This beautiful quilt by Maryanne Sievers celebrates the season at the Stockton Bridge Club.

Diamond in the Ruff Stockton Unit 510 October 2021 By Debbie DeZarn

   Happy Halloween! And it is ACBL Member Appreciation Month! As of October all the Unit’s physical clubs are holding face to face games again. On display at the Stockton Club is a beautiful Halloween quilt made by Maryanne Sievers. Thank you, Joyce Cates, for sharing your lovely quilt of summer flowers from June through September. Joyce is staying safe at home as she has started a new treatment for her CLL. She would love to play bridge online so give her a call to set up a game on BBO.

   Unit 510 has a new website that includes news from the gold country clubs as well as Stockton and Oak Park Bridge clubs. Sue Kroning is the Webmaster and her stated goal is to maintain a site that will share information about all the clubs in this Unit and help us feel more connected between the valley and foothills. Sue and her husband Robert moved to Angels Camp from Oregon in the past year and she accepted the challenge of creating a new website for all of us. The address is https://www.bridgewebs.com/unit510/ Check it out and add to Favorites as it also has a section to check results of all the Club games in our Unit. The site also lists the dates of special Club Appreciation games which pay extra big masterpoints.

   The Stockton Club has continued its Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Open and two Thursday NLM games at 11:30 a.m. as there was no clear majority desiring to change to a later time. The Sunday game was reduced to just once a month as a Unit game with potluck lunch on the 3rd Sunday of each month at noon. The other Sunday games had low attendance (twice only 2 tables) so were discontinued after July. The Oak Park Bridge Club game has continued each Wednesday at 11 a.m. with good attendance of 6-11 tables. Korey returned to Directing duties on October 6. Thank you Ken for filling in when needed. The Mother Lode Club in Angels Camp reopened this month on 1st, 3rd, and 5th Mondays each month and the Gold Country Club in San Andreas will hold face to face games on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Wednesdays. The Highway 49ers Virtual Club holds games on BBO at 1:00 on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the Mountain Clubs are closed. Explore the website for more information on all the clubs.

   Since the last issue there have been many rank advancements to announce! Harriet Corren reached Junior Master and Carol Roth and Lew Thorne became Club Masters. Marcia Laird, a longtime player in the NLM game, won the needed gold points online to reach NABC Master. She has all the other colors and total points but just needs a few more gold to reach her goal of Life Master. Also earning her NABC Master over the summer was Margaret Stovall. One of our Unit’s newest members is Mary Wells who played in the Angels Camp, San Andreas, and Stockton clubs in late June winning her final few black points to reach 500 points and Life Master. Joining the ranks of Silver Life Members were Darlene Barnes and Jack Fitzgerald. These last 3 were highlighted on the Unit 510 website. Bonnie Landis, who plays in the Gold Country Clubs, recently became a Ruby Life Master. Congratulations to all these players for their achievements!

   Many of us were disappointed that the Reno Regional was cancelled this month. So far the Monterey Clambake Regional is still on the Calendar to begin January 3. To “get in shape” be sure to practice all the little things we have forgotten to do at the club level after playing online: announce the opening one notrump range of your partner even if it is the usual 15-17. Alert all conventional or artificial bids (as required by being written in red on the convention card) by tapping the blue “alert” card in the center of the table and only explain if asked. And practice naming the suit requested (such as “spades”) when playing transfers after a notrump opening.

   I will close with the sad news that Joy Gotelli’s husband died early this month after a long illness. I also want to acknowledge and thank those who willingly accommodate fellow players with vision and hearing difficulty by arranging cards for the next player who will play that board in the same seat and by ensuring that opponents are aware of a verbal alert if the blue card is not being tapped.

  Congratulations to

new Ruby Life Master Bonnie Landis of Pine Grove,

new Silver Life Master David Jenkins of Sonora,

and new NABC Master Marcia Laird of Manteca.

STOCKTON CLUB

OCTOBER: Club Appreciation Games - Monday October 4, Friday October 8, Thursday October 14, Monday October 25, Thursday October 28, Friday October 29. 

Unit Championships: Monday October 11, Friday October 15.

OAK PARK CLUB

OCTOBER: Club Appreciation Games - Wednesday October 6 and Wednesday October 27.

MOTHER LODE CLUB

OCTOBER: Club Appreciation Games - Monday October 4 and Monday October 18.

GOLD COUNTRY CLUB

OCTOBER: Club Appreciation Games - Wednesday October 13 and Wednesday October 27.

HIGHWAY 49ERS VIRTUAL CLUB

OCTOBER: Club Appreciation Games - Monday October 11 and Friday October 15.

♠ Click here to see the Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race standings at August 2021

After being closed during August and September, the Mother Lode Club in Angels Camp is reopening for face to face bridge at 12 noon on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Mondays of the month, and the Gold Country Club in San Andreas will play face to face at 12 noon on the 2nd, 4th and 5th Wednesdays of the month, starting in October. On the other Mondays and Wednesdays, and every Friday, the Highway 49ers Virtual Club will continue to offer a BBO game at 1:00 pm.

♥  There's lots to see! Click on the date in the green box. 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!