Breaking News

The latest eDeclarer (September 2023) is available!  Go to eDeclarer in the menu above to see this eDeclarer and earlier editions.
Diamond in the Ruff, the District 21 newsletter, can be found here
Remember our Unit’s upcoming events.
  • 499 Fall Sectional, Sat/Sun, 9/24-25.  At Rossmoor.  Here is a link to a flyer.
STaC (Sectional Tournament at Clubs) – Face to face clubs held STaC games the week of Aug 21-27.  Results are here
North American Pairs (NAP)

The club qualifying games have concluded.  The strats are: Open (flight A)/2500 (flight B)/under 500/non LM (flight C).  Earning a qualification in any club-level NAP game qualifies a player for his/her own District NAP finals.

All 3 levels of the District Qualifying game will be played at the Monterey Regional in early January of
2024:
• The A level (open) District Qualifying game will be played Saturday & Sunday, January 6 & 7 at
10 AM & 3 PM with approximately half the field progressing from the first day to the second
day.
• The B level (fewer than 2500 masterpoints) District Qualifying game will be played Sunday,
January 7 at 10 AM & 3 PM.
• The C level (fewer than 500 masterpoints) District Qualifying game will be played Saturday,
January 6 at 10 AM & 3 PM.

There will be no pre-registration for any of the District Qualifying games. This means contestants will have their qualification checked when they register. The check is done based on the ACBL NAP Qualifiers list.

In-person games –  Unit 499’s newest club, Overtricks by the Bay, changed location and game time as of Tuesday, May 2.   The game is now at Brentwood Senior Center at 9am on Tuesdays.  Directed by Mark Marty.  Contact Mark for information at thatsafire@gmail.com or 925-487-7832.

Danville, Rossmoor, CCBC and Lamorinda all have in-person games.  Diablo and Blackhawk Country Club games are also taking place in person.  See the club pages for more details.
Nite Club Game for 99ers – California 99er “Nite Club”
Three districts are teaming up to offer safe and fun 99er games online for players with less than 100 masterpoints. A special feature is post-game analysis on Zoom at no extra cost. And, you support your local club every time you play.
These games are Mondays through Thursdays at 6:30PM. Click here for more information about the games, and for how to register.
Eligibility. If you see the game listed when you try to register, you are eligible to play. If you don’t see the game, send your BBO user name to your local club for assistance. Register early the first time you play so that you aren’t shut out.
What if I’ve never played online? You should play in a virtual club game before trying the California 99er Nite Club.  Click on the tab for Clubs at the top of the page and contact one for more information.
Due to the closures of all our Unit 499 bridge clubs, we are posting some information on how to play bridge on-line from the comfort of your home.  ACBL has an agreement with Bridge Base On-line (BBO) to provide several types of bridge games daily, some of which award MasterPoints.  We would like to highlight 2 types of games in which players can help assist clubs in the unit financially.  Several clubs, including Brentwood (Tues & Fri), CCBC, Discovery Bay (Sat), Lamorinda and Rossmoor (see the club page or the Weekly Unit Game schedule for more information ) are holding games on BBO.  Proceeds go to the club, and you can earn regular black points.  There are also other games daily – entitled Support Your Club.  The proceeds from these games go to whichever club(s) that you regularly play in.
There are several tutorials to help you get started and learn the ins-and-outs of BBO.  ACBL has some videos on its website at https://www.acbl.org/bbotutorials/.  Here is a link from ACBL to general instructions for Support Your Club games – https://blog.bridgebase.com/2020/03/18/how-to-log-in-to-bridge-base-online-and-play-acbls-support-your-club-game/.  Here is another set of videos on YouTube on how to get started on BBO –  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPVzlKS1MEG6ajgg-PL-aUk3SibfHmQ63

Unit Games:
Unit game schedule is listed on the Unit Game page. Also don’t forget to check the club pages for unit games, club championships, charity games and other special club games.
Partnerships – Just a reminder that the Unit has its own Google Group for bridge players seeking a partner.  New board member Andy Shockley, ncalifvol@aol.com, is now in charge of managing this Google Group.  For more information, here is a document describing this Group and the general Google Group, which is still managed by board member Judy Keilin.

The Unit 499 Online Directory is currently disabled.

Google Groups for unit news and finding partners Here is some updated info on how these work.