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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 90+ Ninety plus years ago, on June 30th, 1935, a boy was born in Wichita Falls Texas, but was raised on a cotton farm outside of town.  The small farm house was four rooms, all equal size with no electricity nor running water - There were kerosene lamps and a fresh bucket of water from the well every morning.  The only other structure in sight was a rickity outhouse -- No trees, no flowers, only cotton would grow.  Everything was covered in bright red clay dust.  The Baptist church was a a few miles away on the banks of a slope above a creek that was also bright red from the clay. When the second world war started, and there were jobs in California, the family abandoned the cotton fields and traveled west to Glendale, California.  They lived in a rented house up on a hillside overlooking the train yards.  When the boy was nine years old, he and his little brother watched their mother and father rolling on the floor, pounding and screaming at each other.   When the fight was over both parents left the house.  Three days later his father came back and took them to a neighbor's home, where they stayed for the next few years. The boy dropped out of school when he finished the 9th grade, and at age 17 enlisted in the US Navy.  He was sent to electronics school where he graduated at the top of his class. After the Navy he married, had four children and graduated from college.  He was an engineer with several computer circuit patents, but changed professions when he was offered a teaching position at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California. He was also a magician and was a member of the Magic Castle for over 20 years. Two events occurred in 2000: he retired as the head of two departments, the Electronics Department and the Technical Mathematics department and his little brother died in prison. In 1965, he joined the American Contract Bridge League and eventually was awarded the title of Emerald Life Master, having earned more than 7500 masterpoints. But this year he was wrongly accused of online cheating. Now, the boy is gone, and it's almost over.   What Happened? Not Guilty It took several months for me to discover how this happened, and now that I know, I don't think I want to present it to my accusers, so 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 that 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 exeronate me but then punish Kimberly and Pat.  Nope.  No chance.  It's over.  I quit. (I also do not believe I would have had much chance of convencing three people who have already made up their minds.)   Close   Schedule Change The Arcadia Senior Center has a game every Wednesday and Friday... But there will not be a game this Friday.  Also, for the next two months, the Friday event will be in the main building and the game will start at 11:30.  There's a link above for the Community Center game results. (This game is not sanctioned by the ACBL, but the fee is only fifty cents!) STaC Games The Pasadena Club will be participating in the district STaC games, which means extra masterpoints.  A STaC game is a Sectionally Rated at Clubs game... The same hands are played in all of the clubs in the district, so it's possible to win 20+ masterpoints. The John Waken Sectional The dates and location have been set... Our sectional will be held at the Pasadena Bridge Club on Saturday and Sunday, August 23 and 24. John Waken Flyer Ed's Edifications We have another discussion from Ed Lechner - This one discusses the Michaels Cuebid. Open the link below, Ed's Newsletter (4D) 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 - 36 0-5 No color points needed Junior Master - 45 5-20 No color points needed Club Master - 61 20-50+ No color points needed Sectional Master - 58 50+ 5+ silver points Regional Master - 41 100+ 15+ silver points and 5+ gold points NABC Master - 15 200+ 25+ silver and 20+ red/gold/platinum (5 must be gold or platinum) Advanced NABC Master - 8 300+ 50+ silver and 50+ red/gold/platinum (25 must be gold or platinum) Life Master - 16 500+ 75+ silver and 100+ red/gold/platinum (50 must be gold or platinum) Bronze Life Master - 61 750+ Life Master with at least 750 points Silver Life Master - 13 1000+ Life Master with at least 1000 points (200+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Ruby Life Master - 13 1500+ Life Master with at least 1500 points (300+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Gold Life Master - 19 2500+ Life Master with at least 2500 points (500+ must be silver/red/gold/platinum) Sapphire Life Master - 10 3500+ Life Master with at least 3500 points 700+ silver/red/gold/platinum (350+ must be gold or platinum) Diamond Life Master - 7 5000+ Life Master with at least 5000 points 1000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (500+ must be gold or platinum) Emerald Life Master - 2 7500+ Life Master with at least 7500 points 1500+ silver/red/gold/platinum (750+ must be gold or platinum) Platinum Life Master - 2 10,000+ Life Master with at least 10,000 points 2000+ silver/red/gold/platinum (1000+ must be gold or platinum) Grand Life Master - 2 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 June Total Membership  341 Go to the top of the page June, 2025 Status Change for our Members updated each month in the first week New Member Milo Sketeris   Monrovia Transferred In Amy Muscoplat   Arcadia Transferred Out Jack Rainsberry   Alta Loma Jack Cameron Ross Jr   Alta Loma Lucy Zhang   Brooklyn NY Advanced in Rank - 4   Roberta Preskill  Junior Master   Robert Hunt  Club Master   Tracee Dezzutti  NABC Master   Lisa Walker  Silver Life Master                   Since June 16, 2016 -- You are Visitor Number   928537 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!