December 10, 2001

Las Vegas Report

Las Vegas, site of the 2001 NABC Fall Nationals, 16,818 tables in play, WOW! Vegas already has the record for holding the largest Summer NABC and now holds the Fall record. All of this in spite of starting on a Sunday and ending on a Tuesday and having only one full weekend of playing time. The Las Vegas Unit is rather small and because so many players love to go to Nevada and are clamoring for more tournaments, a tremendous amount of work falls to Unit Members. A special thanks to District 17 and their Director, Jerry Fleming, and to the Las Vegas tournament volunteers.

Our Nationals are becoming multi- national with many of the world's best competing in the NABC tournaments. I expect to see players from thirty countries visiting Houston for the Gallery Furniture NABC from March 7-17. Among them will be John Wignall of New Zealand. John is the First Vice President of the WBF and head of the Drafting Committee for the next Bridge Laws revision. We welcome John to District 16 and Houston.

GOOD WILL AND CHARITY MEMBERS APPOINTED FOR 2002

I am proud to announce my appointments to the Goodwill and Charity Committees. Both of these committees are lifetime appointments. I want to thank these members for their years of volunteer work in their Units and for promoting bridge in District 16.

MANAGEMENT --- New CEO in Memphis

The Board of Directors selected Mr. Jay Baum of Omaha to be the next CEO of the ACBL replacing interim CEO Wayne Hascall. I want to thank Wayne, Board member from District 12, for volunteering to serve, without pay, as interim CEO for the ACBL since July 2001.

TOURNAMENTS:

A New ACBL Alert Procedure was approved to be effective March 1 2002. Check the Bulletin and the ACBL web site for detailed information. The BOD promises not to have another revision until the year 2005.

The 2002 Red Ribbon Pairs will be held on the first Saturday & Sunday of the Washington D. C. Summer NABC.

The annual Senior Master point Race will be determined by points won in Regional rated or higher Senior events awarding red, gold, or platinum points.

1st place in the 0-1500 mini-Spingold Teams to receive 75 M.P.

1st place in the 0-5000 mini-spingold Teams to receive 100 M.P. These events may go longer than five days if necessary.

Flight A, GNT 0-5000, was made permanent as a resultof a two year experiment of the event.

The College Bridge Championship competition was discontinued due to lack of interest at this time.

Members of the ACBL BOD are now permitted to play in the evening sessions of the GNT

Regulations for Instant Match point Games were modified to allow ½ table games and Howell movements.

NABC tournament sites approved in Las Vegas are: Dallas, Spring 2006 and Boston, Fall 2008

UNIT MEMBERSHIPS

Snowbird's may choose to be a permanent member of either Unit in which they are a legal resident.

CLUBS:

Inter-Club Championship Games are club duplicate games, played simultaneously at separate clubs and scored electronically across the field. These games (up to 4) can be rated as Club Championship games and results will be reported on the Internet.

First and second year new membership rebate will be discontinued effective January 2002. Memberships in the process at this time will not be affected.

MASTER POINTS

Correction of master point recording errors are now permitted within a 36 month time frame. This will not effect master point races already completed or rank already recognized. Management may develop a new program in the future.

JUNIOR BRIDGE:

The 2002 ACBL Bridge Camp will be held at Frostburg University, MD JULY 29-August 5. The cost will be $425 less the $200 subsidy for ACBL members in Zone 2. This subsidy was provided by the Education Foundation.

On a personal note I was happy to be re-elected as a World Bridge Federation delegate for a 3 year term. Happy Holidays ! I wish each and every one of you the very best for a happy, healthy, peaceful, and successful New Year.

Dan