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President’s Message
by John Sharpe – President, Calgary ACBL Unit 390
April 2024
The attendance at the New Year Sectional was a very promising 257 tables and the Unit made a substantial profit of $1,563. Although 257 tables are still significantly less than pre-COVID attendance, when in excess of 300 tables was the norm, it is a step up from recent sectionals. For example, last year, the January 2023 Sectional had 191.5 tables, the Spring Sectional, 195.5 tables and the September Sectional, 200 tables. We are heading in the right direction. Thanks are due to Lois Matton, the event organizer, and her very capable assistants.
The next Sectional will be held at one of our old locations, the DoubleTree by Hilton (which used to be called the Clarion).The dates are May 3rd to 5th. The hotel has undergone renovations since our last visit and also has the advantage that the playing area is larger than that at the Royal Wyndham. We are hoping that all the available space will be filled.
This year’s Rookie Master Swiss Teams event was held on February 24th at the Bridge Centre. Nineteen tables had a very enjoyable event with hand records and lunch provided. Setting up Swiss Teams with pre-dealt hands is quite a challenge, but it was overcome successfully and the participants benefited from having hand records to review how they fared. Many thanks to Brad Bowyer, the event organizer.
Delores Hedley and Karen Mitchell will be hosting a supervised bid and play for players with less than 50 masterpoints on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from April 3rd to June 27th at 11 a.m. There is no need to sign up, just come along when you can. Cost is $3.
Over the next few months Unit members will have the opportunity to play in several tournaments in Calgary. The first is the Calgary Spring Sectional (see above), The next is the Calgary Regional August 12th to 18th followed by the Fall Sectional September 20th to 22nd. If those tournaments are not enough for you, there are the following ones out of town: Red Deer Sectional April 26th to 28th, Edmonton Sectional May 24th to 26th,Penticton Regional and Canadian Championships June 10th to 16th and the Lethbridge Sectional and concurrent Non-Life Master Regional September 27th to 29th. The District 18 North American Pairs Final will be played online in November. I hope that will meet the requirements of all players.
The ACBL has got itself into a bit of a predicament. In order to ensure that rooms are available at the host hotels for tournaments organized by the ACBL, they pre-booked a significant number of rooms. If those rooms are not utilized the ACBL still has to pay for them. This means that the ACBL could be on the hook for several hundred thousand dollars. To mitigate against this possibility, the ACBL is offering a discount in card fees of $10 per session if you are staying at a host hotel and book using Entry Express. It is to be hoped that Entry Express is working, since it has been having problems recently, most notably at the last NABC in Louisville, where (as reported on Bridge Winners), for at least one day, all entries had to be sold at the discounted price, hotel guest or not.
If you are planning to go to the North American Bridge Championships in Toronto in July, there is an even bigger “Maple Leaf Discount” for Canadian Bridge Federation members who reside in Canada. Even if you are not staying at a host hotel, if you book using Entry Express, your discount will be $14 per session. To be eligible, you must be a CBF member (at June 1, 2024) and your ACBL membership must also be current.
John Sharpe
President
Calgary ACBL Unit 390