Welcome to Denver Bridge
October 12, 2024
March 2025 sectional
The flyer for the March 2025 sectional is now available. Click here to download.
Next board meeting
The next board meeting will be held on Saturday, October 26, at 9:00 am. Location TBD.
Board meetings are open to all members of Unit 361. Email the unit president to get the location or to add an item to agenda.
September 3, 2024
January 2025 sectional
The flyer for the January 2025 sectional is now available. Click here to download.
Bimonthly Bridge Buzz
Does “bimonthly’ mean twice a month or every other month? In any case, the latest issue of Bridge Buzz, the D17 newsletter, has arrived. If you didn’t receive it in your email, you can see it here.
Candidates for Unit Board
 Judith Repp | Upon moving to Colorado 7 years ago and knowing only our two daughters here, what else would a person do but go to ACBL and find the nearest bridge club? The bridge community is a wonderful assortment of like-minded nerds that I treasure. I appreciate the opportunity Bridge affords to ‘instantly’ meet people in new environments. As a bridge-playing architect, I love to solve puzzles. Still a practicing architect with graduate degrees in architecture and structural engineering, I find the myriad challenges of bridge to be not unlike those encountered while designing buildings. On the east coast, I was an avid rower on the Schuylkill River (Boathouse Row) in Philadelphia. Rivers in Colorado are way too rocky for that, so my current 'sport' in Colorado is Bridge! My non-bridge-playing husband, Chick, and I live in Evergreen with my faithful hiking companion, a dachshund (TBone), and a very independent cat (McPhee). Our daughters both went to DU and are now in Denver and Evergreen along with our 3 young grandsons. y for that, so my current ‘sport’ in Colorado is Bridge! I hope to give back to the Unit that gave me such a warm welcome upon my arrival and continually provides me with alternating bouts of exhilaration, consternation and self-flagellation that is the game of Bridge. |
 Greg Kempf | After I retired, I started playing duplicate bridge in 2021, making me a relatively new member of the bridge community. I would classify myself as an advanced beginner, who is working to advance my expertise in the game. I very much enjoy the in-person games at both Denver Metro and Tech Center Bridge Clubs. I am of the opinion that recruitment of new players and the retention of developing players is essential to the ongoing success of Unit 361. I have many questions, and would offer suggestions, in regard to how the bridge community attracts and keeps the less experienced players interested in the game. I believe that a dynamic and supportive learning atmosphere is essential to the goal of developing these new players. I also want to become involved in expanding my knowledge in our local bridge club organizations and our regional organization in an effort to understand and address the issues of the larger bridge community. |
 Kathy McMahon | If elected this will be my 2nd term on the Unit 361 Board of Directors. During my tenure I have served as the IN representative. I felt that as an IN myself this was a perfect position for me. Our unit holds 3 IN tournaments per year and I have the privilege of chairing those events. There are 2 IN Sectionals in September and April. There is also an IN Regional held concurrently with the July Open Sectional. Our IN tournaments now include a bridge lesson over the lunch period. During my tenure I have tried to grow the IN bridge playing population at our clubs as well as at our tournaments. The board voted to increase the mentor program to include players with up to 500 Master Points. This resulted in more people participating in the mentor program. At the request of the INs we are currently trying to provide Swiss Team trainings for INs prior to each tournament in order to prepare them for team events at tournaments. I look forward to continuing to represent the INs on our Board. I also look forward to hearing from all of the INs regarding how we can assist you and recognize you in your bridge journey. I hope you will reelect me. |
 Rita Simas | I was recently elected to serve as the Unit 361 Board Treasurer, and I will be asking the Board to vote for me to continue in that role. I have been the Treasurer for a number of non-profit and HOA boards in the last 20 years. The Board has successfully navigated us thru the COVID and post-COVID periods, and we are looking at ways to enhance the Denver Bridge experience and thank our Unit 361 members on their continued support at our Unit 361 Bridge Tournament events. I arrived in Denver in 2007 from Los Angles as part of the Boeing and Lockheed merger of their Rocket programs. I have fallen in love with this city and state, and I have elected to retire here. I have finished remodeling my Sloan’s Lake home and look forward to returning to frequent visits to the tables and traveling across the USA to attend National, Regional, and the occasional Sectional tournament. In addition to playing bridge, I am an active volunteer in various non-profit activities. I collect colorful art and enjoy searching second-hand stores for unique, memorable objects de art and architecture. I share my home with two rescue cats named Sherlock and Cosmo. |
 Paul Perkowski | Like many, I started playing bridge in college. I had a wonderful teacher who had learned the game from his Grandmother. We played a very old fashioned system - even without Jacoby transfers! Any breach in etiquette was gently admonished with “That would be frowned upon in finer bridge clubs. Fortunately, this isn’t one of them.” Fast forward years later and I still love this game. I now have played or studied seemingly every bridge convention under the sun. Just ask if you’d like some advice. And I sincerely hope that our newer members find our club as welcoming as what I received when I started. I hope to continue to serve on the Board to be of service to our club and an ambassador of the “King of card games.” |
The election will be held at the annual membership meeting, just before the Saturday afternoon game.
Details about the election process can be found in the unit bylaws.
August 8, 2024
Regional 2025 news
The 2025 schedule is set. Click here for more information and for the flyer.
Pictures from Toronto
Jonathan Steinberg, Region 1 Director, has kindly sent his photos from the recent Toronto NABC. Click here to have a look.
July 24, 2024
Front Range Challenge update
The date of the Front Range Challenge has been changed, to Sunday, October 27. The previous date conflicted with the Taos regional, which is always well attended by Colorado players. The event will be hosted by Boulder, winner of last year’s Challenge.
Changes from past years: 1) Colorado Springs and Northern Colorado will join forces. Denver and Boulder will field teams individually. 2) There will be three brackets instead of four.
If you’re not aware of this event… Some time in the early 2000s, the Colorado Springs unit contacted the Denver unit and issued a unit-to-unit challenge. The format for several years was four brackets, four teams per unit per bracket. A few years ago the event was expanded to include the Boulder unit and the Northern Colorado unit. There’s a traveling trophy which hopefully we’ll be able to see again in Denver later this year 🙂
Next board meeting
June 4, 2024
Regional report
May 27 was the final day of the 2024 Rocky Mountain Regional. During the seven-day event:
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- 1213 tables in the regional proper
- 64 tables in the GNT
- 742 players earning masterpoints
Pro/Am game
The regional kicks off with the Pro/Am Pairs, and this year we had 36 tables, which means 72 Ams played with 72 Pros. Not our record, but definitely a good turnout.
Here are the winners:
 | 1st Overall Mushfiqur Mohan and Christopher Harrop |
 | 2nd Overall Bob Martin and David Zapiler (not shown) |
 | 3rd Overall Karin Vannett and Connie Marfell |
 | Tied for 4th Overall Jeanne Achziger and Richard Blumberg |
 | Tied for 4th Overall Greg Hinze and Ray Jenkins (not shown) |
 | 6th Overall Dorothy Bechel and Sheryl Siegel |
 | 7th Overall Julie Chapin and Bonnie Smith |
 | 8th Overall Bari Holman and Allan Deserpa |
 | Section R, 1st EW Elaine Ackerman and Sarah Imig |
Jan Janitschke Award
The Jan Janitschke Award for 2023 was given to Sally Kneser, who has taught bridge in Denver for many years, and has also volunteered for bridge in several capacities. This award commemorates Denver’s Grand Life Master Jan Janitschke.
Left to right:
- Bonnie Smith, Jan’s wife and sponsor of the award
- Sally Kneser
- Julie Clark, president of Unit 361
Aloha
The Sunday of the regional is traditionally Hawaiian Shirt Day, and here are a few of the celebrants:
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February 21, 2024
Front Range Challenge
Planning has begun for the 2024 Front Range Challenge, to be hosted by Boulder – last year’s winner. The tentative date/location is Sunday, September 22, 2024, at the Elks Club in Boulder.
If you’re not aware of this event… Some time in the early 2000s, the Colorado Springs unit contacted the Denver unit and issued a unit-to-unit challenge. The format for several years was four brackets, four teams per unit per bracket. A few years ago the event was expanded to include the Boulder unit and the Northern Colorado unit, four brackets, two teams per unit per bracket. There’s a traveling trophy which hopefully we’ll be able to see again in Denver later this year 🙂
Evergreen
Sam’s Game
Email ‘phishing’
Kibitzing regulations – a synopsis
If you need to review the regulations regarding kibitzing during a bridge game, there’s a quick look available here, with pointers to the complete ACBL regulations.