Kudos

Club members Michael Wenzel and Treyson Sherk won their flight in the District 20 North American Pairs competition held online on October 24, earning an invitation to the national finals in Dallas next spring including subsidies to help with travel expenses.

The pair scored a respectable 51.56 in the morning session, then sealed their victory with a 59.38 in the afternoon, booking 21.6 gold points.

Michael also advanced to Life Master with this victory.

“I am very excited with the prospect of representing District 20 in March 2027. Trey and I got I think 11th place in St Louis NAPs in 2026, and are hoping to better that result in my last year at Level C,” Michael said.

“Trey and I have been building our partnership since being introduced by Don Marsh at EBC in early 2023. Our success is due to the continuous work we have done in improving all aspects of our coordinated play and partnership, especially on defense.   Trey is the highly analytical one with a strong sense of curiosity, who looks deeply at the results and suggests new approaches and adjustments.   

“This last NAP qualifying round was a true challenge as we got a slow start, finishing the morning round in 4th place with a respectable 52% result, playing highly skilled opps pairs which were giving nothing away. At the end of the morning session, Trey said we were not playing poorly and were still in striking distance of a top result. We came back in the afternoon session and just focused on each trick, each round, each board and were resilient enough to come back and take 1st place.”

Congratulations, Mike and Trey!

Over the three days, we attracted 106 tables and 109 players in the Sectional. The I/N regional filled 50 tables with 48 players.

Congratulations to John Cissel, who was the top Masterpoint winner in the Sectional. Other Eugene standouts in the Sectional were Alexander Lovejoy, John Thomas, and Josh Rosenbluth. See full results here.

In the I/N Regional, Peter Heroy and Bob Kendall were the top point earners in our club, with Cristin Babcock and Denise Cox close behind. See full results here.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make our tournament a success. Martin Nice, Ali Nice, and Cristin Babcock did a great job planning and seeing that things ran smoothly. Many other club members helped with setup, food, greetings, partnership desk, and more. The Unit 479 Board of Directors, headed by Betsy Ovitt, did its usual great job of overseeing the event. And of course Don Marsh and Sherri Morgan of Emerald Bridge Club were indispensable to the tournament’s success.

Thanks and congratulations to all!

P.S. Your webmaster apologizes for the late post as he was out of the country. Good to be back!

Janet Anderson is a new Club Master.
Harriet Kessinger and Terry Nagel are new Ruby Life Masters.

Congratulations!

And check out where you stand in our district.

Our own Josh Rosenbluth won ACBL’s Spring NABC Robot Individual competition, winning an eye-popping 48.00 Red and Gold Masterpoints! This competition pits individuals against robots, with a robot as a partner, too.

Josh scored an incredible 72.45% over the 3-day competition.

Congratulations, Josh!

Here are the details from ACBL.

At our recent unit board election and pizza party, we were reminded once again of the contribution that our unit leadership has made to bridge in our area.

Our unit has undertaken many successful initiatives, from the very-popular monthly unit game to youth bridge engagement, classes, two local tournaments, games for newer players, and support for Emerald Bridge Club.

And it was just announced by someone that our unit is officially the best-fed in the district.

Thanks to everyone who has worked to achieve these successes:

Officers:
Betsy Ovitt, President
Doug Berg, Vice-President (out-going)
Marna Knoer, Secretary
Carole Schmitz, Treasurer

Board members:
Andrzej Proskurowski
Ned Forman
John Cissel
John Thomas (out-going)
Susie Leo
Don Marsh
Bob Kendall (in-coming)
Joanie Fulton (in-coming)

Susie Leo is a new Advanced NABC Master.

And check out where you stand in District 20’s Masterpoint Races.