February 2025

~Eliza Morse

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Contact your District 4 board members.

PRESIDENT 

Betsy Cutler

betsy2955@gmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT 

Ala Hamilton-Day

alabridge@gmail.com

SECRETARY 

Bill Bauer 

william.baueriii@verizon.net

TREASURER

Pat Civale 

patcivale@gmail.com 

REGIONAL DIRECTOR 

Joann Glasson 

joannglasson@msn.com 

Will the groundhog see his shadow or not? Either way we have six more weeks of winter, but being from Pennsylvania we look to Phil for weather guidance. It always amazes me how many people flock to Punxsutawney, dressed in black tie and tails to watch a small animal poke his head out of a hole in the ground.

On a more bridge-related topic, I am thrilled to announce the recipients of the ACBL Goodwill Committee and Charitable Recognition Award for 2025. Each has made exceptional contributions to bridge and the bridge community.  

The Goodwill Committee recognizes people from the district who exemplify the Goodwill creed, "Always disclose, never abuse, don’t intimidate, and practice active ethics" at the bridge club and table.

The Charitable Recognition award recognizes those who promote participation in the ACBL charity program in the unit and sanctioned club games within their district, as well as taking an active role in ACBL-wide charity events such as The Longest Day.

Congratulations to our newest honorees:

Goodwill Committee – Mike Kohler and Donna Heckscher

Charitable Recognition Award – Mike Vogel

Click here to learn more about these fabulous people and what they have done to promote bridge.

February is a slower month for district-wide tournaments. We end January and begin February with a STaC from January 27-February 2 - earn silver points in your local club.  On February 7 Camp Hill is offering a 0-750 NLM sectional, and February 21-23 Wilmington, DE will host an open sectional.

Remember to sign your team up for the four flights of Grand National Teams competitions. All events will be in Allentown, PA and if your team fails to qualify for day two of the event there will be a two-session Swiss Team event to play in as a consolation. These Sunday add-on team games will have the same upper masterpoint limits as the previous day’s events unless attendance makes it better to combine the two groups. Flyers with registration instructions are on the District 4 website.

It saddens me to share that the District-wide monthly online games are not doing as well as hoped. The goal was to raise some extra money to be used for our GNT and NAP winner's stipends, but as of now the games are losing money. These games are being canceled due to low participation.

Betsy

betsy2955@gmail.com

From the Regional Director 

ACBL Clubhouse

As of January of 2025, the only place where you can get red, silver and gold points online is by playing in the ACBL Clubhouse. The ACBL Clubhouse is a new site that provides games for every level of play and unlike the ACBL World Games that are owned by BBO, the ACBL Clubhouse awards black points in every game.       

During every week of special online games, the ACBL Clubhouse awards “glitter” points. When you sign in on BBO, you can find the Clubhouse Games just under ACBL World:

The next time that you are planning on playing online, check out the schedule of games available in the ACBL Clubhouse. By playing in these games you will support your local face-to-face clubs and local e-games.

ACBL will distribute $2.82 of each Clubhouse player’s $6 entry fee to each player’s affiliated club. Affiliated clubs are:

• Face-to-face clubs where the player has participated within the past year.
• Small Affinity e-Clubs where you have played in the last three months.

All revenue will be shared among these clubs on a prorated basis, with face-to-face clubs guaranteed at least 50% of the distribution.

Support your local club by playing in the ACBL Clubhouse.   Keeping our local clubs alive and active is important to the future of our game.

Joann

Regionals

Rehoboth Beach, DE

April 28-May 2

Rochester, NY

June 9-14

Sectionals

D4/U135 STaC

January 27-February 2

Camp Hill, PA I/N

February 7

Wilmington, DE

February 21-23

Hagerstown, MD

March 25-26

Philadelphia, PA

April 4-6

Rochester, NY

April 5-6

Fairport, NY I/N

April 25-26

Allentown, PA

April 25-27

D4 STaC

May 5-11

Camp Hill, PA

May 16-18

Oswego, NY I/N

May 17

Boalsburg, PA

May 30-June 1

Rochester, NY

July 19-20

GNT Finals

A and C: March 1 & 2

Open and B: March 8 & 9

For the complete 2025 D4 calendar, click here.

The 4Spot features fantastic contributors on a regular rotation:

February, May, August, November:

For Novices Only

For Novices Only

Arghh, what to do... see what the solvers and panel came up with here.

Visit the MSC website to read next month's problem and submit your answers online here.

Get Ready for Philly - Summer 2025 NABC News

Do Like Sue!

Yo, D4: are you wondering what YOU can do to keep bridge alive so you can continue pursuing your passion? District 4's Sue Manning is ACBL's Volunteer of the Year, and our own personal Inspiration du Jour. Check out this article from the January Bulletin about how Sue uses her diverse talents to keep our delightful game thriving. Then take your own deep dive - meaning have a think about how to Do Like Sue. How, for example, can you pitch in at Philly Nationals this summer? Plenty to do, and you too (like Sue!) may get a reward for your effort. Contact volunteer coordinator extraordinaire Cathy Strauss: cathy.strauss@gmail.com. She's on call to help you find your calling. Snooze or lose!

John Dickenson and Ala Hamilton-Day

Unit 112: Central New York

www.acblunit112.org 

Betty Youmans

readsausten@yahoo.com

Unit 112 members are keeping warming by playing bridge and waiting for our next tournament, the Rochester Spring Sectional on April 5-6. For the winter months, our Saturday club game in Perinton is every week.

Unit 112 Congratulates its Advancing Players

Club Master

Frank Farmer

NABC Master

Sue Cordier

Annmarie Kinnan

Gregory Liebner

Life Master

Morton Isaacs

Bronze Life Master

Morton Isaacs

Silver Life Master

Lewis Rothberg

David Simpson

Gold Life Master

Stephen Pope

Unit 120: Northeastern Pennsylvania 

Doreese Torrey

doreeset@gmail.com

Check back next month for Unit 120 news.

Unit 121: Berks Montgomery 

www.unit121bridge.com

Bill Buskirk

Buskirk944@msn.com

Check back next month for Unit 121 news.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Congratulations! New Rank Achievements!

Junior Master

Douglas Dykhouse



Ruby Life Master

Beth Dimler

“Souper” Bowl Sunday Charity Game

WHERE: Lehigh Valley Active Life

WHEN: February 9, 2025 at 12:30 PM

WHO: 0-750, and Open Games

WHY: Enjoy a game of bridge to benefit a worthy cause: All cash

donations and proceeds from the games will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Please bring a can of soup or other non-perishable food item for the food bank and your favorite snack to share at our tailgating party.

Cash donations may be mailed to Nelson Rabenold, 1837 Belleview Circle,

Whitehall PA 18052. Please make checks payable to LVBA. Thank you!

COST: $9 per person.

Junior Fund Game

A Special Junior Fund Team Game, Friday, January 17 was held at Lehigh Valley Active Life to raise funds for junior bridge initiatives. This game awarded double black points. Thanks to everyone who supported ACBL in this fundraising effort. 

Evening Open Games

Open games will be held Wednesday evenings at 7pm. The games will run the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month and rotate between the Cutler home in Allentown and the Mukherjee home in Bethlehem. We will play eighteen boards and the cost will be $5! Partners are guaranteed. 

For more information, please contact Betsy Cutler: betsy2955@gmail.com. 

Coming in April 2025:

Unit 133 Spring Sectional - April 25-April 27

Please join us for our Spring Sectional in Allentown at Lehigh Valley Active Life for an opportunity to earn Silver Masterpoints. Enjoy a pleasant atmosphere, friendly people, delicious bagged lunches, bagged snacks, and great bridge.

WHEN:

Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26: 10am and 2:30pm - Open and 0-750 pairs. (Games may be combined due to attendance.)

Saturday, April 26 includes a special 0-20 free game with a postmortem.

Sunday, April 27: 10am two-session Swiss Team play through with lunch break. Open and 0-750 teams

WHERE:

Lehigh Valley Active Life

1633 West Elm Street

Allentown PA 18102

COST: $12 per player per session (does not include lunch) payable at the door using a credit card. Lunch: $10. Prepay by mailing check payable to LVBA with sandwich choice (Italian, Turkey, Roast Beef, Roasted Veggies or Cheese Subs) to Lois Fuini, 3944 Shirley Drive, Schencksville PA 18078. 

QUESTIONS: Please contact Tournament Chairperson, Lois Fuini at

lafuini@yahoo.com

~Eliza Morse

Unit 141: Philadelphia 

www.philadelphiabridge.info

Cathy Strauss

cathy.strauss@gmail.com

This month marks a transition in Unit leadership. John Dickenson has been President for two years and has reached the limit of his term. John contributes selflessly to the bridge community as a volunteer, teacher, mentor, and friend. He works tirelessly behind the scenes to make our bridge community better. Thank you, John.

Under John’s leadership the Unit emerged from COVID and quickly got back to high levels of participation. In 2024 we held three open sectionals, two I/N sectionals, a session of Learn Bridge in a Day and reached out to members regularly. Thanks as well to the board members who made that all happen.  

Our new officers: Cathy Strauss, President, Jay Apfelbaum, Vice President, Jeff Rohrbeck, Secretary, Ellen Berkowitz, Treasurer.

Face-to-face bridge drives the growth of our community. We have many wonderful clubs in the Unit and I encourage you to support them. You can find a list of them on the Unit website, or click here. 



Our first sectional of the year was held at Bala Golf Club on January 3-5 and was a great success, with a table count far exceeding expectations (136 Friday and Saturday, and 38 teams on Sunday!). Lots of silver points, great food, and a chance to reconnect with friends were the highlights. Congratulations to our many members who won silver. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our next Sectional, April 4-6, at Bala Golf Club.  

There’s still one more day this month to earn silver points in clubs; the STaC ends February 2. 

A warm welcome to our newest PCBA members!

Janice Hutt

Thomas Prim

Robin Schoonmaker

Matthew Waldron

Congratulations to our members who achieved a new rank!

Junior Masters

Cindy K Harris

Jennifer M Peters

Tilda M Rizzo

Joseph M Vargo

Club Masters

Elizabeth C Bailey

Paul Balbresky

Patty Bartolomeo

Ronald Campbell

Sharla Feldscher

Lynn Kupchik

Villabhdas J Patel

Philip Pearlstein

Leslie Stiles

Nan Ward

Sectional Masters

Yaacov Garini

Deborah Kahn

Rumen I Lazarov

Radu Vasilescu

Regional Masters

Lorna R Bearn

Mikaela G Georgieva

Loretta Meier

Devin Murphy

NABC Masters

Devika Chakraborty

Richard R Eynon

Mark E Luchette

Linda Schelke

Carol J Eastwood

Advanced NABC Master

Anola Vance

Silver Life Masters

Don Baker

Sharon Goldman

Gold Life Masters

Glenn E Fuhrman

Carol Reiss

Amy Ross

Sapphire Life Masters

James Rachel

Judy R Robbins

Diamond Life Masters

Steven M Gewirtzman

Edward Leach

Unit 168: Central Pennsylvania 

Ben Hawn 

bwhawn@bellsouth.net

Red against white, what do you do with this unbalanced fourteen-count in third seat after two passes?

I’m an unimaginative sort so I would open a pedestrian 1♠️. At my club the other day, that was not a popular choice. 1♠️ was the selection at only two of seven tables. 4♠️ was opened twice, as was 2♠️. My partner had the hand, and he chose 3♠️, which is either the worst or best bid in recent memory. 

Anyway, 3♠️ down one was a good result with six of either minor cold for NS. Can South bid 4NT over my partner’s 3♠️? Or 4♣️ perhaps? Unclear. My recommended boring auction is:

1♠️   2NT  3♠️   5♦️

all pass

If all you want to do is to confuse everyone, the lesson here is to always preempt with a full opener. 

Congratulations to the following Unit 168 players as they move up the ACBL’s ranking ladder:

Junior Masters:

Benjamin Lezu 

Sharon Paxton 

Club Master:

Constance Kuntz 

Sectional Master:

Janet Glazewski

Regional Master:

Mary Weston 

NABC Masters:

Rebecca Bergey

Patricia Bettger

Life Masters:

William Even

Monica Knopf 

Raymond Rizzo

Ben Hawn

Unit 190: Delaware 

www.unit190.org

Paula Varrassi

pvarrassi@gmail.com

Delaware Clubs

The Bridge Studio of Delaware, Wilmington

Harold Jordon

302-479-5431

club@bridge-studio.org

MOT, Middletown

Cheryl Shields

302-602-1638

c.shields@mehrs.com

Monday Morning Bridge Club

Friday Nooners

Dover

Clare O’Brien

410-310-0549

Clare758@outlook.com

Shore Bridge

Lewes

Anna DeLapo

302-236-0346

Anna7nt@gmail.com

Shuffles2

Ocean View Presbyterian Church

Thursday @ 12:30

215-817-2465

Shuffles2023@gmail.com

Link to the unit website

Unit 217: Susquehanna 

Jim McKeown

jcm751@comcast.net

Please keep our sectional in Boalsburg May 30 to June 1 in mind.

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4Spot | February 2025 | Editor: Susan Morse