Greater St. Louis Bridge News

News from Greater St. Louis Unit 143

Editor:  Sheryl Finkenstadt, St. Louis MO    sheryl@finkenstadt.com
 

“The real test of a bridge player isn't in keeping out of trouble, but in escaping once he's in."

-- Alfred Sheinwold

And sometimes the best way to escape is not to try. “Once fixed, stay fixed” will save more matchpoints than digging a deeper hole. Besides, just because YOU know you’re being fixed, partner may not. 

And if you do something … um, creative.…  partner may not figure it out. And then you’ll have TWO problems: the board results and partner’s post mortem. 

Unit Championship Award

Tom Oppenheimer won the 2012 year-long competition for the Unit’s highest award, the Ed Schultz Unit Championship Award. 

The Ed Schultz Unit Championship Award (formerly Player Of The Year,  aka POTY) is awarded to that Unit member in good standing who has won the most masterpoints in unrestricted Unit-sponsored events in a given calendar year. This reflects loyalty and dedication and, of course, a lot of skill. 

Coker honored at sectional

Donna Coker was honored at the recent January Sectional for her numerous contributions to bridge in the Greater St Louis area. Donna shared: “I want to thank you for the beautiful tribute that was given by Debbie Romero. It truly means a lot to me to hear that my efforts of the years have been so greatly appreciated by my unit.”

Among Donna’s many activities in our bridge world are the following:

1. Established a small 49er game and grew it to a very large (usually 25+ tables) 199er weekly game.

2. ACBL nationally recognized as a STAR recruiter (over 200 new players).

3. First director in area to use bridge pads, pre-duplicated boards, and hand records for daily club games

4. Introduced the concept and ran the Unit “Eight is Enough” Team game for three years.

5. Ran three weekly open games, including introducing the first Fast Pairs in the Unit.

6. Helped launch the new 75-table facility, St Louis Bridge Center.

Donna has ceased directing club games and will spend her time as an ACBL tournament director. She plans on moving to Louisville KY to be near her family as soon as she sells her condo. We’re going to miss her! 

January Sectional 

The January sectional was great fun to 396 tables at the 3-day event. More than 1461 total masterpoints were awarded to 417 unique players. Local players did extremely well, ranking in 22 of the top 25 MP winners.  For a complete list of winners, click here.

Lee Hastings and Dennis Spencer (left) had a great day on Friday. They posted a whopping 73.51% game in the single-session Friday Open Pairs. Spencer and  Hastings then teamed with Marvin King and Judy Putzel to win the Friday-evening Swiss team.

Other winners who chose to have their pictures taken are:
 

Sunday Stratified Swiss Teams (Flt A) En Xie, Randy Baker, Cheryl Davis & Ralph Behrens	Friday Aft Pairs (Flt C): Susan Kilo & Becky Hubert	Friday Eve 199er (Flt C): Vicki Valley & Pamela Ames
Friday Eve Swiss Team: Lee Hastings, Dennis Spencer, Judy Putzel & Marvin King	Friday Aft. Open Pairs (Flt B):     Bob Dempsey & Roy Lewis	Saturday Open Pairs (Flt A): Tod Moses & Nate Ward
Saturday Open Pairs (Flt B): Steve Zenk & Egon Diekhoff	Saturday Aft 199er: Delaine Boyd & Dennis Whitmore	Saturday Eve 199er Pairs: Al Faenger & Bob Lewis

199er Tournament:  Date and Place Change!  IMPORTANT ! 

Because of the dates of the ACBL Spring Nationals, the Spring 199er Championships will be held in February, in a new location, and at new times. 

Saturday, February 23 is the date to remember. The 199er Championship will be held in the new St. Louis Bridge Center. There will be two single-session events -- one at 10am and the other at 3pm.  Reservations are requested; after the first 50 tables are reserved, pairs will be wait-listed. Click here for complete details.

Unit 143 has 1212  members as of February 1, 2013. Thirty-eight (38) players have advanced in rank since Dec 1, 2012.