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RUBY LIFE MASTER - Keith Thompson [St Paul] SILVER LIFE MASTER - Gene Nelson [Maple Grove] BRONZE LIFE MASTER - Mike Curran [Maple Grove] LIFE MASTER - Kathy Stadther [St Cloud], Kay O'Brien [Apple Valley] John Pelegano [St Paul], Mike Curran [Maple Grove] ADVANCED NABC MASTER - Judy Knutson [St Cloud] NABC MASTER - David Lui [Roseville], Nancy Brunzel [St Cloud] REGIONAL MASTER - Robert Engstrom [Bloomington], Mary Helen Gill [Long Lake] Dennis Hoidal [Columbus], Diana Peterson [Ramsey] Joann Sufka [Nisswa] SECTIONAL MASTER - Diane Alhouse [St Paul], V Francis Luikart [St Paul] Robert Marx [Maple Grove], Betsy Michel [Minneapolis] CLUB MASTER - Dick Argue [Rochester], Greg Sletten [Detroit Lakes] Brian-Paul Crowder [Little Falls] JUNIOR MASTER - Weston Cutter [Mendota Heights], Susan Egan [St Paul] Mary Jane Edel-Joyce [Roseville], David Jann [Birchwood] Randall Shane [St Paul], Jill Wroblewski [Minneapolis] |
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- Each player's ACBL number - Each player's BBO username - The flight (A, B, or C) for which you are registering - A check for the entry fee payable to: District 14 ACBL c/o Keith Thompson 8624 Crest Road Bloomington MN 55425 |
So when it comes to special games (like the NAP and GNT finals, for example), why does D14 have them online? It's true that more players can play from the comfort of their homes (and not travel) with online play, but do they come out in bigger numbers? Attendance for these special events when held online would suggest maybe not:   |
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The bottom line is that everyone needs to keep working hard in reaching out to members whose membership has lapsed, as well as recruiting and maintaining newer players. Hopefully the newer ACBL targets coming up in the 4th quarter will also help.  |
 Such fun - we may have to do this again next year! And whether you played in this Unit NAP Final or not, having qualified at the club level this summer still qualifies you to play in the D14 NAP Finals which get going the first weekend of October online. The Conditions of Contest state that you are eligible to play in the D14 Finals as long as you qualified at the club level, so we hope to see many more of you playing online starting October 5th. For the details of how to enter the D14 NAP Finals, click here. (You must submit your information and entry fee by October 1st!) UPDATE: Individual scores and results from Saturday's game are available by clicking here.   
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Partial list of goals: play live bridge again; fly to CA to see the grand daughters; drive that tractor." - Laurie |
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Get a partner who has also qualified at the club level and we'll see you next Saturday! | |
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You can register for this course by emailing Scott Krupke [Little Falls] at krupkebridge-at-gmail-dot-com or by visiting the Sartell Community Center website. It sounds like a great introduction to the game of bridge, so if you know someone who might be interested, here's your chance to get them involved! |
Friday night's 7-table open game in St Cloud saw Shirley Richardson [St Joseph] and Scott Richardson [St Joseph] earn a huge game of 76.64%. Of the 28 boards they played, 8 were outright top boards, and another 7 were tied for the top matchpoint award on the board - look for their names to be in an upcoming ACBL Bulletin soon. |  |
There are a few more of these special games coming up in 2024 - the schedule can be found by clicking here. If your local club is not running these games - ask your local club to sign up as a participating club so you can get in on the action. |
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Day 5 of 6 at the tournament saw another 47 tables in play, with Robyn Johnson [St Paul] and Erik Johnson [St Paul] coming in 1st in today's Gold Rush pairs. The Open pairs was championed by Ben Kristensen [Duluth] and Kyra Helmbold [Minneapolis]. And today's Bracketed Swiss team of Sandy Fisher [Long Lake], Paul Meerschaert [Long Lake], Dave Collins [Fridley] and Danny Collins [Fridley] took the top award there. One more day to go before the bidding boxes are put away. Click here for the masterpoint winners. Click here for the full tournament results. |
 | Here's Sarah Wahl [Minneapolis], who played in the TH/F Knockout with teammates Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis], Peter Bock [Apple Valley], and Bev Meyer [Minneapolis], getting to the semi-finals to score more than 17 Gold points and put her over the top - to become Minnesota's LATEST "Newest Life Master"! The next time you see Sarah at the table, be sure to give her a thumbs up. |
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 Tables on day 3 at the tournament came in at 79.5 in play - that's 64.8% of the day 3 tables five years ago (and best attendance of the week so far). Through three days it's Tony Ames [Minnetonka] and George Bleskachek [Eau Claire] who are atop the masterpoint winners with 41.32 gold points; 234 players in all have earned some gold so far, and there's another three days to go. Click here for the masterpoint winners. Click here for the Daily Bulletin. Click here for the full tournament results. There was an online event this week for the Gold Rush and Open players, and the Gold Rush was won by Sarah and Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis] - with Karen Lee Barrett [Elk Point SD] and Anne Beaurivage [Lincoln NE] coming in tops among the field. Congratulations to all those who played online and got some gold points! |
 Another mini-Soloway KO team event gets going tomorrow. Today's Open Pairs winners were Tony Ames [Minnetonka] and George Bleskichek [Eau Claire], and the Gold Rush pair that came in 1st overall today was Linus Bendel-Stenzel [Edina] and partner Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis].  And today's Bracketed Swiss Teams champs were Jerry Rosenblad [Stewartville], Al Larson [Rochester], Ed Prosser [Rochester], and Rod Morlock [Stewartville] - well done, all!  Five years ago, there had been 202.5 tables in play through two days, so we're at 55.3% of 2019's tables to date. (Historically, first time post-COVID-held tournaments have had 56% to 57% of their pre-COVID tables, so we are right in line with expectations.)  There is an online option for gold points with this tournament, that's open to everyone in D14. These online evening games started tonight and continue tomorrow night - and have 5 tables in the Open crowd with 11 Gold Rush tables in play. (These online tables are not included in the overall table counts here, as there was no online option in 2019.) Full results from the tournament can be found by clicking here; and the online bulletin for today can be found by clicking here. Masterpoint winners for the tournament can be found by clicking here. |
  Winners on Tuesday included Greg Caucutt [Rochester] and Carole Mataya [Rochester], coming in 1st place overall in the Open Pairs. In the Gold Rush pairs, Sydney Lund [Amery WI] and Colin Hall [Sioux Falls SD] came in 1st place overall - but there's more to the story. These two have never played together - they got hooked up at the partnership desk - and still came in 1st place! Congratulations to both these pairs (and everyone who had some fun on Tuesday). Play resumes in the morning at 10am. Full results can be found by clicking here; and it's not too late to join in on the fun! A reminder that the online Open pairs and online Gold Rush get going tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm. Just sign into BBO and look under the VACB games (just like you would for a regular club game) - you'll see the D14 Rochester Regional events listed. Get a partner and play against other D14 pairs, to get some gold points without leaving your own living room! |
- Look under "Virtual Clubs" - Look under "North America" - Under the listing of available games, you'll see the Rochester Med City Regional D14 games (both Open and Gold Rush) - Sign up for your game with your partner just like any club BBO game |
And if you're not planning to head to Rochester, remember there's a convenient stay-at-home online option for this Regional, where you can get GOLD points by playing online. It's just like any other VACB game on BBO, where you'll see the game listed for a 7:00pm start on Wednesday night. Of course, there's nothing keeping you from attending this tournament in person - AND playing online! But whether you'll be participating in person or online (or both!), it's all good to go for tomorrow's opening rounds at 1:30pm. |
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 | Everything is a "go" for this tournament starting Tuesday - and we hope to see you there. (We will definitely save one of these tables for you.) |
Players must have qualified for the NAP at their local clubs this summer to play in this Unit Final. If you are unaware of whether or not you qualified at your local club this year, click here to open the list of NAP qualifiers for Minnesota. (With 557 players having qualified, there's a good chance your name is on the list.) The games on the 21st are at 10am and 2pm, and will pay LOTS of red and gold points. The flyer for this Unit Final party atmosphere is to your right (or you can click here). September is a busy, busy month for bridge players, and this is one of the major events - so plan on getting a partner and we'll see you on the 21st. | |
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The number of Minnesota players who have qualified to go on in this competition is HUGE. This year, 557 players have qualified in the NAP - that list of all those players can be accessed by clicking here. The vast majority of these players (261) who have qualified are Flight "C" players, which is terrific. Year-over-year table data is up compared to 2023 across the board. Next up for the NAP is for these qualified players to play in the big NAP Unit Final. That two-session event will be held on September 21st at the Bridge Center of St Paul, where lots of red and gold points await. After that - it's the NAP D14 Finals, which will be held online the first weekend of October. Congratulations to everyone who has qualified this year! |    |
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 | There will be an online option for both Gold Rush (under 750 masterpoints) and Open players on BBO starting next Wednesday evening at 7pm. Just sign in to BBO and look under "virtual clubs" like any other online club game. You'll see the regional games listed there. NOTE that ALL participants in the online game option for this regional will receive our Med City Regional patch for their convention card (to impress their opponents, natch) - along with the one-of-a-kind prize for those that come in 1st place in their event. |
 International Fund Games all month long at your local clubsExtra black masterpoints Rochester Med City Regional 3rd to the 8thGold and red points with teams and pairs every day of the week ACBL-wide International Fund Game on the 11th10.00 masterpoints go to the top score in D14; participating clubs can be found here Minnesota North American Pairs Unit Final - Roseville on the 21stRed points and some gold available in this non-qualifying 2-session NAP extravaganza Fall Sectional in Mankato on the 28th and 29thSilver points at the Rambling River Sectional Grand National Teams Qualifying at your local clubAll month long, you can get red and black points in team games at your local club |
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| Open (unlimited masterpoints) 0-6000 masterpoints (Flight "A") 0-3000 masterpoints (Flight "B") 0-750 masterpoints, no Life Masters (Flight "C") |
| With the trailer coming to Rochester for the regional there next week, this seemed like an ideal time to go through all of the tables and replace the worst of the worst. A request has been made to Unit 178's Board to also purchase ten new tables (Gopher Chair Patti Stuhlman asked that the Units split the cost of this 50/50) - we'll see what they say. In the meantime, look for newer, better tables at the Gopher next year for those finesses that still might not work. |
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  | Next step in the NAP is the Minnesota NAP Unit Final on Saturday, September 21st, which will be held in person at the Bridge Center of St Paul's Roseville location. Then it is the online D14 NAP Finals October 5th and 6th (more on that by clicking here). |
But according to our Region 5 Director Dennis Carman [Chicago IL], there's a hitch involved. The ACBL's Advisory Council has asked that the District Directors reconsider their motion - there is a meeting on this Tuesday night. (We have made an effort to get some information from the Advisory Council, but have not yet heard anything.) For now, it appears as though the GNT strats for the upcoming season (starting next Sunday) will remain as they have been. (NOTE: This reversal does not diminish any level of FUN with this year's GNT.) Any updates we receive will be posted. UPDATE: Another motion made, and passed, will change the strats effective September 1st of this year. The details can be found by clicking here. |
 (Left to right, that's Mark Stiegel [St Cloud], Jane Curtis [Clear Lake], Greg Nastrom [St Cloud], and Darlene Nastrom [St Cloud].) More details on the results of this fun night of bridge can be found by clicking here. |
RUBY LIFE MASTER - Keith Thompson [St Paul] SILVER LIFE MASTER - Gene Nelson [Maple Grove] BRONZE LIFE MASTER - Michael Curran [Maple Grove] LIFE MASTER - Michael Curran [Maple Grove], Kay O'Brien [Apple Valley], John Pelegano [St Paul], Kathy Stadther [St Cloud] ADVANCED NABC MASTER - Judy Knutson [St Cloud] NABC MASTER - Nancy Brunzel [Chisago City]. David Lui [Roseville] REGIONAL MASTER - Bob Engstrom [Bloomington], Mary Helen Gill [Long Lake], Dennis Hoidal [Columbus], Diana Peterson [Ramsey], Joann Sufka [Nisswa] SECTIONAL MASTER - Diane Alshouse [St Paul], V Francis Luikart [St Paul], Robert Marx [Maple Grove], Betsy Michel {Minneapolis] CLUB MASTER - Dick Argue [Rochester], Brian-Paul K Crowder [Little Falls], Gregory Sletten [Detroit Lakes] JUNIOR MASTER - Weston Cutter [Mendota Heights], Susan Egan [St Paul], Mary Jane Edel-Joyce [Roseville], David Jann [Birchwood], Randall Shane [St Paul], Jill Wroblewski [Minneapolis] |
First, the ACBL's definition of a "session interval". That's the time between the scheduled start time of two consecutive sessions. A tournament with events at 10am and 2pm would be a four-hour session interval. 10am and 3pm would be a five-hour session interval. In a nutshell: Session intervals of less than four hours and thirty minutes (4:30) are not permitted except by special permission. Permission must be requested by contacting tournaments@acbl.org. 4:30 or 4:45 session intervals are permitted for sessions of no more than 24 boards. Session intervals of 5:00 or longer are permitted for pairs sessions up to 27 boards or team sessions up to 28 boards. |
This is one of a half-dozen bridge classes being taught all over the state of Minnesota next month. There's a class near you no matter where you live, and you can get the latest details on all of the lessons offered this fall by clicking here. |  |
Today's big winners were Sarah Wahl [Minneapolis] and Linus Bendel-Stenzel [Edina], which, combined with their scores on day 1 of this tournament makes them the I/N Tournament Champions! Congratulations to both of them - and to all the I/N players who scored some silver points at the tournament this week. You can find all the results from this tournament by clicking here; now that these players got a chance to earn some silver points, next up it's gold points at the Rochester Med City Regional in a couple of weeks! Congratulations to all the players this week in St Paul. Below are your masterpoint leaders from the tournament. |
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Below is a chart of the combined Minnesota club face-to-face tables as a percentage of club in-person and online tables. The trend, over time, has been to move back to in-person bridge - and over the past 52 weeks, face-to-face tables have consistently made up more than 90% of all Minnesota club tables. Remember, just four years ago, there was some question if we would ever be back at the bridge table in person! But for fans of F2F cards, it's all good news.  |
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Click on the flyer to your right for more information, and you can get the full details of this tournament by clicking here.  |
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2 Gary Schneider [Duluth] Mike Schultz [Duluth] 62.86% 3 James Boardman [Cedar Radpids IA] Greg Slager [Cedar Rapids IA] 60.32% 4 Bob Buckheister [Cedar Rapids IA] Al Langenfeld [Cedar Rapids IA] 60.05% 5 Layne Vinje [Rochester] Judy Argue [Rochester] 59.79% The next ACBL-wide game will be for the ACBL's International Fund, and will be held on Wednesday afternoon, September 11th. Get your club to get in on the action! And for a list of clubs participating in that September game, click here. |
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Check out the six-week rolling average of tables per Minnesota F2F club game below. It lists every weekly six-week rolling average since the post-COVID reopening in 2021; and the 12-week post-Gopher Regional period for each year is highlighted in red. What this chart shows is that two years ago, the average size of the typical Minnesota F2F club game was 6.30 tables. One year later (in 2023), it went up +5.3% to 6.63 tables per game. And this year, it has gone up another +5.1% to 6.97 tables per game. There's always room for improvement - but this is a trend that is currently moving in the right direction.  |
  | Between club F2F play (up +8.1%) and the three tournaments since the Gopher (+22.2%), overall tables in play across the state are up +9.7% over the same 12 post-Gopher weeks as in 2023. With the Edina Senior Center closed for a short period this summer, Unit 178's club tables took a small hit - but the Twin Cities Metro area still saw growth of +10.9% over last year. Here are those table counts for the period of May 27 to August 17:
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The result: Without the growth happening at the Bridge Center of St Paul, Minnesota's overall F2F club tables have still risen +2.8% over last year; Metro Area tables showing very modest growth (+0.8%, thanks to the Woodbury Club); and the rest of Unit 103 clubs over the period saw an increase of +7.5%. |
Clubs, including here in Minnesota, do not have to have a Thursday afternoon sanction to participate, but their club must register by clicking here. Any club can participate, so if you'd like your local bridge club to be part of the party, be sure to ask your club manager about getting involved. |
On top of all of the tournament action next month, September is International Fund Game month - so your local bridge club will be holding some International Fund games for extra black masterpoints. And Wednesday, September 11th is an ACBL-wide International Fund Game, where (once again) lots and lots of extra masterpoints are available. And did we mention that the Grand National Teams qualifying period begins on September 1st? September will be "lit" - bring it on! |
October 7 through November 11 (six sessions) Instructor: Scott Krupke Cost: $50 Lessons being taught elsewhere across Minnesota this fall can be found by clicking here. |
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Keith's lesson on the 15th will be about counting winners and losers on your initial hand, and how to plan for an end play. Advance sign-up isn't required, just bring a partner and the expectation of a good time. |
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| Patti reported attendance at this year's Gopher (751.5 tables) was up +9.4% compared to 2023. There was also a profit of $6,316.36 from this year's event, split between the two Minnesota Units. For the 2025 Gopher, a couple of new ideas are on tap. One, the two-day four-session team events limited participation; so there was discussion to move to Bracketed Teams each day of the tournament. Two, should an evening session be added to the tournament? Committee members want to have an opporunity for those who work a chance to play during the evening, even if that is online. The schedule for the 2025 Gopher is expected to be set in September. Connie Nelson [Avon], the Gopher Publicity Chair, Warren Nelson [Cloquet], the Gopher Co-Chair with Patti, and Brian Crossley [Burnsville], Information Desk Chair, are all retiring from their positions going forward. They have done a terrific job over the years, and everyone thanks them (especially Patti!) for their support. Betty Trillegi (Richfield) is taking over the Information Desk, and Bev Meyer [Minneapolis] and Annie Schaeffer [Lakeville] will work together on the 2025 Partnership Desk. If you or someone you know might be interested in helping out with next year's Gopher, Patti would love to hear from you. It's never too early to start working on next year's tournament. Notes from the meeting are to your left (click to open in a new window). |
 | Just who is this Minnesota bridge player? You may already know who it is. . .but if not, we'll have an update when they cross that 10,000 masterpoint finish line. And if it happens in Rochester, there will definitely be a party that you do not want to miss. |
Click on the flyer to your right for more information, and you can get the full details of this tournament by clicking here. |
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This event is being held Wednesday August 21st to Friday August 23rd, with NLM pairs games at 10am and 2pm. Non-Life Masters with up to 749 masterpoints are invited, however because it's stratified, 99ers get compared to players with their own experience level. If you're looking to play and need a partner, Kim Hayward [Bayport] will set you up - call her at 651-271-3500. |
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| Our Minnesota players did well in Omaha this week, with 12 of them earning some masterpoints at the tournament. You can see a list of the Minnesota players and their Omaha Regional winnings to your left (click on the chart to open it in a new window). Of note: of these Minnesota players, Amy Dutton [Mendota Heights] and her partner Bill Bonneau [Omaha NE] came in 1st place overall in the Wednesday Gold Rush - well done, Amy! |
| So imagine their - disappointment - when they found out that their spectacular result was only good enough for 2nd place overall in the game? Jim Brothers [Mesa AZ] and Jon Martin [Fargo] earned enough matchpoints to come in 1st overall with a 73.96% game. Even better! These 70.00%+ scores are rare enough, but to have two in the same game is quite unusual. If you're familiar with poker rooms, most have what's known as a "bad beat jackpot". A small portion of the table stakes go to this fund which gets paid out when (as an example) someone has at least an aces-full house or better - and loses to a better hand. Perhaps your local club needs to start such a thing! (They sure could have used one in Detroit Lakes this week.) |
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Through August 9th, there have been 533 Minnesota bridge players who have qualified to go farther in the NAP program this year; that's incredible. Almost half of those players, 251 of them, are in the Flight "C" category. Also - incredible. A reminder of the big Unit NAP Final coming up in about six weeks at the Bridge Center of St Paul's Roseville location - Flight "A", Flight "B" and Flight "C" players all have their own separate flight to play in, so you're playing against players of the same experience level for those red points (and gold dust!).  |
| Lou Tesler [Eden Prairie] is organizing a bridge cruise April 12-19 2025. It's aboard the Celebrity Equinox, which starts/ends at Port Canveral, FL, and stops in the Bahamas, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico. Lou is planning daily ACBL-sanctioned bridge games (masterpoints while cruising!), and says deep discounts are available for those who act quickly. (There is an additional charge up to $200 per person to cover the cost of the sanction, ACBL director, equipment and enhanced internet.) The flyer is to your left - click on it to view it in a new window, and if you'd like more information contact Lou at loutesler@me.com or 612-859-1835. [ED: The Bridge Blog receives no commission or compensation regarding this cruise, we just know cruising and bridge go so well together and thus are just passing this along for those who might be interested.] |
They only average four tables a week, but there are no sit-outs. Donated computers allow Nate to set up BBO fill-ins should there be a half-table. . .and he sets those up in advance of the game every week. His results page is tied to a flat-screen monitor, so you're always aware of how the game is going; and while there is no dealing machine, all players chip in and separate cards into suits once you're done with the table action. There are plenty of bridge clubs with more tables each game that don't have a club manager willing to go through all this each week. And it would sure be easy to not put out as much effort (or just do what's needed or required). . .but Northfield is lucky to have Nate Pike in charge, and if you visit their club on a Thursday you'll see what we mean.     |
  | Even at the Gopher Regional now, teams tables account for almost half of all the tables at the tournament (41.1%)! In additional to the Grand National Teams starting up next month, there is the Rochester Regional (with teams play every day of the tournament); there's also teams play as part of the Mankato Sectional at the end of the month. So plenty of opportunities for getting a foursome together and having some fun getting into trouble as a team are coming up. When it comes to the GNT, historically Minnesota has most of its tables in play during the month of September (last year's Minnesota GNT tables are listed on the lower chart to your left, by month of the competition) - so watch for those GNT games on your local club schedule. |
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The Omaha NE metro area, home to Omaha Bridge Studio (the largest bridge club in all of D14) has had 1,008 total bridge tables during June and July. But 0 (that's zero) of those tables were NAP tables. Not one single game in Omaha this summer has been an NAP game. The Twin Cities metro area has had 1,167 total bridge tables the past two months, with 263 of those tables (or 22.5%) as NAP tables. (Even the Des Moines IA metro area, with their 397 tables in June and July, had 35 tables of NAP players.) This is one big reason why Minnesotans dominate the D14 NAP and GNT program. Minnesota clubs participate - and encourage their bridge players to get involved. Even with the largest club in D14 in Omaha, it's impossible for players to participate when you don't hold any NAP games. So why don't other bridge clubs within D14 do more to provide these games for their players? That is a question that will likely come up in D14 meetings down the road. With still one month to go in the NAP, all indications at the moment are that Minnesota will be leading the way once again in the North American Pairs competition this year. |
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The study, conducted by Radboud University in the Netherlands, appeared Monday in the association's monthly journal, Psychological Bulletin. The senior author of the study, Erik Bijleveld, is a psychologist and associate professor at Radboud University. His team compiled studies involving a variety of participants -- for instance, healthcare workers, military employees, amateur athletes and college students -- from 29 countries. The research team collected data from 358 different cognitive tasks -- learning a new technology, finding one's way around an unfamiliar environment, practicing golf swings and playing a virtual reality game, to name a few (with no mention of duplicate bridge, interestingly enough). In all studies that researchers analyzed, participants reported the level of effort they exerted and the extent to which they had unpleasant feelings, such as frustration, irritation, stress or annoyance. Across all populations and tasks, the more significant the mental effort, the higher the unpleasantness that participants experienced. So what does this say about bridge players? Well, for one thing, you're tougher than the rest of the population. If it really does hurt to think (and you can read the details of the study here), you're willing to put up with it to play cards. The benefits of duplicate bridge are well documented, and bridge is still wildly fun. Second, if you do find a bit of mental exhaustion after a tough day at the bridge table, then this study doesn't really provide anything new - rather it confirms what you already know. Bridge is great exercise for your brain, and exercise (of every sort) can be tiring. Third, even if you don't make every right decision during a bridge game, the decision to play in the first place is the best possible decision you can make. The social aspect of duplicate bridge, helping to stave off cognitive decline down the road, and the thrill of competition at the table easily overwhelm any potential frustration or stress from playing. Now we just need a study like this based on or including the bridge playing public! |
Here are the statistics as of July 10th: 
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To your right would be Nancy Balfanz [St Cloud] and Sue Knauss [Rockville], who recently made Life Master and Bronze Life Master (respectively). Everyone else at the club in St Cloud was celebrating with them last week - along with a piece of celebratory cake. Well done, you two! (It makes one consider making every rank achievement milestone up in St Cloud!?) |  |
There will be an Open two-session game and a Gold Rush two-session game for players limited to District 14 players (all players in Minnesota are in D14). More details will come as we get closer to the tournament, but the good news is that you can still get some gold points even if you can't make it to Rochester. And if you can make it to Rochester, these games will be a 3rd session during the week for those bridge players who just cannot get enough bridge. (You. . .you know who you are.) |
Mondays 6:30p tp 8:30p, taught by Larry Huiras September 23 to November 11 Details of the class, including costs and course book can be found by clicking here. Bridge Center of St Paul's BEGINNING BRIDGE 102 - PLAY OF THE HAND Wednesdays 6:30p tp 8:30p, taught online by Larry Huiras September 25 to November 20 Details of the class, including costs and course book can be found by clicking here. Rochester's BRIDGE - EXERCISE FOR THE MIND Tuesdays 6:30p to 8:00p, taught by Layne Vinje September 3 to October 22 Northrop Community Education Center, Rochester Details of the class, including costs and course book can be found by clicking here. Rochester's BEYOND BEGINNING BRIDGE Tuesdays 10:00a to 11:30am, taught by Joanne Long September 3 to October 22 Northrop Community Education Center, Rochester Details of the class, including costs and course book can be found by clicking here. Rochester's REFINING YOUR GAME Thursdays 9:30a to 11:30am, taught by Sue Greenberg September 19 to October 31 St Luke's Episcopal Church, Rochester Details of the class, including costs and course book will be available at the Rochester club by mid-August. Edina Senior Center's BEGINNING BRIDGE Tuesdays 1:00p to 3:00pm, taught by Teri Blu September 10 to October 29 Edina Senior Center, Edina Lessons will include declarer play with an emphasis on bidding. You can register for this class by clicking here. Don't forget the regular Monday morning lessons in Duluth, along with the weekly Tuesday noon lessons in St Cloud! And if your local club doesn't offer lessons, ASK THEM to do so. It's in everyone's best interests. |
 | Presently, of the 37 regularly scheduled Minnesota club games each week, 11 of them are limited masterpoint games. The chart to your left shows the average tables per game over the past 52 weeks for the regularly scheduled bridge games across the state; while the chart below shows the average tables per weekday. Trends continue to be on the upswing, which is great!  |
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Overall, Minnesota's NAP tables this month came in at 276.5 tables, which is a bit off June's 282 tables (or -2.0%). . .but these first two months of qualification have still had more tables (559) than last year's June and July combined Minnesota NAP tables (413 through two months). The number of Minnesota players who have qualified to go on in this competition is HUGE. Currently, 493 players have qualified in the NAP - that list of all those players can be accessed by clicking here. This includes a whopping 227 Flight "C" players! And don't forget the big NAP Unit Final will be held on September 21st at the Bridge Center of St Paul, where lots of red and gold points await pre-qualified players. If you still haven't yet qualified, there is one more month to go! (See the list of August club calendars by clicking here.) |  |
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But Minnesota's COVID levels have also been rising this summer to near-wintertime levels (as have levels across the US). Here's a friendly reminder that we are not done with COVID yet; and although the ACBL eliminated all COVID protocols in May, you may still want to take some precautions. You also may notice a few more local players staying home because they're not feeling well, or you may see a few extra masks at the bridge club this month. The CDC does not track cases like they used to - but there are still COVID viral indicators available. Here is a look at wastewater viral activity in our state over the past twelve months - indicating six times as much COVID activity as last summer:    Click here for more information - and be careful out there. |
Partner requests can be made through Sheri French (rochestermnbridge@gmail.com) and for Non-Life Masters and Gold Rush partnerships, Joanne Long (NLMPartnerships@gmail.com) will set you up. Hotel reservations code is "MedCity" and the site for making a reservation can be found by clicking here. Click on the flyer to your right for more information, and you can get the full details of this tournament by clicking here. |
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The St Cloud club's dealing machine went kaput this month. Technology is terrific - as long as it works - and when a bridge club's dealing machine goes down, it's up to the club manager or player volunteers to make the boards. . .by hand. Now, Dave Boushek [Waite Park] and Scott Krupke [Little Falls] and their fingerpads are getting a reprieve as the St Cloud Bridge Club is getting a new dealing machine. Thanks to equal contributions from club member and all-around good guy Roger Melaas [St Cloud], along with their home unit, Unit 103, the dealing machine will cost the St Cloud Bridge Club absolutely nothing. Players might not notice the difference - and thanks to the generous contributions involved, there won't be any difference in their club's funds. It will, however, make things much, much easier for Dave, Scott, and everyone else who helped to put made boards together. A special thanks goes out to Roger Melaas, for making such a selfless contribution to bridge in central Minnesota! (That's Scott and Roger in the photo to your right.) |  |
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NABC MIXED 0-10K SWISS TEAMS - Sunday play, 18 teams remaining
Just missing out on 1st place is tough, but what a fun dinner tonight and plane ride home for them both. (And just for the record, the Castoldi/El-Selehdar team beat the eventual 1st place team by 35 IMPs in a match today, FWIW). Those 45 points they earned (40.50 gold/4.50 platinum) helped them top all Minnesota players for masterpoints won at this year's summer NABC. Congratulations! Keith Connolly [St Paul] and Vern Swing [Minneapolis] competed in the four-session NABC Fast Pairs this weekend. All four of their games in this contest were better than average - with game percentages of 52.43%, 53.22%, 51.62%, and 52.86%. The result was 28th place out of 38 pairs left today, for 12.12 platinum points! Well done! And finally, Aydn Math [Northfield] is one of Minnesota's youngest bridge players at the age of 22. He played in a lot of the Collegiate events this week at the NABC, and today was on a foursome that won their bracket in the round robin teams event. He finished with 11.11 masterpoints for the tournament. |
GOLD LIFE MASTER - Matt Belau [Rochester] LIFE MASTER - Jan Jansen [Stillwater], Kathy Stadther [St Cloud] NABC MASTER - James Lair [St Paul], James Muecke [Eden Prairie] Rhonda Rossman [Cold Spring] REGIONAL MASTER - L A Caruthers [Anoka], Connie Dalzell [Rochester] George Schnepf [Sartell] SECTIONAL MASTER - Georgie Basinksi [Rochester], Scott Hoversten [Woodbury] Jennifer Knutson [Minnetonka] CLUB MASTER - Eric Edwalds [Minneapolis], Timothy Scott [Mankato] JUNIOR MASTER - Mary McKenzie [St Cloud], Sharon Mallery [Minneapolis] John Lynch [Blaine], Jeffrey Frost [Minneapolis] |
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 | This is the tournament that will make its appearance in Minneapolis in July of 2026. As it turns out, the NABC this summer has been quite successful in terms of table counts; with one day to go, there have been 8,988 tables in play. That's up +12.5% compared to the same tourament in Chicago last summer. It remains to be seen how Minnesota's NABC will do, but Minnesota players have done quite well in this tournament over the past 11 days.  |
It'll be tough to follow in Judy's footsteps here, but she's earned a well-deserved break from this (she actually started this program from scratch - and on her own - many, MANY years ago). Now, Sue (Unit 178 President) and Sue (Unit 103 President) are looking for a volunteer to take over sending out these letters to newer players. If you're interested (or know someone who would be) please give your Unit President a shout. (And next time you see Judy, give her a shout-out for her great work.) |
 | A hearty shout-out to Lance, Minnesota's newest Emerald Life Master! |
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 | It's always exciting to "cross the line" and become a Life Master, more so at a tournament (of any kind), and to have it happen at an NABC is *chef's kiss*. Congratulations again to Kathy! (And how fun must that plane ride back to Minnesota have been.) |
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Another Minnesota bridge player stopped playing this month. Not because they're physically ill or infirmed; the game just got to be too frustrating. This doesn't mean one can't offer to still play with them, or enjoy a game away from the bridge club (that's more informal or even party bridge) - but it's still disappointing to them and to everyone else. And it's what some of us consider to be the hardest part about bridge. (It's also why you should play as often as you can and with as many different partners as you can, while we're all still able to.) |
Players enter as a pair. The teams are formed randomly the night of the event. One pair is randomly drawn for each table. (Teammates to be determined.) The drawing then continues with a second pair randomly selected for each table. The teams can determine which pair will play N/S——E/W. The winning team has its members’ names memorialized on a permanent trophy and is awarded four gift cards, one for each player. Among the losers, even that very last team need not despair. There is a second set of gift cards awarded to the team lucky enough to succeed in a blind drawing. It is not a random drawing. The winners are eliminated from the drawing. All other teams are assigned a designated colored set of marbles. There are eight teams, so with the winners banished from this drawing, the second place team is allowed seven of its marbles in a bag, third place six marbles, all the way down to the last place team which is allowed one marble. The bag is shaken and one marble is blindly extracted. What ever the color, the team assigned that color gets the second set of gift cards. The Kory Solarz Knockdown Bridge Tournament is a night of bridge played in the midst of some fun and frivolity." --Connie Last year's big winners (L to R, Rick Bredlie [St Cloud], Joe Lisbon [St Cloud], Saundy Fedor [Waite Park], and Darlene Nastrom [St Cloud]):  |
This week - do you play for the finesse or for the drop? There might be a clue - or two clues. Click on the image to the right or click here to check out what John has to say about it. |
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  | One bit of unfortunate news from Toronto, though, with a reported COVID outbreak that took hold late last week. It's not surprising, as any time you get 1,200 to 1,400 people together in such close quarters for each session of bridge, there are bound to be some COVID cases. Here is hoping everyone weathers this with minor cases and quick recoveries. Minnesota players and their masterpoint totals from this tournament are listed on your left - click on that image to open it in a new window. |
Looking at the eight-week period between the Gopher Regional in May and the week ending July 21st, the year-over-year indicators are all green at the BCSP. Club games that are available to players average 8.13 per week now - which is up +25.4% from last year over the same eight-week period. The average number of weekly tables at the club is also up, from 48.88 in 2023 to 61.31 this year (+20.4%); and that's introducing a lot of new games for novice players. Finally, even with the smaller novice games included, the average tables per club game is also up. . .by +3.87% from 7.24 to 7.52. (Open games alone are up +8.38%, from 8.46 tables per game last year to 9.17 here in 2024). Now the fine print. These statistics don't include any Unit 178-hosted Saturday games held at the BCSP Roseville location. An adjustment was made for the four-day Aquatennial Tournament held this month (so as to keep everything consistent). And even though tables are up +20.4% over last year, that's not an indication of the financial health of the club (for example, costs could be up +30.0%). But overall, the picture that's painted by the move last year appears to be a win-win for the BCSP and its bridge players - and most would agree that calls for some cake and balloons next week.  |
  | Rebecca Anspach [St Paul] and Deborah Weiss [Minneapolis] entered the Women's Pairs yesterday, coming in 10th our of 108 pairs to qualify for today's final. They earned 3.43 platinum points! The Central Minnesota contingent arrived in Toronto today, and promptly earned some gold points, with Theresa Kornwolf [Elk River], Nancy Balfanz [St Cloud], Kathleen Stadther [St Cloud] and Jan Gembol [Clear Lake] having a fun first day at the tournament. Masterpoint totals (so far) for Minnesota players are listed to your left. |
Click on the flyer to your right for more information, and you can get the full details of this tournament by clicking here. 
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 | Today's action saw Minnesota players Rebecca Anspach [St Paul] and Deborah Weiss [Minneapolis] enter the Women's Pairs; this event had 108 pairs enter. Rebecca and Deborah finished up today in 10th place - and they clearly qualified to go on to tomorrow's final (well done!). Masterpoint totals (so far) for Minnesota players are listed to your left.  
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This event is being held Wednesday August 21st to Friday August 23rd, with NLM pairs games at 10am and 2pm. Non-Life Masters with up to 749 masterpoints are invited, however because it's stratified, 99ers get compared to players with their own experience level. If you're looking to play and need a partner, Kim Hayward [Bayport] will set you up - call her at 651-271-3500. Click on the flyer to your right to expand it in a new window for printing or perusing. See you in four weeks! |
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 | Sue Greenberg [Byron] picked up a player from Stoney Creek, Ontario, and won her section in the morning session of the Open Pairs today. Also among the 53 tables of the Open Pairs today was Warren Nelson [Cloquet] and Larry Uttley [Duluth], who came in 7th overall in that event. And Margaret Getman [St Paul] came in 2nd in her bracket of the Bracketed Swiss here on day 4. PLUS - Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis] and Sarah Wahl [Minneapolis] are playing three sessions a day. Oh, to be young again! Latest Minnesota masterpoint awards are to your left. 
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Click here to check out the hands. |
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It happens to everyone, and it happened to the Minnesota team representing D14 in the Flight A GNT competition in Toronto. Eight matches on Wednesday, winning zero of them, and a finish that could only have been better. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, these four players entered another team event not 24 hours later, and came in 2nd among their bracket. Playing in bracket #2, and earning 12.20 gold points Thursday, winning four of the six matches, it was a much better day at the bridge table for Larry Uttley [Duluth], Warren Nelson [Cloquet], Bill Voedisch [Marine], and Dennis Cerkvenik [Minnetonka]. Getting back up off the ice and skating again can be the best remedy (ok, yes, enough with the metaphors already) and the lesson for everyone else here is to not let a bad game (or a bad day) of bridge get you down. Especially for newer players at the table, a bad day can shake your confidence. Don't let it. There's more fun to be had, and you won't want to miss it. |
Results on your right as they come in today. | 
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Some wild stories from the first day in Toronto, with the D14 GNT Championship team laying low (22nd of 23 teams) until round 6 of 8. They crushed round 6 to win by 49 IMPs, then won round 7 by 9 IMPs. Then on the bubble for the last round as they were in 16th place (with 16 teams advancing), before winning that last match by 11 IMPs. The Flight "A" squad had a tougher time, unable to win any of their eight matches. Flight "B"'s GNT team fell to 19th place after the first four matches today, but came storming back with a couple of big wins (+27 and +19 IMPs) and winning three of the last four to finish in 9th place. And the Flight "C" team started out very strong - 3rd after 3 matches - and held on to finish in 7th place and advance to tomorrow. Here are their results from day 1 and position of finish (the top 16 teams in each flight go on to play tomorrow):
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When compared to the first six months of last year, overall tables are up - by +2.9%. An extra tournament has helped tournament tables jump +16.0% during the first half of the year, and face-to-face tables at your local club have soared by 20.5% compared to 2023. As is the trend nationally, virtual club games and their table counts have really fallen off since last year. . .with Minnesota BBO VACB tables off -69.6%. There may be a few virtual players that have not yet made the jump back to your local club, but judging by the comparative F2F table counts, there are not many of them left.  |
Keith Connolly [St Paul], Vern Swing [Minneapolis], Paul Meerschaert [Long Lake], and Bob Schachter [Eden Prairie] D14 FLIGHT "A" TEAM: Larry Uttley [Duluth], Bill Voedisch [Marine], Warren Nelson [Cloquet], and Dennis Cerkvenik [Minnetonka] D14 FLIGHT "B" TEAM: Mark Lasoff [Minneapolis], David Trevor [Bloomington], David Goodrie [Plymouth], and David Neiman [Minneapolis] D14 FLIGHT "C" TEAM: Chris Westermeyer [Falcon Heights], Ross Anderson [Woodbury], Sarah Wahl [Minneapolis], and Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis] |
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Stay tuned. We will know tomorrow evening. For now - you can check out the Top 20 masterpoint leaders (so far) on the right. (H/T: Kim) |  |
The Aquatennial Sectional tournament underway is seeing terrific crowds - that's great news of course. But there is work to do with the Non-Life Master players, where this year's NLM tables are the smallest part of the tournament's bridge crowd in at least 15 years. The chart to the right shows the percentage of NLM tables compared to the total tournament tables for the first three days of the Aquatennial since 2009. The trend is not tough to spot; but this is a trend that can (read: must) be reversed at some point. (Of course this issue is not limited to this tournament alone.) |   |
At the NABC in Toronto next week, the BOD meets and will vote on motions 2 and 3, which establish new categories for competition in the NAP and GNT. These new masterpoint categories will be as follows:
0-6000 (Flight "A") 0-3500 (Flight "B") 0-750 (Flight "C") |  |
But there always seems to be one bad board in a good game, and today's crowd - while impressive - does have one thing to keep an eye on. Today's action included 7.5 I/N tables, which is the lowest turnout of I/N players since 2013 on day 1 of this tournament. The I/N tables today accounted for 12.0% of the opening day tables in Roseville, and that is the lowest percentage of I/N participation in the overall table count on day 1 over the past 15 years. There's plenty of this tournament yet to go (the schedule is here if you aren't already booked) - but hopefully we will see an uptick in these I/N players later this week as they are our future. |  |
When looking at the I/N tables per day of the tournament (when those I/N games have been offered), there has been a bit of a dropoff since the pre-COVID years - but hopefully that will turn around starting this week.   |
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• Discipline is now based on each player’s Masterpoint® (MP) holding. • Only Unit/District Officers (Pres., VP, Sec’y, Treasurer, District Recorder) will be subjected to “Heightened Scrutiny” (HS) and the stronger penalties that accompany it. In the Feb 2, 2024, CDR, all Unit/District BOD members were already included in HS. • Players subject to Fast Track Discipline (FTD) will be prohibited from playing with the partner(s) they cheated with during their probation. • Players who cheated with multiple partners will get lengthier suspensions than those who only cheated with one. • Pairs who have previously been found responsible for a first-degree ethical violation (collusive cheating) will be given a Suspension Pending Hearing if identified by EDGAR as cheating again. On May 8, we also voted to: • Retroactively modify discipline for players who would have received FTD discipline but could not because of their partner’s MP level—in the previous version of the CDR, players’ disciplines were adjusted based on their partner’s status (e.g., more Masterpoints, subject to HS) that made that partner ineligible for FTD. This was approved to be consistent with the disciplines that will be given moving forward. • Allow players on suspension to perform volunteer work for the Unit or District. This will not allow anything prohibited for “Members Not in Good Standing,” such as serving on a Board or being present during a tournament or club game. It will allow activities such as: scheduling, making flyers, reviewing and editing documents, helping off-site with hospitality planning and preparation, and helping repair of equipment. This may help keep them engaged with the bridge community, especially for those receiving short suspensions (e.g., 3-6 months) and short probations (e.g., 6-12 months). Finally, we made the following agreements with Management/Office of the National Recorder (ONR): • We will continue to screen from 2020-on. • While those players/pairs identified as “Red” by EDGAR are deemed to be cheating “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt,” a “Yellow” assessment from EDGAR means they are “very likely cheating.” All “Reds” must be charged. • “Yellow” pairs must be fully investigated by the ONR. • “Stripe” is an indication of possible asymmetrical cheating. If one player is identified as “Red,” they must be charged. The ONR is required to investigate the partner to determine whether they were complicit. If the charge is determined to be collusive cheating, the ONR must charge the partner as well. • Completion of the Ethics Certification and signing the Fair Play Pledge, formerly required of all who received FTD, will now be required for all those who agree to a Negotiation Resolution."  |
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