Bridge Buzz
ACBL District 17 / Region 10
Greetings, District 17!
How humbling it is to be writing to you as your acting President. Liz Hamilton has moved out of our district and embarked on new adventures. She set a fabulous example for all of us. She built a cohesive team and inspired every board member and volunteer with her trust, good humor, and example. She will be missed. Thank you, Liz, for all you contributed to D17 and the board and the game of bridge.
Toby McEvoy of Unit 373 (Las Vegas) has stepped up to complete Liz's term. That's Toby over to your right. Welcome, Toby!
These last two months have been inspiring to me as I learn more details of the contributions of each board member and volunteer. District 17 players, you have fantastic leaders!
District 17 offers many sectionals and regionals. Every unit board amazes me with the efforts put into ensuring that we run successful and enjoyable tournaments. I hope to see you all at the Denver Regional in May.
Sharon Smith
Acting President
Cindy Shoemaker, Region 10 representative to the ACBL national board, has reported on the March board meeting held at the NABC in Memphis. Topics in the report:
- Finance
- Membership trends
- Member retention
- Growing the game
- Supporting units and districts
- International bridge
- Appeals and charges
- Governance
- Bylaws
- Site selection
- Appointments
Click here to read the complete report. You can contact Cindy at region10director@acbl.org or 719-337-6258.
Bridge In A Day
Congratulations to the Colorado Springs Unit for hosting a successful Bridge In A Day program and certifying two new BIAD teachers for future events.
D17 licenses the BIAD curriculum to ensure that clubs and units always have materials to inspire new players. Contact Sharon Smith if you are interested in offering BIAD.
Jump Start Bridge
In just 18 months, Jump Start Bridge has:
- signed up 415 teachers for School Bridge
- in 35 states and 2 provinces,
- creating 427 programs
- and registering 18,417 students.
Other activities:
- JSB is now hosting booths at math conferences.
- JSB has sent out information for teachers to host summer camps.
- Colorado Springs Bridge Club is inviting the local schools to an end-of-year game at their club on May 17th (see below).
- JSB is planning open-house events inviting teachers, and reaching out with social media to locals interested in learning more about bridge.
The map below shows the locations where at least one school has enrolled. More information is available on the Jump Start Bridge website.
P.S. Think about including a Youth/JSB game in your sectionals and regionals.
P.P.S. Want to get involved? Send an email to Sharon Smith.
Jump Start Bridge game in Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is hosting a special game for Jump Start Bridge students. Date: Saturday, May 17. Time: 10:00 am. Cost: FREE.
Click here for a flyer with all the details.
STaC stands for "Sectional Tournament at Clubs." All the participating clubs in a district play the same boards. You can win in your club, and you can also win in your district. STaCs award silver masterpoints, unless they're Royal STaCs, in which case the district award is 25% gold, 25% silver, 25% red, and 25% black.
We have a Royal STaC week coming up in D17 June 2 through 8. Make sure your club is participating and make plans to play! Click here for the flyer and all the info.
by Kitty Larson
D17 Election Secretary
Three D17 Board of Director seats are up for election this fall:
- Arizona At Large, Units 355 and 358. Bill Phillips is not running for reelection.
- Tucson, Unit 356. Steve Reynolds is not running for reelection.
- Las Vegas, Unit 363. With one year left in her term. Liz Hamilton resigned. Her replacement, Toby McEvoy, has not yet determined whether he will run for the next term.
The term of office to serve on the D17 Board is three years, commencing on January 1.
District board members are elected by unit boards. This cycle's election must occur before November 1, 2025.
If you are interested in running for one of these board positions, you must be an ACBL member in good standing and a member of the unit(s) that you are seeking to represent on the D17 Board.
Candidates must submit a Statement of Declaration to the D17 Election Secretary, Kitty Larson (kittysocceretc@gmail.com), and to the President(s) of the respective Unit(s) before August 31, 2025.
The D17 Goodwill Committee and Charter was established in 2011 for the purpose of recognizing D17 members in good standing who exemplify congeniality and ethical behavior. Committee members subscribe to the ACBL Goodwill slogan "It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice."
Congratulations to this year's recipients!
Kim Bauer
Unit 351
Nominated by Kitty Larson
Kim just started playing bridge in 2017 and has since jumped in with both feet. She has already served on the Unit board for six of those years. She is currently on the tournament committee, has repeatedly chaired the Unit 351 Progressive Tournament, chaired the IN Regional this spring and now will be chairing our Kachina Tournament.
Margaret Devere
Unit 361
Nominated by Jennifer O'Neill
Margaret has been playing bridge since the early eighties and has been an avid player since 2001. She served on the Denver Unit 361 Board for several years, including two years as president, and she is currently the Webmaster for the Denver Unit and the new editor of the D17 Buzz.
Pat McCreary
Unit 355
Nominated by Bill Phillips
Several years ago, Pat assumed leadership of the Sedona Bridge Club. While many clubs are shrinking or even closing their doors, the Sedona club is experiencing an increase in participation, both in-person and online. Much of this success is due to Pat’s calm, friendly, and supportive style.
Suzy Greenwood
Unit 356
Nominated by Steve Reynolds
From Day One, Suzy has participated in making bridge better for everyone. She took on the position of NLM (Non Life Master) representative and vastly improved the NLM experience, adding many enhancements. She moved on to tournament setup while mentoring the new NLM representative.
Tom Roberts
Units 360 and 363
Nominated by Kay Brock
The 2025 Goodwill Ambassador for ACBL Units 360 and 363 is Tom Roberts. Tom teaches bridge and directs weekly Open and 499er games for the Greeley Afternoon Club in northern Colorado.
Joe Simon
Unit 421
Nominated by Cindy
Shoemaker
Joe Simon exemplifies the spirit of goodwill at the bridge table. He consistently fosters a friendly and respectful atmosphere, emphasizing fairness and mutual respect among all players. His goal is to ensure that every player leaves the table with a smile and a positive experience.
Kelly Wawrzynek
Unit 359
Nominated by Sharon Smith
Kelly has served multiple terms on the Board of Unit 359, many of them as its President. During this time she has tirelessly promoted bridge in Boulder, Summit County, and along the Front Range by, among other things:
Rick Weigle
Unit 374
Nominated by Dave Baglee
Rick is a long-time director of games at the Duke City Bridge Club. In addition to this, Rick wears multiple hats within the club. He is a strong advocate for education, along with John Keck (a Goodwill recipient last year), but his primary focus has been on growing our beginner/intermediate games.
by Julie Clark
D17 GNT/NAP Coordinator
Make plans now to qualify for the 2025–2026 North American Pairs (NAPs). The qualifying period is set for June 1–August 31, 2025, and the National finals will be held at the spring NABC in St. Louis. More information will be available in the near future.
There will be four flights:
- Championship Flight: unlimited masterpoints
- Flight A: 0–6000 masterpoints
- Flight B: 0–3000 masterpoints
- Flight C: NLM (Non Life Master) with fewer than 750 masterpoints
Masterpoint levels are determined by recorded masterpoints as of June 1, 2025.
Qualifying games will be held at your local clubs throughout the qualifying period. If you are not able to qualify at your local club, at least one online game will be held by the Steamboat Springs Club on June 28th at 3:00 p.m.
This is a great opportunity to represent District 17 at the Nationals. For more information, please contact Julie Clark at jclark9811@comcast.net.
Do you have a well-read community newspaper where you live? They usually include neighborhood feature articles. How about an article about your bridge club? Think about what it offers the community. Think about what you'd like your community to know about bridge. It's a card game for four players (two partnerships). It promotes social interaction and strategic thinking. And it's fun.
Then, call the newspaper and you will probably get sent to voice mail. In a short well-prepared message, tell them why you think this article would be great for their newspaper. After that, wait for a return call. I made three calls to the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle before they finally called me back. Be ready for that call-back. They will want to interview you then. Be a salesman. Make them love the game like you do. And have five or six photographs ready to send to them.
Dave Baglee
A long, long time ago, in a country 5,000 miles away, playing cards was a part of Dave’s everyday family life. The game of choice was cribbage, although he was quickly drafted as a fourth for his father’s monthly bridge game! After an extended hiatus he was reintroduced to game via party bridge, but it was not until he retired that he started taking lessons at the Duke City Bridge Club. Things quickly progressed from there and he is currently a Silver Life Master and a certified director, and he served on the Duke City Bridge Club Board of Directors for six years, with three years as president.
Dave joined the District 17 Board of Directors in early 2024, as the representative for New Mexico and El Paso. He is currently the District Tournament Coordinator, whose primary role is to ensure that tournaments (Regionals & Sectionals) are sufficiently spaced out in both time and space. The best part of the job is working with people in District 17's various Units.
Outside of playing bridge, Dave and his wife, Susan, enjoy traveling, spending time with family, and playing golf.
Bill Phillips
I started playing duplicate bridge in 2011 at a club in Flagstaff, Arizona, that held a small game once per week. Eager to play more bridge, I began playing at a club in Sedona, Arizona, driving an hour each way from Flagstaff. I became a club director in 2016, directing games in Sedona and eventually in Prescott, Arizona. I started teaching beginning and intermediate bridge in Sedona in 2017. I currently teach bridge at the Yavapai College Lifelong Learning Institute in Prescott.
My favorite bridge memory is from May 2016. My wife Carol and I were playing at the Reno NABC. We had earned a couple of gold points, but still needed about 8 more to reach 50 gold points and thereby obtain Life Master status. On the last day of the tournament we picked up a pair for the Sunday team event. We told our partners what we needed. They said with complete conviction: “Don’t worry—you will get them.” The two sessions consisted of eight rounds. Sure enough, the four of us had earned so many victory points that we had first place sewn up by the end of the seventh round. We drove home the proud owners of Life Master certificates.
I became a member of the District 17 Board of Directors in 2018. I was disenchanted with the marginal quality of the cards at regional tournaments that were being provided by a contractor. In 2019 I proposed to the Board that we should purchase our own cards and boards, and buy a utility trailer to deliver them to and from tournaments. The Board approved, and we used our supplies for the first time at the 2020 Albuquerque regional tournament. The next tournament was in Tucson in March. Then COVID-19 intervened. Our next regional was in Las Vegas in December 2021, complete with masks and proof-of-vaccination cards.
Eventually the Board purchased Bridgemates, round timers, and a laser printer, for use at all D17 regionals. The way the process works now: For each pair session, I receive a computer file from the DIC (Director in Charge) that contains the deals. I also receive the corresponding hand record originals, and the DIC's order sheet, specifying the number of board sets for each session and the number of hand records to be printed. I feed the computer file into the dealing machine and produce the boards, then find the matching hand records and print them. It takes about 20 minutes to duplicate, label, and pack a set of boards.
A typical tournament requires about 120 sets of 36 boards, so I deal more than 4,000 decks per tournament. I have 60 sets of boards, so I usually duplicate some boards at home before leaving for the tournament. I also maintain 1,200 bidding boxes and 155 Bridgemates.
Together with preparing materials, loading the trailer, and unloading the trailer, my time commitment is about 60 hours per tournament (Editor's note: plus travel time hauling the trailer up and down and around). It is a labor of love. Duplicating boards is tedious. It is a deceptively simple routine, and it is all too easy to lose focus and make a mistake. Therefore it requires concentration and careful double-checking. For me it is well worth the effort to ensure that our players have a good experience when participating in our tournaments.
Editor's note: Bill says that his DNA doesn't support remembering any of the thousands of boards he's dealt, but he still doesn't play in any regional pair game. You might see him at a team game toward the end of the tournament when all the board duplication is complete.
Another editor's note: Bill didn't tell me all this detail originally. I asked him for the process because I was curious myself, and thought that other people might like to know also.
