Ready for a whole week of bridge? Of course, you are.
Denver’s biggest bridge tournament of the year, the week-long Rocky Mountain Regional, is scheduled May 19-25 at the Marriott Renaissance at 3801 Quebec St.
The schedule includes dozens of different events, single-session, double-session, multi-session, and for a variety of player levels from novice to intermediate to expert.
You will also have a chance to see and (if you enter the open events) play against some of the best players in the country. Despite competition from several other regional tournaments around the country the same week, last year’s tournament drew an amazing nine out of the top 12 masterpoint holders nationwide.
Some of the national experts will likely be giving free lectures prior to some of the games.
The tournament kicks off at 1 p.m. May 19 with the Tom Lenahan Memorial Pro-Am Pairs which will match less experienced players with experts. Players interested in participating at either end of the spectrum should call Denver bridge unit board member Pat Henke at 303-755-4106 as early as possible since the number of pros and ams needs to balance out.
At 7 p.m. May 19, there will be the first session of the Mt. Elbert Knockout Teams as well as both open and stratified 199’er charity pairs.
Additional Bracketed Knockouts begin at 1 p.m. May 20, May 21, and May 23 (four sessions each if your team advances). Compact Knockouts start at 9 a.m. May 23 (continuing the following morning) and 1 p.m. (concludes in the evening) May 24 (each being four rounds in two sessions).
A two-session Board-a-Match event will be held May 22 at 1 and 7 p.m. while the tournament wraps up May 25 with a double-session A/X Swiss Teams, as well as 0-2000 Bracketed Teams and 199’er Swiss, all commencing at 9:30 a.m.
Single-session Stratified Swiss Teams are set at 7 p.m. May 20 to 24, mostly catering to those who don’t survive a Knockout round.
Various flights of the Grand National Teams begin at 1 p.m. on May 23 and continuing on successive days for teams remaining in contention.
A “horizontal” two session Stratified Swiss Teams takes place at 9 a.m. on May 21 and 22.
Pair events are also on tap with Stratified Open Pairs at 1 and 7 p.m. May 20 to 24.
The 0-750 masterpoint “Gold Rush” Pairs are set at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. May 20 to 24, with parallel 0-3000 Stratified Pairs same times and dates.
There will be three sets of side games, the 9 a.m. series, the 1 p.m. series and the 7 p.m. series May 20 to 24. You can play any number of single sessions, but can qualify for overall awards with a good enough performance.
In addition to the opening day’s evening 199’er game and the final day’s 199’er Swiss, there will also be single-session Stratified 199’er Pairs at 1 and 7 p.m. May 20 to 24.
American Contract Bridge League members with zero to five masterpoints play free. You can join at the tournament.
Kibitzing is free. Non-participants are welcome to visit the tournament to see some of the top national experts in action. Ask any tournament director to point out a couple of the top players and they will surely oblige.
More tournament information is available at
Trophies are in play, the Lou neff Trophy for the Denver bridge unit member winning the most masterpoints at the tournament (GNT’s count), and the Frank Thorwald Trophy for novice-intermediate players.
Those looking to top their player categories for the year for masterpoints won will have plenty of opportunities at the regional.
