What is the Monday Mixer All About?
Life Masters play with Non-Life Masters. The game will be handicapped to give the players with the fewest points a better chance for a masterpoint award. The Non-Life Master will choose what is on the convention card.
The Monday Mixer is intended to be a fun night that allows newer players to meet some of the old hands, lets the older players have an opportunity to welcome newer players, and gives the non-Life Master players an opportunity to pick up a few pointers about bidding and playing. The emphasis is on fun. The games are held the 2nd Monday night of each month at 7:00 p.m. There is a list of willing Life Masters posted on the bulletin board along with their telephone numbers. Any non-Life Master wanting to play should sign up by putting their name in the appropriate block and then calling the Life Master to let them know you want to play. If by chance there are no Life Masters available, let a member of the partnership committee know and they will find a Life Master to play with you. Each player will pay his/her own entry fee. The Life Masters are participating because they want to and because they like to play bridge!
On game night, it is a good idea to arrive at Casa de Carta 20-30 minutes early if possible (work this out with the Life Master) to give you time to tell the Life Master a little about yourself, what you know about playing bridge, and what you hope to gain from the experience. It also gives the Life Masters time to introduce you to other people and tell you a story or two about how when they first started playing bridge... Some non-Life Masters may want the Life Masters to tell them every little thing they should have done differently, but it is usually best if the Life Master at the end of the round (if there is time) or at the end of the game point out 2 or 3 things they noticed that might improve your game rather than a laundry list of all the mistakes you made. By the way, Life Masters make plenty of mistakes themselves and they will probably point them out to you as a teaching example (do as I say, not as I do)! The number of boards played may be reduced a little to give players more time to go over the hands and to discuss any specific teaching points.
Non-Life Masters should play with different Life Masters to allow an opportunity for other players to meet and play together. If you are interested in a more intense experience with the same Life Master, please sign up for the next mentoring session. That will help newer players learn specific aspects of the game and leave the Monday Mixer open for what it is intended—a fun night to introduce players of different levels and a time to help newer players transition into playing in the open games. Please take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to socialize across experience levels. We look forward to seeing you at a Monday Mixer real soon!
The sign up sheet will be posted on the Games Bulletin board at the club.