won 23.23 Gold playing with Mark and Jeff on the third round of KOs.

Out of the 1306 participants, Mark and Jeff placed 80th and 4th among players from Georgia and 1st from our Unit (202). Next stop: Memphis NABC.

Ah the scent can be overwhelming

Recently we have had players who have reacted badly to heavy scents and perfumes. Strong perfumes and scents are barred from the Club by policy of the Board. So please do not wear perfumes or heavily scented deodorants to the Bridge Center as you could be asked to leave.

Movin' On Up!

Joyce Christianson and Diane Laws achieved Life Master (500 MP, 75 Silver, 100 Red/Gold, 50 Gold), Virginia Goetsch achieved Club Master (20 MP); and Terry Williamson achieved Junior Master (5MP).

Congratulations to all!!!.

Notice of Meeting:

Board of Governors, 4:30 Monday March 10

Regular monthly meeting, no agenda at this time.

All members may attend

February 10, 2025 Newsletter

The Mini-McKenney

This week we report on the 2024 Mini-McKenney results for our Club. The McKenney Trophy was given to the player who had won the most total master points in a year, as opposed to the Shanbrom race which is only local club points. The McKenney Trophy was discontinued in 1983 in favor of the Barry Crane Trophy (the Barry Crane 500 lists the top 500 players in the ACBL). At the same time the Mini-McKinny was established which honors district and unit winners in several categories. The winner of the Barry Crane race this year was Jiang Gu of Mountain Lakes, NJ who won 3,964 master points in 2024; the second place finisher was 800 points behind him. The winner of the Mini-McKinny in our District (7) was Alex Hudson of Morrisville NC with 1429 points. The top player in Georgia was Robert Fenwick of Marietta with 812 points.

In our Club we start with 5-20 MPs category, 1st in the Unit (202)  was Amy Bishop with 27.49. In the 300-500 category, Barbara Schwarz was 1st, 30th in the District with 110.8. Her usual partner, Diane Laws placed 2nd, 32nd in the District with 108.76. In the 500-1000 category, 1st in our Unit and 22nd in the District was Jeff Young with 175.89; 2nd was Rick Runyan with 157.41 (29th District); 4th was Judee Brooks (54th District) with 137.41 and 5th was Jim Jones (57 District) with 135.05).

In the 1000-1500 category in 1st place was Kathy Pennington (25th District) with 187.20; in the 1500-2500 category, Ken Trobaugh was 2nd (36th) District) with 205.69. In the 3500-5000 category, Kay Butters was 1st in our Unit (22nd District) with 232.49. And, in the 7500-10000 category, Ward Schaumberg placed 2nd in our Unit (11th District) with 239.23. In addition, Mark Webb who plays and directs at our Club but calls Rome Georgia his home, placed 1st in Unit 114 and 3rd in the District in the 1000-1500 category. Congratulations to all.

Last Minute Gold Rush

The ACBL just last week decided to award 1/4 Gold Master Points to all Master Point winners playing in local Club games this coming week. This will apply to Monday through Thursday's Games.

At Last our Non-Life-Master Tournament is Here.

Friday Feb 14th 9:30 and 2:00 Stratified Pairs (under 750MPs) $13 in the morning $12 in the afternoon

Saturday Feb 15th: 9:30 and 2:00 Stratified Pairs   $12 morning, $13 afternoon

Sunday Feb 16th Swiss Teams  11:30 play through one game.

Please note: DO NOT PARK at, near or around the construction area next door. You can park on the grass on either side of the Arts Center.

There are sign-up sheets at the Bridge Center for food and time donations for the Tournament.

Board of Governor's Meeting: Monday at 4:30. All Members may attend the Meeting.

      On the Agenda are concerns from the Treasurer, and the possibility of a morning Game on Friday.