A publication of District 4 of the American Contract Bridge League SEPTEMBER 2015 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ED BISSELL [email protected] The June Philadelphia Regional in Valley Forge went well. Table counts were up compared to recent years and attendees enjoyed the schedule changes. My teammates and I got lots of practice in the daily Swiss events for dislodged competitors. Good job Meyer Inside this issue: Kotkin and team on the fine Regional. District Director’s Report 3 District 4 annual awards were made in three categories of Player of the Year contest for MPs won in D4 events in 2014 (not including From the Four Corners 4 STaCs): Master Solvers Club 9 Dave Treadwell Award .. to Rick Rowland, his 2nd. Jeanne Fisher Award .. to Gary Hillenbrand, his 2nd award. ABC of Bridge 22 Jane Segal Award .. to Samuel Amer, a junior player from 2015 NAP 23 Delaware. District 4 is again firing up efforts to educate bridge teachers. In The Advancing Player 24 Lancaster we have inserted a Teacher Accreditation Program (TAP). Lancaster Regional 26 It begins one day before tournament play and costs only $50 for District 4 members. Take a look. (See Page 27). Another TAP will be Chesapeake Regional 28-29 held at a District4 Regional next year. District 4 Stars 30 Despite their popularity we are having difficulty distributing STaC games to clubs in the district. We will be trying to simplify these Tournament Index 31 regulations. Numerous suggestions to modify the GNT-Open bracket conditions of contest have arisen. Also, ACBL has recently made changes to the CoC. The District participation has leveled off to fewer than nine teams. A comprehensive CoC is under review. PRESIDENT ED BISSELL [email protected] 1st VICE PRESIDENT DAN BOYE SECRETARY BILL BAUER TREASURER RICK ROWLAND DISTRICT DIRECTOR EDITOR CRAIG ROBINSON Elaine Landow 215-699-6134 2556 Morris Road [email protected] Lansdale, PA 19446 215-699-6134 e-mail: [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without per- mission of the editor. Deadline for December Issue: November 20 DISTRICT 4 WEBSITE - district4.info Unit Websites 112 - acblunit112.org 120 - nepab.com 121 - unit121bridge.com . 133 - lvbabridge.org 141 - philadelphiabridge.info 168 - web2.acbl.org/hosted/units/unit168/index.htm 190 - unit190.org . 217 - unit217.nepab.com DISTRICT 4SPOT - SEPTEMBER 2015 - Page 2 DISTRICT DIRECTOR’S REPORT CRAIG ROBINSON [email protected] Henry Bethe, Ithaca NY, passed since my last column. Henry was a great player, a Grand Life Master with three national titles (Silodor Open Pairs, Keohane NA Swiss, and Nail LM). Throughout the years he made great contributions nationally to masterpoint calculations and conditions of contest. I called Henry in April to ask his opinion on carryovers from day one to day two in match- point, IMP, and VP events. (I expressed my opinion that I felt the IMP carryover was unfair.) He responded that he thought all three could be improved, but then added that he wasn’t feeling well and he would get back to me with his thoughts on each. He died two months later, and sad- ly, I had never heard back from him. Henry also contributed locally and District-wide. He was a contributor to this publication for many years. Phil Clark, also of NY, died earlier. His name came up at the Chicago board meetings. Phil had qualified to play with Doug Ross in the North American Pairs in New Orleans. In Chicago we passed a motion to allow the partner of a deceased player to find a replacement. Also in Chicago, a motion to reduce the masterpoints of players on five and six player teams was defeated. The intent of the motion was to halt giving masterpoints for those not playing (seemed logical to me) and the general inequities of a five or six person team. A six per- son team pays the same entry fee as a four person team yet they get 50% more hospitality, reg- istration gifts, prizes, etc. and MASTERPOINTS. In New Orleans, this motion passed 17-7 and then failed in Chicago 15-10 after an extensive campaign by those who benefit from this system. (Masterpoint motions require two readings). Looking forward to our Lancaster Regional at the end of October. Hope to see you there. Upcoming District 4 Regional Tournaments October 26 - November 1, 2015 LANCASTER RED ROSE REGIONAL March 28 - April 3, 2016 DELAWARE FIRST STATE REGIONAL DISTRICT 4SPOT - SEPTEMBER 2015 - Page 3 From The Four Corners 217 141 120 168 190 133 112 121 NORTHEASTERN PA 120 Walter Mitchell [email protected] Party, party, party! It was party time in Unit 120 since the last 4Spot publication. Members of the Scranton JCC Bridge Club honored Marlene Meyer's achievement as Gold Life Master. Carolyn Landi is now a Silver Life Master. Unit Secretary Doreese Torrey celebrated with the Dallas Bridge Club for reaching her Life Master plateau. Fay Pacchioli and the Honesdale Bridge Club gathered for cake and kudos after Teri & Alan Trynz achieved life master status together. Congratulations to all! Unit 120 held its annual meeting in conjunction with the Patriotic Party in Stroudsburg in early August. New members elected to the board are Helen Tansky and Mary Zabresky. President Walter Mitchell, Vice-President Bill Orth and Treasurer Bill Haynes began the second year of their two-year terms as unit officers. The annual Architzel Bridge & Buffet will be held on Sunday, September 27th at Beech Lake. Always a popular unit event, the affair includes two sessions of bridge flanking a bounteous multi-course dinner. Contact hostess Fay Pacchioli at [email protected] for reservations. No reservations needed for our Fall sectional, scheduled for October 2-4 at the Independent Firehouse in Kingston. Sessions at 10 am and 3 pm Friday and Saturday; full Swiss at 11 am Sunday. Call me for partners: 570-709-0850. Full details and directions can be found on the flyer on Page XX and the D-4 website. Remember the Bridge Golden Rule: as in life, treat your partner as you would hope to be treated. I have yet to see players make mistakes intentionally. They feel bad, of course. Adding insult to injury, even mentioning the error publicly is hurtful and rude. Pull your partner aside between rounds, admit to making your own share of mistakes, and ask what was the thought process leading up to the error. This will help keep your partnership on strong footing & may resolve any lingering misunderstandings. DISTRICT 4SPOT - SEPTEMBER 2015 - Page 4 BERKS MONTGOMERY 121 Sue Wessner [email protected] The Bridge-Casino Trip to Atlantic City, September 9-11, has a few seats left. Please call Sue Wessner for more details. Congratulations to the following people who have achieved new masterpoint milestones: Club Master; Geri Buczewski, Harriet Baskin and Ludwig Schmidbauer. Life Master; James Allen. Regional Master; Jack Boyd. Silver Life Master; Bill Detterer Please mark your calendars for our Fall Sectional, September 25-26, 2015 held at Sacred Heart Villa, 51 Seminary Road, Reading, Pa. 19605, Friday and Saturday 10am/2:30pm games. There will be no Sunday game. There will be limited pair games for both afternoon sessions. Game location at Sacred Heart will be in the basement of the facility. There is elevator access to the area. Note: You will not enter through the door of The Bridge Room At The Villa. Park on the side lot and enter through the front door. For more information please ontact Eugene O’Brien 484-269-3831 or [email protected]. Coffee and breakfast foods will be complementary. Hope to see you there. “Let’s Go Nuts!!” Unit Game will be held on Sunday, October 18th at 1pm at The Bridge Room at The Villa. For information please contact Sue. Our Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, November 14th at The Bridge Room At The Villa with the meeting to start at 11am, followed by lunch at 11:45am with an Open Pairs game to start immediately afterwards. Cost is $20.00. For questions please contact Carl Ziegler, 610- 914-9479 or [email protected]. LEHIGH VALLEY 133 Dave Kresge [email protected] The unit web site has been updated and includes many new and updated items. Barbara Berk and Mary Ann Sharpless have updated the LVBA Library inventory listing and it is posted online on the unit web site. Many thanks to Barbara and Mary Ann. Now unit members can sign out books. There is no cost for this service. The unit does request that you return books promptly so that others may be able to access them. The library is at the Lehigh Active Life Center and books can be signed out at anytime there is a bridge game at the center. Upcoming unit games are Sunday, September 13 at Brith Sholom Temple in Bethlehem at 1:00 PM. This is an 8 is enough team game which is always a unit favorite. The unit will hold its annual meeting and holiday party on Sunday, November 13 at the Brookside Country Club. Tickets can be obtained from Jane Havighurst or Jeanne Kuebler. Our Fall sectional will be held at the Active Life Center in Allentown October 16 - 18. Please see the flyer on page 39. The unit requests that you be scent sensitive. Congratulations to Pat Clarke and Julie Brooks for becoming Silver Life Masters and to Larry Kemmerer, Deb Butz, and Frank Kuebler for becoming Bronze Life Masters. DISTRICT 4SPOT - SEPTEMBER 2015 - Page 5 The Lehigh Active Life Center is planning to restart the Saturday morning game in the fall.