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 Monday-Saturday 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 - 50¢ Marie Nimmrich        626 448-3304 Wednesday 9:30 Friday 1:00 Mojo Jones   626 247-4457 Unit Game Director 1st & 3rd Sunday 12:30 Pasadena Bridge CLub Unit Game Dates Below Dec 1 Party!    Dec 15     Jan 5         Jan 19     Feb 2 Feb 16     Mar 2     Mar 16 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 Unit Game Results     Waken Sectional 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     You will learn more by losing to good players than you will by winning against poor players Stray Words of Wisdom Opening Bids to Show 2-Suited Hands Would you like to try something different?  How about an opening call that says you have 5-5 or better in two suits? Perhaps one of these? You need these opening bid agreements; 3!c   Clubs + Spades     (Same color suits) 3!d   Diamonds + Hearts     (Same color suits) 3!h   Hearts + Spades     (Majors) 3N   Clubs + Diamonds     (Minors) 4!c   Clubs + Hearts     (Opposite color suits) 4!d   Diamonds + Spades     (Opposite color suits) You will find that these 2-suited hands occur more often then the preemptive bids they replace! Roy Wilson, Emerald Life Master Unit Game Winners Close, but the winners were Tony Crocker and Zach Vedro! Our next unit game is also our annual Holiday Party, and it's on Sunday, December 15. Holiday Party - Registration Ends This Thursday Have you registerd yet? You can register at the Pasadena Club or you can call Miriam Harrington - 626 232-0558 The last day that you can register is this Thursday! Holiday Flyer Change in Rank There was an unexpected surprise on Sunday at the unit game... Everybody was congratulating me... And I didn't know why until they brought out the cake! That's me, and I am now an Emerald Life Master, one of two with this rank in our unit.  It took over 60 years to get here, and I have a strong feeling that I will not see the next one.   (Hey, I'm 89 years old!)  Bridge has been a life-time joy... Not just the game, but even more the wonderful friends I have made.  I've also been exceptionally lucky and had some of the very best as partners who sometimes laughed at me, swore at me, sneered, or just shook their head, but they all taught me about this game. To everyone of you... THANK YOU! Congratulations to Dan Lubesnik, a new Gold Life Master!   That's 2500 master points. Las Vegas Nationals- Novenber 28 - December 8 Las Vegas Schedule       Las Vegas Daily Results Palm Springs Regional - December 9-14 Palm Springs Flyer

3-Level Major Suit Responses to Partner's 1NT Call
Make this agreement with your partner:

• After partner opens 1NT, a jump response in a major is Natural and Forcing
• Opener's second bid must always be a cue bid, showing an ace, starting at the lowest level espossible
• If the 1NT bidder does not have an ace, he simply raises responder's suit
• Responder's second bid is also a cue bid, but can show either an ace or a void
• Any subsequent notrump call by either partner is a cue bid showing either the ace or king of trump

Responder's jump to 3, as with this particular hand, shows a self sufficient suit and require the opener to cue bid any suit with an ace in it, starting at the lowest level possible.  Going past a suit denies holding the ace of that suit.

If the opener cue bids 4 You can cue bid your void... 4.  That will give your partner the oppportunity to cue bid his trump king -- 4NT.
    (That's not Blackwood!)

Your turn... Cue bid the spade suit at the 5-level and be delighted when your partner cue bids 6's showing the club king. 

Bridge is really a very easy game, if you play it correctly.

  Close  

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Unit Historian:    Do you have an old photo or other memorbilia from our past that you can share with us?  Please let Mike 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

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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 Robots Card

BBO:   BudWilson

WEB PAGES AND WEB SITES

    BBO Login Our Virtual Club bridgemojo.com Our Friends on BBO

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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 Ask the Director:
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      The ACBL Alert Chart Conventions Chart Duplicate Decisions The Laws of Duplicate Bridge      The Montreal Relay The Big Club The Polish Club Extended Precision      Keycard Asking Problem Bids Ace Asking Losing Trick Count Bridge Probabilities

Looking for a certified bridge teacher?
Morris Jones	mojo@mojobridge.com
Claudia Elms	elmsclaudia@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.
Rank Requirements	The link on the left will take you to the ACBL website where you will find the official requirements for each rank.
Unit 559 Active Members Click the rank below for a list	Master Points
Top 30 Players - Unit 559
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
December Total Membership  352

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December
Status Change for our Members updated each month in the first week
New Member
Tranos Trezos	San Gabriel
Transferred In
Roselyn Teukolsky	Pasadena
Saul Teukolsky	Pasadena
Transferred Out
Jack Hardy	Carmel
Advanced in Rank - 5
Dr Susan Claster	Club Master
Fred Register	Club Master
Nina Huang	Bronze Life Master
Dan Lubesnik	Gold Life Master
Roy Wilson	Emerald Life Master