The new Friendly Bridge class for newcomers will begin again on March 15,  2020. No registration required. Just show up at the Bridge Center (1911 Bishop Road, behind Krispy Kreme just west of Staples Mill and Broad) on Sunday between 5:30 and 5:45. The lessons are from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm. You will receive a FREE BOOK, and the first 4 lessons are FREE! At week 5, you will pay $4.00 per week. Please come and try bridge out. You will learn a new skill while meeting some very nice folks. It might be the best decision you ever made!

Feel free to come join us any time.

Winter Sectional Has Big Turnout

Despite very cold temperatures outside and the threat of rain on Saturday, area bridge players flocked to the Guzman Community Center to attend the Richmond Winter Sectional Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, January 17-19. With good participation all three days, the event attracted 220 tables of bridge and 251 players earned masterpoints.

Leading the way were Tidewater stars Muh-Sha Crawford and Brian Schoenfeld pairing to earn 29.10 masterpoints each. They teamed with George Lewis and Patti Martin to win the open Swiss and got the rest of their points with two third place finishes. Finishing in the top ten points-wise were Patti (21.16) and George (20.70), David Butler (19.20), Leah Shao (19.2), Randall Holden (17.89), Leland Nettles (17.19), Dewayne Jones (17.19), and Willem and Natalia Vet (16.88). Harry Gellis and Kent Massie won the Friday afternoon open pairs with a 75.60% game.

Dominating the under 300 pairs and under 500 Swiss were Robin Hatcher and Tommy Thompson with three first place wins, picking up 8.35 points as a result.

Two feel-good stories emerged. Friday afternoon produced a half table in both the under 300 game and one section of the open game. Anne Duty, the director, asked for a volunteer pair to play up to make three full sections of 10 each. Marietta Reynolds and Mary Doss, possessing a grand total of 130 masterpoints, volunteered. Marietta and Mary scored a 59.23% game, came in first in B, gaining 3.43 masterpoints. Had they won the under 300 event they would have earned only 2.06. A good deed goes rewarded!

The second story involves the B-A-M. In order to have a B-A-M event the game has to have full tables. Volunteers were offered a free game to be standbys with the chance they may not get to play if there were already no half tables. Not quite sure what a B-A-M was but trying to do a good deed, Joyce Turner and Janet Kellett, who have around 14.4 points total, volunteered, got paired with Muh-Sha Crawford and Brian Schoenfield of Virginia Beach who have more than 28,000 points and came in third. The team scored 4.27 points. I’m not sure who was more surprised, Joyce and Janet or Muh-Sha and Brian.

Barry and Winnie Fratkin, co-chairs for the tournament want to thank Harry and Anne Alferink for once again handling the hospitality. The Alferinks extend their thanks to many Richmond area players who brought snacks to augment what the RBA provides.

Special thanks to Randall Holden who supervised the shuttle bus service, Ed Kinlaw and George Lewis who assisted with the directing and making the boards and to Mark Dahl who gave the Saturday expert lecture. Ed Kinlaw also gave a lecture on Friday. Finally, thanks to Anne Duty who directed the large tournament efficiently and on time.

The next RBA Sectional is March 13-15 in Fredericksburg. There is a poster and information on the tournament on the RBA bulletin board at the Bridge Center. You can support our more northern members by making the short drive or you can “skip the fuss and take the bus.” There is a signup sheet and information for the bus that will make the round trip to the event on Saturday.