Wine, cheese, crackers, dessert . . . and bridge! Tempted? Couples, er, pairs and singles are welcome at the San Jose club on Saturday night, November 10, at 7:00 p.m. for a unit game.

Faye Parson’s Thursday night game has a new start time. 7:00 p.m., not 7:20.

Our Santa Clara Valley fall sectional just concluded successfully with an increase of 80 tables over last year. Thanks to Phyllis Vierra and her many helpers for organizing the caddies, the snacks, and everything else.

Richard Jacobs helped himself to another trophy for the 199er earning the most masterpoints with different partners. Margaret Wenzel & June Palange won the 9 table novice game. Bill Langlois finished first in the two-session pairs game. Rose Meltzer’s team won their knockout bracket. (It’ll be news when they don’t.)

A Swiss team including Bruce Luttrell, William Watson & Leila Sink took first in the X and A flight. A team including Alexander Tampilang, Gary Kao & Shih Wei Lu was first in the 199er Swiss.

Strat tops in pair games (no room for repeats) went to Wesley Woo, Judi Carollo & Elizabeth Moley, Irwin & Marion Wentzien, Robert & Linda Caren, Richard Reitman, Stephen Tu, Ron Schwarer & H Lyle Supp, Ray & Maxine Lubow, Richard Jacobs & Hiram Shen, Malcolm Stewart, Jewel Schimke, Carole Dietz & Tina Pearson, Shirley Foreman & Alexander Tampilang, Mike Roney & Nagraj Alur, William Watson & Leila Sink, Tien-Chun Yang & Fang Wu, Wally Farley & Laura Walters, Gary & Jan Soules, Eugene Vodkin & Victor Rivkin.

For those players bothered by late and early starts, the unit board has already started discussing how to improve our next sectional.

Earlier in September, Gary & Jan Soules traveled to the Sacramento sectional and took first in their pairs section and second in the Swiss teams.

Many thanks to Mike Abrams for organizing and running the Santa Clara Valley IMP League for two years. Nine teams signed up for the competition this last year. It seems Mike’s handicapping of the teams worked, as the Hwa team (Ted Hwa, Adam Meyerson, Tong Choo, Ilya Chizlov, Nelson Lu & Tony Staw) finished first in the round robin despite having the lowest total masterpoints. Four teams went into the semifinals, with the Siedenburg team (Kurt Siedenburg, Paul Cornelius, Chris Larsen, Leila Gaines, Jody & Rich Williams) besting the Hwa team and theWebb team (Neal Webb, Stu Goodgold, Mike Roney, Ray Yuenger & Lynn Yokel) defeating Shih-Ming Shih’s team, including Bill & Joyce Keckler, Gigi Spinazze, Steve Chen & Umesh Reghurm. In the final the Siedenberg team prevailed by 6 IMPs and earned $1,000 (generated from initial entry fees), while the Webb team pocketed $200. Due to scheduling problems, the League will not continue this year, unless a suitable site and time can be found. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them to Mike (abrams_mike@hotmail.com).

Corrections, comments, and news are welcome at (408)379-7717 and rayyuenger@starband.net. Old columns appear under “old stuff” at www.sjbridge.org.