A Saturday Workshop with Dennis Dawson

Duke City Bridge Club

December 12, 2009 9:30 to Noon

The Topic

For the advancing player who wants to improve his or her game. You cannot become a good player by memorizing a lot of rules. You must learn how to think at the table. Dennis will show you how to do this at trick one, the single most important trick for the declarer.

Learn what to think about before playing from the dummy. Learn the ABCDs of Declarer Play that will help you play every hand better! Practice what you’ve learned by playing several hands. Notes are included.

The Teacher

Dennis Dawson is a Grand Life Master of the ACBL. He has won more than 13,000 masterpoints as well as the Bronze Medal at the 2003 Senior World Championship, a national championship and almost 200 regional events. Hands he has played have appeared in Sheinwold’s and Jacoby’s nationally syndicated bridge columns, as well as the New York Times.

As a teacher he is known for his logical explanations and “cards on the table” approach. He is a frequent speaker at the American Bridge Teacher’s convention and has taught thousands of students since 1975.

“I have worked with Dennis on several bridge seminars and have watched him in action teaching classes. He is an excellent teacher – very clear with just the right amount of humor. I was very impressed and glad to be sharing the spotlight with him.”

Eddie Kantar, member of the Bridge Hall of Fame

To reserve your spot, email dennis@bridgevacations.com

No email? Call 505-660-9927.

$35 per person, payable at the door.

Money back guarantee!

If you are not satisfied, leave at

the break and receive a full refund.

I’ve got a great set of adventures planned for the coming year.

Essex
Essex (Burlington), VT  – Sept. 8 -12, 2010
Read More ->

Sedona, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona  – Poco Diablo Resort  – October 24-28, 2010
Read More –>

White Stallion Ranch
Tucson, Arizona – White Stallion Ranch – February 13 – 17, 2011
Read More –>

The Topic
For the advancing player who wants to improve his or her game. 2/1 Game Force is rapidly becoming the new standard, if it hasn’t already. This is the system used by virtually every top player. Learn why you should play it, and what changes you need to make to do so. Gain hands-on experience by playing four hands each week, and by bidding several more.

The Text
We will use Audrey Grant and Eric Rodwell’s new book 2/1 Game Force. It will be for sale at a discount.

The Teacher
Dennis Dawson is a Grand Life Master of the ACBL. He has won more than 12,000 masterpoints, mostly in the last six years. He won the Bronze Medal at the 2003 Senior World Championship. He has won a national championship and almost 200 regional events. Hands he has played have appeared in Sheinwold’s and Jacoby’s nationally syndicated bridge columns, as well as the New York Times.

As a teacher he is known for his logical explanations and “cards on the table” approach. He is a frequent speaker at the American Bridge Teacher’s convention. He has taught thousands of students since 1975.

Space is limited.
Email dennis@bridgevacations.com to reserve your spot (and to receive information about future workshops).

No email? Call 505-989-1961.

$20 per class or $55 for all 4 classes

The following schools qualified for this summer’s event, held in Washington DC July 25-26, 2009:

Harvard: Sam Lichtenstein—Jonathan Bittner—Dana Berkowitz—Dan Recht
Princeton: James Sundstrom—Nathan Savir—Ilya Vinogradov—Jonathan Luk
Davidson: Austin Bell—Robbie Squibb—Esther Cline—Jim Dickson
University of Chicago: Gideon Tan—Sandi Li—Wen Yang Qi—Rolf Hoyer
University of North Carolina: Kenneth Chuk—Patrick Domico—Corey Luttrell—Dianelle Simmons
McGill: Ralph Yeung—Brandon Zimmerman—Julia Evans—Alex Lang
Stanford: Eric Mayefsky—Zizhuo Wang—Alex Lovejoy—Elena Grewal
UCLA: Blake Haas—Daniel Aharoni—Stephen Crisafulli—Julie Curtis

The biographies section of the encyclopedia will be different from past editions, emphasizing personal information (interesting hobbies, accomplishments outside of bridge, etc. ) as much as trophies and masterpoint holdings. Perhaps you have hiked the Appalachian Trail, visited all seven continents or once played professional table tennis. These are the kinds of personal items that will make the bio section more readable.

We haven’t decided yet on the ultimate criteria for inclusion in the biographies section, but with your help the next edition will be the best ever published.

Click here to fill out a questionnaire. Be sure to include a working email address in case the editors have questions.

Michael Whitman and Tipton Golias, longtime partners and dear friends of Grant Baze, gathered a large contingent of partners, teammates and friends at the Spring 2009 NABC in Houston on Friday, March 13th, to say goodbye to a towering presence (literally!) in the bridge world. Chris and Donna Compton organized a warm and wonderful evening of memories, food and drink as the best and the brightest gave testimony to this one-of-a-kind player.

Tipton Golias, who won the 1997 Spingold with Grant and Poles Adam Zmudzinski, Marek Szymanowski, Marcin Lesniewski, Cezary Balicki, recalled Grant’s high standard of ethics. Reviewing Tipton»s declarer play on a hand, Grant realized that their score was in error. Finding a director, Grant had the score changed from making to down one – sending Grant and Tipton from first to sixth. Winning would be meaningless if it weren’t fairly earned.

Partner Gary Hayden marveled at Grant’s deep knowledge of history – and his ability to multi-task with ferocity. Alan Sontag, the only bridge player who might have played as rapidly as Grant did, recounted how their lightening speed saved the day. When only three players out of six showed up for a session of the Senior Bowl in 2001, the team worried they might be eliminated. No problem, when the world’s two quickest players paired up. Ultimately, Grant and Alan, along with Roger Bates, Bart Bramley, Rose Meltzer, and Lew Stansby captured their international title.

Other speakers, Mike Passell, Bob Hamman, Eric Rodwell, Alan Cokin, Gary Cohler, Peter Weichsel, Gary Cohler, Fred Gitelman and George Jacobs also spoke of Grant’s tremendous abilities, his creativity, his humor and infectious, booming laugh. They spoke of how Grant played through severe pain and fatigue, all because of his adoration of the game.

For those who knew Grant, it would be impossible not to have mention of his attachment to the ladies. Women loved Grant – and he loved them back. Indeed, Grant was such a ladies’ man, he put together a collection of at least nine wives! (Forgive me if I fail to get the final tally accurately; it was always a moving target.) Grant’s “last and best” wife, Cindy, listened good naturedly as tales of Grant and his many women were recounted.

Grant loved bridge, women, history and his friends with a passion. He gave them his all – and he will be sorely missed.

According to Johnson, each astronaut is allowed to fly up to ten items honoring organizations of their choosing. These items are collected, vacuum packed and documented on the official Space Shuttle manifest. Johnson stated that he flew the ace of spaces (from an official ACBL deck of cards) to honor the ACBL and his love of bridge. Johnson began playing duplicate bridge as a new Air Force pilot in 1988 and became a Life Master in 2002.

During his presentation of the card to Jay Baum, CEO of the ACBL, Johnson stated, “It is an interesting coincidence that the 2009 Houston NABC spans the same days, one year later, of my space flight last year. I am honored to be able to present the card to the ACBL during the first weekend of the tournament.”