Greater St. Louis Bridge News

News from Greater St. Louis Unit 143

Editor:  Mary Dolan, 10806 Charlton Way, St. Louis, MO 63146     dolanmary@sbcglobal.net 
 


Some players are luckier than others. 
The reason is that they give their opponents the chance to be unlucky.” 

From Card Play Technique: the Art of Being Lucky by Victor Mollo and Nico Gardener


Unit 143 winners in 2015 District 8 NAP

These Unit 143 pairs gave opponents many chances to be unlucky during their outstanding performance in the District 8 North American Pair Finals held in November in Champaign IL.     

At the top of the list are Flight A’s Milt Zlatic and Tom Oppenheimer. After a 54.76% afternoon game, Milt and Tom came back with a stellar 70.24% evening result to take 1st place overall with their 62.50%. 

Flight B’s Norman Goldman and Clay Cuthbertson, with 60+% games in both the afternoon and evening sessions, took first place with a final 60.35%.

Flight C’s Aaron Krieser and James Voelz, also with 60+% games both in afternoon and evening, took first with a final of 64.09%. 

See the story in this issue for winner photos and more details. 


2016 Winter Sectional

Cure cold weather “blues” by attending the St. Louis Winter Sectional which will take place at Blanchette Park, St. Charles, MO from Friday January 15, 2016 through Sunday, January 17. 

Open Pairs events are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.  In addition to the two-session open Swiss on Sunday, there will be one-session open Swiss events on Friday evening and 9:00 AM Saturday morning.  For the 0-299 players, Pairs events are scheduled for Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening, and a 0-300 Swiss Team event for Sunday. Click here for the full schedule.

Masterpoint Milestones

Congratulations to these Unit 143 members:

Life Master: Bill Davis, Mike Kelley

Silver Life Master: Susan Rosenthal

Gold Life Master:  Michael Pitonak

Local Club Milestone

St. Louis Bridge Center jumped from 15th to 9th in the ACBL list of  Top 50 Clubs.  In 2014, The Center reported 10,112.5 tables, a 13% increase over the previous year’s 8,942.5 tables.  Congratulations to founders Bill Canfield and Keith Graves, to the board members, and to the hard-working directors, staff, and volunteers.


Membership Stats  

At left is a grid of Unit 143’s membership by rank.

As you see, 75% (1052) of our members are below Life Master status and 25% (351) are Life Masters or above. Members are always surprised when seeing these numbers for the first time.   Most, if asked before seeing the above, would give more weight to the Life Master and Silver ranks. 

In the non-life master group (1052), a startling 76% of these players have less than 100 masterpoints. 

Directors and bridge teachers at Unit 143 clubs should be commended for recruiting new players, offering a competitive, supportive and fun playing environment, and providing an array of training opportunities for beginning bridge players, for players new to duplicate, and for players at all levels who want to improve their game. These efforts are paying off.
 


Fall Sectional Results

 It may have had a little to do with our beloved Cardinals being eliminated in the playoffs earlier that week.  For whatever reason, attendance was good, and bridge players were able to give their full attention to competing in the St. Louis Fall Sectional.  Terrific hospitality and friendly competition made up for being indoors on a weather-perfect weekend. 

Players earned 1625.08 masterpoints at 376 tables. Here are the top 25 winners. 

  52.81 Alan Popkin, Saint Louis MO

  43.03 Tom Oppenheimer, Clayton MO

  38.07 En Xie, Saint Louis MO

  37.34 Jack Bryant, Saint Louis MO

  37.23 Nancy Popkin, Saint Louis MO

  36.09 Debra Romero, Clarkson Valley MO

  27.86 Milton Zlatic, Saint Louis MO

  27.46 Tom Kniest, Brentwood MO

  24.97 George Markus, Clayton MO

  23.90 Clay Cuthbertson, Quincy IL

  23.14 Michael Pitonak, Valley Park MO

  20.43 Tod Moses, Saint Louis MO

  20.43 James Ward, Champaign IL

  19.20 Mark Boswell, Clarkson Valley MO

  18.32 Bob Bainter, Saint Louis MO

  17.03 Mark Kessler, Springfield IL

  16.60 Susan Perez, Maryland Hgts MO

  15.36 Marvin Shapiro, Saint Louis MO

  15.36 Anthony Astrologes, Bridgeton MO

  14.91 Cookie Arneson, Saint Louis MO

  14.20 Fritz Gebhard, Saint Louis MO

  14.20 Diana Votaw, Chesterfield MO

  14.12 Dianne Glick, Saint Louis MO

  13.61 Dennis Spencer, Saint Louis MO

  12.72 Norman Goldman, Chesterfield MO