Readme first, as the software says, and I’ll have time to remind you the Santa Clara Valley sectional is taking place March 30 through April 1 (no fooling). It’s at the Masonic Temple, 2500 Masonic Drive in San Jose. Come on down. Call Phyllis Vierra (408) 248-8365 for details.

On Sunday April 8 at 12:30 p.m. is our unit game honoring last year’s Ace of Clubs and mini-McKenney winners. I can’t tell you who they all are until next month’s column. I can say we’ve got national finalists, including Gigi Spinazze, Shih-Ming Shih, and Rose Meltzer-Johnson. (Will hyphenating my name improve my game? How about ray.yuenger?) I hear Gigi also became a Life Master.

If you wonder why novices are using more sophisticated conventions, it might just be due to the lessons Faye Parsons is offering Thursday nights at 6:40 p.m. before her 99er game.

Looking back to February, a number of us endured rain, limited parking, and crowded corridors to attend the President’s Day regional south of San Francisco. Worth noting here: in the Lynn Yokel charity pairs (that’s not the official name yet), she did it again, finishing first with, well, my lips must remain zipped about nonunit members. In a two-session open pairs game, Jim Hayashi & Anne Boboricken finished almost 65 points ahead of second place. Jeffrey Hu and Song Wang were first in their stratifications in another two-session open game. Stan Batiste & Hiram Shen kept winning in the intermediate/novice games. Joy Baker & Jane Casciano won the 0-5 game. (Joy obviously doesn’t need me as a mentor anymore.) Rose Meltzer-Johnson’s Swiss team won. Winning knockouts were George Pledger & Mindy Foos with William & Joyce Keckler; Steve Bosma & Art Fonda; Rose Meltzer-Johnson & Peter Weichsel. Many other unit members ranked high in single sessions. Complete results should be elsewhere in this paper.

Moving on to the Pleasanton sectional, strat tops were earned by William Keckler & Mindy Foos, Steve Chen, and Tania Moalem, and in the under-100 pairs, Richard Jacobs & Hiram Shen. Winning their respective Swiss brackets were Neal Webb & Ray Yuenger and the team of Richard Jacobs, Phyllis Vierra, Hiram Shen, & Alexander Tampilang. Hard to believe Alex and Phyllis started with Easybridge! about 18 months ago.

At the Berkeley sectional, strat tops went to Gary Soules and Lynn Yokel & Ray Yuenger.

Hope to see you at our sectional. I’m pleased we are not trying to discourage out-of-towners with Saturday starting times of 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. I haven’t figured out what meal I’m supposed to be eating at a 2:45 p.m. break.

Corrections, comments and news are welcome at (408)379-7717 and rayyuenger@earthlink.net.