Illini Champaign Regional -- May 22-28, 2018

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 2018 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, 2018. The first 17 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 IL -- 21,314.33 Gary Kessler, Springfield IL -- 13,767.03 Chris Benson, Leroy IL -- 12,535.54 James Melville, Springfield IL -- 11,311.48 Karen Walker, Champaign IL -- 9120.70 Mark Kessler, Springfield IL -- 8600.19 Dick Kemmerer, Peoria IL -- 5912.54 Mike Halvorsen, Champaign IL -- 5748.03 Hugh Williams, Carbondale IL -- 5635.97 Robert Butz, Kankakee IL -- 5263.57 Nate Ward, Champaign IL -- 5195.36 John Seng, Champaign IL -- 5028.39 Ron Sholes, Springfield IL -- 4383.76 Christine Carroll, Champaign IL -- 4099.80             James Carbaugh, Metamora IL -- 4032.38 Phyllis Rahn, Dunlap IL -- 4025.08 Carl Brueckner, Champaign IL -- 3790.16 Stephen Babin, Normal IL -- 3753.55 Betty Capodice, Bloomington IL -- 3729.55 Leonard Kaufman, Peoria IL -- 3627.36 Ronald Simmons, Peru IL -- 3331.56 Charles Sheaff, Jacksonville IL -- 3328.49 Deborah Avery, Champaign IL -- 3123.70 Ned Horton, Champaign IL -- 3081.58 Paul Lindauer, Varna IL -- 3023.86 Zach Freehill, Bloomington IL -- 2982.69 Elizabeth Zalar, Springfield IL -- 2944.41 Mary Allen, Peoria IL -- 2858.71 Eunice Patton, Bloomington IL -- 2848.80 Carole Sholes, Springfield IL -- 2815.41 Roger Sokol, Minooka IL -- 2750.57 Betty Primm, Athens IL -- 2713.03 Marciann O'Brien, Decatur IL -- 2625.62 Martha Leary, Urbana IL -- 2621.24 Raymond Russ, Henry IL -- 2608.98 Robert Sievers, Champaign IL -- 2601.46 Patricia Carrington, Champaign IL -- 2587.48 Georgia Heth, Morton IL -- 2548.30 Phyllis Collins, Springfield IL -- 2531.75 Terry Goodykoontz, Champaign IL -- 2512.08 Margaret Hansell, Champaign IL -- 2501.08 Janice Franz, Springfield IL -- 2482.62 Mark Daily, Charleston IL -- 2481.06 Leah Newell, Springfield IL -- 2460.51 Carol Umbach, Havana IL -- 2440.61 John Weber, Watseka IL -- 2396.96 Charles Zalar, Springfield IL -- 2387.28 Larry Wilcox, Springfield IL -- 2349.81 Doris Foltz, Springfield IL -- 2325.30 Cindy Moore, Bloomington IL -- 2307.91

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

Patrick Moos, Peoria IL -- 2299.76 JoAnn Schroeder, Normal IL -- 2258.95 Mike Tomlianovich, Bloomington IL -- 2181.17       George Veenstra, Springfield IL -- 2138.08 Henry Hoffman, East Peoria IL -- 2121.79 Bernard Riley, Pekin IL -- 2049.00 Aldo Mancinelli, Decatur IL -- 2023.40 Martha Stutz, Springfield IL -- 2014.46 Ann Schuyler, Bloomington IL -- 1982.76 John Parsons, Springfield IL -- 1966.10 Tim Cull, Mechanicsburg IL -- 1900.60 John Maloney, Champaign IL -- 1879.54 Daniel Taylor, Manteno IL -- 1835.68 Marilyn Stickel, Lacon IL -- 1828.83 Larry Richardson, Springfield IL -- 1828.01 Beverly Bakunas, Decatur IL -- 1765.35 Ann Caparros, Springfield IL -- 1718.41 Sherry Steigmann, Urbana IL -- 1697.15 Lori Moore, Bloomington IL -- 1692.52 Charles Young, Peoria IL -- 1686.49 J Nanda, Charleston IL -- 1674.50 Duane Gronau, Bloomington IL -- 1663.59 Sharon Ertz, Hull IL -- 1659.93 Shirley Judy, Urbana IL -- 1648.10 Dariel Richardson, Rochester IL -- 1643.59 Ann Lang, Mattoon IL -- 1634.05 Randal Malone, Charleston IL -- 1612.78 Alan Stutz, Springfield IL -- 1587.46 D. Atteberry, Mattoon IL -- 1587.39 Joan Burlingame, Urbana IL -- 1574.96 Ronald Emmett, Normal IL -- 1571.55 Dennis Fitton, Mahomet IL -- 1571.05 Martha Neal, Mattoon IL -- 1544.62 Marjorie Hanner, Springfield IL -- 1532.82 Jeanette Sgro, Springfield IL -- 1532.47 Lorraine Wickstrand, Morris IL -- 1529.11 Robert Shair, Champaign IL -- 1527.85 Robert Steigmann, Urbana IL -- 1523.07 Gary Dell, Champaign IL -- 1494.35 Mary Anne Parsons, Springfield IL -- 1487.03 Jay Poling, Decatur IL -- 1454.45 Charlie Morton, Bloomington IL -- 1440.84 Donna Kaufman, Peoria IL -- 1378.47 James Scott, Rantoul IL -- 1368.52 Mary Jones, Champaign IL -- 1342.35 Gary Schechter, Springfield IL -- 1339.85 Rich Pestien, Peoria IL -- 1328.58 Sylvia Lowry, Springfield IL -- 1324.62 Rea Jones, Champaign IL -- 1322.04 Madhu Viswanathan, Champaign IL -- 1287.27

♣  ACBLwide Senior Pairs -- Monday afternoon, March 19

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:

    Bloomington:  Monday Morning DBC, First Christian Church (11:45) -- Lori Moore (309) 838-8085

♣  2017-18 North American Pairs -- Club qualifying games in June, July & August

Cheer on our Unit's winners:  The 2017-18 North American Pairs concludes in March when District winners play in the national championship in Philadelphia. Seven pairs from our Central Illinois Unit qualified to represent District 8 in the national finals. 

    Flight A: Mike Halvorsen, Champaign IL (with Richard Blumenthal, Crystal Lake IL)

Flight B: Mike Tomlianovich & Ann Schuyler, Bloomington IL
                Milt Epstein, Urbana IL - Gary Dell, Champaign IL
                Mary Stuart, Urbana IL - Jim Slaughter, Champaign IL

Flight C:  Patrick & Nancy Chesley, Springfield IL
                 Bill Thompson & Linda Segebart, Champaign IL
                 Jean Brunson & Mike Marlow, Champaign IL

Play begins on March 7 (Flight A) and March 11 (Flights B & C). You can check the results in the online Daily Bulletins from Philadelphia.

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 

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.

Welcome to new members:
Marilyn Bremner, Clinton
Pamela Frisby, Pontiac

Junior Master  (5 masterpoints)
Judith Dietsch, Springfield
Debra Kirsch, Paris
Shipra Somani, Springfield

Club Master  (20)                 
Robert Bray, Bloomington
Marie Johnson, Peoria

NABC Master (200)
William Logan, Springfield