Illini Champaign Regional -- May 20-26, 2016

Make plans now for our Unit's annual regional tournament, coming up Memorial Day week in Champaign.

We'll again be playing in the Hawthorn Suites hotel and offering lots of extras, including a speakers program, entry-fee discounts, nightly buffets and a hotel hospitality suite for socializing after the game. Bridge rate is $95 for a suite with kitchen, one or two beds, sleeper sofa and free wifi. Room rate includes daily hot breakfast and Wednesday-night dinner.  

Hawthorn reservations:  217-398-3400.  Please reserve early.

This year's schedule features three of the popular Gold Rush Pair events for 0-750 players. You can check out the 2016 events on the tournament schedule page.
 

♣   Central Illinois Top 100   ♣

Here are the top masterpoint holders in Central Illinois Unit 208 and their career point totals as of January 6, 2016. The first 20 players are ranked in the top 100 of all players in District 8 (see the District Top 100 list in this issue).
 

1    2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Colby Vernay, Lacon -- 20,189.99 Gary Kessler, Springfield -- 13,420.77 Chris Benson, Leroy -- 11,876.62 Jim Melville, Springfield -- 9784.59 Karen Walker, Champaign -- 8798.47 Mark Kessler, Springfield -- 8121.63 Dan Requard, Springfield -- 7536.79 Mike Halvorsen, Champaign -- 5539.58       Hugh Williams, Carbondale -- 5424.43 Dick Kemmerer, Peoria -- 5388.15 Nate Ward, Champaign -- 4842.57 Robert Butz, Kankakee -- 4746.65 John Seng, Champaign -- 4618.31 Robert Hayes, Morris -- 4363.15 Phyllis Rahn, Dunlap -- 4015.74 Ron Sholes, Springfield -- 3934.99 Christine Carroll, Champaign -- 3852.84 Carl Brueckner, Champaign -- 3679.51 Betty Capodice, Bloomington -- 3664.09 James Carbaugh, Metamora -- 3582.38 Stephen Babin, Normal -- 3354.56 Leonard Kaufman, Peoria -- 3296.93 Ronald Simmons, Peru -- 3242.68 Charles Sheaff, Jacksonville -- 3112.53 Deborah Avery, Champaign -- 2987.85 Ned Horton, Champaign -- 2969.74 Paul Lindauer, Varna -- 2810.88 Elizabeth Zalar, Springfield -- 2746.27 Chloe Trautman, Champaign -- 2553.65 Betty Primm, Athens -- 2548.73 Robert Sievers, Champaign -- 2525.08 Carole Sholes, Springfield -- 2498.57 Pat Carrington, Champaign -- 2497.90 Georgia Heth, Morton -- 2496.56 Phyllis Collins, Springfield -- 2478.21 Zach Freehill, Bloomington -- 2475.79 Ray Russ, Henry -- 2473.46 Martha Leary, Urbana -- 2451.67 Marciann O'Brien, Decatur -- 2445.26 Roger Sokol, Minooka -- 2437.63 Leah Newell, Springfield -- 2430.20 Carol Umbach, Havana -- 2369.81 Mary Allen, Peoria -- 2369.08 Margaret Hansell, Champaign -- 2330.31 Charles Zalar, Springfield -- 2322.53 Janice Franz, Springfield -- 2309.86 Eunice Patton, Bloomington -- 2288.97 Doris Foltz, Springfield -- 2258.20 John Weber, Watseka -- 2226.31 Mary Raney, Normal -- 2189.51

51    52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Terry Goodykoontz, Champaign -- 2161.72 Mike Tomlianovich, Bloomington -- 2082.43      Larry Wilcox, Springfield -- 2072.91 Patrick Moos, Peoria -- 2047.23 Mark Daily, Charleston -- 2011.82 Aldo Mancinelli, Decatur -- 1996.13 George Veenstra, Springfield -- 1983.23 Martha Stutz, Springfield -- 1922.60 John Parsons, Springfield -- 1921.00 Henry Hoffman, East Peoria -- 1876.24 Bernard Riley, Pekin -- 1850.51 Tim Cull, Springfield -- 1786.93 Beverly Bakunas, Decatur -- 1700.92 Sharon Ertz, Hull -- 1659.93 Marilyn Stickel, Lacon -- 1647.64 Larry Richardson, Springfield -- 1640.32 J. Nanda, Charleston -- 1636.67 Cindy Moore, Bloomington -- 1618.04 Sherry Steigmann, Urbana -- 1607.17 Shirley Judy, Urbana -- 1599.92 C. Joan Green, Springfield -- 1584.65 Ann Caparros, Springfield -- 1581.16 Duane Gronau, Bloomington -- 1575.91 JoAnn Schroeder, Normal -- 1573.99 Dennis Fitton, Mahomet -- 1561.01 Joan Burlingame, Champaign -- 1553.59 Dariel Richardson, Rochester -- 1546.17 Martha Neal, Mattoon -- 1544.62 Ann Schuyler, Bloomington -- 1541.96 Daniel Taylor, Manteno -- 1533.63 Lorraine Wickstrand, Morris -- 1529.11 Bobbie Straker, Pekin -- 1523.21 Ann Lang, Mattoon -- 1522.18 Alan Stutz, Springfield -- 1511.50 John Maloney, Champaign -- 1499.83 D. Atteberry, Mattoon -- 1476.54 Robert Shair, Champaign -- 1464.82 Marjorie Hanner, Springfield -- 1463.57 Charles Young, Peoria -- 1448.02 Mary Anne Parsons, Springfield -- 1436.01 Robert Steigmann, Urbana -- 1431.75 Jay Poling, Decatur -- 1384.93 Gary Dell, Champaign -- 1370.45 James Scott, Rantoul -- 1366.03 Gary Schechter, Springfield -- 1339.85 Randal Malone, Charleston -- 1330.56 Stephen Borbely, Dewey -- 1304.69 Sylvia Lowry, Springfield -- 1302.71 Madhu Viswanathan, Champaign -- 1286.64 Donna Kaufman, Peoria -- 1275.84

♣  ACBLwide Senior Pairs -- Monday afternoon, March 7

This annual event, open to ages 55+, offers extra masterpoints, pre-dealt hands and online hand analyses after the game. The same hands are being played at clubs around the nation and will offer District-wide and nationwide awards. The sanction fee is $1 more than your club's regular entry fee. Central Illinois clubs that will be hosting this game are:

    Springfield:  Bridge Center of Springfield (12:30) -- Ann Caparros  (217) 726-9456

♣  2016-17 North American Pairs -- Club qualifying games in June, July & August

Cheer on our Unit's winners:  The 2015-16 North American Pairs concludes in March when District winners play in the national championship in Reno. Six pairs from our Central Illinois Unit will be representing District 8 in the national finals. 

     Flight A:   Nate Ward & Karen Walker, Champaign 
                     Martha Leary, Champaign & Dick Ellis, Kokomo IN

     Flight B:   Clay Cuthbertson, Quincy IL & Norman Goldman, Chesterfield MO   
                     Bob Sievers & David Wetzel, Champaign IL 

     Flight C:   Wes Seitz & Bill Strauss, Champaign
                     Alin Olaru & Sorin Vasile, Peoria 

Play begins on March 9 (Flight A) and March 13 (Flights B & C). You can check the results in the online Daily Bulletins from Reno.

Visit the ACBL Unit Awards page to view lists of the top ten Unit players in each category (type 208 into the box that asks for your Unit number). Official results will be posted in mid-February. Year-end results for our Central Illinois Unit will be published in the April issue of this newsletter.

Movin' Up 

At the Board meeting in Denver, ACBL added two new ranks -- Ruby Life Master (1500 points) and Sapphire Life Master (3500) -- which automatically moved many of our Unit members to new ranks. These new designations also require that the total points include a minimum combined number of silver, red, gold and platinum points.

See the ACBL website for a list of all masterpoint ranks and the requirements for achieving each. Requirements for those who joined ACBL after January 2, 2010 are here.