Deanna:

I had most of my points years ago but opportunities to go to Regionals were slim to none as I moved away from existing partners. In the new location people mostly had regular partners and also played a more advanced game so it took a long time to “catch up “ and “get in” with no mentor. I have tried to be available to less experienced players so they don’t feel so “out of the loop “.

Also my pet peeve is the number of gold points available at special sectional games or in gold rush pairs at Regionals. Most of the time they are a fraction of 1 point and rarely more than 2 while Section A can get as many as 60 and up. Since the # of gold points needed for life master has raised since I started it makes that achievement almost impossible. Yes I know you can now play on line but that is not for everyone. Perhaps it draws in young players and that’s what we need. I am 82 and don’t like playing on line and I don’t know anyone in our club playing on line for gold points toward life master.

Interestingly I went to this last Omaha tournament just to go with friends who were partners and I would just have fun playing with someone from the partnership desk. As it turned out I got a good partner and we moved into the big game and did well. Fortunately I didn’t know till after the fact that some of our opponents were nationally ranked.

The end result was satisfying and now I can add that to my obituary .

Wyn