Reno Report

Reno Nevada, what a great place for a National Tournament. I certainly enjoyed every morning looking out at the stunning view of the mountains all around Reno. The Grand Sierra Resort and Casino was like a city, (eight restaurants, a bowling alley, and a movie theater) you did not have to go outside or leave unless you really wanted to. The playing area and the lighting were great and most of the games were on the first floor. There were 3 separate elevator banks so the wait was not as long as usual. The attendance was about 12,200 tables which was good but not as much as I had anticipated. The Tournament Chairwomen and her volunteers did an excellent job with hospitality every night.

I was pleased that Dallas was awarded the Spring National in 2014; I know it will be a big success.

Awards

Paul Hodge was selected for the Hall of Fame. He will be inducted in New Orleans on the first Thursday.

Eddie Wold was appointed to the Hall of Fame committee.

Bob Hamman was appointed to the Competitions and Conventions committee.

Special Games at Clubs

A committee had been formed that studied the pros and cons of the special games in clubs that awarded sectional masterpoints for an extra $1.00 per person. The ACBL on their recommendation changed the regulations starting July 1, 2010

  • During February (Junior), April (Charity) and September (International), a club may choose to run any and all sessions for the named funds.
  • In all other months clubs will be permitted to hold one special game for month per sanctioned session.
  • The Masterpoints awards for these games are reduced to 70% of Sectional rating; the cap of 6 points is maintained.

Membership

Membership is doing well even after a large increase last year we still have a small increase (170) in 2010. In addition the loss of members in 2009 was the lowest we have seen in decades. Here in District 16 we are doing our part with our membership staying above the 9000 mark (9046). If that continues we will qualify for another Regional in 2012.

Regionals started 2010 with a bang with many up considerably from last year. Our Houston Regional was over 3,000 tables which makes it one of the biggest in ACBL.

The 2009 preliminary table count for club games is 2,844,236 of which 584,177 were from on-line games. The final numbers will be out soon.

Cooperative Advertising Program

The Cooperative Advertising program continues to be a successful and popular resource for clubs and teachers in their efforts to reach out to beginner and/or newcomer players. The program subsidized advertising costs for 357 beginner/newcomer ad campaigns submitted by clubs and teachers in 2009.

In an effort to increase brand awareness for ACBL and provide a marketing tool for clubs and teachers, Marketing has produced two 30 second radio ads and will soon make them available to clubs and teachers for their use. The ad cost will qualify for the Cooperative Advertisement reimbursement.

Miscellaneous

  • The new Platinum Pairs event was held in Reno, 142 pairs played and it was a success.
  • The 2010 Youth NABC will be held July 29-31 at the summer NABC in New Orleans.
  • There are currently 90 school bridge classes registered for Spring 2010.
  • The ACBL will have a booth at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  • Chris and Donna Compton will conduct a workshop entitled *Teaching Math concepts and applications using Contract duplicate Bridge*.
  • Club managers now have the ability to post their daily game results on the ACBL web site. Over 500 clubs are doing this and you can now add important messages. (such as no game to day due to snow or storm)
  • Any sanctioned games held at clubs, with the sole exception of STACs, are to be counted in Ace of Clubs masterpoint races at Unit, District and ACBL wide levels.
  • The formula for masterpoints for special games at clubs will have the appropriate M factor applied when there are masterpoint limitations.
  • The motion to raise the age for Senior to 60 was defeated however a new event was approved the SUPER SENIOR PAIRS age 70+ to be held the last two days of the Fall National (2 qualifying and 2 finals) Masterpoints won will not count toward Senior races or qualify for Grand Life Master eligibility but will give Platinum points. The first one will be in Orlando this fall.
  • In 2010-2011 NAP the monetary award will become a fixed amount.

Extended unit team games

A unit may use two of its three extended team game sanctions to run a 2 stage event, with a round robin phase of at least 4 matches to qualify teams to a KO bracket.

Charity games in Clubs

Any club that in any calendar year, runs one or more allowed special local charity games that are sanctioned for extra masterpoints must make available for public inspection an accounting of all funds raised in such games no later than February 28th of the following calendar hear.

If you have not been to many NABC's the one in July of this year (New Orleans) promises to be a really good one with something for everyone and if you get tired of Bridge they have great restaurants and Jazz.

Looking forward to seeing you at the tables.

Dan