January 2023 newsletter highlights: WCBU 2023 event schedule / Charity Bridge in aid of Peninsula School Feeding / Trials, SAWBA and Congress in Cape Town / Warwick Wealth Bidding Competition / Beginners' course / SABF subs are due

As always, there's a lot of bridge activities planned, so get out your now not-so-new 2023 diaries and take note. More information can be found in the attachments to this E-mail; by clicking on the links in the text below; or by visiting the WCBU website or our Facebook page.

The Western Cape Bridge Union and Personal Trust invite players in the Cape Town area, including visitors, to participate in our January final Sunday of the month Pairs and Lunch event to be held at the Bridge Centre in Green Point on Sunday 29th January 2023 starting at 10h00. The cost (inclusive of lunch and a glass of wine) is just R75.00 per person - where else can you get a bargain like that?. Contact Shirley Phillips ([email protected]) to enter. Our monthly charity BBO tournament, this one in aid of the Peninsula Schools Feeding Scheme, will take place on Friday 3rd January 2023 at 09h30 - just logon to BBO, select Virtual Clubs - South Africa and you will see our sessions listed. We look forward to seeing you at both these events.

The WCBU has finalised its schedule of major events for 2023. A new red point event, the Hermanus Easter Pairs is planned for the weekend following Easter which, this year, means 14th and 15th April. The Western Cape Pairs takes place on 19th and 20th August; the Western Cape Teams on 30th September and 1st October; and the Festival of Bridge from 16th to 18th December. The date for the Impala Open has yet to be decided. Over the next three months several national events will also take place in Cape Town: The SABF Open Trials 2023 and Women's Trials 2023 will be held online under strict supervision at the Green Point Bridge Centre and other bridge centres aound the country between the 5th and 10th February 2023, while the Seniors' Trials 2023 will take place at the same venues between the 19th and 24th February 2023 (the closing date for entries  for the Seniors' Trials is 12th February 2023); SAWBA from 18th to 24th March (the brochure is attached); Congress Teams from 23rd to 27th April 2023; and Congress Pairs from 27th to 30th April 2023. More details of all these events will be published nearer the time and entry is through the SABF Online website.

Moving to ways of improving your bridge, our next beginners' bridge 101 course starts on 11th March using Zoom and RealBridge; the course brochure is attached and we encourage aspirant players from around the country to register for this highly praised course. Carol Stanton, who is leading the teaching, is looking for volunteers to mentor the players as they play hands on RealBridge. The Personal Trust January 2023 Zoom bridge lecture, given by international star Sven-Ake Bjerregaard, addressed the topic of “Raising Partner's Major – what do to when you open a minor and partner responds with a major." The lecture slides and a recording can be accessed from the Lectures page on the WCBU website.

The next of leading bridge teacher Jeff Sapire's brief bridge tips: Trump leads can be quite effective, usually from xx or xxx, if there’s nothing else that is obvious. But don’t lead singleton trumps (too often you pickle partner’s honour) and don’t lead from holdings like Qxx or Jxx. The February 2023 edition of our Warwick Wealth bidding competition is attached; congratulations to Tim Cammack on winning the December 2022 competition.

Western Cape bridge lost two stalwarts this past month: Yvonne Verblum, who in her long ago heyday was a formidible competitor, and Anneke du Toit, chair of the Bidding Box Bridge Club. They will be greatly missed. Incidentally, Bidding Box now play on Monday evenings at the Old Oak Bowling Club in Ridgeworth and no longer at the Durbanville Library.

Players should note that SABF subs of R 200 per player are due and should be paid to your club treasurer or into the WCBU bank account (Bank FNB Branch 200409 Account 62926125263) with your SABF number, name and subs2023 as reference. The WCBU runs a Friendship Club to assist members who cannot afford to pay the annual subscriptions and/or the playing fees. Any bridge players who require assistance are encouraged to approach Joyce Hessen (084 670-4989). All requests are dealt with in the strictest confidence. A bank account has been set up and donations would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, some more statistics. In the past two months the results from more than 503 tables of face to face and online bridge have been recorded in the Pianola database on the WCBU website where players can compare and analyse their performance while also giving them the opportunity to compare their results in the two formats. Since the beginning of January 2022, the WCBU website has been used by 7,192 visitors who read 54,300 pages of information during 23,687 visits. Of the visitors, who live in 67 different countries, 83% reside in South Africa, 5% in the United Kingdom, 3.6% in America, and 1% in each of Sweden and Australia; 44% live in Cape Town, 22% in Gauteng and 2% in Hermanus. As you would expect, the home page was the most popular page over the past month, followed by the results, Bridge Clubs, Lectures and Calendar pages. Nearly 53% of visitors use a computer; 36% use a cell-phone; and 11% a tablet. And that's enough statistics for this month!