♣  Greater St. Louis Bridge News  ♣

News from Greater St. Louis Unit 143

Editor:  Debbie Romero    dcromero@sbcglobal.net
 

Unit 143 Tournaments

Open Sectionals: The recent Unit 143 May 2023 Sectional had a good turnout with 199 tables.  This attendance was a 23% improvement over the attendance level of the prior year May 2022 Sectional Tournament, but was still only 67% of the attendance of the pre-pandemic May 2019 Sectional.  Attendance trends are now moving in the right UPWARD direction, and Unit 143 extends a hearty THANK YOU to all the players who came out and supported the tournament!

Open Regional:  Unit 143 is offering an exciting new tournament format for the St. Louis August Regional scheduled for August 1414-20, 2023 at the Renaissance Hotel by the airport.  Changes include:
   (1)  Both 2-session Gold Rush Pairs (for 0-750 players only) and 2-session Open Pairs will be offered EVERYDAY except Sunday.
   (2)  Three Mini-Soloway Knockouts (KO) are on the schedule followed by a Bracketed Swiss team event offered on the second day of each KO. Mini-Soloway KO's use a 2-session Swiss on day 1 of the KO to determine which teams advance.  All teams are therefore guaranteed to play in at least 2 sessions of the KO event.
   (3)  The separate Bracketed Swiss event offered on day 2 of each KO provides another 2-session team event for teams that are eliminated on the first day of each KO.  A WIN-WIN for everyone!

Please check out the new regional tournament schedule posted here and on the ACBL website. We hope to see you in August.

BRAND NEW EVENT: Non-Life Master Regional combined with an Open Sectional
    Unit 143 is holding a new type of tournament scheduled for October 20-22, 2023.  It combines a Non Life Master (NLM) Regional for NLM players (0-750 mps) with an Open Sectional Tournament.  Two-session Gold Rush Pairs for 0-750 NLM players will be offered each day of the tournament, giving players an opportunity to earn gold and red points.
    Open Sectional events will run concurrently with the NLM Regional at the same location and will continue to offer silver point opportunities for players.

Special Events:  The ACBL is having its annual Longest Day Fundraising Event to support the fight against Alzheimer's disease this month during the week of June 18 - June 25.  Several Unit 143 Clubs are participating as follows:
    Bridge Haven Game at Noon on Saturday, June 24 (Lucky 7 Swiss Teams)
    Jay Shah's South County Game (Mehlville) at 10 am on Tuesday, June 20 (Open Pairs)
    St. Louis Bridge Center Games on Thursday, June 22 at 10 am, 2 pm, & 6 pm (Both Open Pairs & 0-750 Pairs)

Unit 143 Board

Unit 143 Officers for 2023 are:
   President:  Mark Boswell
   Vice President:  Mark Zellmer
   Treasurer:  Steve Russell
   Secretary:  Sandy Bigg

Unit 143 Tournament Coordinator:  Dennis Abeln

There is currently one open director position on the Unit 143 Board.

Game Schedules

Face-to-Face bridge games are available within Unit 143 for players of all skill levels. Currently, there are no regular online club games in the St. Louis area except in the case of inclement weather conditions.  Please check the table below for schedules and availability.

Face-to-Face Bridge Games

For the latest schedule of Face-to-Face Bridge games, please visit the various websites as follows:

    Unit 143 www.unit143.org

    Bridge Haven bridgeatbridgehaven.com

    St. Louis Bridge Center stlouisbridge.org