What a day! The Unit 539 Welcome Back Game on Sunday, February 5th, organized by Bridget Poizner, had 35 tables in 3 sections. The open section had 15 tables, the 1499er group had 12 tables, and 8 tables were in the 499er section. It was wonderful to have enough participation to have 3 games!
Rick Roeder and Mac Busby won the Open Game with 60.27 in Flight A, and Rita Beny and Neville Hircock won Flight B with 57.93. Next, David Hawkins and Sharon Dennison won the 1499er game with 64.58 in Flight A, and Wayne Sottosanti and Mark Hartzell won Flight B with 56.85. Finally, Richard Palmer and Blaine Hibbard won the 499er game with 63.39 in Flight A, and Willie Kiang and Victor Chu won Flight B with 57.14. Congratulations to all the winners!
We had raffles for free games and Tom Brandt, Mark Hartzell and Chris Hastie each won a free play for a future Unit Game and Selby Winkler won free plays for one day at the Sectional coming up on March 3rd and 4th.
We hope that everyone enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones and will come to future Unit Games so we can continue to run 3 sizable games on Sunday. Check the calendar for future Unit game dates.
San Diego Hosts Its first Sectional In 3 Years
Finally, an Open Sectional is on the horizon! After a three-year hiatus, we are very excited to bring to you our first sectional since March 2020! We are ready, and we hope you are! Unit 539 will be making its grand return to the Sectional world on Friday, March 3rd, and Saturday, March 4th, 2023. The venue will be a new one - St. Gabriel's Catholic Church in Poway; the church hall is very large, so ample space to spread our tables out; parking is plentiful, and the hospitality will be awesome.
You'll have a choice of pairs games on Friday, so whether you're a 299er, a 1499er, or an Open player, you can find your slot. Two games will be offered, at 10:00AM and 2:30PM with a lunch break in between. Not much is available nearby so take advantage of our $7 box lunch which will include a croissant sandwich, chips, and a cookie provided by no other than our favorite caterer, San Diego Catering. Sodas will be available for purchase. Snacks will be available compliments of Unit 539 throughout the day. Saturday will see the return of Teams, a popular event: Strati-flighted for A/X/Y and Bracketed round robin for 0-2000 MPs. We will also offer single-session pairs sessions at 10AM and 2:30PM. Lunch is included in the Swiss entry fee on Saturday since it's essentially a playthrough format. We're keeping the box lunch price at a reasonable $7, to avoid the very high charges of a hot meal. Again, no worries! Snacks will be on hand all day, and the church hall has a great coffee station! We are maintaining the $12 entry which is very competitive compared to the $14-$16 entries of other SoCal sectionals!
If you are playing pairs on Friday and Saturday, it would really help us if you could RSVP for the $7 box lunch since it's hard for to us gauge attendance and we don't want over-order! Email Lamya at lamya.agelidis@gmail.com with a simple "Yes - Friday Box Lunch", Yes - Saturday PAIRS Box Lunch". Again, lunch is included in the Swiss event entry fee.
A great opportunity not to be missed - a competitive field at all levels; silver points galore, and a chance to catch up with old friends. ACBL safety protocols will be in place, masks and hand sanitizers will in available. Please respect your opponents' wishes if they ask you to mask up.
Looking forward to seeing you all on March 3rd and 4th. Make calls, line up your partner and team, and come and play some bridge! Selby Winkler will be our partnership chair, looking to match you with a partner or team. Check out the flyer for more details.
We are thrilled to announce that Maritha Pottenger's teaching articles are now available on our Unit 539 website.
Please click on the "Teaching Library" menu item or link below, to access her abundant library of teaching articles on: Defense, Declarer play, Bidding.
Maritha Pottenger has been a beloved teacher and a very successful player in the San Diego area for many years. She became a Platinum Life Master (10,000 points) last year. When asked why she teaches bridge, she responded:
I love teaching. Teaching really helped my bridge game. I had to clarify principles that were not clear when explaining them to other people; definitely a great way to improve my own bridge logic and inferences.
Bridge is the ideal game- because you can never learn it all. Each hand has something instructional to offer. Each partner offers another point of view. Psychological principles operate at the bridge table as they do throughout life. Bridge is endlessly fascinating and I adore it!
As she was retiring from teaching, she volunteered to share her teaching notes with all. You can review any of the conventions you are considering adding to your repertoire with your partner or just choose to study to improve your defense or play of the hand.
The San Diego Unit is hosting face-to-face bridge at the Soledad Club at 1:00 PM. You must be vaccinated to participate. You must wait to be checked at the entrance; however, if you participated in the face-to-face San Diego Unit Game on May 15th, you don't need to present proof of vaccination because we already have you on a list.
Davis Bennett will be back to support the 499ers. In addition to a mini-lesson at 12:30 PM, he will be directing the 499er game, providing invaluable supervision and white glove treatment to our enthusiastic group.
For full results click on the "Calendar and Results" item on the left menu of this page.
2022 ACBL Event Schedule
Plan ahead... click on the link below to see the 2022 schedule for online Event Schedule. Please note all events tentative based upon BBO/ACBL IT capabilities and COVID-19 protocol changes
From the musical Bridge Confidential
Book & Lyrics: Joanne Gray, Music: Peter Mansfield
Online Directory Drive
One thing we are certain of is that everybody likes a complete phone and email directory. Our goal is to have one San Diego directory shared by the five units in San Diego County. It is online, since a paper directory is not cost effective unfortunately. With your help, we can get there. Again, we can't publish your contact details without your written approval, so just send an email to info@sandiegobridge.com contact one of your Board members to share any contact changes with us.
To make the best of BridgeResults features we recommend that you register your email address (if you have not done so already). This will allow you to receive notifications by email when the results are published, to have your name highlighted when you look at the results, and many other features.
The luck of the Irish is on your side in March. May you enjoy an abundance of high-card points and game bonuses this month. O’Plenty of Unit 539 news in store for you... [...]
Enjoy reading about the achievements of your fellow players, and so much more!
Looking for Partners for Unit games?
Our website has a Partnership Desk feature - Just select the Navigation Tab on the left of this page, enter your basic profile, and our partnership chair will start searching for a match! Try it, and let us know what you think!
Alternatively, if you decide last minute that you're looking for a game, just contact Lamya Agelidis, 615-887-1012, our Partnership Chair, who will be happy to get you a partner for Unit Games!
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Unit 539 is publishing the game results on 