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