NOTICE FOR WEDNESDAY FUN GAME

Suzanne is feeling over pressured.  I have heart conditions. She is going to take the summer off, while Skip and/or Carl will be running 2 sections on Wednesday, one of which will be the Fun Bridge.  Two members of Suzanne's family are in different Medical facilities in parts of Vermont 3 hours away from each other each 3.5 hours away from her.  Also she is taking an advanced college course that is unrelentless  12 weeks of college Mechanical engineering in 6 weeks. Fascinating! but lots of work.  A tree fell down in my yard, and I have to cut it up, and My cherry tree and 5 blueberry bushes need netting put up so the birds wont get them all.  I've never had any apples or grapes since I've never had the time to net them.

Have a good summer and I will reevaluate my health in August.     Suzanne

 Thursday Open Game 29 May 2025

Welcome to a few players who are relatively new - Jim Scamman who has not been here for about 10 years and Margaret/Dave and Jude/Ken from the Derry Club.  These new club members helped make this the largest single game I have run here - 11-1/2 tables!  

Darrel/Brent and Bob Jerry took the top spots. Liz/Ted, Nick/Ed, Jim/Gordon and Louis/George also did very well earning points.  The points were not very high because 25% of the points will be gold points.  Next week the points will be high because it will be a NAP qualifier game.

 Wed Open Game 28 May 2025

Well it was certainly an exciting game today.  I was really impressed with the quality of play we had.  The B stratification was 500-1200 mps by team average. We played a 6-1/2 Table Howell movement so sit-outs were only 2 boards.  Ruth/Harvey earned the top spot with a fabulous 68%.  The top C stratification point winners were Nancy/John and Lynn/Cate.

Thank you for everyone's efforts to be gracious hosts and friendly guests.  I think we did an excellent job working together even though we are used to playing such different games. I for one have found that I usually think I know what is best, but usually find I am only seeing half of the truth. 

Noise is an issue that I think we can improve on.  We both had 7 tables but the Fun group (Section A) was playing a 4 board Mitchell while the Open group (Section B) played a 2 board Howell.  Therefore the two groups were moving at different times. We will also try partition barriers next week which we hope will reduce the noise.

Thanks again. I hope everyone had a nice time.  There is a 25% Open gold game tomorrow, same time same place.

28 May 2025 - Another Melded Game 14. 5 tables in 2 Sections

 Today 28 May 2025, we attempted to run two sections of duplicate side by side.

The A Group (FUN group) played 2 boards, 6  rounds of 4 boards in a Mitchell Movement, while the B group played 26 in 13 rounds of 26.

Group A's winners in NS were Roger and Connie with a 62%, followed by Jane and Jan with a ~60%, then Rick and Penny ~54%.  In EW direction were  Paul and Susanne 60%, then Margie and Carol~56% followed by  Guil, and Claire  ~52%.

If you would like to see what the "B" section might have done against the same cards,  Please look at their section.  We were playing the same cards.

For Group B see the other post for May 28,

Thank you all for coming,

Sorry about the confusion, we will be discussing how things went.  I personally am exhausted, not really excited, and a bit depressed

Suzanne 

 Tuesday May 27 2025

We discussed second hand play defense in Adv beginner and 2 club opening and responses in beginner bridge lessons.  Next week we will continue our defense series discussing defensive signals in adv beginners and another lesson on 2 club hands in beginner lessons

We had 5.5 tables in our pupil game with Jane G and Susan S winning the day with 67.97% while Jan managed to carry his partner up to second place with 66.40%.

I had a wonderful time and hope you did, too

See you next week! ---Carl

 

 

 

 SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, July 12

Another Bridge Boot Camp is happening  July 12, 2025

What it will be like:

    We will discuss up to 27 randomly dealt boards, one at a time.  Attendees will bid and play the same hand, followed by discussion of how I would have bid  and played the hand and why. A hard copy of the hands and my discussion of the bid and play will be provided at the end of the camp.  I will have enough sets of cards to handle up to 6 tables.  If needed, due to extra players that don't fill out a table, some players may need to rotate as observers, but no one will need to do so for more than a few of the hands.  That will only happen if we have one or two extra because I will fill out the table if we have three extra.

It will start at 10 AM and continue until 4 PM or until 27 boards have been discussed, whichever comes first.  There will be a 15 minute break for lunch at about noon, but no lunch will be available, so bring your own.  

The fee will be $15/person, which is divided between Centennial Hall, North Hampton DBC, and me.

If you have any questions, email me at cvwikstrom@gmail.com.  Hope to see you there!  ---Carl

Thursday Open Game 22 May 2025

We were happy to welcome Ann Wicander to the game today.  Please note that this district sTac game has different stratification than what we are used to. It was Open/2000/500 based on the average of both players. Congrats to Ron/Herb for their first place finish. It is nice to see Ron getting back to his old self! Final results for anACBL sTac typically take a little while and will be available at https://tinyurl.com/RES2505510.   Next Thursday we will be having a 25% gold game.  

Wednesday 21 May 2025 -Melded Game

 Wednesday 21 May 2025 - Today on an overcast, dreary and coolish/wettish day,  we had a melded game!  Our normal Wednesday fun game only had 8 couples and Charlie Felton's "Kittery/Eliot" game as well as his Tuesday York game have folded, so we gained 3 couples from his game for a total of 11 couples.  So we ran a 5 and a half table Howell movement with 3 hands per round for 8 rounds. 

We polled the membership several weeks ago to see if we could move to Friday or Monday.  We would lose 25% if we did that.   Skip suggested that we could add a separate section to the game such that the two groups could play at the same time.  Some had played at clubs where there was a 299 section for those with less points and also an open section.  However it seemed that almost all members did not want to earn ACBL master points (or really be part of ACBL at all).  Only one person wanted us to get ACBL points.  

Skip has decided that our club will invite the Kittery/Eliot Club as guests next Wednesday to see if we can work something out to accommodate the needs of both groups. He expects about 6 tables to arrive from Eliot for their sanctioned open game. The two games will sit side by side and run independently. The fun group will be Section A and the Open group will be Section B. We are even hoping to put a sound barrier down the middle to separate the two groups. Skip and I will both be there, but hope that a single director can run both groups in the future.

Our top scorers were Nick and Ed with a 70.83%, followed by Nancy and Skip with a 60.72%, then Pam and Claire with 58.33%.  Next came Bobbie and Sid with a 57.8%.   It looks like Jan and Bill might make a good pair in the future! You all did well and we hope that you had a good time.  

Thank you all for coming.  We welcome your feedback as we work together to grow and continue to  meet the various needs of our bridge community.

Please bear with us and our growing pains!

Thank all of you for coming to our game in fabulous Centennial Hall!

Suzanne

 Tuesday May 20 2025

In Adv beginners we discussed  Third Hand Play and in Beginners we discussed more about competitive bidding. Next week we will discuss the Strong 2 club open and responses in beginners and Second Hand Play in adv beginners.

We had 5.5 tables in the Pupil game and Sue and Martha won with 65,63%! Second place went to  Jane G and Susan S with a very nice 60.94%  I look forward to next week!  ---Carl

 

 

 Thursday Open Game 15 May 2025

We had a very nice 9-1/2 table Mitchell movement today.  We were happy to welcome Linda Garey's sister Ann Buchanon and Patti Andrews to our game today.  Congratulations to Bill and Bob who made a great surprise partnership today for first place EW.  Paul/Rita were first NS.  Mary/Andi were first in B and C followed closely by Linda/Nancy.  Nancy/Mary Ellen and Jim/Ed also placed in the C strat.

14 May 2025 Gorgeous Day out and 6 Full tables

14 May 2025  We had 6 full tables with a Mitchell movement 5 hands a round with a skip after round 3, we played 25 hands each although 30 hands were in motion.  The reason we skip is that one of the pair will hit the same cards they had before, since the people are going in one direction and the cards in the other, if we play 30 hands we will end with the people we began with, and the computer can't handle that!  We welcomed a player from the Tuesday lessons!  Welcome Chris Kalisch! Good to have you and bring some of your friends!  We also had Skip visit us and officially start the game, since Suzanne is recovering from a 5 day flu and is tired.  

Even though everybody played well and did their best, we always have a couple or 2 that hit the mark on almost every hand.  Today those couple were Marion and Cynthia in NS with a 60%!!! followed by Jill and Janet with 55.63%.  BTW we won't be seeing Jill again until the Fall, she will be enjoying her Pool!  Have fun!!  In the EW were Jack and Bill with 59.13% followed by Susanne and Paul with 54.69%!  Jack is going away for a couple of weeks!  Bon Voyage!  Maybe he'll forget how to play when he gets back and give some of us a chance!  You all did very well.

 

Thank you all for showing up on such a gorgeous day!  And thank you for your patience and helping me!

See you all next week!

Suzanne

 Tuesday May 13 2025

We had a lesson on leads against suit bids in Adv Beginners and a lesson on competitive bidding in  beginners.  Next week we will have another lesson on defense on adv beginners and another lesson on competitive bidding in beginners.

We had 6 full tables in the Pupil game and had a couple return after a few years off, Alan and Kathy Gibbons,  Welcome Back!  The winners today were Jane G  and Susan S with 64.00%! Second place went to Bill Swett and John Safford with 59.56%.

It was a fun day and I will see you next week!---Carl 

 

 Thursday Open Game 8 May 2025

Welcome to 2 new players today - Barbara Garnis and Cindy Eaton! We were a little worried, but I have since learned that Gordon is fine.  We played a 9-1/2 table Mitchell movement.  Congratulations to Herb/Ron for the first place overall awards today - I guess Ron is recovering!  Nick/Darrell and Connie/Roger took first place in the B strat and Liz/Andi and Linda/Nancy were first place in the C strat.  the points should be adjusted to award 25% gold mps.

SUNNY DAY! and still we had a well attended game

 Wednesday 7 May 2025 - Sunny after what seems like a month of rain! I think the drought is gone!

Today we had a 6 Table Howell movement where everyone played 2 hands with 8 other couples. The top 6 couples were so tight - only a 4 percentage point different.  Unfortunately, there is always a winner even though you all played very well.  I hope you had a great time!  The winners today were by Mary Lynn and Claire (still taking advanced beginning lessons (they must work!), Jan/Carolyn with a 57% (rounded up -only one of you were taking lessons!),  followed by Hildy and Paul with a 57% (rounded up).  Next comes the team of Penny/Rick Marion(56% rounded up)  and Cynthia and Marion (56% rounded up) , followed by Jack and bill with 53%!

You all did very well!

Summer is coming and I understand that some of you are going on vacation!  Have a great time and remember we are sitting here missing you!  Please come back.

Suzanne  

 Tuesday 6 May 2025

We had 3 tables in the Adv Beginners lesson and 8 tables +1 in the beginners lesson. WOW!!

We started the series on defense in Advanced Beginners and discussed Reverses in the beginners lesson.  Next week we will cover more on defense in Adv Beginners and attack competitive bidding in Beginners.

We had 8 full tables in the pupil game as one person did not stay for the game.  That is a new record for our pupil game!  The big winners today were Mary Lynn and Claire who bid and made 3 of the possible 7 slams today for a 66,27%. Crazy Hands!! Second place went to Jan and Dianne with 60.71%. 

I had a great time, even though I hardly got a chance to sit down with 8 tables worth of questions during the bidding of these crazy hands! I look forward to seeing all of you next time!  I know a couple of you are away next week, so I will see you when you get back.  Have a great week! ---Carl

 

 Thursday 1 May 2025

May Day! May Day! Carl Wikstrom directed this game!

We had a lesson on Jacoby 2NT and splinters and when to use them today at 11:00.  We had 10.5 tables in the sanctioned game that started a few minutes late.

We had two new members Kenneth Gminski and Jude McLean who finished second EW with 60.84%, Very nice for C strat players. Our C strat players did quite well today as Nancy Barron and MaryEllen Dunbar finished first NS with 62.05%.  Yours truly was carried into first EW by Joyce Sweeny with 65.59%.  Second Place NS went to Linda McCabe and Pat Betts with an even 60.00%.  Congrats to all and thank you for playing with us in North Hampton! Skip should be back next week.  See you then!

----Carl

Had an error on board 22 that has been corrected.  --Carl