The Eddie Wold Seminar

The seminar was a great success! This is based on the feedback which follows (Note: A survey was sent to all participants with the Part I of the survey asking for comments on the seminar -- what follows is the first 19 responses in the order received.):

1. Hi David - great seminar - thanks for organizing.

2. Really enjoyed the Eddie Wold seminar.

3. I think a lot of its success was due to Eddie's format in letting us play the hands, then discuss. Much preferable to a lecture format.

4. First of all I must say that you have done an excellent job in organizing the seminar and I really enjoyed it. The Seminar materials are very practical and to the point.

5. Well organized, good questions from the group, excellent material covered, and top notch teachers.

6. I personally got a lot out of it, and I am still studying the generous notes that we were given. Both Eddie and Bob were great communicators: I could feel that they knew exactly what to say, and how to time each subject so that we would not be rushed. As a rookie player, I feel that I was just at the level to figure out what they were explaining, as they took for granted that we all knew the fundamentals of bridge. The other three players at my table were quite a bit more advanced than I am, but they were learning a lot also.

7. Both Eddie and Bob were fantastic - I wrote to them personally to say how much I enjoyed the w/end.

8. I found the seminar well organized and I was extremely impressed by the presenters............The handouts were useful as a teaching tool. Many thanks to all the people who put the event together.

9. I feel the seminar pointed out many ways to improve our bridge games without have to memorize seldom used conventions and then to find a partner willing to memorize them. It seems easier to try to improve your own bridge game. I know that I enjoyed Bob and Eddie's advice and that Ev did also. Also, for me, the location was good.

10. I had a great time at the seminar and felt I really got something out of it. I particularly like the part about playing IMPs and MPs. Although I did know there was a difference and I was aware of some of the things I should do. They made things much clearer in my eyes. Their handouts are full of interesting tid-bits. My experience was great. And I would attend another one.

11. Excellent seminar, very professional. Presentation, handouts, and content clear and useful. Liked playing the hands then discussing them. Eddie and Bob kept audience alert by changing the pace (and speaker). Also liked their willingness to answer questions immediately. Topics included general principles--very valuable. Thank you, I really appreciate your help! And thank you and Anne for arranging everything so expertly.

12. Probably would NOT do another seminar in this format as I found by the afternoon sessions, my brain had gone out to lunch. On a warm Sunday afternoon, the probability of me learning hand probability is about .005

13. Loved the seminar - although it did put some strain on my aging brain!!! The format was good, the instructors outstanding, and the material was really useful. I also liked the fact that we started at the scheduled time, and the instruction carried on right to the scheduled ending time - they really delivered.

14. I found it really worthwhile and am now going to digest and practice the information. Many thanks for offering this opportunity to advance our bridge knowledge! Thanks for the excellent job you did of organizing this whole thing. Dim Sum was a wonderful touch. I enjoyed this seminar so much. It was the right mixture of playing and discussing. Eddie and Bob are super presenters and the handouts were like gold. I spent the next week going over all the handouts.

15. The venue, speakers and topics were great.

16. Great seminar. I liked the play and lecture format, with the excellent quality notes. The Day 1 topics were particularly good.

17. I just want to tell you again how impressed I was with the effort that you and Anne did on the seminar. You did a great job!

18. The presentation was excellent. One suggestion is the presenter should repeat questions from the floor. Many people with soft voices are not audible especially to old farts like me.

19. I thought is was very helpful. The presentation was excellent.

Eddie Wold Seminar Reaction

Bob Morris (Left) and Eddie Wold (right)
T. Morse Photo.

The Eddie Wold seminar this weekend has been well received. Personally, I thought the participants asked very thoughtful questions.

Eddie and Bob made the learning enjoyable. They were fun to watch working in tandem.

The way the subjects were covered allowed for group participation in the play of
the hands. The subjects were challenging. I know the end result will be that the participants will play, bid and defend better at bridge. I’ll be facing far better opponents at the bridge table.

Evelyn Hodge, my first bridge teacher, had this to say: “I want to thank Anne and David for arranging our great weekend with Eddie and Bob. The format was diverse and informative, especially the segment for IMP’s as compared to MP’s. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!”

On one hand I felt that all these people are now going to know all this stuff, darn it, they will be
formidable and on the other hand I felt very sorry for the rest of Unit 430 who weren’t in attendance because they need to know this stuff to be a better bridge player.

There were a whole lot of people who did a whole lot of work to make this seminar run smoothly. Cam Doner recommended Eddie and Bob, Vicki looked after the finances, Greg Morse arranged for the mike and the easel stand and board, Sam Nystrom provided transportation for Eddie and Bob and David Dilkes kept us organized.
Unit 430 did something real good.

Anne Smith, President

Unit 430 Board Members 2010

Board Members and Responsibilities, Unit 430, 2010
Anne Smith President
Monica Angus Past President
Jennifer Ballantyne Fundraising & Hospitality Special Events
Kathy Bye Tournament Assistant (Partnerships, Caddies)
Marguerite Chiarenza Memberships and Education Co-Chair
John Demeulemeester Tournament Co-Chair
David Dilkes Memberships and Education Co-Chair
Rita Dodge STAC Co-Ordinator
Angela Fenton Secretary
Vicki Moffatt Financial Officer
Greg Morse VP, Tournament Co-Chair Online Matchpointer
Howard Rubin IMP League Liason, Flyer Distribution
Richmond Williams Supplies, Trophies, Print Matchpointer Liaison

Eddie Wold comes to Vancouver

Eddie Wold, top ranked bridge professional with over 10,000 masterpoints, is coming to Vancouver.
He will be giving a series of four 3 hour talks over two days.
Aug 14 and Aug 15th.
The cost for all 4 sessions is $80.00.
There are only about 8 spots left of the original 64, so if you are interested send a cheque to Vicki Moffat, Unit 430 treasurer, made out to Unit 430.

There have been several top pros come to Vancouver and give similar talks over the last few years. The latest before Eddie was Mike Lawrence.
However this is the first time in my memory that Unit 430 has been the sponsor of the event.

Greg Morse

Unit 430 Finances. Priorities.

Thanks to the consistent hard work of our fund-raising people over the years the Units finances are in good shape. Since we like to run at approximately break even, (while being prudent of course) the question comes up as to how to spend whatever surplus there is.
There are two main areas that could use as much money as we can afford:
1. Travel subsidies for people and teams attending GNT, Canadian Championships, etc.
There are may groups such as Open Teams, Women's Teams, Senior's Teams, Pairs, and many events that we could subsidize. How much and how often?

2. New Member development. There is more opportunity for creativity here. We can subsidize teachers and courses, we can do some targeted advertising, we can offer free plays etc.
One idea that I have is to run a tournament for people under 25 years old with a (significant) cash prize, say $500, for the winners. Think any students at UBC, or Kwantlen college would be interested?

3. There is also the Vancouver Regional of 2012. While this is not strictly a Unit 430 event, it is of benefit to our members to have a Regional here, and if we can help out with prizes, after session refreshments, and the like perhaps we should consider it.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Greg Morse

Vancouver Regional 2012

The Vancouver Regional has suffered declining attendance for the last few years. This is due to a combintion of factors, the time of year, the venue, the format of the event and so forth.

The organization of the Regional, is not strictly the purview of unit 430, rather it belongs to District 19, Dino. However this post is an attempt to reach out and solicit ideas that could be passed on to the tournament chair, Cam Doner.

The 2012 regional will have a new location, the River Rock Casino in Richmond BC, and a new team friendly format (KO's starting every day).
In addition we would like to create an environment of community and fun around the event similar (if we can :)!) to what it is like in Penticton or Alaska.

Anyone have any ideas?

Someone has suggested that we take the money we would normally spend on evening snacks and put it to better use, perhaps by having more meaningful souvenir handouts.
Is this a good idea, or do players like their 11:00PM ice cream?
What sort of handouts would be appreciated?
Does anyone have any suggestions for sponsors who might be willing to donate handouts?

Comment by sending an email to, acblunit430@gmail.com

The HST

Your Unit board has been wrestling with the impact the HST will have on our members.
Our original thought, was that because of the volume of money we take in for our sectionals the HST would apply to us. This means that on a $10 entry fee, we would need to collect $1.30 on behalf of the government.

It is for this reason that at our final meeting last month, we passed a motion to raise the entry fee.

One question that keeps coming up is, "Cant we get this money back?".
The answer is, "We can get back what we pay others, but we must send to the government what we collect ourselves." Since most of our costs are to the ACBL in the US, to the directors for salaries etc. we don't pay much in the way of HST, and even if we did, it would not cover what we collect. The HST is not revenue neutral. :)!

One of our members has suggested that Unit 430 register itself as a Not For Profit Society.
Your board will actively pursue this option at our next board meeting.