July 14, 2021

Your last chance to earn gold points at online club games is almost here. We'll offer gold points at our regular virtual games at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28, and Sunday, Aug. 1, as well as a special virtual game at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 31.

We had our first face-to-face game July 9, with seven tables and lots of happy faces. We'll offer triple black points at Friday face-to-face games on July 23 and 30, as part of the American Contract Bridge League's "Welcome Back!" program. There will be double black points at Face-to-Face games into September. Wood River Bridge will hold a virtual gold point game and double and triple black point games the same weeks. You are invited to play in the Wood River Bridge virtual game on July 27 even if you did not play in the physical game prior to the pandemic.

You must be fully vaccinated to play in face-to-face games at either club.

We'll keep Wednesday and Sunday online games as we continually evaluate the mixture of online and in-person games that serves our bridge community best. We are excited about actually seeing people; we also like the ability to stay in touch with our friends in other cities in the online games. Friday games will be at the Wood River Community YMCA in the downstairs Community Room.

Later in this e-newsletter, we'll talk about upcoming lessons and first masterpoint celebrations for three people at the Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch Bridge Retreat.

--Chuck Abramo and Jo Murray

Some experts estimate it is correct to draw trump first only 40 percent of the time. Find out when you should delay drawing trump - and why - at upcoming online lessons.

Details are at SunValleyBridge.com. The cost is $27 per lesson, or you may purchase a virtual punch card for 5 lessons for $125. Private lessons on these and other topics also are available.

This year's Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch bridge retreat, with 21 bridge players from five states, was even more fun than last year, as Covid accommodations were minimal. We could actually all sit down to dinner together!

Two people earned their very first masterpoints: Pat Kennedy (BBO: Patk51) of Seattle and Ellis Johnson (BBO: Ellis63) of Greenwich, Conn. It also was our first chance to celebrate the first masterpoint for Seattle's Susan Potts (BBO: Seadogs), who earned her first masterpoint in a pandemic virtual game. Congratulations to all three!

We also owe a special thank-you to Roland Wolfram for his photography, and to Pat, an outstanding vocalist who accompanied himself on the guitar for after-dinner oldies on the porch. Nature also cooperated with a spectacular sunset over the Sawtooth Mountains.

Our next retreat at the ranch will be Aug. 22-25.

Ellis Johnson (right), Pat Kennedy (center) and Susan Potts celebrate their first masterpoints. We'll tell you more about them in our next e-newsletter.