The PIPS Bridge Club, formerly the Concordia Bridge Club, is owned and managed by Dianne Barton-Paine. Her parents, George and Mary Barton opened the first bridge club in San Francisco in the late 1930's.
Dianne has worked as an ACBL Tournament Director for over 40 years, and directs tournaments throughout Northern California, the Western States, and at all the North American Bridge Championships.
The Concordia Club will be changing it's name to PIPS. What are pips? A "pip" is a spot (such as a spade, diamond, heart, or club) on a playing card -- so the seven of hearts would have seven pips on its face. "Pips" also means "something extraordinary" - and synonyms for pips include "ace" - "champ" - "champion" and "winner." I wanted something unique and PIPS seemed to fit the bill.
We participate in The Common Game -- where bridge clubs play identical hands and compare results across North America. After the bridge game, players are provided with an expert analysis and discussion forum on Bridge Winners:http://bridgewinners.com/commongame/. Hands for a given game are uploaded shortly after 5 PM Eastern.