“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” From what I’ve been seeing recently, the ACBL may be able to recycle Mark Twain’s line.

Lynn Yokel’s new Easybridge™ game has made a promising start, with 8 full tables. Most are initiates to bridge and the San Jose Bridge Club. The newcomers have been getting acquainted, laughing, helping each other, and having a jolly time playing cards. Any bridge veterans who show up by mistake on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. may think they’ve stepped into the wrong room.

Our September Santa Clara Valley sectional boasted 16 tables for the Saturday afternoon session of the under-200 game. Local intermediate-novice winners in their sections and flights in that two-session game were Bob Elliott, Melinda Foos, Jim Tseng, Chee Tung, Eileen Edwards, Sherry Waki, and George Pledger. I heard that the overall table count for our sectional was up slightly.

New players who have ideas on how to make our club games more enjoyable, contact Bob Elliott at (408) 984-1146. He’ll let you know when the New Players Services committee is meeting in November.

First place in the Friday afternoon session of our sectional’s open game went to Bonnie Beardsley, with Trish McConnell, Daniel Gildenberg, and James Burlingame earning firsts in their flights. (Of course these people had partners, but this column is about this unit.) Friday evening the top honors went to Diane Shannon, edging out Jerry Waltzer in the last round by .27. (One trick anywhere!) Flight firsts included Vandana Vidwans and Gail Rosenthal, Bill Langlois and William Riester, Jr., John Prior and Ted Zimmerman.

In the under-200 game, Leon Lee was first in his Friday afternoon flight with a pickup partner! (Isn’t that everyone’s bridge dream?) George Pledger and Shirley Foreman paired up to win the evening event, with Bill and Joan Sherman first in their flight.

In the two-session open event on Saturday, David Pankrantz was first in the under-1500 flight. Among those who posted flight tops along the way in that event were Jurii Klonizchii and Shirley Anderson, Stu Goodgold, Song Wang, Tania Moalem, Lynn Yokel and Ray Yuenger, Shawn Liu, Victor Rivkin, Laura Walters and Gabi Pani, Ed Lee and Bill Langlois. So, Dave, what’s the secret to putting together two consecutive good sessions?

On Sunday at the Santa Clara Valley sectional, a Swiss team including Chin and Melody Chao won the afternoon 299er Swiss game and tied for first in the evening session with William and Joyce Keckler and their teammates.

Phew! Time to catch my breath. Well, you should expect a lot of local winners in our local sectional. Time for a candy bar. They’re gone already? I learned you can never have too much chocolate to give away at a tournament. For those hard candy lovers, our club has an endless supply. Maybe next sectional.

The Santa Clara Valley IMP league had a nice start with 5 A teams and 6 B teams of imps set to face off on a monthly basis.

In the Diablo Valley sectional, K.P. Cheng’s Swiss team won the event. Tony Staw and Ray Yuenger had a section top. In the Santa Cruz sectional, section tops went to Bill Langlois and Kit Humphrey and Gary and Jan Soules. Andrea Malone’s team won the premier knockout event.

In September’s two club championship games, Judy Fisher was first overall on Wednesday night, with Dave Pankrantz first in the other direction. Thursday morning top honors went to Frank Warzek and Olive Tangney. Dave Pankrantz also came in first in September’s instant matchpoint game. It will be news in my next column if Dave doesn’t keep winning.

Remember to sign up at the club for dinner and a team game on Thursday night, November 4.

Please excuse any oversights. I welcome corrections, comments, and news (particularly off-the-record) at (408)379-7717 and rayyuenger@earthlink.net.