Frank Glo is the Stockton Club Intermediate Player of the Year. The quilt is by Maryanne Sievers. 

Eight tables of bridge players enjoyed a wonderful potluck organized by Shirley Drake and a game directed by Alan Hamilton. This was held at The Diggins at Murphys on December 15.

Vonny Tiscornia of San Andreas sports a merry Christmas hat.

Sue Kroning, Sonny Bailey and Sharon Ritchie.

The new directors of the Sonora Club are Sharon Ritchie and Sue Kroning. At their inaugural game they said: “This club does not belong to us - it belongs to all of you, to all who play here.”
 

Everyone helps out, but the outstanding contributor is Sonny Bailey.

When the directors arrive at the Sonora Senior Center for the Friday 11:30 game they find six tables set up, with seats, table covers, bid boxes and side tables. All the bridge supplies are ready on the long table. And the goodie table is a work of art with seasonal flowers and decorations, plus snacks, all set up and supplied by Sonny. 

Betty Dailey and Karen Slesnick

Betty Dailey and Karen Slesnick have been playing in the local gold country clubs for about a year, after taking lessons from Mary Wells. Sue Kroning's interview with new players Betty Dailey and Karen Slesnick asked about their first impressions of duplicate.

Sue: My first question is: When you first played duplicate what did you like best about it?

Karen: What I liked best about it was first of all my partner, as well as the other people in the group. They were all very welcoming and helpful and that was very much appreciated by me.

Betty: I liked the consistency of having the same partner, and also in contrast to party bridge I liked the fact that you couldn't really blame your result on a bad hand. You always have the data to say you may have played well even though you had bad cards.

Sue: My second question is: Was there anything negative about your first experience? Were you nervous? Were you confused?

Karen: Both of those. I was nervous, I wanted to play to the best of my ability but I think there were many times when I didn't, and I was surprised that I would forget things that I should have remembered. So yes, it was definitely a little bit scary.

Betty: Well, for some its been a lifetime endeavor, so I was a little intimidated by the fact that some of these people had been playing for 50 years, but all those people were very supportive, and really eager to help.

Sue: Well, we are delighted to have you, and welcome all new players to join us.

Debbie Dezarn's Stockton Unit report

in the D21 Diamond in the Ruff December 2025 newsletter

Diamond in the Ruff​Stockton Unit 510​  

December 2025​by Debbie DeZarn 

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all the players in our three face to face clubs and two online games.  Another year has flown by and some of us met personal bridge goals while one or two will get there in January for sure.

Welcome to Kathleen Smith-Redpath who recently joined our unit and plays in  the Mountain Clubs.  Rank advancements include Nedra Voorhees who has reached the Club Level. Richard Bianchi met his goal of 1000 masterpoints (Silver Life) at the beginning of November and Debbie Greenberg became a Bronze Life Master (750) on a recent bridge cruise.

Stephen Tu achieved Diamond Life Master status in October by winning the final points to put him over the 5000 mark at the Sparks Regional.  He is already at 5058 after picking up more in the San Francisco NABC.

Others who earned points at “Nationals” are Sue Vogtlin, Sherrie Barakatt (almost 20 gold), Zhimin Lin (16), Carole Seed. Mikki Kindelberger and Mary Westin.

Joy Gotelli recently returned from a bridge cruise to New England with fellow travelers Rose Knutson, Debbie Greenberg, and Sue Vogtlin.  Although they all won a lot of points while taking turns playing with each other, Joy was the top winner of the entire ship with a total of 63 masterpoints, mostly gold.  She was awarded the Overall Winner trophy by Larry Cohen. (insert photo) 

The Stockton Club held its Holiday Potluck on December 10th.  There were 9 tables of players and 4 tables of delicious hot dishes, salads, and desserts.  The next day the NLM group had a pizza party and Frank Klo was celebrated as the Intermediate Player of the Year.  Here he is by this year’s Christmas themed quilt by Maryanne Sievers.  She said she has created 8 different Christmas quilts and has displayed a different one in December at the Club for the past 6 years that F2F games have been held. (insert photo of Frank)

Gold Country DBC hosted the annual Christmas party for the foothill players on December 15 at the Diggins in Murphys. 8 tables of players enjoyed a splendid potluck lunch and a Mitchell movement game in a very festive atmosphere.  Vonny Tiscornia enjoyed the party sporting her holiday cowboy hat! (insert two photos)

The Unit Board of Directors voted for the Stockton Club to participate in all special games offered by ACBL for face to face club play at no additional entry fee (which remains at $9 per session).  Also the first Monday of each month “free lunch entree” at the Stockton Club has been expanded to include free pizza on 2nd Thursday, 3rd Friday, and 4th Wednesday.

There will NOT be a Unit game/Sunday potluck on December 21 as this SBC game has been put on hold until at least after football season due to low attendance.  The food and camaraderie have always been excellent so the Board hopes that with lengthening daylight hours in March we will be back to at least seven full tables again. Three more SBC games have also been cancelled for this month only:  December 24, 25, and 26.  But there WILL be games on the 29th and 31st, New Year’s Eve.

Looking ahead to the new year, the Stockton Club has accepted an invitation to play an international team game on BBO Thursday morning, March 5, 2026.  Debbie DeZarn is recruiting foursomes to participate.  It will be very low key and the only reward will be to chat and make new friends in England and perhaps gain some bragging rights if we win the match!  I encourage everyone in all five clubs to participate!  I will help find partners and form teams if pairs let me know of interest.  The Tyler Hill Bridge Club in Canterbury will handle all the logistics and there is no cost to us to participate.  My job is to recruit at least 9 teams and then list them in order of point totals so Simon, their Director, can set up “fair” matches.  He estimates the match of 16 hands (8, then a break to switch opponents, then another 8) will take about 2 hours, beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific time.  Text me at 209-479-4639 if you need teammates and are game for something new!

STOCKTON BRIDGE CLUB

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:30 am.

Non-Life Masters (NLM) 2nd and 4th Thursdays at 11:30 am

3rd Sunday Potluck and Unit game at 12 noon.

CLICK BELOW FOR SPECIAL GAMES SCHEDULE

2025 SPECIAL GAMES.pdf

MOTHER LODE BRIDGE CLUB AT MURPHYS 

Murphys Diggins Club House alternate Mondays at 12:30 pm.

GOLD COUNTRY BRIDGE CLUB AT SAN ANDREAS

Alternate Wednesdays and one Monday per month.

12 noon at San Andreas Senior Center.

SONORA BRIDGE CLUB

 Every Friday at the Sonora Senior Center at 11:30 am.

HWY 49ers BBO CLUB

Online at 1:00 pm alternate Wednesdays.

Call 209-768-2936 for more information on the foothill bridge clubs.  

For a full schedule of all the foothill games, click below.

2025 Schedule.pdf

♥  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!