LIHU‘E — The Sunset Bridge Club, along with Unit 470 in Honolulu, is sponsoring the inaugural American Contract Bridge League Garden Isle Sectional, which takes place April 5 to 7. The tournament will be played at the Sun Village Condominium
LIHU‘E — The Sunset Bridge Club, along with Unit 470 in Honolulu, is sponsoring the inaugural American Contract Bridge League Garden Isle Sectional, which takes place April 5 to 7. The tournament will be played at the Sun Village Condominium Recreation Room directly behind Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
According to R.C. Smith, tournament chairman, players have registered from across Hawai‘i and many from the Mainland for this first ever event on Kaua‘i. A large contingent will be arriving from Honolulu and the total number of tables is expected to reach at least 20, with 80 or more players competing. This inaugural sectional tournament will award silver masterpoints for winners across the three days.
“We petitioned our unit, and we said, ‘You know what? We want our own tournament.’” Smith said. “Every time we wanted to play in a tournament, we had to fly to Honolulu to play.
We wanted them to come over here and play. This is our first one, and hopefully we are going to have more.”
The highlight of the three-day tournament will be the Swiss teams, which have four players each, and will compete in two sessions on Sunday. The Sunset Bridge Club will provide catered luncheons on Saturday and Sunday and are included in the normal table fees at no extra cost.
This ACBL sanctioned tournament is stratified to ensure players are competing against others holding comparable masterpoints. There also will be 99er games for those holding less than 100 masterpoints.
The tournament will begin on Friday at 1 p.m. and will run Saturday and Sunday, with games starting at 9 a.m. for morning pairs and 1 p.m. for afternoon pairs.
“There are 11 sanctioned clubs across the state, and we all try to support each other,” Smith said. “A lot of the players on O‘ahu have family or relatives here and haven’t been back in 20 or 25 years, so it is going to be a homecoming for a lot of people. So we are trying to make it a very special time at the sectional.”
