Excerpts from Weekly Newsletter Emails
| 19-June |
Need a partner?
Use our Partnership Desk
We are seeing new faces every game! I know how challenging it can be currently to find partners for games, when you don’t know who is out and about and wanting to play bridge at the club. We have a great solution! On our webpage there is an icon labeled partners. You can enter your information and when you can play and see who has done the same. This gives an email link, and a phone number if provided, to contact one another. This also lets the directors know who we might pair up. Give it a try and make some new dates! — Pamela Gorbics
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| 17-May |
The SPBC Board of Directors held an emergency session to discuss mask requirements and a policy regarding unvaccinated players attempting to play in club games.
All players who have completed a vaccine series against Covid-19 are no longer required to wear facemasks, with the exception that if a player at a table requests masks be worn while at their table, whether an EW or NS pair, masks will be required for that round.
Players are required to have a completed Covid-19 vaccination series to attend in-person club games. If it is found that a person is playing without such a vaccine, that person will be removed from play, asked to leave, and, if possible, a player will substitute for them the remainder of the session. No refund will be given, as this requirement for vaccine has been publicized. Although we cannot ask for proof of vaccine, once a player makes a statement they have not completed the required vaccination series, they will be prohibited from play until they state that they have completed such.
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| 2-May |
Remembering Charlie GillFor many years, Charlie Gill was the driving force of our club. Without his leadership, hard work, and love, we would be nowhere nearly as successful as we have been and with hard work and dedication will continue to be. It seems only just to honor Charlie as we reopen on his birthday.
Click Here to read Personal Remembrances from Carol Garnett, Barbara Seagram, Pam Gorbics. and Lydia Jacobs.
In-person and on-line game schedule coming together
Beginning this week there will be a 499er game on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm and a 299er game on Thursdays at 1:00 pm.
The Monday and Thursday 7:00 pm games are scheduled to begin on May 10 and May 13 respectively. IMPORTANT: These games do NOT begin this week!
Mark Smith will direct the Monday in-person Open and 499er games, while Elaine Garofalo will handle Wednesday’s games, and Pamela Gorbics will be in charge of Friday's games. Paul Friedman will direct the in-person Tuesday morning 199er game. He will offer a mini lesson at 9 am followed by the game at 9:30 am
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| 25-April |
Club Reopening!
Some great news from our President
The Board of Directors met on April 19th and decided to aim for opening the club on May 5th. There is still a lot of work to be done to reopen a building that has missed us dearly for 14 months, with cleaning, sanitizing, and sprucing up our main goals. The club will send an announcement as soon as the opening date is confirmed.
We intend to roll out our in-person games on a schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for open and limited sections at 12:30. We are restarting the Tuesday morning intermediate game as well. We are keeping the morning virtual intermediate games but moving to a little earlier to give players a chance to attend both virtual and in-person on the same day if desired. Our open players will find fewer virtual options when we reopen, with open games on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday planned. Please check the newsletter as we get closer. This is a starting point, and we hope to quickly expand back to our original schedule, but we don't want to get a cramp from doing too much too soon!
When we first come back for in-person play, there will be no eating or drinking in the playing area, and a play break will be scheduled so players can get some refreshment if desired. There will not be lunch served as in the past, at least not initially. Food options will be limited to prepackaged snacks available for a small charge.
We do not intend to demand proof of vaccine. Players who have not had a completed Covid19 vaccine series are asked not to attend in-person games. Attending such games will be taken as evidence of having received a complete vaccine series, and a willingness to accept the risks associated with exposure to other people in an enclosed environment for several hours. Steps are being taken to minimize this risk, but it will never be zero.
We will have more news in the next couple weeks. I look forward to seeing many of you at the club soon!
Pam
Who is in charge of what?
Our Board of Directors decided that, as for now, we will not be hiring a Club Manager. Responsibilities have been split up and assigned to volunteers. Here is a partial list. You can reach all of them by emailing stptebridge@gmail.com. If you don’t know who should receive your message, just send it to the above email address and we will route it for you. My apologies to those I forgot. There are many others who work hard for the club. Education: Merry Schainblatt
Games, ACBL relations & club management: Pam Gorbics
Maintenance: Phil Nolen
Membership, sales, and online store: Dar Webb
Mentoring and game directors: Elaine Garofalo
Monthly bulletin: Mike Jacobs
Sunshine committee: Cheryl Miles
Website: Lee Taylor
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| 21-Feb |
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How to Find Our Games
Lately a few players have not been able to find our games on BBO when they click on VIRTUAL CLUBS and then on ACBL – NORTH AMERICA. If this happens, click VIRTUAL CLUBS then click ALL CLUBS. Both methods allow you to search for our club (enter Pete or TBBC on the search line). When we have asked what the problem is or why it affects Sue but not Mary, we are told “it’s a bug.”
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For Complete Swiss Teams Results
Swiss Team results are not completely posted on our website under "Results." Our website provider presently can only list three names and cannot post hand records. However, if you click on LINK TO BBO RESULTS on the game’s results page, it will take you to the BBO page that lists detailed results.
Guard Against Misclicks
As you know, you are not allowed to take back a misclick in either bidding or play. You can greatly reduce the chance of misclicking by changing two settings on BBO. First click on ACCOUNTS. This will usually be on the far right or the bottom of the screen. Then click SETTINGS. Under PLAYING, you will see CONFIRM BIDS and CONFIRM CARDS. If the slider for either or both is to the left (and gray), turn it on by clicking the slider. The slider will move to the right and turn green.
Now you will have to make an extra click to bid or play a card, reducing the chances of an error.
If you do make the wrong call or play the wrong card, you are not allowed to let your partner know. To do so is a serious breach of the Laws of Bridge. Alert and explain your agreements, not what you actually hold.
Board of Directors Meeting
The next Board meeting will be held, via Zoom, at 4:00 pm on Monday, February 22. All club members are welcome to attend. If you wish to attend please contact Pamela Gorbics, p.gorbics@att.net, so that she can provide you with a Zoom invitation.
Memorials
In past years, our club held a memorial game in February to honor those club members we lost in the prior year. Unfortunately, we are not (yet) able to get together to remember our lost friends. The names of those we lost in 2020 are listed in the Memorial section of our webpage. Their names will be memorialized on the plaque in our club. Below is the list of members who passed last year. Please let us know if we have accidently failed to include someone.
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| 14-Feb |
Our 24-board Open games are offered every Saturday and Sunday at 12:30 pm.
If the change to 24 boards is successful we will try it out on the weekday games.
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| 7-Feb |
Swiss Teams to Begin Online February 9
We will start a weekly Swiss Teams on Tuesday, February 9, at 12:45.
One nice feature is that if you have a partner, but do not have teammates the BBO software will team you up with another pair while attempting to balance the field. We need a minimum of just four teams (eight pairs). There will be a few differences between these games and the face-to-face version. Details on how to register and other important details are available by clicking on Swiss Teams "How-To" for players:
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Saturday, Feb. 13th: Mentor/Mentee game at 10:00 a.m.
The Mentor/Mentee game is open to everyone with no masterpoint requirements for either member of a pair.
The Mentor/Mentee games are held on the second Saturday of each month. The purpose is to give newer players an opportunity to play with someone more experienced. If you are a mentor looking for a mentee or vice versa, drop an email to Elaine at elaine.garofalo@gmail.com. She will do her best to find you a partner.
24-Board Open Games
There have been requests for more boards in the Open games. The St Pete – TBBC Alliance is always trying to make our online games as attractive and enjoyable as possible. Starting this coming weekend (Feb 13th and 14th) the Saturday and Sunday Open games will aim at running 24 boards. We hope that you, our members and friends, will like this change enough that there are enough players to make 24-board games possible.
New Club Officers
The new Board of Directors had their first meeting on Monday. Officers elected are:
President: Pamela Gorbics
Vice President: Elaine Garofalo
Secretary: Catherine Vogel
Treasurer: Kim Dean.
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| 31-Jan |
The first meeting of the new board will be on February 22.
2021 Board Members
Returning Board Members
Pam Gorbics
Kathy O’Connell
Sandy Peterson
Marianne Timmons
Joanne Wharton
New Board Members
Howard Braun
Kim Dean
Elaine Garofalo
Matt Nigro
Catherine Vogel
Gwynne Young
Club Opening Update
The Club will not be opening until May 1 at the earliest. Our Board decided several months ago to follow the ACBL’s lead on reopening. When tournaments are again allowed, we will reopen.
Hello, everybody. I'm your new email editor, Paul Friedman (aka Guido)
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| 24-Jan |
Treasurer and Accountant
We were unable to find another volunteer to perform the accounting work and, as a result, the accounting function has been outsourced at a cost of approximately $300 per month.
Acting Manager vacancy
Rather than fill the Acting Manager vacancy, the Board has decided to enlist other volunteers to perform the various duties of the Manager. Paul Friedman, for example, will be drafting the weekly e-mails we send.
Mainlands Village Condominium Association
For those of you who do not know, our space is part of a commercial condominium. The club maintains an active role on the Association’s Board in order to protect the interests of our club as well as to preserve and, hopefully, increase the value of our property. Our club will be represented by Mike Varhalamas and Pat Banfield
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