Running a bridge club is a business and should be managed according to good business practices.  When our clubs merged in 2009 and started paying almost $2000 per month rent and table set up, it became a bigger business.  We rented the clubhouse for 265 days a year which works out to be about $92 per day.  From Jan through Dec. that year, we averaged:  Tues: 7.88 tables; Wed: 6.3 tables and Thurs: 4.46 tables per game.  The table count dropped during the last quarter.  Faced with diminishing revenue from the Tues, Wed, and very low revenue from Thursday, the board tried to find ways to increase income on those days.

Several teachers had been giving lessons, but none of the new players were interested in playing in our games. They preferred to take their new found skills back to their social bridge clubs or continue to play in a supervised game. We decided to start an 0-20 game but couldn’t muster enough tables to have a sanctioned game. Then a couple of our regular players, who did not play on Tues or Wed, came to us and asked for a 299er game. They would guarantee at least two tables every day. After a while, Christie Bendickson and Paula Storch were appointed to ramrod the formation of these games. They did all the work, keeping sign up sheets each week. Finding partners for partnerless players and calling extra players in when necessary. They helped the director whenever needed. The 299er section grew into a viable section making Tuesday and Wed economically self sustainable. These players are the source of students for our teachers. A beneficial side effect has been that the 299ers provided refreshments for almost 2 years for both the Tues. and Wed. games. They have been contributing participants of our club from day 1.

They take lessons to improve their play but the desire remains for a social experience more than a winning experience. When I directed on my cruises, I had the problem of bridge players not wanting to play “duplicate.” I convinced most that our games were social duplicate and ended up with very good participation.

This week I had a new player tell me she had not played duplicate in 15 years. She had let her membership lapse but thought she had around 500 points. Her partner was a 299er who had convinced her to play. I told her she would have to play in to open game. She informed me she wasn’t ready for that and would leave rather than play there. I gave her permission to play in the 299er game but told her to check her points as soon as possible. I would have to mark her “ineligible” if she had over 300 points. She came back Tuesday with the information and an ACBL number. She had joined ACBL again and found she actually had 222 points.

Many of our newer players want to play social duplicate. The Tuesday and Wednesday Open players want to play serious duplicate. We can and should offer both and give the player the choice of where he wants to play. There are ways to increase the Open game besides the easy way of forcing other players to play with them.

Someone should take the bull by the horns and pursue other avenues as Christie and Paula did for the 299ers.