District 24 Newsletter....................Alvin Levy....................Volume 09.1
Published after each NABC

The attendance at the Houston spring NABC was lower than expected at 9,728.5 tables. This compares to 10, 656.5 tables at the 2002 Houston spring NABC.  Some attribute the lower-than-expected table count at recent NABCs to the weak economy.  While attendance at recent NABCs has been slightly lower than expected, overall Regional, Sectional and STaC attendance is slightly up.  The locals put on a good Texan show, with nightly food and entertainment.  There were many local attractions, but the best for me was the Rodeo.

Bridge playing astronaut Greg Johnson honored the ACBL by carrying the ace of spades, from an official ACBL deck of cards, with him into space last year.  Johnson presented the ACBL with a plague, commemorating the event.

As of December 31, 2008, our net assets are $5,625,000, up $900,000 from 2007.  Yearly gross revenues for 2008 were $15,442,500, up $125,000 from 2007.  Operating expenses were $14,620,000, up $743,000 from 2007.  Our pension fund assets decreased by approximately $1,000,000 in 2008, and will slightly affect future budgets.

Membership continues to increase and stands at 159,500...1,000 higher than a year ago.

2008 Regional table count was down 2,600 to 173,400.  Sectional table count was down 1,000 to 153,280.  STaC table count was up 4,035 to 100,355.  Overall club games table count was up 23,500, with regular club game table count down 55,000 to 1,898,500 and special club games up 78,500 to 326,000.  Online club table count was up 135,000 to 471,000.

Houston ACBL Board of Directors Actions

Hand Records for Unit-wide Games:  A motion to allow sponsoring organizations an option of using hand records at all sites was carried 22-3.  [This motion over-rides the previous regulation that required hand records for unit-wide games.  Now they are optional.  I voted nay.  IMO hand records should be required for unit-wide games as well as STaCs, which are also optional.]

Shorted Club Championships:  A motion to allow clubs to hold either regular club championships (18+ boards) or shortened club championships (12-17 boards) was carried 20-5.  The overall awards for shortened club championships are 60% of regular club championships.  Further, online club championships are capped at 6.0 masterpoints and shortened online club championships are capped at 4.50 masterpoints. [I brought this motion to the board on behalf of the Internet Committee, which I chair.]

Bridge History Preserved:  A motion, brought by me and suggested by Eric Kokish, to preserve our bridge history by establishing an extensive member database with bios and achievements of all ACBL members above a certain rank, and to archive the results of major bridge events, as well as to publish all this data on our website, was defeated 19-6.

Stratified Pair Events based on Average masterpoints:  A motion  to allow stratified pair events at local, sectional and regional tournaments to be based, at sponsors option, on average masterpoints of the pair, was carried, 20-5.  [I voted nay.  This allows a novice to gather masterpoints in a low strat while playing with an expert.  Competing in the strat of the higher ranking player is a good system.]

Top District NABC+ finishers

Congratulations to John Rengstroff and Jim Krekorian for winning the North American Open Pairs, Flight A.  Congratulations to Zia Mahmood for winning the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams.  Congratulations to Jill Levin for winning the Machlin Women's Pairs.  Congratulations to Bobby Levin and Steve Weinstein for winning he prestigious Vanderbilt KOs.  The top finishers in NABC+ events follow.

North American Open Pairs, Flight A: WINNERS, John Rengstorff - Jim Krekorian

Silodor Open Pairs: 11th, Brian Glubok; 16th, Gail Greenberg - Jeff Hand; 23rd, Barry Rigal - Alex Ornstein; 25th, Barry Piafsky.

Leventritt Silver Ribbon Pairs: 11th, Jeff Hand - Gail Greenberg.

Rockwell Mixed Pairs: 2nd,  Valerie Westheimer; 8th, Margie Gwozdzinsky; 11th, Malle Andrade; 14th, Susan Picus; 20th, Susan Wexler.

Bean, Red Ribbon Pairs: 4th, Kevin Casey - Bill Begert.

Golder NA Pairs Flt B: 15th, Kevin Casey - Bill Begert

Lebhar IMP Pairs: 4th, Jill Levin; 6th, Barry Piafsky; 9th,Chris Willenken; 20th, Adam Wildavsky; 22nd, Martin Fleisher.

Whitehead Women’s Pairs: 2nd, Valerie Westheimer; 8th, Margie Gwozdzinsky; 11th, Malle Andrade; 14th, Susan Picus; 20th, Susan Wexler.

Jacoby Open Swiss Teams: WINNER, Zia Mahmood; 4th, Uday Ivatury - Christal Henner-Welland; 6th, Martin Fleisher; 11th, Roy Welland; 13/14th, Debbie Rosenberg - Michael Rosenberg; 19/20th, Andrew Rosenthal - Aaron Silverstein - Brian Glubok; 22/23rd, Bjorn Fallenius.

Machlin Women’s Swiss: WINNER, Jill Levin; 3rd, Sylvia Moss - Susan Picus, 6th, Judi Radin, 9th, Ljudmila Kamenova - Diana Schuld..

Vanderbilt KOs: WINNERS, Robert Levin - Steve Weinstein; 3rd/4th, Zia Mahmood; 3rd/4th, James Cayne; 5th/8th, Sam Lev; 9th/16th, Roy Welland; 9th/16th, Alan Sontag; 9th/16th, Joe Grue; 17th/32nd, Adam Wildavsky; 17th/32nd, Jim Krekorian - Chris Willenken - Migry Zur Campanile; 17th/32nd, Andrew Rosenthal - Brian Glubok - Aaron Silverstein; 17th/32nd, John Hurd; 17th/32nd, Uday Ivatury - Christal Henner-Welland; 17th/32nd, Jill Levin; 17th/32nd, Glenn Eisenstein; 17th/32nd, Barry Rigal - Shane Blanchard - Robert Blanchard - Alex Ornstein - Glenn Milgrim.