December 9, 1998

Dear District 16 Member:

Congratulations to Bobby Goldman for being chosen as the ACBL’s 1999 Honorary Member of the year. This honor is bestowed on a person who has made outstanding contributions to the world of bridge. We thank him for his time and efforts in teaching, writing, appeals and ethics and many other areas of bridge.

Petra Hamman, Peggy Sutherlin, Mildred Breed, and Shawn Quinn are to be congratulated for winning the Women’s Board-a-Match Team’s in Orlando. The tournament was wonderful with outstanding playing space in the hotel and also at the Convention Center.

Val Covalciuc of Omaha, Nebraska was elected ACBL President for 1999. She has accepted an invitation from Unit 174 to join us at the Lone Star Regional in February and I hope you will come to meet her. Val is responsible for much of the current education program and has worked with the Junior Program as well as the new member programs.

I was pleased to be re-elected to be an ACBL representative to the World Bridge Federation. I feel the WBF is making great strides for bridge in their efforts to gain acceptance in the Winter Olympics. We were warmly received by the Olympic Committee when six countries gave a WBF Team Game demonstration to the Committee in September.

Management and the Board made quite a few changes and some of them are listed below:

CLUBS

• October has been designated Club Recognition Month. This means that Clubs may hold up to three special games during October at regular club game sanction fees. The number of games held may not exceed the number of games sanctioned during any one week.
• There will no longer be any restrictions on the cash prizes that can be awarded at club games.
• Invitational clubs may award .80 of a Gold Point to section top winners in the annual Instant Matchpoint Game. This only applies to sanctioned games with no masterpoint limitations.
• Management is to advise teachers and clubs that while no definite decision has been made concerning changes to the rebate programs already in place, the ACBL reserves the right to eliminate full payment for the third year that becomes due after January 1,2001 with no additional advance notice requirement.

COMPUTER BRIDGE

The ACBL will recognize points won at ACBL sanctioned on-line (internet) bridge events. Further, that recognition of these points be in the form of a new type of masterpoint that would not be pigmented. The ACBL will co-host a Computer Bridge Championship with the WBF to be held in Bermuda during January 2000 World Championships.

MEMBERSHIP

Management requested a Strategic Planning Session with the Board and several good changes will come from this meeting including a decision to place more emphasis on membership retention.

MASTER POINTS

1. Beginning January 1, 1999 new member must earn 50 black Club Points in order to become a Life Master
2. New Expert Categories have been established. (Watch for details in the Bulletin)
3. New pigment (Platinum) points were established that can only be earned at NABC events, including Senior and Women’s championships, but excluding Junior, Flight B or other restricted events. These points will be needed to achieve the new Expert status.

DUES

l. Management recommends increases in Membership dues and Life Master service fees of $2.00. Subject to a second reading in Vancouver.

2. With the exception of membership dues and sanction fees, Management is authorized to change any fees and prices, provided such changes do not exceed 3% per item or a yearly increase of 5% for an item that has not changed in price for two year or more.

3. Upon rejoining the ACBL lapsed members can have their past masterpoints credited to their to their account by:

a. Paying for each year of lapsed membership membership or a fraction thereof -or-

b. Paying $1.00 per point or any fraction thereof

4. The President will appoint a committee to explore whether the ACBL should try to develop a system for current ratings of players.

NON MEMBERS

a. To emphasize benefits of ACBL membership starting at the San Antonio National non-members or unpaid life-masters will be required to pay an additional entry fee of $1.00 per player per session (Charity events and under 20 masterpoint events will be exempt)

b. Regionals starting after July 1999, 1.00 / per player/per session. Sectionals starting after July 1, 1999 .50/per player/per session. These additional fees charged need not be sent to the ACBL they will benefit the sponsoring organizations. However if these additional fees are not charged the sponsoring organizations are liable for these fees to the ACBL.

TOURNAMENTS

A. Identical hand records must be used at both sites of Split Regionals for all events with one overall winner unless their is a large difference in starting times.

B. The San Antonio National will start on Wednesday night instead of our normal Thursday date. This change was made to accommodate the Marriott Hotel and this change also allows us to experiment with finishing on a Saturday rather than Sunday. Please keep these changes in mind when making your reservations.

C. The Grand National Teams will start on Tuesday, July 20, 1999 in San Antonio

D. The American Bridge Association is invited to send one team to compete in the North American final of of each flight on the Grand National Teams in 1999

E. The Tournament Director-in-Charge may require a player to enter a Flight, Strat, or Bracket above the one dictated by his masterpoint holding if the player is deemed to have equivalent bridge experience.

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

A. Eligibility to represent Zone Two in International competition will require players to sign a certificate concerning the non-use of illegal drugs and inappropriate behavior.

B. The ACBL will send a representative team to the 1999 International Olympic Committee Grand-Prix and will pay approximately 50% of their expenses from the General Fund.

C. The ACBL will send an unsubsidized team to represent Zone Two in the Senior World Championship Challenge Match to be held in Bermuda during the January 2000 World Championships. The winner of the Senior Swiss Teams at the San Antonio National will be the first choice for the team.

D. The Non-Playing Captain to any Zone 2 Team must be from the same country as the rest of the team.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !