The election of Officers and the Board of Directors of EMBA for 2017 is coming up. The Secretary has send out paper ballots, but it will also be possible to vote online. Online voting will begin October 1 and remain open until October 31.
We are in the process of collecting biographical information and it will be posted shortly on the website. The slate is:
Officers:
| President | Bob McCaw |
| Vice President | Luke Gillespie |
| Secretary | Carolyn Weiser |
| Treasurer | Linda Robinson |
Board:
Mark Aquino
David Aronson
Bob Bertoni
Maureen Bitler
Steve Diamond
Peter Lombardo
Brenda Montague
Jan Smola
Paul Tierney
"Learn Bridge in a Day" is a successful program developed in the Atlanta area to teach newcomers the essentials of bridge in a five hour session. All aspects of the game are covered, including bidding, play and scoring. The program is aimed at people who are interested in learning bridge but know nothing about the game.
Do you know someone who is in this position? There will be a Learn Bridge in a Day at the Puritan Club in Braintree this September 24. It should be a wonderful opportunity to be introduced to the game. The session will be led by Adam Parrish. Anyone interested can get complete details, including hours and how to enroll, from the flyer here.
For many years, the Eastern Massachusetts Bridge Association published a quarterly newsletter with news of tournament results, listings of upcoming tournaments, and so forth. Recently, it has seemed that with advent of the Internet, the Quick Trick did not really justify the time and expense required to produce it. Producing a glossy newsletter was very time consuming and rather costly, and the costs of mailing were prohibitive (actually, a substantial portion of EMBA's annual budget). So, a couple of years ago, the Board of Directors decided to discontinue its publication.
We are pleased to announce an "electronic Quick Trick" -- a stripped down and abbreviated version of the old newsletter that hopefully contains most of the former newsletter's information, and which can be produced at a fraction of the cost. Thanks to Carolyn Weiser for producing the new version. It may be viewed here.
The North American Pairs will be held concurrently with other tournaments this year. Flight A will be a four session event held on Saturday and Sunday in Watertown in October. Flights B and C will be held on the weekend in the Mansfield regional, with Flight B four sessions and Flight C two sessions on Saturday. This is a different format than in past years, so please mark your calendar.
The first ever summer Cape tournament was a resounding success, with over 300 tables playing. EMBA Vice President Bob Bertoni deserves a big shout-out for spearheading the effort to organize the new tournament.
There were many winners over the four day period, and you can find them all in the listing here.
News Flash! New England Team Wins Grand National Teams
The New England team of Adam and Zach Grossack and their teammates Doug Doub and Frank Merblum won the Grand National Teams, prevailing over a field of teams that included a number of absolute top stars. This win is Adam and Zach's second national win, and surely more will follow. Doug and Frank, for people not familiar with them, are a very fine pair from Connecticut that has enjoyed considerable success at the national level over the years.
Later in the week, EMBA's own Sheila Gabay, together with her partner, Victor King of Hartford and Paul and Linda Lewis of Las Vegas won the Freeman Mixed B-A-M. The victory was doubly sweet for Victor because he advanced to Grand Life Master with win.
Great work to all!