The details of the event, its planning, the first email, and the brouhaha that followed are described in the excruciating long blog entry that is posted here. You almost certainly won’t want to read the entire entry, but the first few paragraphs are rather essential to the understanding of this one.

If you refuse to use the link, you should at least know that the Hartford Bridge Club (HBC) was planning a Limited Section on Sunday, March 26. The details were handled by Linda Starr, but Donna Feir, the club manager, oversaw the project. Two flights were planned—0-299 and 0-750 non-Life Masters. A free lunch would be served between the two sessions.

While engaged in the back-and-forth concerning the scandalous Tonto email, I cobbled together a similar one for the people in Westchester County, NY, the wealthy suburban area that is west of southeastern Connecticut. You can view a sample of this email here. Before I sent it out, I showed this to the officers of the Connecticut Bridge Association (CBA). They liked it, probably because I removed the toxic character who featured in the first one. This version went out on January 31.

201 people eventually opened the email, most of them repeatedly. Ten clicked on the link to the flyer to get more information. Not great, but most of these people were facing a two-hour drive to the HBC.

The second set of emails was sent on February 23. It used some obscure facts that I unearthed on the Internet. They highlighted the dearth of silver in southern New England. A sample is posted here. Just as I had sent it out, Linda Starr asked me via email:

Did you send out the latest email about the March 26 sectional? I haven’t gotten even one new registration since the few days after the first email went out and I only have 6 tables at this point. So if you get a chance, any additional publicity would be helpful!!! I have been announcing it at the Friday afternoon games and have asked to have it announced at all the other games. Any suggestions on what else I can do to promote it? 

We had decided to ask people to register early so that we would know how many lunches to buy. Peter had told us that ACBL rules prohibited excluding players who failed to register.

I replied that I had just sent out the first part of the second batch. I also reported some statistics:

As of 5pm 1305 deliveries, 521 opened, 17 clicked (one twice), 19 bounced, 3 unsubscribed. I will send to Westchester tomorrow.

I will work on a third email over the weekend emphasizing that the HBC is a nice place to play. It should go out on March 12. I am open to other suggestions.

There was one small issue that Linda had to address. A page on Unit 126’s website, CTBridge.org, advertised that those playing in their first tournament would get a free game. There was also something about people who joined the ACBL. The concern was whether either of these policies, which were put in place years earlier, would apply to a tournament run by a club. The webmaster planned to take down the notice as soon as the HBC’s Limited Sectional was over. Linda wrote,

I emailed Peter this morning asking if he wanted us to promote the free game for first time tournament players or just give it to those who asked. Haven’t heard back yet but depending on his reply, that might be something else to promote.

I had made no mention of this in any previous emails. I needed to know whether to emphasize it in the last email. I wrote “Since everyone in my database is a current or former ACBL member, it would have to be a request for people to ask others who are not members.”

On March 6 Linda wrote “So far it appears that no one knows the answer. So just go ahead and send out the reminder without the info about the free sessions. If any non members show up, I’ll deal with it then.”

As I was almost ready to send the emails, Linda received an answer from Peter Marcus, the President of the CBA.

I will admit, I tend not to be too concerned with these kind of freebies.  If no one takes them, it costs nothing.  If a lot of people take them, while that could amount to some money, it means we are getting a lot of new players that, over time, will more than cover the costs.  So, I tend to be open to being very liberal about things like this,

I don’t totally understand the guest membership program of the ACBL.  But, from my understanding, guest memberships get all the information to “add someone to our database” so we can contact them.  To me, that alone is worth a free play, let alone the possibility of them becoming a full, recurring ACBL member.

An email in praise of the HBC’s outstanding facility, a sample of which is posted here, was sent in two batches: one (sent on March 5) for players having between 200 and 750 masterpoints, the other (released on March 8) for those with less than 200 points.

Meanwhile, a signup sheet had been posted on the club’s bulletin board. People were needed to help setting up the tables and chairs, to run the two registration tables, to organize and set out the lunch, and to clean up. I volunteered to take photos and to help out in the morning. Seventeen other members of the club signed up.

By the middle of March it was clear from the number of registrations that the tournament would be a success. More people signed up for the 0-200 flight than for the 0-750 NLM flight.

On the morning of March 9 Linda sent me this email:

I thought I’d see if you know the answers to the questions below rather than take up a lot of time — and look stupid : ) — at the Zoom meeting tonight.

In the paperwork you gave me, you said there’s a $50 sanction fee for the tournament, an $8/session charge for boards, and a $2 or less per table charge (not sure what that is). Can you tell me who these fees are paid to? the ACBL? the unit? Will we be billed in some way? 

Also, do you know how I get the files for the hands? Are they emailed to the club automatically because we have a sanction or do I need to request them? I assume we’ll make our own boards? Is there anything else you think I should know? (Assume I know nothing!)

I had read everything that I could find on Limited Sectionals, but I was certainly not an expert. I replied as follows.

My understanding is that the unit charges us nothing. I don’t know how/when the ACBL gets its pound of flesh.

I assume that someone will send pbn files, but that is just guessing.

Everything that I know I told you. Bill Watson may know more since he did essentially the same thing for a few years.

Hours later Linda received an email from the ACBL. A guidebook for the directors of IN (Intermediate/Novice) tournaments was attached. I have posted it here.

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The event: The first session of the tournament was scheduled to begin at 10:00. I arrived before 9:00, but many of the volunteers and a few of the players were already there. Because more than half of those who had registered were 199ers, Linda had placed the 199ers in the main room of the club. She was expecting fifteen tables. I wandered around and took a few photos.

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By 9:30 quite a few players who had not previously registered for the event appeared. The great majority of them were in the 0-750 flight. A few more tables in the backroom were provided with bidding boxes and BridgeMates. At about 9:45 more tables needed to be set up, but there were no additional bidding boxes. Fortunately, I had a suitcase filled with bidding boxes in my car. I brought them into the club.

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Both sections had fifteen tables, about what was expected for the 199ers. The 0-750 section had a lot more than predicted. At the last minute two tables were moved from the very crowded backroom to the main room. Thirty tables! This was so far off of the chart for post-pandemic attendance that no one could believe it.

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The only tables that were not used in the first session were the two that were set up for registration. I told Linda that if more people came, I would pull my Honda into a handicapped space, and they could play on the hood. The weather was nice enough for it.

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After the first session I took photos of the winners. Then I went home after advising Linda that someone else should take photos of the winners in the afternoon sessions.

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Bill Segraves, the eager-beaver webmaster of the CBA asked how the event went. Linda replied,

It was a great day! The worst part was wondering if we were going to run out of tables. We had 57 tables in total for both sessions. And lots of excellent feedback! Mike has lots of pictures too!! We’re happy to do it again any time.

The next morning Linda sent the following email to the volunteers and directors:

Thank you all SO much for volunteering at yesterday’s tournament! The “powers that be” think the tournament was a success because we had 57 tables over the course of the two sessions. But those of us who were there know that the tournament was a success because of all of you! If we’d had 57 tables of unhappy players, the tournament would have been a huge failure. Thanks to you, that didn’t happen. Susan, Donna and I received many, many comments from players unfamiliar with the club about how friendly the club was and how much they enjoyed their time there. 

So thank you all for decorating, greeting, cleaning up, baking cookies, answering questions, taking pictures, pitching in wherever it was needed — for everything you did to make every player who attended feel comfortable and welcome and at home. Each and every one of you was the secret to the success of the tournament and on a bigger scale, of course, you are the secret behind the success of HBC. Hopefully many of those who attended will, because of their experience yesterday, continue to play and help regrow the game we love.

The event earned the HBC a few thousand dollars, which just about matched what it had been losing each month from its day-to-day operations since reopening in July 2021.

Plans were immediately made for a second event in the fall.