It's a special weekend in ACBL virtual club land. The Grass Roots games
raise money to send district qualifiers for the North American Pairs and
Grand National Teams to compete nationally at the North American Bridge
Championships.
In exchange, we award about 33% more black points than usual (200%
instead of 150% for virtual club games).
Our final Grass Roots game today is an Open Pairs game at 12:30. Come
play if you can!
Friendly partners are often available at the Partnership Desk, and if
there's one single remaining, I can get you into the game with a standby
player 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 weekend is "Grass Roots" weekend -- all VACB games pay double black
points! It's the same sort of thing as the Valentine's weekend we had in
February. Two days only! Here are the events for tomorrow:
* 9:30 15-minute bridge mini lesson from Mojo
* 10:00 0-500 Pairs
* 12:20 Newcomer Pairs
* 12:30 Open Pairs
The Open Pairs game should be awarding quite the bonus this weekend!
To join the 9:30 mini lesson live, use this Zoom meeting link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83912578991?pwd=Y1R2UnJ1TFM2dVZzYmsyTDdzeFcydz09
Meeting ID: 839 1257 8991
Passcode: 7ntxx
If you'd like to catch up on past mini lessons, they're available at
this YouTube 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>
Lots of bridge today!
* 10:45 0-500 Pairs
* 7:15 Newcomer Pairs
* 7:30 Open Pairs
Tonight's Open Pairs awards lots of points. Worth a visit! We play 6
minutes a board in the evening games, so it finishes snappy.
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>
The Rochester Duplicate Bridge Club has some serious data wonks. :) This
is a fascinating compilation of table data for online and face-to-face
play, showing how it is changing over the past several weeks.
https://medcitybridge.com/R_other%20pages/work/F2F%20Updates.html
Check back weekly and see how it changes.
(You might say this is a collection of tables tables.)
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>
Good morning! We're holding our regular 0-500 game at 10:45 this morning.
* 10:45 0-500 Pasadena Pomona Downey
Paula and I are looking to adjust some games and start times to
accommodate the merged virtual clubs. If you're an occasional player in
the 0-500 games on Tuesday and Wednesday, please let us know how you
feel about these things:
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>
I wrote about the future of the Pasadena Pomona Downey VBC in this
month's edition of the Southern California Bridge News -- which has been
completed but there hasn't been an email about it yet.
I wanted you all to get to read the column. It will appear as the
Pasadena San Gabriel Unit column.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some changes are in store! I need a vacation. This month marks the
one-year anniversary of the Pasadena Pomona Downey VBC (virtual bridge
club). It's been a great support to our closed clubs, and has certainly
kept me busy. Between teaching and directing games, it's been a full
time job for me.
I haven't really had anyone to whom I could turn over the management,
and I know that the players want to keep playing.
*I have an agreement in principal to pool our three-unit online club
with the Unit 556+ virtual club* in the neighboring Santa Clarita Valley
area. Their pool includes the Glendale Verdugo unit, and our player
group includes a considerable overlap already.
This appeals to me because it's very different from the huge
cross-country "alliance" pools, where you're not likely to run into any
old friends. It will still be small with a pretty familiar player group.
You might think of it as the "North Los Angeles County VBC" (plus a
small unit in Baja).
Basically it comes down to merging our management. Paula Olivares can
give me a vacation, and I can give her one as well. I'll return to
directing games for the club after a little time off.
Over the month of May we'll be ironing out a game schedule to keep our
local online games running (most likely) through the end of 2021. We'll
be looking at how to merge the six weekly games of Unit 556+ with the
nine weekly games of PPDVBC. Both groups have similar table counts and
player counts, so it seems like a good match.
If you have any feedback to offer, I'd love to hear from you soon! Email
mojo(a)bridgemojo.com or use the contact form at https://bridgemojo.com.
My last bridge classes for this season are winding down. I'll pick up
again with all the series in the fall.
We have some great rank changes from our novice/intermediate group! New
Junior Masters: Jon Fuhrman, Susan Kane, and Sara Shapiro. New Club
Master: Uma Shrivastava. Congratulations all!
/Post-publication addendum: At this time, Paula believes she can find
directors to keep all of the current PPDVBC games on the schedule,
assuming the attendance stays in place. We hope to have at least a draft
schedule available soon./
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 bridge tonight! We play a slightly quicker game in the evenings:
6 minutes a board. Come play if you can!
Looking for a partner? There are often friendly partners available in
the Partnership Desk, and I can get the "last one standing" into the
game with someone from the substitutes list.
* 7:15 0-1000 Pasadena Pomona Downey
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>
Today at 12:30! This has usually been our biggest game of the week. Do
we have some mothers celebrating by enjoying an afternoon of bridge? :)
* 12:30 Open Pasadena Pomona Downey (20-21 boards)
As always, frequently we have friendly partners available in the
Partnership Desk.
By popular demand on Sunday afternoons we play 20-21 boards, so it's a
little longer game, and more bridge to enjoy. :)
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>
Saturday we have our regular bridge schedule:
* 9:30 15-minute mini bridge lesson
* 10:00 0-500 Pairs
* 12:20 Newcomer Pairs
* 12:30 Open Pairs
This Saturday afternoon game has been lightly attended for the past few
weeks, but it has the potential to pay *really big masterpoint awards*,
because of the adjacent newcomer game.
For example, last week on Saturday we had four tables in the Newcomer
game, and three tables in the Open Pairs. Because the Open game was a
Howell movement, the first place award was the equivalent of that for a
ten table game! First place in last Saturday's Open Pairs paid *2.1
black points*! By comparison, Sunday's 9-table open game paid 1.35
points for first in each of the N/S and E/W sections.
If you'd like to win some extra black points, and you're not playing in
the Saturday afternoon Open Pairs, you may be missing out!
The same is true for the Wednesday evening Open Pairs at 7:30. This past
Wednesday's game with four tables paid 2.25 black points for first place.
This week's Saturday mini-lesson continues third-hand play on defense.
I'll show you what to do when partner leads a high card.
Here's the Zoom link for the Saturday lesson:
Time: May 8, 2021 09:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83912578991?pwd=Y1R2UnJ1TFM2dVZzYmsyTDdzeFcydz09
Meeting ID: 839 1257 8991
Passcode: 7ntxx
If you'd like to visit past Saturday mini lessons, they're available on
the YouTube play list here:
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>
Two great bridge games today, plus Newcomers this evening!
* 10:45 0-500 Pasadena Pomona Downey
* 7:30 Open Pasadena Pomona Downey
Come play if you can! The Open game on Wednesday evenings has a very
nice award bonus. The evening game plays at a snappier 6 minutes per
board as well.
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>
