Greater
St. Louis Bridge NewsGreater
St. Louis Bridge NewsEditor:
Sheryl Finkenstadt, St. Louis MO sheryl@finkenstadt.com
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"Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot." There is much to be said for conventions because when they are right, they usually are so very right. But if you can’t remember them, you’re better off not trying to play them. This also includes, by the way, when to Alert a call. If you’re good enough to play it, you’re good enough to remember to Alert it. |
Congratulations to Rod Berry, who recently became Unit 143's second ever Grand Life Master!
The rank requires 10,000 masterpoints plus at least one first-place win in a nationally rated championship with no upper masterpoint restrictions.
Kudos on a monumental achievement!!!
Local players are accustomed to the presence of Emmy, a service dog owned by Stephen Brauss. Emmy ordinarily lies on the floor at Stephen’s side. Occasionally, Stephen plays East-West, and perforce he and Emmy move every round.
At a Saturday game, Beth Percich (director) made her usual announcement, “Move for the next round, please.” Whereupon Emmy promptly arose and started to move to the next table – while Stephen was yet in his seat!
The St Louis Regional, August 6 –12, 2012, was a great success -- 902 players at 1610 tables earned 10,423.55 masterpoints.
Unit members in the Top 25 masterpoint winners were:
#5 97.11 Kenneth Bland
#6 96.81 Rod Beery
#7 95.03 Tom Oppenheimer
#8 94.21 Jack Bryant
#13 86.02 Tom Kniest
#23 68.56 Milt Zlatic
#25 61.41 (tie) Marvin Shapiro and Tony Astrologes
Charity
Pro-Am AuctionThe Third Annual Charity Pro-Am Auction game, held at Bridge Haven on August 26, 2012, raised $5020 for Backstoppers. Chief Ron Battelle (right in photo) of the St. Louis County Police Department received all the checks from Chuck Starovasnik (left).
For this event, a Bridge Pro was someone with 2000+ ACBL master points. “Amateur” bridge players bid to play with bridge pros. The dollar amount bid by the amateur was donated directly to Backstoppers. Twenty-three tables enjoyed the thrill of this event.
Phillip Alder, who placed fourth overall, is a bridge columnist for the New York Times. He wrote about winner John Samsel’s play of the hand here.
The winners and runners-up (name of “Pro” in
italics) were:
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 2nd: Judy Eaton & Bill Eaton |
 3rd: Dorothy Santner & Steve Brauss (with Emmy) |
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 5th: Becky Hubert and Alan Popkin |
 6th: Ed Wang and Rod VanWyk |
Morning winners: Martha Ludewig (1st), Betty & Tony Ponzar (2nd), Phillip Sand & Mark Guignon (1st in Flight C)
The St Louis 199er tournament was held on Saturday, Sept. 29. Chaired by Lee Hastings, the tournament was fun and exciting. There were 40 tables in the morning and 22.5 tables in the afternoon session. Special recognition goes to these first and second place overall winners:
Morning session:
Martha Ludewig - Ken Schwartz, 65.18%, (1AB)
Betty Ponzar - Tony Ponzar, 64.70% (2A)
Karl Lovegreen - Dale Burian, 61.96% (4/5A, 2B)
Phillip Sand - Mark Guignon, 61.19% (6A, 3B, 1C)
Ann Lemp – Frank Lemp, 60.95% (4B, 2C)
Afternoon session:
Jan Greenberg - Barbara Cook, 65.95% (1ABC)
Betty Ponzar - Tony Ponzar, 60.28% (2A)
Regina Schlueter - Ken Schlueter, 59.58% (3A, 2B)
Aloys Faenger - Jim Bowers, 53.89% (2C)
The St. Louis Bridge center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization
dedicated to training and educating the bridge-playing community. Located in
University City, convenient to I-170 & I-64, the center held “practice games”
on three days late in
September. These were fully accredited ACBL games, free to Center members and only $5 to
guests. the Wednesday game had 37 tables, Thursday’s had 66.5 tables, and
Thursday’s had 24 tables. Regularly scheduled games commenced on October 1, and
are open to everyone.
To learn more about SLBC games, lessons and special events, visit the SLBC web site: http://stlouisbridge.org
Seminar: A special 2-day seminar by Jerry Helms will be at the SLBC on Oct 23-24, 2012. Jerry Helms is a professional bridge player, writer and teacher who specializes in group seminars. As a player, he has appeared 27 consecutive times on the annual American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) "Top 500" list. For info about this seminar, email Bill Canfield at info@stlouisbridge.org.
Unit 143 now has 1189 members. Congratulations to the 57 following players, who have gained new stature between August 1 and October 1, 2012.
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New Junior Masters (5+) Jim Bowers Aloys H Faenger Lemp Frank Fritz C Gebhard Mary Ann Gerdes Kurt Hoener Michael G Kelly Richard G Kerwin Tom F McClarren Vicky Stringer Kathleen M Tacony Aimee H Whitelaw
New Club Masters (20+) Sally Anderson Richard T Cummings Carole J Deaver Fruma Kane Ann K Lemp Wendy E Olk Dorothy A Schainker Lauretta M Weimer Kelly P White
New Sectional Masters (50+) William A Davis Jerry Dutra Grace A Fagin John J Oefelein Robert F Wood Maryann Zimmermann
New Regional Masters (100+) Wallace H Burton Allan G Curtis Jo Ann Froehlich Patricia S Mendel Tony Ponzar Shirley A Ryan Marian P Solari Marilyn R Stoces |
New NABC Masters (200+) Barbara P Bridgewater Mark E Brightfield Lois S Frank Shirley B Ringland Roberta Trochtenberg
New Life Masters (300+) Kevin Clarkin Bernard Hoover Carol Jablonow Susan K Kilo Marvin R Meinz Linda G Mize Stephen M Russell Raye M Zeigler
New Bronze Life Masters (500+) Mark A Gilje Page S Jackson Linda G Mize Dennis Puryear Gretchen L Smith
New Silver Life Masters (1,000+) John J Antognoli Hall B Whitaker
New Gold Life Master (2,500+) Suzi Shymanski-Moore
New Grand Life Master
Rod Beery |
October 19-21, 2012 -- Fall Sectional, Blanchette Park, St. Charles.
January 18-20, 2013 -- Winter Sectional, Blanchette Park, St. Charles
