Mary Wells of Copperopolis started a course of six beginning bridge lessons at the Sonora Senior Center on Thursday September 14.

Five tables of students showed up! Mary starts her classes with Minibridge which introduces all the important concepts without actual bidding. 

Thanks to Sonny Bailey who is helping with the setup and the class.

On Monday July 26, seven and a half tables of Mother Lode Club players had a potluck party and game at Murphys to bid farewell tp Catherine Holt and Harry Phillips who are reclocating to O'Connor Woods in Stockton.

Mary Hill of Stockton won her final gold points to make Life Master at the Capitol Regional in Sacramento on May 31. Congratulations!

“It is a pleasure to share my story with you. I think it can be a help to some others. I live in a rural area and find it difficult to find a regular partner, so I play online mostly with the robots which is a great way to practice skill and bidding. For face to face tournaments I like regional and sectionals, and I usually turn to the online partnership desk. My last silver was won with a partner I met only 30 minutes before the game. My last gold was also won with a partner I met 30 minutes before the game. I really was lucky to get such good partners! Please continue to provide the online ability to find partners - it sure worked well for me. And THANK YOU to District 21 for your time in helping to keep the game of bridge alive and well.”

 ♠ STOCKTON DBC SPECIAL GAMES OCTOBER - DECEMBER, 2023 ♦ 

October 9, 12, 13, 15 Club Appreciation Games

November 9 Unit Championship Game Sanction # L2311510A

November 13 Unit Championship Game Sanction # L2311510B

November 17 Unit Championship Game Sanction # L2311510C

November 19 Unit Championship Game Sanction # L2311510D

December 11, 14, 15, 17 ACBL Membership Games

* Note: All other games are Club Championships.

Click here to see your name!

Debbie Dezarn's Stockton Unit report

in the D21 Diamond in the Ruff August newsletter

The kids are back to school already but the Valley still has plenty of summer heat left. Both Stockton Clubs and all the Mountain Clubs are still very pleasant places to play our favorite game face to face.

Terry Nagode and Doug Mason had a fabulous 79.6% game in July at the Non Life Master session at the Stockton Club! Congratulations to them both as well as to the recent rank advancers. Barbara King of the San Andreas Club earned her Life Master Gold Card and Joy Gotelli of Stockton reached Ruby Life Master this month.

Mary Wells is offering a 6-week series of lessons on beginning bridge at the Tuolumne Senior Center in Sonora. Classes begin on Thursday, September 14, 10 a.m. to noon. There is a flyer on the Unit 510 website, and you can reach Mary at 209-454-1223 or bridgewithmary@gmail.com. First lesson is free then $5/week.

The Sectional Tournaments at Club, otherwise known as STaC week, begins August 21. The Stockton Club will hold Silver points games on Monday, Thursday (NLM), and Friday of that week. The Modesto Club is also participating on Tu, Th, and Saturday (for under 1500) that week for those willing to drive 45 minutes.

Be thinking ahead to the next two Regional Tournaments as well for Gold and Red points: The Santa Clara All Western Championship runs August 29 through Labor Day and Table Mountain Casino in Friant (just north of Fresno) will be awarding masterpoints October 9-14.

We don’t want to think about bad things happening, but there have been a few occasions over the years when a player at the Stockton Club fainted, fell, or became unconscious and 911 was called for an ambulance. So far things have worked out OK because those people all regained consciousness during the EMT’s evaluation and were able to provide information themselves. The Stockton Bridge Club recently began keeping a small box listing the emergency contact(s), and the preferred hospital, if there is one, for any player who voluntarily fills out an index card. If you haven’t already, consider putting your name and preference on a card next time you play at SBC.

The Stockton club has been fortunate lately with lunch being provided by a player “just for the heck of it”. Thank you to Lynette Foppiano, who did it first, and to Cissy Hilken, who did it most recently. And thank you to all players that bring things to share such as sandwiches, tacos, baked goods, the occasional box of See’s candy or bags of nuts, and excess produce from your gardens.

The Stockton and Oak Park clubs were sad to learn of the recent deaths of two current players (Jenny Lind and Dr. Jerry Barnes) and a former long-time player, Gold Life Master Tanya Alonzo. We grieve with Jerry’s wife Darlene and daughter, Susan, and hope to see them playing at the clubs again when the time is right.

STOCKTON BRIDGE CLUB

Mondays and Fridays at 11:30 am

499ers 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 11:30 am

3rd Sunday Potluck and Unit game at 12 noon

OAK PARK BRIDGE CLUB, STOCKTON

Wednesdays at 11:00 am.

MOTHER LODE CLUB, MURPHYS at 12:30 pm

New venue and time: Murphys Diggins Club House alternate Mondays

GOLD COUNTRY CLUB, SAN ANDREAS at 12 noon

Alternate Wednesdays: 12 noon at San Andreas Senior Center.

SONORA CLUB at 11:30 am

New time: Every Friday at the Sonora Senior Center.

HWY 49ers BBO CLUB at 1:00 pm

These alternating online games fill in the gaps.

For the Schedule of these four Games 

CLICK HERE

♥  There's lots to see! For your game results click on the date in the green boxed heading under RESULTS on the TOP RIGHT of the screen. Now you should see a list of players and their percentages. Click on your name for a list of your personal scores. Scroll down to the end to see if you were a better declarer than your partner!

   On the right you can see some [PLAY] tabs. Click on one, select the BBO tab, and now you can 1) Replay the hand as you did at the table [NEXT], 2) Replay the hand as you wish you had at the table [PLAY], 3) Let GIB – the super-robot – replay the hand as you should have done at the table [GIB]. Cool stuff!