Lots of local bridge on Wednesdays!
* 10:45 0-500 Pairs
* 7:15 Newcomer pairs (12 hands)
* 7:30 Open Pairs
As always, if you need a partner, drop in at the Partnership Desk! I can
get one player into the game with a standby from the substitutes list.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
This morning:
* 10:45 0-500 Pairs
Come play bridge! No need to leave the house. It might be good to have a
shower though. I will. :)
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
We have our regular 0-1000 Monday night game tonight. Come play! Regular
VACB game: 150% black points (as always).
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
We have two Swiss Team games today:
* 12:15 non-Life Master (0-500) teams (all players <500 masterpoints)
* 12:30 Open Teams
Joining as a team is a two-step process:
* Invite your partner
* Invite your teammates
If you and your partner don't have teammates, no worries! If there are
pairs left over in the "Select Teammates" tab, they will be formed into
teams. A single partnership will be have "Sitout" partners, who will be
filled from the substitute player list.
Come give it a try!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
It's the last two days of Stardust week, and we have some big games to
finish the week.
* *9:30 Saturday mini lesson "Team of Four bridge"
*
* *10:00 0-500 Pairs*
* *12:20 Newcomer game*
* *12:30 Open Pairs*
For the 9:30 15-minute mini-lesson, I'm going to diverge from defensive
play for the day and talk about the beauty of bridge as a sport for
teams of four players. Sunday afternoon will be our first team-of-four
game, in the Swiss format. Come find out what it's all about!
Everyone welcome for the meeting on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83912578991?pwd=Y1R2UnJ1TFM2dVZzYmsyTDdzeFcydz09
Meeting ID: 839 1257 8991
Passcode: 7ntxx
Earlier episodes of the Saturday mini-lesson are available at my YouTube
channel on this playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD5qT1hFf-OreW5_zBRHB3WwF6Ljdp-OS
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
Swiss Teams March 28
*Swiss teams* is a wildly popular tournament event at sectional and
regional tournaments. Traditionally, every Sunday at a sectional, and
Wednesday plus Sunday at a Regional, is dedicated to a full-day swiss
team game.
It's played less often by clubs, so it's unfortunately less familiar to
newer players.
BBO has had team play, but has not supported team tournaments until
recently. They've been working feverishly to get them working as part of
their exclusive contract with the ACBL.
Since the start of the online virtual clubs, every Monday at the virtual
club roundtable the club managers have been asking "When are we going to
have team games?"
I played in my first BBO swiss team tournament about three weeks ago,
with the Duncan bridge club. It was a real treat to play the format
again! My team took second place in the strong field of 17 teams.
*Here's how it works*
This game will take the place of our Sunday afternoon tournament *this
week only*.
On Sunday afternoon, you'll find two Pasadena Pomona Downey tournaments:
* 12:15 499er Swiss (all players must have fewer than 500 masterpoints)
* 12:30 Open Swiss (everyone welcome!)
To register for the game, you will invite your partner just as you do in
a regular pairs game. (There's also a partnership desk you can use to
help find a partner.)
Once you and your partner have registered for the game, there's a new
step: *Select your teammates*.
If you've already arranged a team, on the *Select teammates* screen
you'll find your teammates waiting for you if they've already
registered, or they will find you if you registered first.
Invite your teammates to play, and the four of you will appear in the
*Entries* list, ready for the tournament to begin.
You can see what it looks like on the BBO news page here:
https://news.bridgebase.com/2020/11/17/swiss-teams-tournaments/
If you don't select teammates before the event starts, BBO will
automatically match you with another pair to form a team.
/You will never play against your teammates./
The Sunday game
We will probably play twenty boards: four rounds of five, or five rounds
of four, depending on how many teams sign up to play on Sunday. We can
hold a game with as few as four teams. (With three, I believe we can add
a team from robots and standby players. We have to have an even number
of teams, so everyone has a head-to-head opponent.)
I'm taking reservations now for the NLM and Open games on Sunday afternoon.
* If you already have a team, let me know who you're playing with.
* If you have a partner but not teammates, I can try to match you up
with another pair before the game
* You can also use the partnership desk, and be available for a team
at game time
The actual play of the game proceeds very much like other BBO games. You
can only tell that it's a team tournament by examining the score history.
Teams can be four players only (not five or six), and there's no way to
select a particular direction, but you'll always play with your selected
partner.
Each round of the tournament, your team will be matched head-to-head
with another team. The pairings for each next round will be determined
by your victory point record so far, just as in a face-to-face swiss
team game.
Team game scoring
The nice thing about playing teams on BBO is that *you don't have to
know* about the mechanics of scoring. Everything is taken care of
automatically.
Even so, I'll be dedicating the *Saturday morning mini lesson* this week
to how team games are played and scored. I'll also try to spend a few
moments to how team scoring affects your bidding strategy.
"Swiss" is just one format for team games. At a tournament there are
also "round robin" and "knockout" events. Team play is my personal
favorite, and (I believe) the purest and most beautiful format for
duplicate bridge.
One of the awesome things about the swiss format is that masterpoints
are awarded for every match that you win, as well as awards for the
teams who place overall in the event. It's not uncommon to hold a swiss
team game where every team wins some masterpoints!
I'm excited to be offering a game this Sunday! It should take about the
same amount of time as our regular pairs games. I hope you'll come play!
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
We have a full day of events today! Plus an offer for a recut of a
favorite bridge documentary.
* *10:45 0-500 Pairs (Double points, 25% Gold!)*
* *7:20 Newcomer game (details to the newcomers later)*
* *7:30 Open Pairs (Double points, 25% Gold!)*
My friend John McAllister made a bridge documentary that's a treat to
watch. I brought it to a Pasadena screening a few years ago, and we
played to a sold-out house.
He's recut it into a /better, shorter movie/. I had the privilege of
seeing a rough cut last week.
He's inviting all of us to view a screening of the film this Sunday
(when you're not playing in the Swiss Team game) and join him for an
online "focus group" at 5:00 Pacific time.
For a preview of the film, 45 minutes long, click this link for his
email
<https://mailchi.mp/17b27f1d0612/your-feedback-is-a-gift?e=9895f7047e>,
and a sign up link.
Logo
In other, less interesting, news, AT&T has once again blocked my email
server. My users on hotmail, prodigy, sbcglobal, and att.net, will not
receive this message. I don't know why I'm blocked, and it takes them at
least 48 hours to respond to a delisting request. It's possible that I
may never again be able to send email to those users, and there's
nothing I can do about it. I can /receive /email from ATT customers, but
cannot send to them. :(
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
Tuesday morning, Stardust Week!
0-500 Pairs 10:45
Come play if you can! I can get one single player into the game with a
standby player. (I get lots of good requests to fill in this week!)
For the next five Tuesday evenings, I'm hosting a social duplicate game
on RealBridge <https://realbridge.online/> for my current class of
students. *If you're available to play as a standby mentor* partner to a
student to help fill a table, I'd be delighted to hear from you. Check
in is at 6:45, with game play from 7:15 to 8:45. This is an informal
social duplicate game on a great platform from the UK.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
We're playing our regular schedule this week, with the exception of the
Sunday March 28 game at 12:30. Instead of Open Pairs, I'm planning a
Swiss Team game. More about that later.
Tonight! 7:15 0-1000 Pairs
Partners available from the standby list, if there's one player
remaining in the Partnership Desk at game time.
Evening games are 6 minutes per board for a little quicker finish.
Otherwise, same great game! $6 card fee for Stardust week.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
Bridge this afternoon!
* 12:30 Open Pairs
Next week at this time: Stardust Week Swiss Teams! I'm planning to have
an Open game and a non-Life Master game, depending on advance signups.
I'll also be doing a 15-minute overview of team bridge at next week's
Saturday morning mini lesson.
Best regards,
Mojo
--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>
