You will learn more by losing to good players
than you will by winning against poor players
Another Bridge Story - The Good Old Days A Lesson in Bridge
It was perhaps 30-35 years ago that my partner was a gifted young lady - Leslie Stone. My wife, Elizabeth, and I took
her across a state line for an immoral purpose - to play in the Nationals!
One evening Leslie stayed to kibitz her friend, Margie, who had hired a professional to play with her in the Swiss event.
This is the tale Leslie told us later ---
A very obnoxious player came to Margie's table and had some rude comments before he picked up the first hand.
This know-it-all opened two notrump, which was passed around to Margie who also passed. Mr Obnoxous sneered at her and
said, "Don't you know you should always double a dead notrump?" He smirked and proceeded to go down one. "See,
you should have doubled!"
Three boards later, the professional, setting to the left of Mr. Awful, opened two notrump. Pass - Pass -
You know what happened... Obnoxious sneered at Margie and put the Double card on the table as he looked at Margie and
said, "This is how to play bridge. I should charge you for this lesson!
Margie smiled at Mr. Gawd-awful and put down a 10 point dummy!
POST NOTE: The professional grinned and said to Margie, "No charge for this session!"
Roy Wilson - Emerald Life Master I am 90 years old...
and I have played bridge more than half my life...
The lesser half I wasted.
TEXT HERE
Unit Games -- Our unit games are held twice a month, on the first
and third Sundays, at the Pasadena Bridge Club. - Game time is 12:30. Note: Open the link to the Pasadena Club Results for Unit game results.
Our next Unit Game is Sunday, June 7.
The John Waken Sectional will be held the weekend of August 22-23
There will be a flighted pairs game on Saturday and a Team game on Sunday.
Unit Game - Winners
Well, this is getting familiar... the winners were Gilbert Stinebaugh and Gary Moore...Again!
Congratulations, guys.
Josephine Culbertson is reported to have used this psychic bid in a very high level game about 80 years ago!
(But probably not true.)
HIDDEN TEXT
Unit Historian:
Do you have an old photo or other memorabilia 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
The Latest Issue...
Interesting issue of District 22's Bulletin...
May, 2026
Status Change for our Members updated each month in the first week
Advanced in Rank
Steven Lison
Junior Master
Victor Riehl
Junior Master
Barbara Voron
Junior Master
Rick Weisman
Junior Master
Teri Unsworth
Sectional Master
Leslie Klein
NABC Life Master
Heising Fang
NABC Life Master
Fay Hsu
Bronze Life Master
Gary Moore
Sapphire Life Master
Carolyn Cohen
Emerald Life Master
Deceased
Carl Lundgren
Jimmy Rodgers
Roger Clough
Don Hopf
Glen Drogin
Charo Holdo
Diane Borgatti
Pasadena-San Gabriel Unit 559
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.
BBO - BridgeBase Online
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.
Use this link if you would like to see the convention card used by the BBO robots.
BBO has many bridge forums where you can discuss almost any aspect or topic related to bridge.
BBO has a site on YouTube where you will find both bridge discussions and explanations.
You Tube has a pretty good discussion of the new and improved bridge robots used on BBO.
WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES Two tables of both internal and external links
1
2
3
4
a
b
c
d
e
f
A
B
C
D
1
2
3
4
5
Unit 559 Membership Report
Ranks are updated quarterly after the 7th of the month.
Unit 559 Active Members
Click the rank below for a list
Master Points
0-5
No color points needed
5-20
No color points needed
20-50+
No color points needed
Although the majority of players listed
in each rank below have fulfilled the
requirements for the title in that group,
a few have not yet met the Gold, Silver
or Red point requisite. They do have
enough points for the rank, however.
50+ 5+ silver points
100+ 15+ silver points
and 5+ gold points
200+ 25+ silver
and 20+ red/gold/platinum
(5 must be gold or platinum)
300+ 50+ silver
and 50+ red/gold/platinum
(25 must be gold or platinum)
500+ 75+ silver
and 100+ red/gold/platinum
(50 must be gold or platinum)
750+ Life Master with
at least 750 points
1000+ Life Master with
at least 1000 points
(200+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum)
1500+ Life Master with
at least 1500 points
(300+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum)
2500+ Life Master with
at least 2500 points
(500+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum)
3500+ Life Master with
at least 3500 points
700+ silver/red/gold/platinum (350+ must be gold or platinum)
5000+ Life Master with
at least 5000 points
1000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (500+ must be gold or platinum)
7500+ Life Master with
at least 7500 points
1500+ silver/red/gold/platinum (750+ must be gold or platinum)
10,000+ Life Master with
at least 10,000 points
2000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (1000+ must be gold or platinum)
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
March Total Membership 329
The Number of visitors since estabshment prior
to the reset on January 16, 2026 was 1,009,500 Since January 16, 2026 --
You are Visitor Number 19301
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
by Roy Wilson
Mike Marcucci
