Be warned that your intrepid reporter is attempting to string together coherent thoughts after seven straight days of bridge at the Santa Clara regional. Can one have too much of a good thing? Hey, gabba-gabba (as the Ramones sang).

Local sectionals were in short supply in August, presumably due to the competing Santa Clara regional and the nationals in Anaheim. I bring you tidbits of information from all these events, though the regional results will be covered more extensively elsewhere in this paper. I don’t have the space to chronicle every local regional success.

Starting with the Hayward sectional, Vandana Vidwans had a great pairs game, topping not only her strat, but her section. Other strat tops were earned by Bill Langlois & Ed Barlow, Gary & Jan Soules, Sherry Waki & Louis Martin, Jr., Frank Lowenthal, Bin Dai, and Bill & Joyce Keckler.

The biggest news from the nationals is that Rose Johnson-Meltzer’s team, including Peter Weichsel, won the Spingold Knockout event. Also at the nationals, Mac & Milly Morris became Life Masters. Don Nemiro took 1^st in a Mixed Pairs event. Barbara Harkleroad & Kathleen Keener won a Womens Pairs event. Winning knockouts were the Yoshikawas & the Chaos; also Allan Lebovitz, K. P. Cheng, & Anand Ayagari. I have only partial information from the nationals. For the complete scoop, look at the ACBL site on the Internet. For those who missed the nationals, it was exciting to see so many bridge players from all over, including Bill Gates.

At the Santa Clara Regional, former director Morris “Mojo” Jones became a Life Master, with an assist from partner Dan Turkus. Will Watson & Sathya Bettadapura were 2^nd in the premier two-day pair event. Judy Fisher & Bonnie Beardsley won a 2-session pairs game. Roger Newlander & Robert Ritz prevailed in the Senior Pairs. Strat tops in 2-session events went to Bin Dai & Joyjit Sarma. K. P. Chen & Bin Dai were on the 1^st place open Swiss Team. A team including Louis Martin, Jr., Molly Kaufman, and Malcom Stewart knocked out their opponents.

Bob Elliott was the leading masterpoint in 299ers events. Lynn Yokel had a fine tournament, winning with three different partners in pairs events. (Hope she didn’t notice she did her worst with me.)

So I don’t have a crystal ball. The Monterey regional is retuning in January. Faye Parson’s Easybridge! game is on hold until January.

The mentor program is still looking for experienced players willing to share their knowledge with those eager to learn. You can play as a mentor as little as one day a month or as much as you want. Contact Lynn Yokel (408)374-4669 if you want to participate in the educational and fun program.

I’d appreciate learning news and corrections at (408)379-7717 or rayyuenger@earthlink.net.