November 2023 newsletter highlights: Cape Town Festival of Bridge and other tournaments / Charity Bridge Tournaments / Bridge Results / Tournament Director Course /  Bridge Tip  

More information on many of the topics in this newsletter can be found in the attachments to this E-mail; by clicking on the links in the text below; or by visiting the Western Cape Bridge Union (WCBU) website.

Following the fund raising success of our First Friday BBO charity tournaments, from now on all Friday BBO sessions organised by the WCBU will be in aid of charities. These will be paid the player entry fees nett of the tournament director's fee and the BBO commission. Over the next few Fridays we will be supporting StreetSmart (1st December), which assists street children find their feet, and Peninsula Schools Feeding Association (8th December)(our last tournament in aid of the PSFA raised enough to feed several needy children for a year). We look forward to seeing you there supporting these worthy causes.

The 2023 edition of the Cape Town Festival of Bridge is scheduled to take place face to face at the Bridge Centre on 15th and 16th December (teams) and 17th and 18th December (pairs) with morning sessions starting at 09h30. You can enter on SABF Online. Out of town bridge players holidaying in the Cape are welcome to come and take on the locals - in fact we already have entries from overseas players and from some of Gauteng's best so there's bound to be an interesting contest.

Over the holiday period the Bridge Centre will be closed from 22nd December till Wednesday 10th January; Keurboom will close on 14th December and reopen on 8th January; and BBO sessions will continue as usual except on Friday 15th December and Mondays 25th December and 1st January.

Looking a few months ahead, Congress 2024 again takes place in Cape Town in 2024 with the teams competition scheduled from 25th to 29th February  (yes, it's a leap year) and the pairs from 29th February to 3rd March, while the red point Hermanus Open, which received rave reviews from players this year, takes place the weekend after Easter. We look forward to seeing and entertaining even more of you upcountry folk at both those tournaments - as well as all our local players, of course.

Congratulations to Rob Stephens and Bernard Donde on winning the Impala November 2023 Match Point Pairs - they have won most of the Impala tournaments this year and the Donde team also won the Outeniqua Open last weekend. Well done to them!

Turning to bridge skills training, the WCBU is planning a club tournament director training course starting towards the end of January 2024. The details are still being finalised and will be announced in our December newsletter and on our website. While the course will be open to players from around the country, preference will be given to players from both WCBU affiliated and non affiliated clubs in the Western Cape as part of our expanding the game in this region. If you think you might be interested in attending, then please contact me ([email protected]) and I will arrange to send you the details once they are available.

Which brings us on to the next of leading bridge teacher Jeff Sapire's brief bridge tips: Try to keep an even keel at the table: Don’t get too carried away after a good result or play (or bid), and don’t get too upset after a bad result or misplay (or misbid). Move on, keep focused, and you can re-visit the situation after the session.

The World Bridge Federation is conducting a worldwide survey of bridge players' leisure interests. You can click here to take part in the survey. The survey is aimed primarily at bridge players, and will help us get a better understanding of why different groups of people around the world like and play bridge, and how bridge compares to other activities that bridge players and potential bridge players like to do.

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As always, we look forward both to your comments / feedback - we would like more of both of these please - and to encountering you at the WCBU virtual and real bridge tables in the days ahead. In the meantime, stay safe and enjoy your bridge.