The Small Slams Bridge Club
Barbara Starrett and Joyce Honorof
We are pleased to announce that the Small Slams Bridge Club is now American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) sanctioned and will begin offering ACBL masterpoints with the first game set for Thursday, January 14, 2016.
Both Joyce and Barbara started playing bridge only few years ago and rapidly became interested in duplicate bridge. Although there are many wonderful duplicate bridge game venues in the community, they both felt there was a niche in the community for players with less than 750 masterpoints. So they designed the Small Slams Bridge Club for bridge players interested in improving their duplicate game. Although some experience in playing party bridge is necessary, newcomers to duplicate bridge are encouraged to participate with this club.
After an overwhelmingly successful pilot program of free duplicate games to judge interest in the SaddleBrooke community, the Small Slams Bridge Club became an officially sanctioned club in HOA One. This entitles all members of HOA One and 2 and SaddleBrooke Ranch to play in the club. Although the games are not open to non-community residents, any homeowner or community renter may bring anyone to any game to play as his or her partner for any session.
The club offers weekly pre-dealt hands with printouts of the hands available at the end of the session so that players will be able to review their bids with their partner’s play and learn from each game. The Small Slams Bridge Club website is being constructed now so players can access hands and results and compare how they played against other players at each session.
The Small Slams Bridge Club will meet on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. All games will be held in HOA One in either the Activity Center or the HOA One Clubhouse Coyote rooms. The location will be posted in the Activity Center and on the club’s website, which will be up and running in 2016.
Same day walk-in pairs are welcome, or you can sign up by email. If you don’t have a partner and want to play, simply email us at least two days before the play date, and we will get you one. The fee will be $4 per session to offset expenses. The top 40% of winning pairs in both the N-S and E-W directions will be awarded ACBL masterpoints, and both the top N-S and the top E-W pair will play their next game for free! You do not need to be an ACBL member to play, but it is encouraged so your masterpoints can be awarded. To become an ACBL member, go online to www.ACBL.org or call 1-800-264-2743.
For more information or to be placed on the Small Slams Bridge Club email list to receive the latest information, email us at: [email protected] or come with your partner to play at our inaugural ACBL-sanctioned game on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at the HOA One Activity Center. Sign-In starts 12:30p.m. Playtime is 1:00 p.m. Bring your ACBL member number if you have one, and you will be entered into our January free raffle!