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  | Jerry played in only nine games at the Rochester club, but coming in 1st overall six times out of nine and averaging a red hot 61.40% in August helped him earn 27.59 masterpoints. Any other month and he'd be wearing the crown - but this time around that's only good enough for third place. Terry played in 22 face-to-face games this past month (21 pairs games and 1 home-style pairs), averaging 57.90% and earning 28.28 masterpoints. But Joe played in two more games than Terry, 24 Minnesota club games in August, and averaged 56.74% to pick up 28.92 masterpoints. That was what it took to come in 1st among Minnesota players this month and earn the title of "King of Clubs." Has there been a closer 1-2-3 among Minnesota players for a whole month's worth of club masterpoints? Not since we've started keeping track a few years ago. We'll see what September brings - but your King of Clubs this time around is Joe Koester, who's something of a familiar face once again on the throne. |
 | For the first time last year, teams outnumbered pairs tables ACBL-wide in these open regionals - with a split of 50.4% teams and 49.6% pairs tables. The top two 2025 regionals for teams were both in Texas; and Minnesota's two regionals last year were below the ACBL-wide average of 50.4%. Rochester's 2025 Med City Regional had an increase of overall tables by +8.4%, which is terrific considering the current trend of fewer tables across the ACBL's regionals - but their teams tables were only 38.7% of their total tables. That's well below what everyone else is playing. The 38.7% team tables last year was a bit of an improvement over 2024's Rochester team table percentage - and we'll see what takes place at the Med City Regional next week. We're a big proponent of teams play, so we're hoping for the best here. . .you'll get an update in about ten days. |
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Deborah Bacharach [St Paul] Richard Mitchell [Minneapolis]
Bill Schultz [St Paul] Lee Holschuh [St Paul] Sabin Peterson [Crystal] Jane Marconett [Hermantown] David Mussell [St Charles] Bea Melby [Scandia] Marcia Fluer [Golden Valley] |
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  | While it's true that summer doesn't officially come to a close until just after the upcoming Med City Regional this month, the unofficial end of summer (Labor Day) provides a chance to look at how local clubs did during the past 14 weeks. The calendar for 2026 provides two caveats to this dataset. First, due to the late Labor Day holiday this year, there were 15 weeks instead of 14 between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Second, we hosted the NABC. Due to the NABC hosted in Minneapolis, several clubs in the Twin Cities Metro area closed for 11 days. (That's a big chunk of summer tables around here.) To get the best apples-to-apples comparison for all Minnesota clubs, we counted the 14 of 15 weeks that NABC-closed Metro area clubs were open this year - and for the clubs that were open all 15 weeks in 2026, their 15-week table count was adjusted to 14-weeks (multiplied by .933). Here's what we found. The topline number is terrific; across Minnesota, the 3,614 tables this summer in our local clubs is 298 tables more than last summer, or an increase of +9.0%. Although having the NABC closed several Metro area clubs, their table counts were (mostly) still higher than last summer while they were open - as players got as much practice in as they could before the NABC took place. So having the NABC didn't hurt local club table counts this summer, it actually helped by quite a bit. Monthly club trends over the summer months are simply repeated here, of course, with the new bridge club in Plymouth having a great summertime table count (191 vs 52, or up +266.3%) and responsible for all of Unit 178's +16.6% year-over-year increase (without the Plymouth tables, Edina and Maple Grove combined were up all of 1½ tables this summer, or pretty much flat). Unit 103's St Paul Bridge Center was up 56 tables or 6.9%, with the biggest 103 increases at Duluth (+23.5%), St Cloud (12.3%), and Detroit Lakes (+10.2%). The Mankato (-6.7%) and Northfield (-13.6%) clubs saw the largest decline in summertime tables compared to 2025. These table counts don't include any online or tournament tables, and there's always work to be done - the good times that are currently rolling in Minnesota's bridge community won't last forever. But efforts that everyone is making at the moment are showing up in more players and more tables, and more bridge is the result. |
 | There are a number of players who are very close to getting their Life Master rank, and quite a few who just need some gold points to accomplish this feat. We're on Life Master watch for next week, as some of these Minnesota players are going to have a celebratory cake (or two) by or well before the end of the tournament. Here are the gold points that are needed for these players to become a Life Master (and gold points are all these players need): |
 | Space is limited for this special event, and Norrie Thomas [Plymouth] is the one who can answer any questions - and save you a seat at the table. Contact information and full details are available on the flyer just to your left, or you can click here. |
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REGIONAL Sep 14-19 Rochester | Sectional Oct 3-4 Mankato  | Sectional Sat October 10 St Cloud  | Sectional October 22-24 St Paul  | Sectional November 4-6 Duluth  | Sectional November 6-7 Plymouth  |
  | When it comes to these qualifying NAP tables, the results are really divided - outstate tables this year fell sharply, by -24.3% (from 430 last season to 325 this year). But metro area tables saw a nice pop of +16.9% (from 436 to 509 here in 2026). The decline in NAP tables at outstate clubs is almost universal, with Detroit Lakes, St Cloud, Rochester, and Northfield all holding fewer tables from June to September in 2026. Mankato never runs any NAP tables, nor does Woodbury in the metro area. Within the Twin Cities, Edina was off by ½ table this season, but both the St Paul Bridge Center and the Maple Grove games took off nicely. Whether this is a blip in the NAP participation, the start of a trend of fewer NAP tables overall, or the result of something else, remains to be seen. The online D14 Finals are in about seven weeks - who's playing and who's not might provide a clue. |
 | BRIDGE BLOG: First of all, thanks for doing this - you know, you're really too good a person for this bridge world. DAVE: (Laughs.) BRIDGE BLOG: How did it come about that you ended up volunteering for this role? Had you thought "hey, I want to do that!" or were there blackmail photos, etc? DAVE: (Still laughing.) Well, Keith Thompson [St Paul] asked me if I'd be interested in being part of this, and I thought a lot about it. I was actually up all night one night thinking about it, into the wee hours, and how I'd like to be a part of the process going forward. This is a great tournament, and it's something we all want to see keep going, and I can help with that. BRIDGE BLOG: Have you run something like this on a smaller scale, or what experience have you had putting on such an event? DAVE: I haven't had a lot of experience with this, and certainly not on this size. I'll need a lot of help, and I know there are a lot of people who have worked with Patti in the past who will be continuing in the future to ensure the tournament's success. BRIDGE BLOG: If someone wants to help out, how do they let you know? DAVE: Well, Keith is putting together the team, so they can let Keith know, or me - or they can mention that they'd like to help to, really, anyone who's been involved with the tournament in the past. There are a lot of connections here, and we're just getting things together now. . .so there will be lots of opportunities for people who want to help to let us know that. BRIDGE BLOG: You won't have a problem getting help, whether it's PR or advertising, etc., as there are volunteers in both of Minnesota's units that have worked together in the post-COVID era, and that should continue. Do you expect the 2027 Gopher to be back at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Bloomington? Patti made it sound like she's got an option for another year there. DAVE: That's one of the things we'll be looking at. We're too early in the process to name the location, but I'd like to keep it in the Twin Cities area. If we moved it north, then bridge players in the south would have too much of a drive - and if we moved it south, then bridge players in the north would have the same problem. Also, the Twin Cities is where the majority of these bridge players are located, so it makes sense to look at keeping it around here. BRIDGE BLOG: Well, we know it's super early, but we appreciate your getting involved with the Gopher and look forward to a seamless transition to the 2027 tournament. Also, of course, you can count on our help. DAVE: Thanks, it's going to be fun! |
They're allowing you to bring your own mentor (or mentee) and arrange your own partnership for this game - or you can sign up at the St Cloud Bridge club at Midtown Square and they'll do their best to hook you up. Remember that when you choose to help mentor a less experienced player, you're helping the game in general (and especially at your local club). More information can be found at the St Cloud club or on their website, accessible by clicking here. |
  | Since the beginning of the year, tables at the pre-existing clubs in the west Metro are down compared to the same period last year. The Edina games, run by Tony Ames [Minnetonka], have seen a drop of -4.4% since this year so far (1,076 to 1,029). Scott Smith [Bloomington]'s Maple Grove club tables are also down, off -11.1% year-to-date (597 in 2025 during this period, vs 531 in 2026). At Spades and Company, their special events and increasing weekly game offerings have driven their tables to 333 since January 1st of this year (up from 52 during this period in 2025). If year-over-year tables across the board in Minnesota were down, it would be more difficult to attribute the decline in Edina and Maple Grove games to the new Spades club. But bridge isn't down everywhere else; in fact, it's not down anywhere else. Not only are tables up across the rest of Minnesota, but even the rest of the Twin Cities Metro area is seeing a jump in tables during this eight-month period compared to last year of +8.0%. So there are more and more tables in play - including in the west Metro, home to Unit 178. It's unlikely that either the Edina or Maple Grove games will be driven out of business anytime soon, and whether this is good news or bad will depend on your perspective. But however this shakes out, Norrie deserves credit for starting a new club in the West Metro along with engaging newer players and getting them into the game - an effort that no other Unit 178 member was willing to undertake once the Twin City Bridge Center closed seven years ago. |
 | Her women's team has made the podium, battling for the bronze, but she's having a great time and looking quite fashionable! We'll see her in a couple of weeks at the Med City Regional in Rochester, although we only have a couple weeks to get a podium of our own. |
   | Overall, there were 1,027½ tables in play the past four weeks - up 57½ tables over last August's 970 tables. The trends within the state (and within the two bridge units) this month don't show any real surprises for August. In Unit 103, the Detroit Lakes Bridge Club (+15.3%) and Woodbury (+14.4%) showed the largest year-over-year club increase in August tables; Mankato (-9.2%) and Northfield (-9.1%) have been shrinking for some time now, and this month they continued to get a little smaller. In Unit 178, the three active clubs were up a combined +6.7% overall from last August, but once again the entirety of that increase is due to the one-year-old Plymouth club (Spades and Company). Both Edina (-4.5%) and Maple Grove (-9.7%) saw smaller crowds in August. These table counts do not include any tournament tables, even when held at one of our local clubs, and also do not include any online tables. Face-to-face bridge at your local club continues to be strong, with viable games everywhere. It won't last forever, but it's going great at the moment, and your playing helps! |
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76.19% Jim Brothers + Jack Martin, Detroit Lakes DBC, 8/25 74.31% Sharon + Roger Anderson, Metro BC, 8/6 71.73% Jack Martin + Jim Brothers, Detroit Lakes BC, 8/11 71.60% Matt Belau + Greg Caucutt, Rochester DBC, 8/26 70.83% Don Stanger + Donna Paulsen, Northfield Duplicate BC, 8/20 70.83% Kathy Beckman + Lou Tesler, Spades and Company, 8/24 70.67% Gary Knippenberg + Ann House, Metro BC, 8/5 70.31% Scott + Shirley Richardson, St Cloud BC, 8/10 70.28% Keith Connolly + Tom Grue, St Paul Bridge Center, 8/31 70.00% Colin Campbell + Tom Malterer, Duluth Duplicate Bridge, 8/5 LIMITED MASTERPOINT GAMES: 71.67% Brad Ballinger + Jim Verlautz, Bridge Center of St Paul, 8/18 70.03% Richard Trachy + David Lui, Bridge Center of St Paul, 8/27 |
| The Med City Regional in Rochester kicks off two weeks from today; it'll feature team games and pair games each day of the tournament. The flyer is just to your left - click on it to open it in a new window - and get those partnerships going! (John Ryder [Rochester] is handling the partnership desk for the tournament for open players, with Connie Dalzell [Rochester] handling partnerships for 749ers.) Also this year in Rochester - if you are one of the many, many players playing in the St Paul Bridge Center's Team League, you're welcome to use the tables and bidding boxes for any Team League match you would like to set up. An RSVP is required for Fall Team League play - you can find out more information about that from Matt Belau [Rochester], he's the Tournament Chair, at medcitybridge-at-gmail-dot-com. |
 | The 24 teams are broken down in to three different brackets, with 8 teams per bracket. That means 7 matches for each team in each bracket - with two weeks to play each match. Jackson Wahl [Minneapolis] is the big cheese on this project, and his logistics email has been sent to all team captains. "Start your engines" as they say, and have a great time - we will be monitoring match results and hope to have them posted here. |
  | The big winner of this tournament was Richard Trachy [Golden Valley], who scored 9.50 silver points - and he did it just in the first two days of the tournament. Your top 20 masterpoint winners are to your left; the ACBL's posted masterpoint winner totals will catch up in a few days to be accurate. All of the results from the I/N Sectional can be found by clicking here. Then there's a few words on attendance at this I/N Sectional; 66 total tables over the three days is a small drop from last year's 71½ tables at the tournament. This drop of -7.7% isn't exactly an apples-to-apples comparison to last year, since every previous year this tournament was held Wednesday through Friday. This is the first time it's a Thursday through Saturday affair. As you likely know, nobody likes change (least of all, bridge players), so even something like this drop isn't completely unexpected. It's a great turnout, and more important, lots of players had lots of fun, whatever the other metrics of success might show. |
  | With these pair team games, don't forget that you do not get both masterpoint awards for a pairs event and a teams event if it's the same bridge session. You are only awarded the higher of the two awards. What's listed on the ACBL's site is not correct (it's a long story, but trust us). Your Top 20 masterpoint earners in St Paul through Friday are listed to your left. There's one more day of action to be had! |
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 | Tables to kick off this tournament compared to last year were up. An apples-to-apples comparison is difficult, as one year ago this tournament was held Wednesday through Friday. This year, the Thursday through Saturday calendar isn't quite the same, but regardless - tables were up no matter how you look at it. Opening day tables of the I/N Sectional in Roseville were up +42.1% compared to day one last year, and if you are looking strictly at Thursday (day 1 here) to Thursday (day 2 in 2025), they're also up, even if only slightly. 27 tables yesterday, compared to 26½ tables on Thursday last year. All of the results of the tournament in Roseville can be found by clicking here; all of the masterpoints that players have scored this week (and those points are silver!) can be found by clicking here. There are two more days of play at this tournament, so if you've got less than 750 masterpoints, get a partner and get playing in Roseville. |
 | This chart doesn't include any online or tournament tables, and the health of those categories is not as sound. With BBO adding a paywall this year, a bit of an uptake with the fractured nature of new and many more online options for ACBL players, and ChatGPT allowing another avenue for online cheating, online ACBL tables are still not what they were even a year ago. And many tournaments, even regionals, are seeing a drop in participation (locally, see: Omaha's and Eau Claire's recent tournaments). The ACBL-wide regional table count is off -2.5% from last year at this point. But it's hard to deny that without your local club, and the efforts to make the local club playing experience successful, online and tournament tables would be in a much more difficult position. It's another reason why it's good to help at the local level when you can, and keep our local club health in good shape. |
  | Having a look at the year-over-year change by flight in Minnesota, the Flight C players eligible to go on have increased from 294 to 298 (or up +1.4%). It's interesting in that Minnesota has a lot of players who have just crossed the 3,000 masterpoint mark this past year - that means that while the eligible Flight B players in our state this year have seen a dip from 224 players last year to 212 this year (or down -5.4%), their transition into the Flight A category (3,000 to 6,000 masterpoints) has resulted in a huge increase in the Flight A and Championship group (up from 51 players to 64 in 2026, or +25.5%). It all spells a good competition when the NAP Finals take place in October. |
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PATTI STUHLMAN [Minneapolis]: It was a huge success from the host city point of view. I heard hundreds of positive comments about home much people enjoyed playing in Minneapolis. They especially mentioned how friendly and helpful everyone was. They loved the Convention Center and they loved Minneapolis. DAVE NEIMAN [Minneapolis]: [It was] so well organized, and then so well operated during the NABC. I never heard a single complaint from anyone. Many of the people I spoke with were very complimentary of both the event and the city. Let's do it again! MARSHA DEVINE [Minneapolis]: People told me that they loved the playing site, the City, how organized the tournament was and how they wish that another National could be scheduled here again! MIKE CASSEL [Roseville]: I don't know what the budget was for treats/snacks but I heard any number of people saying very positive things about them. Thanks to the major sponsors which probably allowed for this and also to them for raising the funds to further reduce entry fees for the volunteers. The kids' comments in the bulletin were priceless! Never have I felt so good about winning so few masterpoints! LOL MATTHEW BRIBITZER-STULL [Bloomington]: From beginning to end, competing, volunteering, getting kids to/from the YNABC, and from every vantage point, it was an unqualified success! ANNIE SCHAEFFER [Lakeville]: As partnership co-chair, I received many emails and text messages. There was one theme among the many partnership requests: "I play better than my points indicate." SUE GREENBERG [Byron]: What a great tournament! On behalf of unit 103, thanks to Patty and all the Minnesota volunteers! CINDY BALDERSON [Eden Prairie]: My experience with players around the world was amazing. Without any prompting, their overall response was “We love Minneapolis!” I never heard any complaints. Everyone seemed proud of who and what we are. It was a lot of work by a lot of people - and a lot of fun for a great deal more. But yes, we should definitely do it again some time. |
 | We've made no seceret of our advocating for in-person NAP and GNT Finals for several years now, as the face-to-face competition can't be beat, and you pretty much know there's no cheating taking place. But it's not just our opinion - there are plenty of Minnesota players who feel the same way. And 19 of the other 24 ACBL districts feel that same way as well, having moved their NAP Finals in-person. That list (and their locations) for the 2026 NAP Season are to your left. Many of the in-person NAP Finals are being held at local tournaments, such as a regional, and there has been a standing offer now for three years running to hold our NAP Finals at the Rochester Regional in September (the timing is perfect and the location not bad for the district's participating players). But it's not happening. Of the 5 other ACBL districts that are holding NAP Finals online, 3 of them are on RealBridge, where you can see the players and interact with them - having a better sense that they are not using ChatGPT to cheat as to how to bid or play the hand. With the vast majority of NAP D14 players made up of Minnesotans, one can only imagine what the turnout would be for an in-person D14 NAP Final. This year, again, one can only imagine. |
 | Periodcally Steve Gaynor [Arden Hills] will take the time from his other couple-of-dozen-or-so bridge duties and issue an updated calendar with tournaments you might be interested in. One of those times was this week, and you can click on the image to your left or just click here to check out what's happening for local bridge players in terms of tournaments. Get your bridge calendar out and fill it in, as there's a tournament for every player (actually, several for every player) on Steve's list this time around. |
  | Your blog editor is the Unit Tournament Coordinator for Minnesota's Unit 103; a wise older woman (who had been the UTC previously) told him "it's okay to make some money, but you don't want to make too much", as that means you're not providing enough to the players. It's a very good thing that the ACBL is not losing money at this point, but if they keep making this kind of dough, maybe a re-visit to that 5-5-5 program business is in order. (Spoiler alert: that re-visit is overdue.) |
[Ed.: The Minnesota Bridge Blog would never post personal information such as anything do with a health issue in such a public forum without first clearing it with the principal involved; in this case, Roger gave us the "ok".] |
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This week you might be in luck. Scott Krupke [Little Falls] has expanded the format of this game to allow for more pairs to play in it - and they do have a few good seats still available. The celebration is this Wednesday, August 26. It starts with a pot luck at 5pm and then the big game follows. If you're interested in participating in this year's Kory Solarz Knockdown Tournament, contact Scott Krupke at krupkebridge-at-gmail-dot-com ASAP! On top of everything else, it's a great time. |
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 | So far, there are 18 teams that have signed up to play in this fall team league, but they have plenty of room if you'd like to get in on the action. And - dare we say - you won't want to miss out. You have until Thursday of next week (August 27) to sign up your foursome to play. And if you only have a pair, an inquiry to finding another pair and making a team couldn't hurt. The details on the Fall Team League can be found here; and you can sign up through next Thursday by clicking here. |
 | We do have a few comments and questions on the new NABC program, and those comments and questions can be found along with the press release itself by clicking here. (The comments and questions that we have are highlighted in yellow.) |
 | The list of all masterpoint winners from this tournament can be found by clicking here, and all of the results from the Eau Claire Regional this week can be found by clicking here. |
  | But sometimes showing up to play is all you can do, really, and Minnesota players did make the trek to western Wisconsin to play this week. Looking at the number of entries purchased over the four days of this tournament, Minnesota bridge players were responsible for 63 entries this past week (with a two-session event counting as two entries). Coincidentally, that's the same number of Minnesota player entries (63) purchased at Eau Claire's Regional last year. On the flip side, local Wisconsin player entries were off sharply (-40.3%) from one year ago, as the number of local Wisconsin players at this regional this year was down by quite a bit. This is another example of the strength and deep bench of Minnesota's bridge community. The game of duplicate bridge can always be doing better, no matter where you are, but when you are able to export support for out-of-state tournaments, that's good for every bridge player everywhere. Here is proof that Minnesota players are exporting that support, doing what one can to help make this out-of-state regional successful. (Or at least successful enough to be back on the calendar next August.) |
Minnesota's only open regional in 2026 is also being held in September, as the Med City Regional in Rochester will get underway. Six days of gold (and red) points will be had from the 14th to the 19th of the month. Here are the latest bridge calendars around Minnesota clubs for September that have been submitted for publication:      |
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 Stronger events will award more Larger events will award more Events will be masterpointed independently* Majority of awards increase or stay the sameThe new formula is below. If you'd like examples of how this would impact masterpoint awards, all those details can be found by clicking here. All of these new formulas and masterpoint award rules will take effect on January 1, 2027, so you'll see these in action at next year's Gopher Regional in May. Masterpoint awards at tournaments will not be going down in any cases - and in the majority of them, they'll be increased under this new math. Masterpoint inflation is real, and it is spectacular.  |
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  | Much like D14's Omaha NE Regional one week ago, this D13 Regional is having a bit of a tough start. Day 1 tables at the Eau Claire Regional came to 19½ tables, that's down 9½ tables from last year's day 1 (or -32.8%). It's never easy to report on a tournament whose tables are down significantly year-over-year, but it's especially difficult when it's a tournament so close to Minnesota's playing community. Minnesota's bridge community is pretty strong at the moment, and that's evident even by looking at the tables in Eau Claire this week - at least so far. Of the 58 different players on day 1 last year in Eau Claire, 13 of those players were from Minnesota. That's 22.4%. This year on day 1 in Eau Claire, there again were 13 Minnesota players at the table; but this year, these Minnesota players accounted for 32.5% of all Eau Claire Regional attendees. What does this show? It shows that while the total number of participants is down sharply at this tournament, it's not because Minnesota players are not showing up - they are showing up. It's far more Wisconsin players that are missing on day 1 at the Eau Claire Regional this year. The good news is that there are three more days of tournament action to be had - hopefully more of the locals will make an appearance - as we all share in hoping for a successful tournament on every front. |
 | The Med City Regional in Rochester kicks off four weeks from today; it'll feature team games and pair games each day of the tournament. A couple of upgrades to the tournament this year, including the host facility allowing food to be served, so that's great news for everyone. The flyer is just to your left - click on it to open it in a new window - and get those partnerships going. Player labels have been printed and will be ready for distribution next month - these labels don't get done unless everything is a "go" for the regional, so when you mark it on your calendar, go ahead and use a pen. |