On Friday, we celebrated big milestones for 3 of our players. Bob Leighton and Nancy Balfanz have earned the title of Life Master and Greg Nastrom has earned the title of Silver Life Master! And the rest of us got to eat cake! Congratulate them when you have a chance for their well deserved new titles.

The St Cloud Bridge Club celebrated Valentines Day a day early with a potluck game at the Labor Home last Thursday. 32 players made their way to the Labor Home for a small celebration and a great game. A fun time was had by all.  The success of our recruiting and lessons should be noted as almost a third of the participants did not play at our club 18 months ago! Special thanks to Sharon McKenzie for planning and decorating for the occasion and to Nancy Balfanz for recruiting players! Both also supplied door prizes for the occasion, Thanks to all for coming!

Lisa Olson                              Brian-Paul Crowder

Put May 4^th on your calendars.  We have people to celebrate! – as well as play a fun game of bridge.  For the first time, we will have all MN Awards Luncheon to acknowledge bridge players who did well in the 2024 masterpoint races across both Unit 103 and Unit 178. 

What kind of races am I talking about?  Each year, ACBL keeps a running tally of Master Points earned inside 15 different flights in these categories:  Ace of Clubs – Points earned at Club games; Mini-McKenney – Points earned at both Club games and Tournaments; and Ace of E-Clubs – ACBL Points earned in online games.

This celebration will be held at the Bridge Center of St Paul's Roseville location, with the festivities beginning at 11:00am.  Following the lunch and Awards Presentation will be a game of bridge for everyone attending.  Players who finished in the Top Three in each of the categories from each Unit will be recognized that day - and will have earned a free play in the bridge game.  Everyone else will be charged a small fee.  The lunch is free for every attendee!

Here’s who we will be celebrating from our Club –

Ace of Clubs Race   (The flight refers to the points you had as the year 2024 started.)

• Flight 0-5.  Steve He of Rochester squeaked out First Place win by less than one MP!  Second place was won by Brian-Paul Crowder (40 MPs) and Win Anderson (23MPs) won Third.  Brian is also Second in all of District 14!   Also, in our Unit’s Top Ten are:  Alex Warzecha, Rich Matthews, Jane Matthews, Mark Huseth, Phil Schloss and Marlene Devoe.

From Connie:  1 The levels of master points earned by our players starting with 0-5 is incredible.  Good job all!  2 Let’s declare Brian-Paul our Club’s Rookie of the Year!,  3  The fact that eight of the Top Ten players are from our Club is a testament to Scott Krupke and his beginning bridge lessons.  Kudos, Scott!

• Flight 200-300.  Charlie Maternus won Second Place with 60 MPs.
• Flight 500-1000.   Greg Nastrom (97 MPs) won Second.
• Flight 1000-1500.  Scott Krupke (133 MPs) won Second and Connie Nelson (130MPs) Third. 
• Flight 2500-3500.  Roger Melaas, with 154 MPs, won Second.
• Over 10,000.  John Koch won Third.

Also placing in the Top Ten were:  Lisa Olson (Flight 5-20), Sandy Johnson and George Schnepf (Flight 50-100),  Rhonda Rossman (Flight 200-300), Darlene Nastrom (Flight 300-500), Jane Curtis (Flight 500-1000), James Schnepf (Flight 1000-1500) and Jerry Westby (Flight 2500-3500). 

Mini-McKenney Race

• Flight 0-5.  First place was taken  by Steve He of Rochester.  Second and Third place were won by Brian-Paul Crowder (43 MPs) and Win Anderson (30 MPs).  Brian again won Second in all of District 14.  
• Flight 5-20.  Our own Lisa Olson won First Place w/ 71 MPs! 
• Flight 200-300.  Rhonda Rossman (72 MPs) won Second Place.

• Flight 1000-1500.  Connie Nelson (231 MPs) won Second, edging out James Schnepf (Third) by .5 MP!  Those partial points add up.
• Over 10,000.  John Koch won Third, after earning 308 Master points during the year!

Placing in our Unit’s Top Ten are:  Alex Warzecha, Rich Matthews, Jane Matthews and Mark Huseth (Flight 0-5); John Selden, George Schnepf and  Sandy Johnson (Flight 50-100);  Charlie Maternus and Saundy Fedor (Flight 200-300); Nancy Balfanz and Kathy Stadther (Flight 300-500); Mark Doucette and Greg Nastrom (Flight 500-1000); Scott Krupke (Flight 1000-1500), and Roger Melaas, Maury Evans and Jerry Westby (Flight 2500-3500).  Yay, to all!!

Ace of E-Clubs Race   

The only players from our Club who show in the Top Ten of this category were-

• Lisa Olson won First in the 5-20 MP category
• Paul Sitz won First in the 3500-5000 category (Paul is in Unit 178; I claim him as ours!)
• John Koch won Third in the Over 10,000 MP category

Mark your calendar for May 4^th.

We offer five regularly scheduled, ACBL-sanctioned, face-to-face events each week:

• Open Monday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud
• TwoNinetyNiners Game Monday Evenings 5:30, Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South, Sartell
• Open Tuesday Mornings, 8:30 a.m., Sartell Community Center, 850 19th Street South, Sartell
• Open Thursday Evening, 6:00 p.m. St Cloud Labor Home, 1903 4th St N, St Cloud (Team Game on Third Thursday of Month)
• Open Friday Afternoons, 12:30 p.m., Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud
• Team Game First Friday Morning 8:30 Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive, St. Cloud