Our bridge club games are sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and directed by a staff of professionals. The Bridge Deck Club is easily accessed from Naples and Marco Island located at the parish hall of St. Peter the Apostle Church, 5130 Rattlesnake Hammock. For more information please call (239) 262.5334 or send us an e-mail via our contact form. Janet Dixon is Partnership Chairman; in her absence over the summer contact Liz Saxon at 239-394-8347 if you need a partner for a particular date.
NEWS UPDATE
Tuesday/Thursday Games Suspended for summer…Bridge Deck Club has suspended the Tuesday/Thursday (and of course Saturday) games due to the small number of people available to play. Please give the club your support on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Our June sectional begins Thursday, June 7, so there will be a BIG game on that Thursday.
DESSERTS NEEDED FOR JUNE SECTIONAL…Hospitality chairman for the June Sectional Syd Blum thanks everyone who brought “goodies” to the April sectional and asks for your attendance and support of the June sectional when many of our members have gone north for the summer. Please let Syd know if you can bring something during the three days of the tournament. A signup sheet will be posted at the club.
SAD NEWS…Regretfully we report the May 7th passing of Jennie May Heiser, a beloved member of our bridge club for many years. Her warm, radiant smile at the bridge table and the wonderful desserts that she brought will be missed by all of us. She is survived by her husband of 35 years, Jim; two sons; a stepdaughter and numerous grandchildren. A memorial service will be held Monday, June 18, at 11 am at the East Naples United Methodist Church, 2701 Airport Road South, followed by a luncheon at the church fellowship hall. Jennie, we miss you!
The Bridge Deck Club of Naples is hosting the Summer Sectional Sectional June 9th - 11th.
Newsletter
BRIDGE DECK CLUB OF NAPLES
May 2012 Editor – Liz Saxon
.
Our April NLM/Srs Sectional is over and it was a smashing success, an increase in tables of almost 20% over the inaugural sectional in 2011. Three hundred forty-seven players earned 654.81 silver points. Among the top ten point winners were Jim Saxon (3rd) with 16.59 points; Mike Oesterle (7th) with 10.81 points; Jack Arena (8th) with 10.43 points; Liz Saxon (9th) with 9.37 points; and Tom Urso (10th) winning 8.53 points. A Bridge Deck team won the Non Life Master Swiss: Carolyn Atkins, Lynn Crain, Lou Scheffer and Art Munroe for a total of 3.63 silver points. Marlene Mackinnon and Louise Barton won the Thursday morning NLM pairs for 3.33 silver points; Keith Kersch (who became a life master at our tournament and will be directing some at Bridge Deck) and Jim Saxon won Friday AM senior pairs for 8 silver points; and Tom Urso and Helena Yurconic won Friday afternoon senior pairs for 5.87 points. And many other people won points. Check out the ACBL, Unit 128 or District 9 websites to get complete lists, also our own Bridge Deck website.
Many kudos to tournament co-chairs Wayne Goodrich and Syd Blum for their hard work; Syd was also in charge of hospitality. The club especially thanks Bob Parlin who handled all the prizes and caddied Thursday and Friday rather than playing. Also to Glenda Armstrong and Betty Barter (with her new knee) for handling partnership and caddying the wildly successful Swiss team Wednesday afternoon; thanks also to all of the volunteers who brought food and snacks, helped out in the kitchen and cleaned up. And always to Ellie Goodrich – she and Wayne made up all the boards on the dealing machine – and Ken and Janet Dixon for their inspirational leadership across the board. Ken and Janet head north on Saturday (like many of our members are doing) for the summer season. We will miss them more than we can say. And finally, special thanks to all of our members who supported the club and played in the tournament. Rick Larkin and Nan Burford were excellent directors and worked very hard to keep the games running smoothly. There were four sections for each of the pair events and 60+ teams Wednesday afternoon. Our Board of Governors has lots of ideas for improvements at next year’s sectional, so now is the time to get your suggestions in if you have any.
There is another silverpoint sectional at Naples Bridge Center, May 3rd through 6th. That tournament has more sessions (and opportunities) with bracketed knockout teams and a pair game Thursday night, Open Pairs and knockouts on Friday, May 4th , Open Pairs and Newcomer pairs on Saturday, May 5th; and a play thru Swiss Team on Sunday May 6th. Our bridge club will be open Thursday afternoon and CLOSED Friday for the Naples sectional. We encourage all of our members to play at NBC and win lots of silver! (PS – times for the Naples tournament events are 9:30 am and 2 pm.)
Finally, even though it’s just a tad early, remember that Bridge Deck Club has another silver point sectional June 7-9, Thursday (Open Pairs), Friday (Open Pairs) and Saturday (10 am play thru Swiss).
Sad News – In the wake of the tournament we are saddened by the deaths of two of our club members – Bill Allison and Catherine (Kit) Mills. A private memorial service is planned at Arlington National Cemetery for Kit, who will be interred beside her first husband, Bion Shutts. No information was available about services for Bill Allison.
PARTNERSHIPS – In Janet’s absence over the summer months, please call Liz Saxon at 239-394-8347 if you need a partner for a particular day. By the same token, if you are available to play and willing to come at the last minute, please tell Liz or Ellie.
EDUCATION – All good things such as bridge lessons come to an end at the close of April and will resume again in the fall. We want to thank Marcia Reff, Joanna Sarkisian and Joy Schick for their participation and efforts in the educational program, and also, those individuals such as Bob Parlin and Tom Urso who did impromptu chalk talks before some of the sessions.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENT DATES
Naples Bridge Center Sectional – May 3rd thru 5th
PALM BEACH GARDENS REGIONAL – May 28th thru June 3rd
Bridge Deck Club of Naples Sectional – June 8th – 10th
Unit 128 STaC – June 18th – 24th
FT LAUDERDALE (DEERFIELD BEACH) REGIONAL – July 2nd – 8th
Shell Coast Bridge Unit
As you read this article a petition is underway to form a new ACBL bridge unit in southwest Florida, entitled Shell Coast Bridge Association. We need half of the almost 2100 ACBL members living in the zipcodes submitted to ACBL to sign the petition for it to be accepted. A new unit would then be formed, bringing the number of units in Florida to six and giving sw Florida (Marco Island north to Venice) its own local Board of Directors, control of its own sectionals and educational bridge programs. Unit 128 (our current unit) is bigger than any other district in the United States with currently 14,000+ members of the 19,667 ACBL members in all of Florida. Shell Coast believes a smaller, more geographically compact unit focused on specific SW Florida bridge needs will improve the quality of bridge in our area, change tournament formats to fit our needs and look at rebates and revenue-sharing for local clubs that close for other clubs' tournaments. Your help is needed to create our unit. We ask you to click on the link below, print and sign your name, ACBL number and zipcode and date at the bottom of this form. Mailing directions are on the printed copy of the petition. Thank you for your help.
Click on this link to print a petition for Shell Coast Bridge Unit
Editor’s Note: Petitions should be available at your local bridge club. Signing this petition will in no way affect your regular duplicate bridge game – down the road it will enable SW Florida to better organize educational programs and sectional tournaments in the area. If your club does not have any petitions please have them contact Val or Rick Covalciuc, at valerierick@comcast.net or lizsaxon@yahoo.com for more information.