Full Tilt Bridge Masters next Saturday

The inaugural World 25 championships were held in Galway at the weekend and a lady called Mary Keary from Athenry was the winner. From reading the Full Tilt blog site written by a Gareth Chantler I see that well known poker player Andy Black participated.

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/blog/galway-festival-25-world-championship/

You can read the article on well known Irish card game 25 ..held during the Galway Poker Festival.
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Meanwhile the Irish Bridge Masters gets underway next weekend with 48 pairs entered so far ..
Entry list can be seen at www.fob.ie

I am going down to run one table of vugraph so folk who are not playing can keep up to date with the happenings and witness some of the play.

It seems to be a massive poker event with a Bridge and 25 event placed in the middle.
Thomas Hanlon first started advertising this event back in February at the Holmes Wilson National Bridge team championships. Now it has arrived and this is the richest prize I have ever seen for bridge in Ireland.

I once got 200 euros for a 2nd place finish in Ballina Congress Pairs and maybe I suppose the 150 punts that Robin Burns won me in Drogheda 2001 was a decent prize for 12 years ago. We did not even have euros then. However the winners of this event will trouser 5000 euros between them so it dwarfs any prizes I ever won or even witnessed in the distance.

Meanwhile the Poker events are in full swing .. and the Horse Racing starts today in Galway ..
Maybe some Dermot Weld winners will emerge ..I will have to check twitter for a few tips.

........................
Last Friday I was playing out in Malahide and after a Pass by North I as East ventured 4H.
South passed fairly quickly ..the stop card was out .. and West passed ..and I got ready to declare 4H.
Suddenly North emerged with a 4S bid ..and all passed ..

Now I never expected North to back in again as what passed hand could be doing something successful ofver 4H. However it was there in black ..a 4S bid and all passed ..

I would have gone down in 4H I think although it can make double dummy so I was happy with my 4S-1.

However what a dummy 4S bid picked up ..
In fairness I saw no break in tempo from the novice.inter B South ..

Its a tough game out in Malahide on a Friday night ..

Kay Cormican placed first ..in our direction

I was delighted to see Kitty Crossen making an appearance partnered by near neighbour Kitty Quinn who seemed forgetful at times but they still broke about even ..on the 3 boards.

On one board Kitty Crossan holding 4 opp AQJT7 in a suit led the 4 and played the 7 and when the 7 held the trick I was wonderiing whats going on here ..

Turned out Kitty pulled the wrong card and my partner Charles already had his little card ready to follow and his hands were already in motion before the club 7 hit the table and Charles does not have a reverse gear anymore .. Anyway 4S was always going off 1 and I think it dropped a few more tricks on the way.

......................................................

On the same night the imaginative Noel Cassidy bid 2 slams in a row against me .. His long suffering partner Angela wrapped up rhe first one 6H and not many matchpoints for Gallo..

However on the 2nd one I think there was 12 tricks around via a few finesses but Noel lost his way and we got some matchpoints. Would have been a sad night if Noel Cassidy put 2 slams past me in a row. 

One night some years ago I and my partner had massive hands and were pondering a 6 level or 7 level contract .. Noel pipes up and says I am non vulnerable and I have loads of spades and Eamon your fancy bidding cannot work against my spades so do your best .. .. Ye can bid as high as ye like but I have ye in SPADES.. Worse still I left it around to partner in case they could bid 7NT and they did'nt ...they did not even double ..

Noel Cassidy wins again .. 

.......................................................

.

Pokerstars Irish Bridge Masters approaches Aug 3rd

Good evening all

I keep wandering over to Fergal O'Boyles website to check the entry list for the Pokerstars inaugural Irish Bridge Masters event. 42 pairs entered to date. 7 or 8 days to go.
With 5000 euro for the winnning pair it was bound to attract some hunter gatherers and there are a few in the field. Having a look thru the entries so far ... its no offence if I don't mention you ... as I am several years behind the current activities on the playing front. I mostly direct these days or move boards ..

Anna Onishuk Karel deRaeymaker regular winning pair on Irish circuit
BJ O'Brien David Jackson recently fairly successful in Ballina Congress
David Walsh Ciaran Coyne top Western hunter gathers even if one has moved to Cork
Eddie and Michael winners of last Tuesdays Ireland Imps Pairs
The one and only Fiona Brown Action Script programmer
Gay Keavney and Peter Goodman will have an eye on the podium
Hackett and Hydes .. I know those names from my Brighton visits ..
John Carroll Rory Boland ... they were opponents last night with hands I prepared
 Margot McClure ..I had a few whiskeys in her house in Enniskillen about 12 years ago and she was near 90 years of age then. I saw her playing this year in Drogheda Congress as I followed Justin Hackett and Richard Bowdry around the room. They were the pair in front of me
Irish Lady Milne internationals Gilliland and Whelan .. Whelan also dabbles in poker I am told.
Former Irish chess champion Paul Delaney smells some money partnering Marcin.
Paul Hackett and David Levy ... Hackett is everywhere and Levy has been around Donegal Congress sometimes.
Rory Egan and David Berber ... well known Irish bridge players
Brock and Myers from England ..
David Dunne another former Irish chess champion and his partner Sheila Kelly ...they are doing some bridge training most nights I am told.
David Coyne and Thomas Roche ... This Pair have shown well this year in Regent and National championships. Only legendary Irish bridge player Nick Fitzgibbon stopped Coyne stealing away with a couple of Regent bridge titles.
Hanlon and McGann .....they were in the bridge gym doing some press ups on Tuesday
Mevius Heneghan ... They seem to be playing together recently ... could be involved but not sure about their matchpoint skills ..
Oh better not forget Brid Kemple and Terry Walsh ...just in case they make the podium ..

So thats a summary of the entries so far in my small mind ... More later ..
.........................
On the poker side .. I won 41 cents in a couple of Betfair Freerolls ... I don't know how Thomas Hanlon makes a living .. maybe he is better than I ..

..................
Yesterday I declared a 4S contract and failed to make it

I was in the West seat with the 6 spades and the void heart ..The opponentss were silent in the bidding 

and led off with the Heart 3. Galligan won Heart AK and played a third H throwing all 3 diamonds.

East won 3rd heart and switched a small diamond ..Galligan ruffed and led a small spade towards the Q9.

Small from LHO without even a flicker (even online people flicker) and Galligan played the Spade 9 ..

and when the Jack won and trumps subsequently broke 4-1 Galligan started to feel a lump in his throat.

Galligan went down and felt a little sad .... but it was only 10 imps back of the 42 imps plundered on the previous 10 boards or so ..

Then he spotted on the screen glaring out in front of him 

SLOPPY 

.............................

I hope none of ye would ever do that to your partners at the table ...Its bad enough going down in a cold one but to have it solidly pushed back down your throat ...just in case you don't know about it ..

And there I was sitting in to help a person out whose partner left the table ..

SLOPPY

That will teach me

................................

http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/bridge/

www.fob.ie  has the current entry list. 

Nobody from Northern Ireland entered yet .. 

No Murchan or Greenwood or Bunty

......................

The sun continues to shine and murphy returns.

The sun continues to shine strongly in Ireland. The European Junior Bridge championships have just finished.
Ireland fielded two teams in the Juniors and the Youngsters. Both teams struggled throughout as they were up against much stronger opposition then they would ever meet in Ireland or in their local school. One player on the Danish team has already won a US National major event. No doubt there were other superstars of the junior game taking part.
I have not studied the events results in depth as the Ireland teams were not gathering in two many VPs each match so it was hurting my head. It was like when I used to play Pat Walshe and Thomas Hanlon led teams in the Regent League. Regularly getting beaten ... not sure by how many imps but 60s and 70s and higher were common. However these good beatings provided good learning material and gradually either my teams got stronger or I got better and the matches got closer. Sometimes we got lucky or played well and managed a small victory against well known opposition.
These days I mostly direct or move boards but when I do get to play I am normally on a decent team which has a shot at winning most matches it plays. However back in the day I was the cannon fodder.
So hopefully our juniors and youngsters will decided that they too will put in extra work and next time win a few more VPs.
CBAI President Thomas McCormac noted to me during the week and I quote  "I myself  have wooden spooned in the European Juniors events and I am hardly a bad player" He also indicated at least one other legend of the Irish game who finished last in European Juniors in the past.
So onwards and upwards.
.................................................
I spotted a new website for bridge
www.bridgechallenge.com
I have used it a little today and it seemed cumbersome but it has possibilities to bid boards and compare with experts and other players. Also seems to have a facility to bid hands with your partner. I don't have a partner and even if I did chances are it would not have the patience to use a cumbersome interface.
However maybe if folk use it a little it might turn out worthwhile.
Its a French website but one can translate.
.................
Last night on BBO vugraph I watched Thomas Hanlon partnering Zia Mahmood in Deauville Bridge event.
It started off with imps scoring but it was actually board a match and Hanlons team won.
http://www.deauville-bridge.fr/

There is the link above but maybe you got to understand French to figure it out
They only seem to play in the night time when its cooler.
.................................

http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/bridge/

The Pokerstars Bridge events begins to emerge on the horizon. Organisation for the overall poker event is now in full swing as the poker starts on July 27th.. However the bridge will be played August 3rd and 4th.
Entries to Fergal or David as per website  above

.................
I notice the Great Mulall is in full training on BBO. 359 hands in the past month and he has gathered in a surplus of 163 imps ..This is not a bad return. I suspect the Great Mulall has lined up a new partner and is getting in some practice so he will be ready for the new season. Possibly it is just that the sun is too hot for him to venture outside. A man of his stature would be closer to the sun then a shortass like me. One of the advantages of being short is distance from the sun and thus it takes longer for me to shrivel up.
I notice the Great Mulall has given up playing Wbridge5.

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

This is a great program and James Heneghan said "The robots might be dogs but it really sharpens up ones game" Great Mulall has decided his game is sharp enough. However I am with Heneghan and continue to play the 16 boards a day. Most days I cannot beat Heneghan or BJ but as I keep my score regularly in the early 60s my average beats those guys. They have 50% days to offset their big days.

..............
I also notice the re emergance of Murphyslaw on the BBO scene and he even made a couple of appearances in the Malahide live peoples club. The problem for murphy is he can rant and rave and headbutt his monitor when playing in his bedroom but when he emerges into the human bridge world he has to hold back these tantrums. A more major issue for murphy is that he has not built a solid foundation to his bridge and thus from time to time a disaster happens and murphy does not understand why. He was programmed himself to play bridge from the fantastic book "Watsons Play of the Hand" Regularly Murphy produces some fantastic ducking plays and communication plays but often he applies the wrong page to the wrong hand and the ducking play is not applicable to the hand in question.
Murphy has a partner in crime out in Malahide sometimes. This character fits whatever hand he has into the convention he is playing at the time. So Michaels shows the majors ..but our lad only has 3-3 ...Thats not a problem ...our man bids 2S michaels anyway ..His partner might have 5 or 6 of one of the suits.

However if our man Murphy would play in the inter Bs which is his CBAI ranking he would be a star player and could build up to being an Inter A and beyond.However unfortunately Murphy thinks he can catch up with Galligan ....and that is a bridge too far for the moment as Galligan has been playing too long and has made enough mistakes to learn lots of bridge.
................

EDDIES guests bid a GRAND SLAM.

Folks
I just spotted this board in the European Juniors. Two Irish "Youngsters" Stephen Barr and Aaron Bolger bid the North South cards to 7S .. 7 spades .. and brought it home as well ..
Pretty good for two young lads who started playing Mini Bridge last September and are now doing their thing in the European Junior championships. Just to be clear the top European Juniors would win most Irish national titles at Open level and some European juniors have already starred at US nationals and won Major US National events.
However most players of less than 1 year experience won't have ventured into the far end of the bidding box.  I met these chaps at the Schools Bridge in Galway when they quite surprised that the breakfast chef started advising them on bridge. They were unaware they were being served by Irish Senior international player Eddie Fitzgerald ....the joint owner of Four Seasons B&B in Galway.

Good win for Ireland youngsters... Juniors double up

This morning in Germany the Irish youngsters including two players from Gonzaga playing bridge less than 1 year achieved a victory over a French team who cannot be bad given their position and the French bridge heritage. A good boost for morale.
A win is a win but a quick glance at the scores indicates the French brought the guilletine to both tables and used it regularly on themselves. However maybe they were intimidated.
...........
The Irish Junior team who have been having a torrid time ....managed to gather in almost as many VPs in the round 8 match as in the previous 7 combined. Given there is no negative scores available this was a torrid time.
........
Currently the Juniors are struggling against Denmark and the Youngsters are leading Scotland by a little after 11 boards.
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Regent Bonanza
www.joemurray.ie has Regent Bonanza Results of Night 2 .. I don't know the method of Overall scoring yet as I am hearing different views. In my world the advertised method was "Your best 3 scores wins" However the smoke from the citadel is not as white as when they get a new pope ..
Karel and Anna scored 74% first day ......and rumours are there is a cap on that .. Strange but possible.
Anyway its all rumour and nothing is confirmed by the chief scorer yet.
............
Thomas Hanlon was on about Galway Poker Sponsored event on August 3rd 4th 2013.
5000 euro Bonanza for the winners there ..

PLEASE PLEASE PASS THIS TO ANYONE IN YOUR EMAIL DIRECTORY THAT MIGHT BE INTERESTED AS I AM SHORT ON EMAIL ADDRESSES

 Hi Folks,

Just want to remind people to enter in good time to

Dave Walsh at 0876690178 or david@lapteck.com

Or
 Fergal O'Boyle at 0862652871 or fob@iol.ie


If anyone needs help getting accommodation they should contact FIntan Gavin at 0830022889 or fintangavin@gmail.com

I hope that you can support this
>
Things are building up nicely.
> >
Thanks,

Tom 
http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/

Note the BRIDGE AND 25 links on the above webpage.
Rumour is Thomas Hanlon played a mean game of 25 before finding winning 40 matchsticks was not much use unless you are an arsonist. He graduated to more profitable games.
.............................

Ireland Juniors and Youngsters to mount a comeback in Germany

The Irish junior team of David Synnott Wayne Somerville Niamh Gormally Nathan Doyle Hugh Gormally and Jordan Atchinson have ran into heavy fire in the first 5 rounds of the European Junior championships.
I am advised that a seeded draw was used so the early rounds are expected to be tough for Ireland.
And so it has proved.
However there is nothing wrong with getting a good hiding. Its good learning material. You won't learn much from winning a match 20-0 but you have opportunity to learn from a large loss.  Free lessons.

I suffered many severe hidings from Pat Walshe and Thomas Hanlon  led teams in the Regent Leagues but gradually the margins got smaller and I became competitive on some days.

A couple of years ago I team mated with 2 of the the current juniors David Synnott and Hugh Gormally along with the reclusive James Mullally. and despite being faced by the formidable trio of BJ O'Brien Michael O'Briain and David Jackson we decided to play. They advised us that their 4th man was on the way a certain Nick Fitzgibbon. After 24 boards Team Mullally still led by 11 imps ..Of course the result was irrelevant to the BJ squad but they did not travell 40 miles trip to lose.
Jim Mullally has on many occasions entered a team in the Regent League mainly comprised of juniors.

I am wondering where have the Synnott and Gormally of that night GONE ..
I understand European junior bridge is very strong but David and Hugh have been playing a while.

The bottom line is hard work is required to progress at bridge ... so get doing it ..
....................
A youngsters team of

Is also taking part. Some of these players are not playing too long and also as many of them are students they would not have much time to work on their bridge. 

http://www.eurobridge.org/Repository/competitions/13Wroclaw/Microsite/Results.htm

Results can be followed above ..

I think Ken "Gasman" Walshe is out there with them along with Karel. Ken indicated on BBO "We are going in the morning" 

.................................................................................................

Meanwhile James Heneghan has issued the challenge on WBridge5 with a 77% effort on todays event.
James Sexton of Wexford fired in a 71% helping which would sometimes win ..
So tonight I will attempt to chase down Heneghan but 77% is too ambitious for me ..especially as I went down on the first board already last night.
However one never knows ....those Wbridge5 robots might be in generous moods.
....................
Meanwhile in Ballina the CBAI Presidents squad lead Ballina Teams going into the final round.

We will see what happens but as usual the leaders have tackled most of the other leaders so will be meeting Godden or Buckley or Kelly Rogers as far as I can see.
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Regent Bonanza Round 2 over ...Ballina Bridge Congress Session 1 coming

Last night in Regent Bridge Club the Bonanza continued. 17.5 tables of bridge players attended the Regent and this was a great number given the great weather we had yesterday. Also it is holiday season and folk are away. I departed around 11pm with some folk still engrossed in the play and headed for Swords to park the car and amble over to the local.
On arriving home I pondered firing up the computer and checking out www.joemurray.ie
 for the results but decided not to disappoint myself and spoil my few pints. Of course I might have wasted 7 minutes valuable drinking time as it was near 12 midnight at this stage .. so left computer behind and ambled off.
Of course chances were no results were there .. but most likely Joe would have logged in from Regent and
uploaded.

As is often the case I spent best part of 1 hour  waiting on next table thru the night. At one stage I left the bridge room with the next table halfway thru the 2nd board of 3 .. On returning after a full cigarette and a walk around the Regent Bridge Club and back up to the table and now they were starting 3rd board. Another stroll down to director Joe Murray to quietly ask why he had not taken a board away as this table was already slow to begin with. No big deal but slow tables or pairs need to pick up the pace . We sat down at that table and put a 16 minute round on them for 3 boards so it is possible to pick up the pace if players want to. On one occasion during one of my waits I spotted a pair heading out for a smoke not realizing their next table was waiting. I popped down and informed the pair and quickly they stubbed out and came back up as they honestly had not realized they were behind.

Anyway when I got home about 145am I found the bridge gods were in reasonable favour and a 2nd place position was secured. This should get us 50 euro each if the prize is for 2nd overall. Otherwise we could be in the running for a full 75 euro if its 1st place in our separate competition. We will see.
The leading pair Karel deRaeymaker and Anna Onishuk were not present as Karel is away with the Juniors
in Germany and Anna I guess was somewhere else or just being fair not to steal a march on Karel for the overall prize. Best 3 scores win the overall but with Karel Anna on a 74% from the first night it tough to catch. Still Dave Ryan has a 66 and 59 posted. Paul Delaney had a 59 and 61 posted. James Heneghan has a 59.5 average posted. Michael O'Briain has 59.75 posted.
The rest of positions can be worked out from the two sites.
.................................
The Irish junior team have started their campaign to qualify for the World Youth championships.
Currently it does not look like the bank account will have to be accessed for that event.
A trimming from Norway and a lesser trimming from Czech Republic leaves them at the wrong end of the table.
Results can be found here http://www.eurobridge.org/Repository/competitions/13Wroclaw/Microsite/Results.htm

Hard work is required to become competitive at European level. Being competitive in Irish Congresses and National events is only the start of it. I personally know that Hugh McGann and Thomas Hanlon as good as they might be spend hours practicing bidding. I see our European Senior  gold medalists logged into Bridgebase Online several nights a month doing partnership bidding and this is despite a 30+ year bridge partnership. I could be more accurate with the + but lets not go there. A long time established partnership at the top level of bridge who still spend time oiling the machinery.
I will ask how many hours bidding practice our other internationals have done. .
..................
Ballina Congress takes place this weekend as in Pairs today and Teams on Sunday.
I think it is the first Congress of new CBAI President Thomas McCormac.
Thomas will be playing in Ballina this weekend. No doubt the incredible BJ OBrien will be close by somewhere. He was looking well in the Regent last night although I had to remind him to take his energy pill.
...........

Regent Bonanza continues tonight .. Poker Bridge event Galway August 3rd.

Tonight I am heading into the Regent to see if I can make the podium and win some cash.
Last time out they had 23 tables and that had the Regent floorboards creaking like never in a long time.
Not even in the flower power days of Tournaments Officer "Members  on Seats" Jim Mullally did we approach 24 tables. The normal wording is "bums on seats" but there would be severe reprisals I suspect.

So as they say in this new virtual world that we live in .. Lets get 100 likes ..That would be 25 tables.

It really is a virtual world ..Gone are the days of dark rooms above/below pubs for card players ..
Now there are massive games online every night run by about 100 different online poker compnaies.
When they come out to real life ... they play in massive complexes like City West arena near Saggart.
Even the Norwegians travel to Dublin to hold their National Poker championships. Something about licencing laws or maybe just the price of beer. Even bridge is played in this new virtual world.

Speaking of poker companies .. we have a poker company sponsoring a bridge event ..
http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/bridge/

I am a little confused as to if it is Pokerstars or FullTilt. ..maybe I will have to google that.
I was sure it was Pokerstars I saw before .. However I don't mind ..
Maybe Full Tilt is Pokerstars.
..................................
However there is good news for those bridge players and golfers and shoppers who still operate in the real open world of bricks and mortor bridge clubs and shopping arcades and real golf clubs as opposed to www.wgt.com

You can book or make enquiries by emailing Peter directly at peterpigotbridge@gmail.com or by calling either Peter Pigot at 086 814 6230 or Mary Ryder at 086 811 5793.

The email I got indicated Rory Egan is heading out there too whether that is good or bad I don't know. However I have never seen any bad in Rory apart from when Kieran McGarry falls asleep while Rory is thinking on a golf shot or bridge play. No doubt the two of them will be lying in wait tonight in the Regent.

............

There was mention of the Camrose Trials recently .. Seems its Teams entries this year. That could be tough as its hard for 6 people to organise a team that wants to play together. Maybe I will open the Eamon Galligan Team Building brokerage. 

...................

I also think we should have a Gold Cup type event in Ireland. Its not like one cannot almost drive anywhere in Ireland these days. Also in this era of lots of places having a dedicated bridge club Teams could meet and play at a bridge club halfway. Gold Cup is 4-6 person teams of knockout bridge. 

Also it is possible to play this event as an online event with Teams of 4-6 from anywhere in the country or even beyond. Closing date for Camrose Trials entries is August 12th. I doubt I will be playing this year as I don't have any partnership oiled and running at this stage. 

...............................

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

I still recommend the above as I get so much learning and fun out of it each day. 

Where else can I measure my skills against Eddie Fitzgerald or Rashers O'Dea or Jeannie Fitzgerald or the greatest Bunnybasher of them all BJ O'Brien. Even Jim Mullally plays it some days. Yesterday I missed out on 5 opportunities in the first 6 boards and was still holding down 55%. 

WBridge5 FREE daily tourney is a tough test as you have to control your robot partner as well. 

..............

Brendan Conlon of Dundalk regularly sends me missives about his robots failings .. Several times its been Brendans failure to understand there is more to bridge bidding than Crowhurts two books on Acol....

Good though they might be ..

............

 Finally I came across these two Harps out in Swords the other day. 

Hand carved  and 14-16 inches tall .. would suit well for a Presidents Prize in Golf or Bridge or whatever.

350 euros I am told each. Save the image and zoom in ..There is plenty of carving on them. A chap in my estate will make them if there is any requirements.

Tonytccolton@gmail.com

Tony TC Colton 087 2626299

........................................

Get Fit Get Sharp Play Better Bridge

Good morning folks

For the first 20 years of my bridge life bridge was a game of cards and a few pints. Sometimes it was a good few pints. However nowadays I cannot drink more then 3 pints in a sitting so these days I usually only drink a guinness when finished playing.
I was reading an article this morning about Poker and there was nothing about cards or bluffs or re-raises or coming over the top or pushing folk off their pot. It was all about the connection of physical fitness to cognitive function.
This connection has been suspected for a long time, particularly in the elderly, whose declines in memory can be stopped or even reversed by a program of physical exercise. But until recently we didn't know exactly why this happened, and we weren't sure if it also helped younger people.

It turns out the reason is simple. Physical exercise boosts the efficiency and effectiveness of brain metabolism, specifically of lactate, glucose and an insulin-like growth factor, and it does so across the board: in rats, monkeys and people of all ages.

Simplifying a bit, these compounds are to your brain as gasoline is to an internal combustion engine. They're the fuel. 

My interest in the above was set in motion when recently visiting the house of a top Irish bridge and poker player. I was surprised to hear two of the best bridge players in Ireland having a discussion on finite amounts of glucose. 

Years ago we used to call Lucozade "overtrick juice" but we always had a pint of beer heading into the last couple of rounds. Then one day Paul Delaney knocked over his "overtrick juice" on the Regent floor and the Club Manager Mr Declan Byrne declined to stock this carpet staining liquid anymore. 

Seems current thinking is we should have stuck to the lucozade. 

The game of bridge, when it is played at its highest levels with the strongest opponents, is the most complex and mentally demanding game that is played routinely by members of our species.

So why should we turn up at the bridge table tired and lethargic and sometimes even angry. Far better to go for a walk beforehand or do some other exercise to get the engine running. I personally am no advertisement for physical fitness but I am making an effort. 

One of my neighbours is a walking fanatic and he keeps knocking on my door everytime he is going for a walk. Worse still if I indicate unwillingness or unavailability he pushes on my guilt buttons and asks for my dog and the lead. He brings my dog with him but as soon as he lets my  dog off the lead my dog heads back home. Anyway it has certainly boosted by exercise levels. 

I also started doing some press ups and situps... started with 5 of each with a struggle but can now go comfortably past 20 of each. Of course there is the option of hitting the gym and paying for the exercise but bridge players are notoriously mean so get out in that field near your house for free. 

Of course the game of golf that many bridge players love is another way of getting fresh air and exercise. 

...............

Of course one also has to learn the techniques and skills of bridge bidding, defense and card-play. One cannot succeed at any game of skill without learning how to work the machine. Its also very hard to read bridge out of a book. One also needs to work the machine. In the old days this meant laying out the cards on the table and playing thru the hand. These days there are many pieces of computer software to aid this exercise. 

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

Above is the link to Wbridge5 a fine 16 board tourney where you play against 3 robots. 

Lets see how we are doing this month.

Here you will find several well known Irish bridge players. I won't identify any by name but the people who know these folk will be able to identify them. 

http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/bridge/

And don't forget the major Bridge event is coming up in Galway. 5000 euro for the winning pair. 

August 3rd and 4th. 

Hi Eamon,

Just want to remind people to enter in good time to
Dave Walsh at 0876690178 or david@lapteck.com
Or
Fergal O'Boyle at 0862652871 or fob@iol.ie

If anyone needs help getting accommodation they should contact FIntan Gavin at 0830022889 or fintangavin@gmail.com

Things are building up nicely.

Thanks,

Tom

.............................................................................

I heard a story that after Thomas McCormac the next President of the CBAI will be the leading bridge Tournament Director Fergal O'Boyle .. Good choice by the North Western region. 

Everybody loves Fergal even if he knows the rules better than all of us. 

Does anybody know somebody who won an arguement with Fergal. 

http://www.nwbridge.com/

Above you can visit the North Western division of the CBAI. 

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan

Rory Egan writes on Euros/Juniors/Regent

Rory Egan wrote this and sent it to me in an email. I did not see any copywrite thing on it .

Hi all,

What a great weekend for Irish Bridge!

Not only did Tom Hanlon and John Carroll finish in fourth place in the European Open Pairs in Ostend on Saturday but the youthful Nick Fitzgibbon and Adam Mesbur put in an even more stunning performance to win the Gold Medal in the European Senior Pairs. Our congratulations to them in particular and to all those Irish participants who made this competition so exciting.

Now, if you want our Irish teams to continue to succeed we have to invest in the future. So, for those of you that are looking for a great game, great prizes and are willing to help a great cause too, the Regent Bridge Club are generously hosting a pairs competition next Friday the 5th of July at their premises on Waterloo Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. It's a fundraiser in aid of the Ireland Under 25 Team playing in the European Youth Pairs Championships in Burghausen, Germany from the 11th to the 19th of July this year.

The format is a straightforward  pairs competition, the cost is €10 per head, visitors are most welcome and there is a nice supper of cakes and sandwiches kindly organised by Brideen Gormally - Hugh and Niamh's mother. There is also a raffle with great prizes donated by some very generous supporters. Bridge starts at 7.30pm and it should be a most enjoyable night and all for a great cause.

For more information on this event please feel free to contact Martin Brady who is Chair of the Irish Youth Bridge Committee  at thomas.brady@ucd.ie or call him at 085 844 7755

And don't forget that the second round of the Regent Bridge Club's great Summer Bridge Bonanza, which has an incredible 1^st Prize of €1,000 for the overall winner, is coming up on the following Friday the 12th of July at 7.30pm.

Just because you have missed one Friday doesn't stop you from winning the top prize because only your personal best 3 scores out of 4 count. Remember, there will be Novice, Intermediate and Area Master Prizes also.

Table money is €10 and prizes each night of -  1st - €150, 2nd - €100 and 3rd - € 50

For more information on this please feel free to ring me at the number below or you can contact  the Regent Bridge Club Manager, Declan Byrne, directly at declan@regentbridgeclub.ie .

Enjoy your Bridge!

Kind regards,

Rory

PS He forgot about the Pokerstars Galway event on August 3rd 4th.

Pokerstars Galway 2013