Team Pharon (Hanlon McGann) survive

Good evening all

I was up late last night having a look at the Yeh Bros qualifying bridge event. It carried on through the night.
Fiona Brown Thomas Hanlon and Hugh McGann were involved. The English Ladies plus 1 failed to get through the Swiss qualifiers in a very tough event. Team Pharon (Pharon is a Financial services company with a bridge connection) scraped thru in the final qualifying place but now have only one knockout match ahead of them. Lose and they are out. The top 7 teams plus YEH1 have double knockout.

Tonight PHARON play against CHEEK whom they defeated comfortably last night. However any team containing Justin Lall and Joe Grue among others is not going to be easy meat in a knockout match.

The vugraph show starts at 1:30am Irish time and I don't think the Irish will be on vugraph as they probably show the higher level matches.

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https://picasaweb.google.com/112513765865598513420/IBUSENIORSCONGRESSDERRY2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Pictures from Derry Seniors Congress coutesy of Mary Kelly Rogers
Results can be found at www.fob.ie

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Enda Murphy pointed out my poker odds are wrong ...I still reckon its 221-1 to get pocket Aces or any two specific cards but he hasd been playing cards longer then I

Like the blog Eamon,

Need to educate you re odds [to save you money ]......

Odds of first card an ace are 4 in 52 ie 1 in 13 ie 12 to 1 against.

And second then is 3 in 51 or 1 in 17 ie 16 to 1....

Jacko will tell you these small diffs add up over time

Bear in mind you are dealing with a guy who only yesterday invested a tenner that Chelski would lead halftime and draw fulltime.....in other words Luis Suarez is a fine upstanding citizen, bless his little cotton socks.

Enda

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Finally Law 73C reared its ugly head last night in Malahide

North deals and opens 1H holding

KQ5

AKJT

K93

752

East passes

South holding

64

9874

AT8

QT96

places a pass on the table in reaction to Easts pass (which he presumed was the opening bid)

Then South noticing the 1H bid makes some noises and attempts to replace the pass with some thing else at the same time indicating he might have a bid by verbal noises.

I am called and I deem the PASS as made given it was his clear intention to PASS and not an accident

WEST balances with 1S ............

NORTH now makes the aggressive bid of 1NT (claims he is upgrading as KQx of spades is well positioned)

EAST bids 2S

SOUTH wide awake now makes the bid of 3H

WEST pushes on to 3S ..

and all PASS ...

After the hand is finished ...I am called back and lots of noise is made about NORTHS 1NT bid being strange and unusual

I deem result stands as 3S down 3 is about 3 tricks less then I would make .... I say EW can appeal if they choose

Basically South was dozing and failed to notice his partner opening and passed but then decided to hand over some information for some reason that he would have bid something if he had noticed.

North for some bizarre reason felt his minimum opening bid had suddenly improved to what is about 18-19 balanced shown by the 1NT willing to battle alone bid. Obviously it is very safe to bid 1NT when partner has indicated verbally his ownership of about a 6 count. 

However I could not as a director penalise North for his method of evaluation of his hand.

I don't understand the method of evaluation but one does not get penalised for stupidity.

I would like some comments on this as I really did not know what to do .. People are supposed to make every effort to play honestly and Law 73C is there for folk who chance their arms.

Basically does North have a 1NT bid given his partner has used the verbals to tell him stuff.

I don't understand why anybody would act in Souths way ... A player of over 25 years experience.

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan 

News from Yeh Brothers and Kelbourne

Good morning all

www.joemurray.ie

Kelbourne is there .....Rory Derek Cian Ciaran took the spoils

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http://www.jcbl.or.jp/home/English/yehbros/players/tabid/1028/Default.aspx

For news on Team Pharon ... includes Hugh McGann and Thomas Hanlon and 3 Hacketts and 1 Bakhshi.
You can find all information here

The well known female poker star Fiona Brown is playing on an English ladies team too.

There is BBO coverage but Hugh and Thomas are sitting out this round and its on vugraph.
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www.fob.ie has the results of the Derry Seniors Congress ...

I am informed it is not the first Seniors Congress ... apparently Mary Kelly Rogers and her crew organised one in Hilton Hotel a few years ago.

Paul Porteus and Fred Barry rule the Seniors Bridge with a 1st in the Pairs and a 2nd in the Teams ..
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http://www.pokerstarsgalway.com/bridge/

Speaking of poker stars .. There is a large bridge event being sponsored by pokerstars.com

I won't attempt to understand how poker works but it appears you got to pretend to have a big hand all the time. Thats a hard lie to tell as I know from bridge that its 13-1 to get an ace ..first card and then you got to fish out another one from the remaining 51 cards ... so thats 17-1 ... These horses don't win too often.

Maybe there are other hands that are good .. but all these hands are 13 times 17 chance so its hard to get a good hand or a bad hand come to think of it ...

Apparently you collect lots of chips at the start and then use them to bully the other folk into throwing away their better hands ..

Wonder would it work in bridge ...

Does not need to now ...as pokerstars are sponsoring the bridge event and theres a big party after the bridge but as the 3rd session might be on the next day ..it won't be too big of a party ..

I wonder what to poker players do after they reach 50 as apparently you are done playing poker at 50.
The young guys beat you as your bits and bobs don't work as good as they did at 25...
Your neck throbs a little more when you are bluffing and your nose drips when you are excited
and a 50 year old in a hoodie and dark glasses with a scarf around his neck is most likely robbing the gaff then playing poker.

So maybe Thomas Hanlon will start the Irish Seniors poker event in 6 or 7 years time whenever he hits the big 50.or stick to bridge ...

HaHa
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The Dublin North Region Novices championships takes place in Malahide on Saturday April 27th ..
Thats bridge not poker
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Malahide Regional Bridge club will be open for the summer
All welcome June July and August ... 1930 every night ....

malahideregionalbridgeclub.com
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Team Pharon got a 27-13 win versus India and should remain in the challenging positions to qualify ..
I note they are using the new WBF scale where every imp counts for something ..

So you get scores like 17.84 to 12.16 and the like

Fergal O'Boyle has some work to do now ...2 decimal places of scoring
That will sort out his Pivot tables



Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Some recent/current bridge events

Good morning all

Some recent Ireland related events have been

1. Lady Milne
2. Derry Seniors Congress
3. NEC Teams 2013
4. Regent Individual
5. BBO Inter Cities League
6. Wbridge5 monthly totals

1. The CBAI team represented by Dolores Gililand Maria Whelan Teresa Rigney Maureen Pattinson Joan Kenny and Brid Kirby placed 4th of 6 oin the recent Lady Milne Trophy 2013.
The team could have won the whole event with an 18-12 win over England in the final match but unfortunately they had not covered the two final sets of 16 boards in their training preparations and they ultimately failed in their quest. However all 3 pairs gained valuable experience in their quest for bridge exellance. They were guided in their quest by the DSPP ... I forget what DS stands for but it is something to do with some recent newpaper article referring to bridge and its attactiveness to middle aged men.

2. Derry Seniors Congress is currently in full swing. The attractive Paul Porteus aided by that well known bridge expert Fred Barry cruised to victory in the Senior Pairs with two nice sessions of 68% and 60%.

The Welcome Pairs was won by John Murchan and Ciara Burns.

Full results can be found on www.fob.ie

Well done to Mary Kelly Rogers and her helpers/organisors in getting this event started.
Its the first Seniors event in Ireland apart from the Senior Camrose trials.

3. NEC Teams is currently in progress with Team Pharon up near the top.
Don't know who came up with the name but somebody wants to be the King of Eygpt.
Team Pharon is 3 Hacketts and 1 Thomas Hanlon.
There is coverage of this event on BBO but one has to stay up late in the night,
http://www.jcbl.or.jp/Portals/0/html/2013NEC/NECScore.html

4. The Regent individual was won by the Incredible BJ O'Brien.

28 folk turned up for the Regent individual ..not bad for historically folk are not happy to play individual events however Declan Byrne had done his homework and understands how to run these events very well.

21 different partners in one night or will folk take this up wrongly as well.

5. The BBO InterCity League is nearing the knockout stages. There are several Irish teams involved.

Hugh McGann sometimes appears for Team Connacht who also include Eddie Fitzgerald David Walsh and Ciaran Coyne.

Jeannie Fitzgerald plays for a mainly Welsh team

Willem Mevius plays a team called Clonboo who sometimes include Karel and Anna

http://www.bbo.splitbridge.hr/

6. The Wbridge5 daily tournament continues to flourish. 

http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

This is a great way for players to get in a little daily practice and at the same time be involved in a monthly event with feedback. The site sends you an email with loads of statistics about your play and bidding.

I think there is a new Eddie Fitzgerald account but I don't know the name of it 

7. Finally I think improving at bridge requires one to read books. Thomas Hanlon used to like the menagerie series. Characters in these books included Hideous Hog Papa the Greek Oscar the Owl Walter the Walrus and the incredible Rueful Rabbit. Every Bridge Club in the world has similar characters. Hideous Hog would be a bully type person. Rueful Rabbit with by a player who always lands on his feet but not through bridge skill. I think they were known as the Victor Mollo series.

8. Finally its time to be thinking of the Galway Pokerstars Bridge tournament. This tournament has the largest ever prize money for a bridge tournament held  in Ireland. 5000 euro first prize to the winning pair. It takes place at the end or start of Galway raceweek. I don't know much about racing although I attempt to pick losers from time to time and I cannot even do that right. However the offspring of the recently retired mare Black Caviar will be pretty good runners. This horse won all 25 of her races. Doubt it ever raced Quivaga which is another great mare. Quivaga is usually free money at Cheltenham. Black Caviar was probably print money in Australia. I suspect a top pair like Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon could visit Galway in August and scoop the big money. However there will probably be several out of state visitors looking for the cash. 

Thomas Hanlon recently sent me an early list of B&Bs. 

Some centrally located B & Bs, only 3/4 minutes from bridge venue. If you could include this list when you are sending out the group email :)

Thanks,

Tom

http://collegecrest.com/

http://www.lynfieldguesthouse.com/

Abbey Lodge Guesthouse, Galway
1 The Stable, College Road,
Galway, Ireland.
Tel: +353 91 565658.

St. Judes Lodge Guesthouse, Galway
24 College Road,
Galway, Ireland.
Tel: +353 91 569100

Both are available online here http://www.galwayguesthouses.ie/

http://aaron-house.com/

http://www.eyresquaretownhouse.com/

http://www.copperbeechgalway.com/

http://www.adareguesthouse.ie/

http://www.ardawnhouse.com/

http://www.inishmoreguesthouse.com/

All of these are within 3/4 minutes walk of the fesival marquee  

Pokerstars Bridge 2013 ...the link to the event

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Good morning... Lets see whats happening in Eamons world of bridge

The first Congress for Seniors (and anybody else ) takes place in Derry next week. I think it starts on Tuesday 16th of April and ends on Thursday 18th of April. However I have (God willing) a bunch of years to go before I get to Derry Seniors Congress.

http://www.cbai.ie/documents/DerrySeniorsCBAIwebsite090413.pdf

All the information is in the link above. Mary Kelly Rogers seems to be one of the main drivers behind this congress. I will have to check the results to see if she was playing in the event. I suspect she will be confined to the Open Pairs though. I did not read all the information in the pdf file but there is plenty there. Seems to be good deals on hotel rooms in Derry too ...if you have a few Sterling pounds on your window sill...
I have a few Sterling notes as I got a few sterling for petrol expenses when I was invited up to the Camrose Trophy in Belfast this year. That was good ..they invited me for the weekend and gave me money for petrol as well. Thats a good deal.
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Meanwhile some of us continue to play along in Wbridge5......a daily tournament of 16 boards for anybody who wants to play. They keep a monthly record of your total for the month. A recent recruit Edward Fitzgerald has taken over from BJ O'Brien as the monthly leader but BJ has fired in some 70% scores this month already and will be expecting his Wbridge5 and jam collecting experience to outrun the new guy over the full month. Lets have a look at current standings

Eddie is still out the front for now but he is not playing much this month or maybe he had to start a new account as he mentioned on BBO that something happened his setup. We will see. 

other players with scores above or near 60% are Jim Sexton Jeannie Fitgerald Billy Ronan and the secretive Northern Ireland Camrose player Paul Tranmer. David Synnott Brian Wallace and Dermot O'Brien are also on 56% scores for the month so far. There are probably other Irish players using Wbridge5 whom I don't know about. 

http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

I note a new account opened yesterday called garozzo (NY US) ...hardly the man himself but maybe ...he normally goes as papi or sillifu when online..

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John Comyn has alot to answer for ...and here is another thing. John wrote recently in the Sunday Independant about a wonderful individual event held in Templogue recently. Next thing the tournaments officer in Malahide calls me and says ..."I read in the paper about fantastic individual event....etc etc ..."

So last Tuesday  morning I hear we are doing an individual event in the tourney I was directing that night.

Now individuals are historically a disaster area as you have in my case 18 tables ...thats about 60 plus people to get mixed up and do things wrong and get mixed up and eventually get annoyed. So here I was with the novice inter B group in Malahide about to run an individual event. So I print out the movements and get them started. We get thru the first 3 boards fairly ok as everybody has their unique number 1-36 in each 9 table section. On Round 2 or (boards 4-6 ) the fun starts.. I tell them N/S up/down 1 and EW up/down 2.

So most people find their new tables and start playing. Boards are staying on the tables thru the night. However after playing boards say 1-3 ... the final board is left on top. Thus the new folk arrive and play board 3 when it clearly says on the sheet play in order 1 2 3 ... So some chaos ensues... Next thing we have folk moving from table 8 in one section into some table in the other section.. Finally in rounds 4-5 we had to tell EW to change to up down 3 for 2 rounds. However we got to the end eventually and it was time to go. I stood outside and over 90% of the players said "That was interesting and great and I played with 21 different partners....a little awkward to begin with as we never done it before but we liked it.

This was played in Malahide Regional Bridge Club last Tuesday night.

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Last Saturday night I was logged into BBO and myself and Jeannie Fitzgerald were playing a pair of robots. Then James Heneghan arrived and partnered a robot. Finally John Murchan bullied his way in to partner James so we had a human game going. BBO is very good if you can source some good players to play against. Over the years I have ran into some tough games on BBO. Back around 2005/6 I used to get into Team matches including the likes of Justin Lall and Agustin Madala and even one time 3 Meckstroths.

More recently BJ OBrien had me play 21 boards against Roy Welland and Sabine Auken.

One message came thru back in 2006 ..."Do you know your team mate is the best junior player in the World" Of course I knew ..

However playing against Heneghan and Murchan is a fine game as well..

TONIGHT FRIDAY APRIL 12th

REGENT BRIDGE CLUB

OPEN INDIVIDUAL FOR ALL.

YOU can play a hand or two with the legendary REGENT TREASURER 

BJ O'BRIEN

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