BRR... NO MORE TOURNAMENTS UNTIL SPRING

(Ed. note: Overlooked in the originally article was the FIRST PLACE (in section) by Trish Poineau/Debbie Keast in the morning 299er game) My apologies!

The Traverse City Paul Christ Memorial Sectional tournament September 11-12 wrapped up a successful year for the two tournaments held "up North" every year. BOTH Traverse City and Petoskey in June grew from the 2025 versions. That's a very good sign. Last year was the big bump in Traverse City attendance as the new VFW Hall site is much more appealing than the church used for several years. This year saw only a slight increase in table count, but any increase is a big deal. Lynn Larson and her diligent support crew have long ince gotten tournament organization down to a reliable science. Even a glitch with the now-standard credit card payment system for entries didn't cause much of a delay (Though it probably led to some ATM visits!). Hospitality was outstanding, including a wonderful smoked salmon on the snack table Saturday morning.

ACBC was well-represented (as usual, thank you all). The afternoon session of 299er pairs was particularly notable as 1st and 2nd were Silvia Gill/Carol Flood followed by Jan Hadcock/Deb Cloney (who were also "in the money" during the morning session). Ina Fernandez, playing in her first tournament ever with Lou Slyker, also placed in Open pairs (Baptism by fire?). We accounted for about 4 tables on Friday, though only one "mostly" ACBC team for Swiss teams Saturday.

Petoskey also grew this past June after a down year in 2025. As a more useful yardstick, the Petoskey tournament also exceeded the table count of their much larger 2024 event.

A few ACBC players are headed to the Marquette Sectional the first weekend of October, but most of us are through with tournaments until next June... unless we escape to warmer locales to avoid brr...

THIS IS NOT A NEW(S) STORY!

Ken (Wiley) Wiggins resigned as Club Manager just before the end of the COVID-enforced closure of ALL F2F bridge clubs in 2020-2021. For several years previous, Wiley had edited the ACBC website that he also designed. NOBODY else could make it work! Mike Kiwak tried, and gave up! When I (Lou Slyker) became (by default) the Club Manager in 2021 I also inherited the job of Webmaster.(for which I remain totally unqualified). WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GOT! I don't mind doing a mediocre job, BUT I WISH SOMEBODY WASNT HAPPY!

The "Find A Partner" seems to work (imperfectly) and the Member Roster is (somewhat) accurate. The home page raises no red flags.

I need feedback... and HELP! In a world of social media, we are about as visual as a phone book (do these even exist?). PI... PI... PICTURES! I wouldn't mind somebody offering to become webmaster (please?), but I really would like our website more relevant and useful! The ACBC needs an editor for the Gallery section.

LANSING WAS... LONELY?

The Lansing Regional was held August 10-14 at Royal Scot Golf Course (and humungous bowling alley) near the Lansing airport. It was well run, the facility is fine and access is generally easy. But it wasn't as large as last year and that worrying trend continues in a lot of places. It's the nearest Regional Tournament to Northwest Michigan, but the total representation from our part of the world was ONE team-of-four combining ACBC and Traverse City regulars. Since Gold and Red masterpoints are awarded at Regional and National events (though a few can be earned at special F2F or online events), most players who aren't Life Masters already apparently aren't interested in achieving that rank... or simply can't/won't travel very far to do it!