WebMaster: - unit559webmaster@gmail.com - 626 340-9575

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B U L L E T I N   B O A R D

Pasadena Bridge Club 649 N. Fair Oaks Ave #201 Upstairs above the pizza shop Mojo Jones 626 247-4457 Zach Vedro 626 215-5080 Full Schedule Open Games Mon-Sat 11:00 AM M-F 1:00 PM Saturday Regency Bridge Club   201 E. Colorado St, Glendale Adam Barron    323 318-4308 Thursday   12:30 Social Duplicate Game   Arcadia Community Center Marie Nimmrich        626 448-3304 Wednesday 9:30 - 50¢ Friday 1:00 - 50¢ Mojo Jones   626 247-4457 Unit Game Director 1st & 3rd Sunday 12:30 Pasadena Bridge CLub Bridge Lessons Mojo   626 247-4457    Unit Game - Jul 20 Unit Game - Aug 3 Unit Game - Aug 17 Waken Sectional AUG 23-24 Unit Game - Sept 7 Unit Game - Sept 21 ACBL Tournaments Schedule RSVP Pasadena BC Check my ACBL Masterpoints Pasadena Bridge Club     Pasadena Club Results Glendale Regency     Regency Results La Fetra Club     La Fetra Results District STaC Results     Mojo's BBO Results ACBL Tournaments     ACBL Live Results Dr John Waken Sectional     Arcadia Community Center Results Unit Game Results     Old Unit Game Results Regionals This Year Our unit games are held twice a month, usually on the first and third Sundays, and both games are held at the Pasadena Bridge Club. - Game time is 12:30 Be sure to call Miriam Harrington for a reservation:                             626 232-0558 For New and Lower Ranked Players Roy Wilson 626 340-9575 -- unit559Webmaster@gmail.com If you use Text Messaging...TEXT ME!   Roy           You will learn more by losing to good players than you will by winning against poor players Stray Words of Wisdom Smolen Suppose your partner opens 1NT and you hold a hand similar to this one... Sometime back in the 1980's Mike Smolen created an agreement to describe this hand so that the notrump bidder becomes the declarer.  Start with 2!c, Stayman, and if partner bids either suit you have found a fit and the strong hand is the declarer with the lead coming up to his hand. Hmmm... but what if declarer bds 2!d?  Mike suggested that you jump a level, but jump in your 4-card suit.  This bid promises that the other suit is a 5+card suit.  All ya gotta do is remember it! Do you have a a favorite bidding or defensive agreement that you would share with the rest of us?  Send it to me! Roy Wilson Unit559webmaster@gmail.com Not Guilty I was accused of cheating by three ACBL officials who told me that EDGAR, which is their software that examines hands played on BBO, reported three hands they said I played about five years ago. They decided I was guilty and suspended me, and told me that I had two options, either plead guilty and accept their punishment or file a $900 request for a hearing.  I was also told I would need an advocate, at a cost of about $1000 a day, if I wanted to appeal. It took several months for me to discover how this happened, and now that I know, I will not present it to my accusers, so although innocent, I will remain "guilty." For about five years my patio was a place where a couple of generations of my relatives came together wth friends and often played bridge.  Out of perhaps 12-15 of them only two were ACBL members, and one was a rookie while the other had perhaps 20 masterpoints.  Kimberly and Pat.  My son gave them the password to my BBO account and they used it to play together.  They never told me!  For some reason they thought there was a membership fee to belong to BBO.  They sat next to each other and played on an iPad and a laptop, and often asked others about the best bid or play.  I have no idea what kind of advice they received from the others, but since everyone could see both hands I can only imagine what they were told to either bid or lead.  In any event, EDGAR, the software app that looks at suspicious hands and reports cheating, reported me as being suspect.  Three people at ACBL headquarters accused me of cheating five years ago.  I had no explanation for the few hands they showed me!  The three accusers also became my three judges, and were a jury of three as well.  They suspended me. When I told the family I had been suspended, Kimberly and Pat said it might have been them.  they said they would be glad to offer the ACBL an explanation for whatever they might remember of hands from years back. After some thought, I have decided to drop it.  There is a $900 filing fee for a hearing, plus a $1000 a day cost for an advocate.  There's also the cost of flying three of us to Mississippi.  But... most important of all, they might exonerate me but then punish Kimberly and Pat.  Nope.  No chance.  It's over.  I quit.  They win. (I also believe I would not have much chance of convincing three people who have already made up their minds.)   Close   Winners! Folks, anyone who wins 26 gold points is a champion forever, right?  Lisa Walker went down to Long Beach and came home with a ton of gold.  Congratulations, my friend!  Also, Richard Halverstadt is probably walking about three feet off the ground - He won more than the two gold points he needed to become a Life Master and immediately a Bronze Life Master, too!  (Richard, that's certainly not the highest rank in the ACBL, but it is one of the most difficult to achieve.  Well done!) Long Beach Regional Results Rank Updates I just finished the quarterly update of our player's ranks.  Unfortunately, the ACBL records are not well maintained in the files available for this, so please check your rank and let me know if there is an error.  (Ranks are below, on the right.) THe Top 30 players have also been updated, as well as the Ace of Clubs and the Mini-McKenney. STaC Games - All This Week The Pasadena Club will be participating in the district STaC games, which means extra masterpoints. A STaC game is a Sectional Tournament at Clubs game... The same hands are played in all of the clubs in the district, so it's possible to win 20+ masterpoints. HIDDEN TEXT   Close   Unit Historian:    Do you have an old photo or other memorbilia from our past that you can share with us?  Please contact Mike and let him make a copy. Mike Marcucci 818 903-2471 nstarmgm@att.net Pasadena-San Gabriel Unit 559 Unit Board Announcements Our unit is one of nine in District 23 and we are sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League. We have an elected board of 12 members that meets monthly and is responsible for unit games, our Holiday party and the annual John Waken sectional. Unit Board Members     Unit 559     Bylaws Zero Tolerance Standing Rules Unit Board Policies Unit Membership Roster How to Find Our Virtual Club on the BBO Website Our unit members can play in a virtual club game set up by Mojo and Paula... When you log on, you are at the Home screen.  Click on Competitive and then click on All Tournaments. There's a Search Box at the top, on the right.  Simply type in a few letters or numbers that will help identify what you are looking for:  23 is sufficient for District 23, and 559 is enough for Unit 559. You can use either the abbreviated Pasa or 559 for our virtual club. Use this link if you would like to see the convention card used by the BBO robots. BBO Robot's Card WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES     BBO Login Our Virtual Club bridgemojo.com Our Friends on BBO       1 2 3 4 a      Memorial to Lost Friends    Gallery of Players    A Scrapbook of Photos Bridge Cartoons b   Tips From Our Top Players Interesting Bridge Articles Double Dummy Problems Problems and Solutions c   Card Play Technique Stuff Everybody Knows Bridge Utilities Standard Bidding d   Ask the Coach: -  JJ Members Page History of Our Unit Karen Walker's Bridge Library:   e   Ace of Clubs - Mini-McKenney ACBL Convention Chart Information Links Maps f    Frank Stewart's Daily Hand Bridge Stories and Tales D22 - Daily Bulletins D23 - Daily Bulletins ACBL District and Unit Websites       1 2 3 4 A    The ACBL Alert Chart Conventions Chart Duplicate Decisions The Laws of Duplicate Bridge B    The Montreal Relay The Big Club The 2/1 System Extended Precision C    Keycard Asking Problem Bids Bridge Tales Losing Trick Count D    Bridge Probabilities 52 Bridge Tips - Kantar Pavlicek's Bridge Tools Ed's Newsletter     Looking for a certified bridge teacher?       Morris Jones     mojo@mojobridge.com   Claudia Elmes     elmesclaudia@gmail.com   Zach Vedro     zvedro@hotmail.com   Lisa Walker     lisawalkerlac@gmail.com   Roy Wilson Precision System   unit559webmaster@gmail.com   American Bridge Teachers Association   ABTA   Unit 559 Membership Report Ranks are updated quarterly after the 7th of the month. Top 30 Players - Unit 559 Rank Requirements Unit 559 Active Members Click the rank below for a list Master Points     Rookie 0-5 No color points needed Junior Master 5-20 No color points needed Club Master 20-50+ No color points needed Sectional Master 50+ 5+ silver points Regional Master 100+ 15+ silver points and 5+ gold points NABC Master 200+ 25+ silver and 20+ red/gold/platinum (5 must be gold or platinum) Advanced NABC Master 300+ 50+ silver and 50+ red/gold/platinum (25 must be gold or platinum) Life Master 500+ 75+ silver and 100+ red/gold/platinum (50 must be gold or platinum) Bronze Life Master 750+ Life Master with at least 750 points Silver Life Master 1000+ Life Master with at least 1000 points (200+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Ruby Life Master 1500+ Life Master with at least 1500 points (300+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Gold Life Master 2500+ Life Master with at least 2500 points (500+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Sapphire Life Master 3500+ Life Master with at least 3500 points 700+ silver/red/gold/platinum (350+ must be gold or platinum) Diamond Life Master 5000+ Life Master with at least 5000 points 1000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (500+ must be gold or platinum) Emerald Life Master 7500+ Life Master with at least 7500 points 1500+ silver/red/gold/platinum (750+ must be gold or platinum) Platinum Life Master 10,000+ Life Master with at least 10,000 points 2000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (1000+ must be gold or platinum) Grand Life Master 10,000+ Life Master with at least 10,000 points 2000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (1000+ must be gold or platinum) Must have a victory in an eligble event July Total Membership  340 Go to the top of the page July, 2025 Status Change for our Members updated each month in the first week New Member Transferred In Transferred Out Advanced in Rank - 6   David Foos  Junior Master   Sherna Foucher  Junior Master   Lina Saossian  Junior Master   Wayne Fang  Bronze Life Master   Angela Peters  Bronze Life Master   Nina Huang  Silver Life Master                   Since June 16, 2016 -- You are Visitor Number   929757 This website was established in 1999 by Roy Wilson Linux version 1.0.0 was introduced March 14, 1994 The First Web Site was established at CERN in 1992 by Tim Berners-Lee. This website was built in 1999 A Slackware LINUX server         It ain't Windows!