The latest eDeclarer (June 2021) 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
At the 1/30 District 21 Board meeting, both Jackie Zayac and Anne Hollingsworth from Unit 499 were elected to be representative to the ACBL Board of Governors. The District has five representatives to the BOG.
BBO Bridge
Longest Day – Each year you come together and help us raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
And there are so many ways you can contribute, too! You can play in a Virtual Club game the weekend of The Longest Day (June 19-20), play in an Alzheimer’s game at your face-to-face club on a day during the week of June 20-27, play in Endless Summer – this one is new! – or visit this page to donate directly to a team.
Endless Summer Regl – June 24-27! A portion of each entry fee will be donated to The Longest Day! Oh yeah, and gold points are up for grabs, too. Click here for the schedule of events, which will all be held on Bridge Base Online.
NAP – The 2021–22 North American Pairs have begun! Will you represent District 21 in the national finals?
The Road to the National Finals
There are three flights: up to 500 / NLM, up to 2,500, and unlimited. To reach the national finals:
- You and your partner (together or separately) need to qualify at the club level.
- Then you can play as a partnership in one unit qualifying game (to be scheduled sometime between September and November).
- The top finishers from unit qualifying games can compete in the district finals during the Monterey Clambake Regional, Jan 3–9, 2022.
- The top finishers from the district finals will be invited to represent District 21 in the national finals during the Reno NABC, March 10–20, 2022.
The First Step
Club qualifying games will take place June through August. Play as often as you like, and even if you don’t care about qualifying these games still award twice the regular (1/3 more than usual) masterpoints, half of which are Red:
You qualify if you have a 50% game, or are in the top half of your ACBL stratum. ACBL will notifiy qualifiers monthly by email.
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/
Finally, here is a link to the video tutorial that a bridge club in NY produced – https://zoom.us/rec/play/vJx8c
CLOSURES – Due to social distancing efforts to combat Coronavirus, all bridge clubs have suspended games. But see above for games available on BBO
Unit Games in July onward:
Also don’t forget to check the club pages for 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 up and running! Click here to view the directory or discover what you need to do to be included. There is also a link for the Directory in the menu at the top of this page. Clare Smith, clares@astound.net, maintains the directory on behalf of Unit 499.
Google Groups for unit news and finding partners Here is some updated info on how these work.
Free Youth Bridge Classes are held at CCBC on Tuesday nights at 7:00pm every other week (2nd & 4th Tuesdays). Contact Bruce Johnsonbaugh at 925-766-7586 for more info. Click here for a couple of pictures of the future of bridge! Bruce, thank you for your continued effort to promote the game of bridge for the the youth in our unit!