AMERICAN CONTRACT BRIDGE LEAGUE

Claire Jones

District 18 Director

2708 Lakeview Ave.

Regina, SK. S4S 1G3

Canada

H: (306) 584-3516

F: (306) 585-1443

Email: stats@accesscomm.ca

Pre: National Board of Directors Meeting, November 20-23, 2011

Hi All,

Another year is just about in the books. One of the privileges I have each year is to honour a few of the many hard workers we have around our District. This year I received many names of individuals who are worthy of special recognition. At this time I would like to acknowledge 4 of these individuals. For 2011 Craig Jones of Boise, ID. and Lamya Abougoush of Calgary have been appointed to the National Charity Committee while Judy Staufer of Boise, ID. and Evelyn Sisonenko of Red Deer have been appointed to the National Goodwill Committee. This is just one small way to say thank you for all the contributions these individuals have made to bridge in our District.

This year our District was eligible for $12 000.00 in charitable donations. After receiving recommendations from your state and provincial representatives the following charities were selected; $5000.00 to the Canadian Paraplegic Association, $2000.00 to the Loaves and Fishes Benevolent Fund of Red Deer, $3000.00 to the Emergency Housing Exchange in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and $3000.00 to the Saskatchewan Children's Hospital Fund. It is gratifying to see the money you contribute to charity at work.

I continue to look for your thoughts on the motions that will be presented at the Seattle Board meeting. I am listing a few of the more topical motions but a complete list of the motions can be found on the ACBL web page. Any and all comments are appreciated.

http://web2.acbl.org/documentlibrary/about/SeattleMotions.pdf

Item 113-26: Life Master Requirements
For the purpose of Rank advancement a player having more than 500 Platinum MP's will be deemed to have attained the rank of Life Master.

It has long been debated that players who have had success at the National level should be recognised even though they may not have achieved the silver point requirements needed for rank advancement. This is an attempt to correct this discrepancy.

Item 113-27: Online Masterpoints used for Rank Advancement

For Rank advancement requirement restrictions on the use of Online points will be removed.

Online players have always complained about the inequity of counting points for stratification but not fully recognising the points for rank advancement. This deals with that complaint.

Item 113-28: requirements for Achieving Additional Life master Rankings

See ACBL web site for full details.

The ranks above Life Master only require total points. This motion adds coloured point requirements to these total points.

Item 113-88: Transfer of units 394 (Boise) and Units 398 (Nampa-Caldwell) from District 18 to District 20.

This motion deals with the loss of two of our units. I am interested in how you view these kind of moves.

Item 113-161: Strength of Field Formula (Second Reading)

See ACBL web site for full details.

This motion is an attempt to rectify the large masterpoint awards being paid to weaker fields such as Gold Rush Pairs (0-750) and the high awards being paid to very small Strat A/X fields in strati-flighted games. It also has the effect of having higher masterpoint awards for stronger open pairs events.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts you may send and as always, may all your finesses be successful.

Claire Jones

District 18 BoD

(306) 584-3516

stats@accesscomm.ca