2017 kicks off the monthly publication of the 4Spot, bringing you more up-to-date information with a focus on what's happening now. Welcome and Happy New Year!
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Questions? Comments? Concerns?
Contact your District 4 board members.
SECRETARY
Bill Bauer
TREASURER
DISTRICT DIRECTOR
Joann Glasson
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As 2016 ends, many look back at the year and smile fondly at the success they have enjoyed. Perhaps a new addition to your family or your house occurred in 2016 and will add comfort and joy. If you are a sports fan, perhaps you experienced the high of a championship your team has brought home, while the rest will look forward to 2017 as being "the year we wait for." Some of our members have family in service to our country and to them we say "thank you." For some, 2016 included sadness and the entire bridge community sends our warmest wishes to them for peace. In the grand scheme of things, bridge -- while a wonderful game that gives us satisfaction -- remains only a game we share.
May 2017 bring you satisfaction and success in your bridge endeavors. May 2017 also bring you personal pleasure and joy in your family and friends. Happy New Year from all of us who serve on the Board of District 4 as we strive to make your bridge experience an enjoyable one.
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From the District Director
2017 will be an exciting year for bridge. For the first time in District 4, we will be offering players an opportunity to participate in a Gold Rush Game in a Florida Regional while sitting in their local bridge club. Two clubs in Unit 141 are pioneering this program: Yorktown Bridge Club and the Bridge Club of Center City. Participants will play on BridgeBase in the same regional field as the players who are onsite and receive the same gold overall awards.
Happy New Year!
Click here to link to my full report.
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February 13 - 19
February 29 - March 5
March 25 - 26
March 25 - 26
April 8 - 9
May 1 - 7
May 1 - 7
June 26 - July 2
District 4 STaC
August 28 - September 3
Lancaster Regional
October 30 - November 5
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Wilkes-Barre Regional
February 27-July 3
The first District 4 Regional for 2017 is set to begin February 27th in Wilkes-Barre. Located at the popular Woodlands Inn & Resort, the tournament features a wide variety of events, including Gold Rush almost every day! And for those who don't want to play deep into the night, there are several 18-board matches after dinner. Click here for the website and complete information.
Tournament Chair Walt Mitchell has brought back his acclaimed team of Bill Orth (partnerships) and Ellen Preece (hospitality). Candy Kuschner is DIC
, ably assisted by Bob Cole & Mark Labovitz. Rooms are just $99+, and include a full breakfast. Make your reservation NOW, before the bridge rate goes away. See you in Wilkes-Barre!
Happy New Year!
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It's not too early to start thinking about partners and teammates for the GNTs -- the Grand National Teams -- a grassroots event played in four flights. Cash subsidies are awarded! Flights A and C play on March 25-26; Flights B and Open play on April 8-9. All events take place at the lovely Valley Forge Bridge Club.
For more information, including pre-registration information and conditions of contest, link to the flyers for each flight:
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News from Around the Units
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Unit 112: Central New York
Unit 112 Sectional
April 8-9
May 1-7
Unit 112 Sectional
June 3-4
There is no Unit 112 report this month. Check back in February for updates and information.
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Unit 120: Northeastern Pennsylvania
New Achievements
Ruby Master - George Mansour &
Tom Henson
Bronze Master - Patricia Peiffer
Life Master - Mary Zabresky
NABC Master - Beverly Bright & Fran Hofherr
Club Master - Elizabeth Vucic
Sectional Master - Stephen Brickel
Our last Sectional at our new location has been well received by all.
Remembrance List
Tom Olcese - October 23, 2016
Tom, with wife Jean, was unit secretary for nearly 10 years.
Jane Whitley - April 30, 2016
Jane played with her daughter Bridget, who is a mainstay at the Harrisburg Bridge Club.
Norman Dressler - December 2, 2016
Considered by many to be intuitively one of the best players in our unit, Norman died after a fall during the NABC in Orlando. He made possible the purchase of the tables used in the JCC card room.
Lois DeGennaro (Shavertown) -
September 25, 2016
Nancy Brown and Lois were a frequent partnership, and always played tournaments together.
Sandy Johnson
Sandy served as secretary under Beth Rosenthal for as long as the latter served as unit president (about six years). Sandy also gave lessons to many of our players and ran a supervised play game for many years.
Al Consiglio (Greentown) - November
Al was a regular player at the Honesdale Club and will be remembered by many of the Honesdale old timers as Bill Cross's partner who went to Florida every winter. One year, he stopped at the Lancaster tournament on his way down -- and was picked up by a threesome who needed a player and left the tournament a life master! He and wife Ann were also fabulous dancers who made the Scranton newspaper almost every year for their performances at the Italian festival.
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Unit 121: Berks Montgomery
Brian C Snyder
484-838-0977
GAME REPORTS
Our unit held the Annual Fall Sectional Tournament on September 23 & 24 at Sacred Heart Villa. Albert Bingaman was the Masterpoint winner.
The Annual Hawley Quier Memorial Unit Game was played on Tuesday October 25 in The Bridge Room at Sacred Heart Villa. It was a Halloween costume party. Sue Wessner was the event coordinator. Dorothy McCormick and Tim Zettlemoyer were the game winners.
On Saturday November 26, we held our Annual Meeting and Unit Game at the Highlands at Wyomissing. The following officers were installed:
Brian C Snyder - President
Judy Sager - Vice President
Bill Buskirk - Secretary
Shirley Lutz - Treasurer (incumbent)
After a great lunch, we had a 2-section game. Section A was won by Lissy Stauffer and Albert Bingaman. Section B was won by Jean and James Westervelt.
On Saturday December 10, we held the annual Myrtle B Quier Memorial Holiday Party and Unit game. The event was a covered dish and players brought many different wonderful items. The game was won by Tom Kimmel and Keith Ordemann.
LESSONS, CRUISES, & MORE
Bridge lessons are currently being offered to anyone wanting to learn. This is a result of the ACBL Co-op advertising program. The lessons are complimentary. So far, we have signed six new members to our Unit because of this program.
We are pleased to announce that our Unit 121 Bridge Cruise has become a reality! We have eighteen rooms booked and there is still time if you would like to join us. There will be daily bridge aboard ship, even in port. All games will be played in our reserved conference room area. Anyone booking the trip with our cruise consultant, Judy Sager will be eligible for complimentary bridge lectures and games, which are ACBL sanctioned with masterpoints awarded. Judy Sager may be contacted at
[email protected]
or (610) 320-0233.
Our first Unit Game of 2017 will be held Friday Morning January 13 at 10:15 am in the Bridge Room at The Villa. This is an invitational game. For more information please contact Brian Snyder at (484) 838-0977 or
[email protected]
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MASTERPOINT MILESTONES
Congratulations for the following people who have achieved new masterpoint milestones:
Club Master - Sheila Bornstein and Bill Buskirk
Sectional Master - Geri Buczewski, Pam Harter and Beth Jasinski
Regional Master - Dr. Warne White
Life Master - Lee Ernst
Bronze Life Master - James Allen
Special Congratulations to Janice Repko for achieving Life Master and Bronze Life Master simultaneously!
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Unit 133 Sectional
April 28-30
Unit 133 has no report this month. Check the website and the 4Spot in February for news.
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Bala Sectional
January 6-8
Unit 141 I/N Sectional
January 21
Eric Greco won the Goren trophy at the Orlando NABC, winning a total of 382.88 points for 2nd in the Reisinger, 3rd in the Open BAM and 3rd in the Blue Ribbon Pairs. Eric also won the 2106 Player of the Year, awarded to the player winning the most Platinum points during the year.
Be sure to attend our first Sectional of 2017, January 6-8 at Bala Golf Club. We have a lot of fun events planned, including a new pairs event where each pair will be assigned "secret" teammates and you can win as a pair or at Board-A-Match scoring with your mystery teammates.
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Unit 168: Central Pennsylvania
January 27-29
February 5
May 1-7
Welcome to 2017!! Here's wishing you a year filled with perfect bids, winning finesses, and great times with your bridge friends!
Mark your calendar for the following upcoming opportunities to win silver points. Click on the links above to view locations and additional information.
Harrisburg Sectional
January 27-29
Harrisburg Bridge Club
Camp Hill, PA
$5 Entry Fees!
Unit 168 I/N (0-500) Sectional
February 5
Bridge Boardroom
York, PA
Reservations Required!
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Mark your calendar now for the Blue Hen Sectional February 24th through 26th at the Bridge Studio. Events for all levels of expertise. Between-session meals provided with entry. Partners assured with reasonable notification. Click the link above for details.
Check out the popping DSBA website run by our new webmaster Mark Henderson for articles and information about upcoming events. There you can find a link to the November
Dummy, which welcomed Pieter Van Bennekom with Flustered Flo and published Stephen Herrmann's historical article on Biritch, along with ACBL Director Sandy Cerato's column on Active Ethics.
"No
w, how do you wanna play? Honest?"
Chico Marx in
Animal Crackers (1935)
Your DSBA Board is excited to announce a new event just added to the 2017 calendar. A 299er Sectional Tournament will be held on March 7, 2017 at the Bridge Studio of Delaware. Eligibility for this event is limited to rising bridge players who have not achieved 300 masterpoints at the time of the event. Click on the link above for details.
Nobody knows the doubles I've seen...
Richard Popper, long time member of Unit 190, has been elected the next Chairman of the ACBL Board of Governors. His two-year term will begin January 1, 2017.
JUNIOR MASTER
Bert A. Heilman
Jim Kelley
Deborah G. Schenkel
Ernest Steinke
Walter Weeks
CLUB MASTER
Beth Bradley
Rita Gilbert
Jacqueline R. Keer
SECTIONAL MASTER
Cindy Hoadley
Dolores O'Boyle
Mary M. Scharf
BRONZE LIFE MASTER
Francis A. Bizzocco
Eileen Sandstrom
SILVER LIFE MASTER
William E. Everitt IV
Sharon Weintrob
RUBY LIFE MASTER
Deborah L. Purbrick
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Unit 217 Sectional
June 1-3
Congratulations!! Amy Pitou and Ann Collins advanced to Junior Master, Marilyn R Goldfarb and Robert A Jones to Regional Master, Ellen A Blais and Kay B Dando advanced to NABC Master, and David Hoover is now a Sapphire Life Master.
We held our Fall sectional at Williamsport September 9-11. Ed Bissell and Mary Ann Churba won both Friday pair games. Ed Bissell - Bills Parks and Jim McKeown - Carol Reitz won the Saturday pair games. Ed Bissell, Bill Parks, Carol Reitz, and Jim McKeown won the Sunday Swiss. Ed Bissell was the overall masterpoint leader. Thanks to tournament co-chairpersons Mary Ann Churba and Judy Stein for a very enjoyable tournament.
Please join us for our next sectional, June 1 - June 3, in State College at the
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 780 Waupelani Drive, State College, PA 16801
. Note that is Thursday through Saturday.
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Our Monthly Feature
The 4Spot features fantastic contributors, on a regular rotation:
For Novices Only by Marti Ronemus:
January, April, July, October
The ABC of Bridge by Dave Wachsman:
February, May, August, November
The Advancing Player by Jay Apfelbaum:
March, June, September, December
Click here to read this month's article.
Marti: Everything I know about Bridge, I Learned at the Racetrack
Click on any blue month above to read recent articles.
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Master Solvers Club
Moderator: Nick Straguzzi
Nobody moderates a better panel with more flair than Nick. Check out the analysis of last month's problem and challenge yourself with this month's new one.
January 2017 MSC Analysis
February 2017 MSC Problem of the Month
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