Mens Ladies Weekend Nationals Westmanstown

Good morning all

Last weekend the Mens and Ladies National Pairs and Teams events took place in Westmanstown Sports Centre. 72 tables in the pairs events on Saturday  and 70 teams on Sunday.
First of all I must state Westmanstown is a fine venue as not many places can take 72 tables in one room. As Westmanstown also feed most of us with a good value dinner 11 euro as someone made the mistake of leaving hot water teabags and cups at the entrance to the bridge venue. Bridge players like tea especially first thing in the morning so we drank.
However I must repeat a fabulous venue and room for all. We could probably go a few more tables but then we start encroaching on the eating tables but we would manage as we could push away some bridge tables during the break and setup some eating tables. No major panic there.

And they got the meals out by using upstairs and downstairs sittings.

Two small issues

1. The sun was dazzling a few players and some of the curtains were not fully doing their job.
This is only an issue for bridge players and I doubt it affects any other event Westmanstown might hold.

2. Possibly could do with a little more lighting but I did not hear anybody complain on this matter.

3. Need a supply of Mars bars for the Tournament Director as he is from the country and could not locate a shop. (CBAI need to think of this when selecting venues)

4. Results hands errors ... www.fob.ie

5. I learned some new things about tournament directing .. You cannot have a 2 suiter in your bidding that is 5-3 .... I also learned about Law 66 and how not to get to LAW 73.

6. Last night I was stuck for a partner and had no TD job to do so I unleashed the Great Mulall for the first time this year. It was too early in the year for the Great Mulall as for some reason he can dazzle in the Regent splashing around 65% scores but when he shows up in the stronger club of Malahide he seems intimidated despite standing well over 6 feet and being built like a brick train station loo. He thinks a 7 count is Fourth Suit Forcing and he does not understand that if he gives 3 ruffs the contract goes down more.. The idea of a stopper for NT is replaced by "Sure you might have had one or else they might not lead their suit. The good part is we managed to hold off the improving Derek Howe and the Wallace siblings.

7. A further piece of good news was the emergence of Kitty Quinn despite getting a grilling from the Great Mulall to post a 59% score and earn victory on the EW side of our event. No mean achievement for a woman who joined the Island Golf Club probably in the early 60s.
I think she is retired from Golf now. First out of 13 tables is no mean achievement for this stalwart of Malahide Regional Bridge Club.

8. I went to Fitzwilliam Tennis Club last week and will go next week again. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was running the inaugural Joe McHale Memorial. Joe was a great Irish bridge player and represented his country as late as 1993. I think he passed away in 2001. The last time I recall being on a Team with him was January 2001 when they had the hurricane out in Clonee.
I think I partnered Maurice Quinn husband of the above mentioned Kitty Quinn.

I was lucky enough to partner Joe on several occasions back in the 90s. Joe was a fine declarer.
I recall on one occasion in Kilkenny playing against the well known pairing of Eddie Fitzgerald and Michael McDonagh. Joe was declaring in 4H and the lads stopped in the middle of the play and clapped him. Joe had just performed an intra-finesse. I think some Brazilian international is famous for discovering the intra-finesse but I doubt Joe ever heard of him.
I have never since noticed opponents stop and congratulate declarer in the middle of a hand.
Well done to Eddie and Michael for that. Believe you me Joe knew what he was doing ..
He had a mannerism of twisting his hair when playing .. He also often chewed on a finger when thinking. The other declarer who is also a trials player of some repute these days managed 9 tricks in 2H+1. Joe managed just the overtrick in 4H.

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Camrose Trophy 2014 Boards 1-16 Match 4 partnering Jack

Board 1 ..Bid to 3NT and unfortunately went 1 off. Lose 3 imps .. 0-3

Board 2 ..Jack EW have bid to 3NT and we are on defence.I tried a Club Jack lead.
Jack West showed 4 hearts and Jack East showed 4 spades so seems like a club or diamond is a good idea. 12 tricks EW and lose 1 imp. One Camrose pair of stars bid a slam... 0-4

Board 3 Jack EW bids 1S 4H after I opened 1D with an 18 count. I chose to double and that was 10 tricks and minus 6 imps .. 0-10

Board 4 ..East West Jacks roar into 4S and we are on defence. Unfortunately Jack North played Heart Ace and I think that gave the contract when it was ruffed and Heart Queen set up.
Lose 9 imps ... 0-19 .. Guess I am not good enough to play in the Camrose

Board 5
Jack EW balance themselves into 5C after my light 1NT opening. Quietly confident of a plus score.
5C down 1 and 9 imps to JackGall. Score so far is 9-19.
Proffessor Jack is whining like Dave Terry now. 4 comments about stuff I done wrong and nothing about the 9 imps gained. 5 Camrose pairs bid and made 3NT .. one missed the boat in 2NT.

Board 6
2 imps for Jack Gallo after Jack EW held itself to 10 tricks ... 11-19

Board 7
Zero imps for 3NT+1 ... 11-19

Board 8

3S-1 by EW ... 2 imps for Jack Gallo ... 13-19
Galligan catching up

Game of Thrones is an interesting series.. I am only on Season 1 Episode 3 ..

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

Camrose 2014 Match 3 boards 17-32

Board 17 ..I think I am starting the 2nd half 25-27 down ..1NT+1 by NS and 1 imp for Gallojack.
Board 18 .. 26-27..1 more imp for 9 tricks in 2S ...27-27
Board 19.. Galligan declares 3D and loses a 50 for down 1. Unfortunately other folk lost more as EW including a 3NT made at one table. I would never be bidding that anyway.
Par looks to be around 120 plus for NS but I had the chance to double 2!Ds constructive and then
EW might have ventured ahead in Spades.. Lose 5 imps .... 27-32
Board 20 ..Lost an imp for 1NT made EW .. 27-33
Board 21..3NT up 3 and we had 2 aces so lose 1 imp ... 27-34
Board 22.. After 2 hours and 40 minutes since 515am I have battled my way into a Heads Up for 26 or 15 euro in a poker tourney... I am just dabbling in this game. However I never knew anything about Early Stage or Early Position when I was down in Galway in August.
We bought 22 in 2clubs despite only 19 hcp and 8 card EW fit ..Lets see how that goes
2C made up 1 but zero imps.. These Camrose stars are good players I guess.
Board 23 ..4S down 1 and no imps for me.. However somebody had the pleasure of taking the baseball bat to 5D. Wonder who that was.. looks like Doctor Matheson was one beneficionary.
Board 24 .. Had to stop here a while to take down the 26 euro in the poker. Success.
Unfortunately DONT has landed me in the 4-2 diamond fit at the 2 level. Not sure this will
be a success. Minus 150 and minus 2 imps ... 27-36 ...
Board 25 .. 4H-1 and zero imps.
Board 26.. 12 imps for Gallo after the EW Jacks went to 3NT and down 3 vulnerable.
4H is the par on the board.... 39-36 for JackGallo
Board 27 Grand slam by Jack North .. One Camrose pair left it behind and minus 2 imps for Gallo
39-38 now
Board 28 .. 4 imps for taking down 2S by Jacks EW.. 43-36 up
Board 29 .. 1 imp for Jackgallo .. 44-36 Holding 3H to 3
Board 30 .. 5 imps out for the double dummy 3NT made by EW Jack... 44-41
Board 31 .. 2 imps in for 3C up 1 ... 46-41
Board 32 ...the final board ..3D+1 0 imps ...

Galligan still hanging in there and lots of good Camrose stars behind him ..

Game of Thrones looks like a good series ... Somewhat vulgar in places and quite bloody.
However it has all the stuff we civilised folk have including the Dotrachi way.

All the information on the Camrose Trophy is available at
http://www.wbu.org.uk/

Also some reports are there

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Camrose Match 3 Boards 1-16

Continuing the Camrose boards with robot partner Jack (www.jackbridge.com)

Board 1
The EW Jacks sailed in 6C and made it .. Minus 3 imps
Board 2
2NT played by EW and 1 imp for GallJack .. 1-3
Board 3
4S by NS and 0 imps ........ 1-3..Some Camrose pair went 2 off
Board 4
EW Jacks declaring 3NT and Galligan wins DQ and fails to find the killing
heart switch .. -10 imps .. 1-13 ..
One should form the opinion that with 3 tricks in the bag and 5 diamonds and a spade to
come its time for drastic action.
Board 5
A normal 1NT contract and 0 imps ... 1-13
Board 6
The EW robots prempt 2H 3H and I decide to pass pards takeout double
We collect 800 and 10 imps ... However my Jack professor partner is all over
me like a rash ...
1. He wants me to bid some kind of Leaping Michaels
2, He tells me passing the take out double is too dangerous
.......
Well we got 800 in so I am happy on that
Running score ...11-13
Board 7 ...standard 3NT but one pair missed it .. zero imps
Board 8 ...Galligan passes 1S and makes 10 tricks .. lose 6 imps
running score ... 11-19
Board 9.. 4H down 1 by EW .. 4 imps to Galljack ... 15-19
Board 10.. 4S down 1 ... 5 imps to Galljack ... 20-19
Board 11.. 2S+1 and 6 imps out .. 20-25
Board 12..4S making NS .. 4 imps in .. 24-25
Board 13.. Bid 3NT and due to a shortage of hearts and Aces and tricks that went one off
but 1 imp to Galligan on the X-imps.. 25-25
Board 14... 3NT up 1 by EW ..0 imps
Board 15 ..6 players left in my poker tourney and bubble is 5
3D made EW and someone EW made 3NT too. lost 2 imps to the Camrose
Stars datum ..25-27
Board 16... 1NT+1 zero imps .. so 25-27 down after 1st half of match

Still doing ok ..Still ahead of Hanlon McGann but Garvey Carroll and Moran Boland are beating me somewhat. However I will battle on

Camrose 2014 Match 2 Boards 17-32

Good morning folks

Continuing with the boards from last weekends Camrose Trophy in Wales ..
In this set Ireland are playing against England

http://camrose-bridge-wales.org.uk/results-3
All information and hands etc are at the above link.

No offence is intended to any real players by any comments placed below ..

Board 17
Plus 7 imps for making 11 tricks in 4S comfortably. 4 Camrose pairs attempted the reasonable 6H/6S but only managed the same 11 tricks .. The doublton Heart KQ offside was hard to deal with alongside the diamonds not breaking 3-3..
Board 18
Galligan tried for 4H but Jack passed quickly. Happily Jack East quickly led Diamond King and then to Ace and took a ruff with a Club trick to come.. 3H made and 4 imps to Galljack.
3 Camroses down in 4H and one selling to EW 3S making.. One was allowed make 4H.

Board 19
Jack North opened 1S and Jack East overcalled 1NT. Galligan pondered a double but decided to settle for bidding 2S. This was passed back to the 1NT overcalled who being fairly heavy emerged with a 3NT bid much to my amazement.. I decided to double this and West ran to 4C which got doubled. This got sunk by 2 tricks ... and that was 500 in and 9 imps.
Back in the real world of the Camrose .. 5 pairs played in 2S and 3S .. the 3S folk went 1 off.
Board 20
The 5 normal NS pairs lost 5-6 imps as two pairs attempted the 3NT contract going off 3.
The normal folk played 4H.
Board 21
I think I slopped a trick to go 2 off in 3H. My robot dealt and passed and later on balanced in with
3H. A couple of pairs EW managed to make 3NT for 400.

Board 22
I declared 3NT despite the 2S overcall. My Jack partner game forced me and later put me in 3NT.
8 tricks was my outcome and that was minus 3 imps
Board 23
My Jack North doubled the 1D opener. I made what I thought was a heavy 2H bid with a 10 count and Jack raised me to 4H, West took exception to this and doubled it. I feeling confident and happy sent it back as they say in America ... (redoubled)
Now I am in 4HXX with 10 count opposite a 14 count 4414 ...so lets see how it goes.
Unfortunately I failed to bring home the contract and went 1 off losing 8 imps ..

Better take a break.
Board 24 and I did not break and I have just butchered another contract. Down 1 in an easy 3H.

Thats 25 imps lost in the last 5 boards ...

.................
BREAK ...

Board 25 ... Tomorrow I might take a look at playing with 3 Gib robots.
Gib is my favourite program ever since I got an email while in Saudi Arabia to be a tester of GIB
back in 1996 or so from Matt Ginsberg the inventor.
However GIB the commercial program ceased updating in the early 2000s. Eventually GIB emerged on BBO replacing the old DD button.
Gib remains a fantastic work of art despite being 12 years since an update as such.
Stephen Pickett also had a fantastic GIB based program called Gib-browser which was a version
of Bridgebrowser but it used to the GIB engine to play.
I still have my commercial GIBs ... Matt Ginsberg sent me a copy when it completed.

Nowadays GIB resides in BBO and has a room of its own. 1000s of GIBs play every hour of every day. However they vary in strength .. The web based GIBs run on BBO servers as far as I know..and in the basic level get very little server time and play accordingly. Old client GIBs run on our own machines and play according to user time settings.
Web based GIB continues to be updated by BBO but the updates don't tranfer to commercial GIB.Also the version of GIB running on BBO is slightly different than the original one. My GIB claims..........However all GIBs are well able to play bridge ..

1NT made plus 1 and 0 imps .. the bleeding is stopped..
..............
Board 26
Making 3Ds after a Lebensohl effort with 12-14 NT opp a 11 red card 5 count.
I chanced a takeout into 3D.
Board 27
Stopping in 3S I hoped for a few imps ..but these Camrosi are able to stop as well.
3 no-bleed boards in a row..

Board 28
Making 3NT and missing the overtrick on the Heart lead ..
Board 29
1NT making and more zero imps..
I found Joni Mitchel singing on the TV .. She is singing a song about Magdalene Laundrys
I think these were places were children and their mothers outside of wedlock were sent.. back in the dark days of Ireland ..maybe other countries too.. A quick glance at google indicates they were all over the western world ...but Ireland kept them the longest.. the last one only closing in 1996.
And we Irish feel we have the right to criticize other regimes for their practices..

Board 30
The Jacks EW subside in 3C ..and I have to defend
Another 0 imps .. I must be getting good ...on the other hand its 11 boards since I scored.

Board 31
This board brings back memories of reading about some genius(cheat) making 7H on okbridge despite the 5-0 trump break. After about 10 minutes as I studied the hand I realised it was me and as I had only played the board the same week I was not expecting it in writing as the board could still be live on okbridge... so it is with care and state of the match that I place the double card to the opps freely bid 4H... I have 5 smallish trumps .. I have heard of the 4 thump double .. This is a 5 one. Lets see how this goes ...
Pard fires out the Spade King ...not bad as I have a singleton
Joannie Mitchel continues to sing ..
6 imps to Jackgall for 4HX-2
........
Board 32
Galligan leads a spade and finds 5 spade tricks ... Zero imps as we are in the middle ..

 Today I pasted in copies of the hands .. Not sure how it will turn out.
Think JackGall ended up plus 1 imp on the set ..
So plus 14 imps after 64 boards ...but I am comparing against the best in Britian
and I have two Jacks against me on most boards. Sometimes they give me stuff.

Now the Pretenders are on the TV ...They go back nearly as far as the last time  Victor Silverstone and Willie Coyle were seen in Scotland. CBAI President Thomas McCormac knows Victor Silverstone well. We played a match in Brighton once and Victors team mate went on tilt.
The guy was partnering Jerry Stamatov and if I operated in England a little more I would know his name. Anyway he tilted 19-1 in our favour..
Victor got a mention sometime over the weekend in the commentary..

That will do for today ..
Back tomorrow with the Match 3 first stanza ..
..............
Think we have vugraph from the Irish Bridge Union trials tomorrow ..
Probably the Mark Moran+5 versus the incredible BJOBoru +5

BJOBORU is never the underdog in his view ... always a chance ..
except the time he landed in 6C on a 3-3 fit and missing nothing else ...
trumps broke 4-3 .. BJ owned the AKQ ... xxx ..
...........
BJ is not used to playing the 3-3 fits at the 6 level ...
BJ won't even remember ...However I was dummy ..cheering him on to victory
not realizing the lad had given up as soon as he saw dummy .. 6C making was a 75%
score but the man had no interest. Mind you the man was very sick at that time ..but he
still kept on smiling. Drove all the way to Youghal to play the Pairs .. Drove all the way home including stopping for ice cream and sweets at a garage ..
Then he got up on Sunday morning and drove John Comyn to victory in the Arklow Cup..
That was about 2009 or so ... and him managing on dialysis ...

Now he is back on half  power .... BJ go easy on Team Moran..

IBU Trials on Friday from 1720 in City West .. see www.cbai.ie

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Camrose 2014 Match 2 boards 1-16

Today I will continue playing the 2014 Camrose boards with Jack bridge program as my partner.
I am playing the North South direction. www.jackbridge.com

Board 1
I lost 3 imps to the making 4S by EW Jack .. Jack is on my case for trying a stroke.
Board 2
Lost another 3 imps for getting doubled in 3S vulnerable off 1.
Board 3
Gained 4 imps for Jack giving me a trick in 4S+1. Two pairs missed game and 1 went down.
Board 4
A quiet 4S making overtricks in places
Board 5
Middle of the road 1NT+2 for Gallo but several reach game in spades ...some even picking up
the trump Qxxx opposite 10
Board 6
3 imps for Gallo playing in 3H and getting a free trick. A Camrose pair got a free trick too and that
let home 4H. Gallo still 0 imps for the set but the two Irish pairs have been collecting imps.
Board 7
I fire out a normal weak 2H so thats me done unless pard asks something.
4 pairs reach game in 3NT ,,,Galligan gains 5 imps .. Somebody got beat in 4S..EW
Board 8
4 Camrose pairs bid and make 4S. The Jack robots languish in 3NT ..so 7 imps to Gallo
Board 9
The EW Jacks make 3NT against Galligan on a Heart Ace lead and continuation.
Board 10
Afraid I butchered 2H and lost 5 imps .. Several pairs went plus in 2H
Board 11
Galligan makes 3NT up 1 on a club lead into King..
Somebody got doubled in 3NT and went 2 light ...so they must have played it with the Club
King open to attack. Garvey Carroll having a good session.
Board 12
I was afraid to put the double on 4S and lost 5 imps
Board 13
Lost another imp despite landing a plus score for defeating 1D
Board 14
Galligan took an undisiplined puck at 3SX by EW and the Jack robots made 11 tricks
assisted by a panicing Galligan .. 10 imps out the door
Board 15
plus 1 imp for beating 5Clubs doubled off 1
Board 16 ...the final board of a dreary set for Galligan
Galligan stretches for 3NT but it has no hope and another 5 imps gone out the door.
Galligan lost 20 imps of his gains on this session. Have to get back in the imp
gathering mode for 2nd half of this match tomorrow morning.
........................

Above the current cross imps in the Galligan version of the Camrose,

I seem to be missing 7 of the 960 boards played over the weekend.

So its not completely accurate. Also the addition of the 3 Jack players and myself will flaw the X-imps slightly as well. 

I have left the real names of the players who were playing in the blog. The full information on the event can be found at http://camrose-bridge-wales.org.uk/

Travellers and Boards etc are there but I don't look at this page when playing.

..........

If anybody wants the pbn file or lin file for analysis or just to play the hands then email me at eamongalligan@eircom.net

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

Camrose Match 1 board 17-32

I will continue to play the Camrose boards with Jack
www.jackbridge.com

I am not aware of which players lost imps or had bad results on any boards I mentioned here.
I can see a running score of imp pairs as I play but that also includes my result.
Any comment made on a board is not aimed at any Team or player on a team.
I am fully aware that any Camrose player is most likely a level or two above me at bridge.
Apart from Hanlon who I outdeclared by 5 tricks in the same strain once.. in a team match.
So any insecure Camrose players don't take offence.

Board 17
Gallo and Jack roar into 6H and Gallo guides it home losing to the Heart Queen
2 Camrose pairs missed the slam and one pair strangely went down.
Board 18
Looks like a fairly normal 4S EW ..somebody doubled it and somebody got out in a 5H sacrifice.
4S+2 in my case lose 2 imps. JackGallo 6th place of 20 pairs.
Board 19
Galligan opens weak 2D with South and pard bids 3C and there we played.
Seems there is 4S available for EW but they only got as far as 2H.
11 imps to JackGallo.. some bid 4S and some sacced in 5C.
Professor Jack moaned severely about my 2D opening..
Board 20
Played in 1NT making 10 and losing 3 imps to the Camrose pairs
Proffessor Jack gave out severely about balancing 1NT with 15 count.
Board 21
We bid 6H but the robots cashed CA and switched a spade making it easy.
6H is available but involves transferring the menace in spades to be along with
the Club Ace,,, 13 imps to GalloJack .. Salisbury and Tedd seem to be out of the blocks
at speed for Wales...JackGallo lead all Camrose players.
Board 22
JackGallo take 3C down 1 but sadly the Camrose pairs conceded more 100s and we lost 8 imps to the average Camrose superstar.
Board 23
Gallo feels like taking the axe to 3S but being teams he declines and passes despite
maybe owning more than half the deck. Onward..3S made ..Somebody made 3NT NS
Rest part scoring in diamonds NS.
Board 24
A handy 10 tricks in hearts for all Camroses ... they bid game ..Jack stayed in 3H ..6 imps to gallo
Board 25
Standard 3NT making lots ..Some pair languished in 2H losing 11 imps ..
Board 26
My robot sacrificed in 5C against 4H ... Some Camrose star left out 5C. I think that is hard to do.
Maybe some Camrose team wants to hire me and my Jack robot. We are 5th of 20 on 1.00.
Board 27
We played 4D making ... 3 Camrose Stars were allowed make 5Ds ..Bizarre..
Board 28
A quiet board it seems.. 3NT against me
Board 29
Jack EW cashed HA and then tried to cash CA and that was 10 tricks, Most of Camrose stars managed to take 4S down as they should ..Salisbury Tedd ..and the Seniors having good sets
Board 30
3 boards to go ...time for a cup of tea .. and maybe a Double Up poker game.
EW robots declare 4H in my game.I found the Heart Queen on the lead for my opps so that was that. Some poor Camrose star went down .. probably getting a club lead and losing trump queen and 2 spades .. Unfortunate .. but plausible and under severe pressure.
Board 31
What the hell is Fracking ..they discussing it on the news .. Something about Leitrim
I am seeing a 9 card suit ,,,, have not seen one of them in a while ..
I pucked out an undisiplined 4S and the opps arrived in 6H .. Club lead just in case
6H made ..some Camrose stars got away in 4S doubled .. one pair went to 7H-1
7H just does not fetch and you also missing trump queen .. How do you even attempt to count 13 tricks let alone be missing the trump queen ..
Board 32
Gallo is cruising in 3NT .. 4S EW down 1 looks like the par

So far Galligan and his Jack partner are surviving comfortably ..

However Galligan does not have to deal with table pressure. However I am playing the boards honestly eventhough I have access to the results. 

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

Next weekend we have IBU Trials semi finals 

I understand its 

1. Hanlon versus McMaugh

2. Coyne versus O'Gorman

www.cbai.ie has details 

I think its down in CityWest starting on Friday about 1720 with 40 boards ..

There is a 3rd place playoff ... No idea what thats about as who wants to be 3rd as opposed from 4th. Its not that the bridge will be cut-throat .. However maybe there is a reason ..

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

Camrose Trophy 2014 Weekend 1

After the 5 matches of the Camrose Trophy 2014 Ireland lead by a portion of a VP from Scotland.

The Irish Team was Mark Moran Rory Boland Hugh McGann Thomas Hanlon Tommy Garvey and John Carroll.

On Friday night the Irish fresh from qualifying last weekend for the semi finals of the IBU trials were ambushed by Scotland and emerged with a score of 2.94 VPs and last place ..

Saturday morning dawned and the Irish got out the right side of the beds.

18.2 was achieved versus one of the favourites England and Ireland were back in the game.

Saturday afternoon saw Ireland with Moran Boland playing all 32 boards putting the whole 20 VPS onto their score and climbing into 2nd place behind Scotland who were winning all their matches.

Sunday morning dawned and the experienced  NIBU put a small win past Ireland.
11.27 to 8.73

On Sunday afternoon the 2nd English team beat Ireland by the same score.

I am currently playing thru the boards as I did not watch too much over the weekend.

I saw Ireland got a poor result on board 2 versus Scotland landing in 3NT when a 4H contract was more suitable. However on Board 4 the same pair hit back landing a 4H contract. 

I have made a file with all the contracts and the players names in it for Jack bridge program.

Its a pbn file and can be replayed on various bridge computer programs.

I don't think one can attach a file here so if anybody wants it I can email it to them 

eamongalligan@eircom.net

I am now bidding board 5 as North South. I South own 25 hcp balanced so lets see..

I am compelled to open 2C and see how it goes.I am playing the Dave Terry simple Acol system that grows legs in the hands of Dave Terry.

I was allowed make 11 tricks so lets see what the experts did. I really cannot imaging anything except a 3NT contract with 25 opp 3 and no fit ...AS EXPECTED all 3nts.

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

Board 6 saw somebody miss a game but it was not an Irish. 

..........

Board 7 saw Galligan ease 1 imp ahead of Boland Moran ..in the cross imps ..

Hanlon McGann languish back a little after the 3NT-3 accident on Board 4

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

Board 8 saw Galligan and his robot bid and make 6C handily enough.

Somebody missed it against Boland Moran as they climbed into the X-imps lead as 

Galligan climbed to 4th place.

...........

Board 9 Galligan defending 4S 

The Irish play 3S and 4S-2 so more imps in

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

Board 10 sees the Jack robots EW cruise into 6D. Lets see how that goes

Silence is golden...

...........

Board 11 saw my Jack robot opposition cruise into 6S and make 13.

4 of the 6 pairs of Camrose internationals missed the slam ... and Galligan loses 7 imps for treading water. Maybe Jack should play as the extra team in the Camrose.

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

Board 12 saw my Jack opps do lots of bidding but subside in 3C

Middle of the road but somebody got mugged in 1SX for minus 500.

.......

Looks like they had some awards over the weekend for acting and actressing..

Some good looking humans on that show and some of them getting golden things.

Board 13 saw my robots bid 4S against me 

I might be beating this ..but I suspect they will pick up my spade Queen

I have 3 tricks ...4S went down but not sure it should

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

Being a chess player since I learned with card board pieces back in the early 70s I am rather shocked at the news today of a chap getting murdered over a chess game. 

Some other details are more gruesome and I won't comment here. 

So board 14 ..

My Jack opps opened 4H and went down 3 ..Camrose players stayed lower.

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

Board 15 Jack robots EW bid and made 6NT against me 

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

I think this was the first half of the Friday night match. 

Galligan leads the Irish internationals.

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

My dog is fast asleep as today is the first time he missed the post man.

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

Camrose tonight on BBO vugraph

Tonight we should be able to watch the Camrose Trophy from Wales (I think)
Ireland will be represented by Thomas Hanlon Rory Boland Mark Moran Hugh McGann Tommy Garvey and John Carroll to the best of my knowledge.

Looks like it starts at 7pm .. Ireland versus Scotland .. thats Thomas Hanlon versus John Matheson.

I tournament directed the Maurice Quinn Trophy last night in Malahide. I saw some interesting results. I saw a lad open a weak 2 in hearts and he returned with one trick.

I also saw several pairs fail to bid a comfortable 6H ... For world class its a comfortable 7H

There was also a pair who apparently used Blackwood and one partner decided that the old diamond void was good for an ACE ...and the other lad decided well 7NT looks good here.

I think he would have made it except the lady holding the Diamond Ace did not believe they had all the aces and doubled and led it and kept leading diamonds for ever.

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

Former Bankers Club bridge player the colourful Sean Burgess entered my table conversation last Sunday. Everybody has a Burgess story if they knew him. I have a couple despite not knowing so well. In fact I have several but some are not publishable and don't include me.

A Burgess story normally includes the teller.

Story 1 saw me glowing as I held AKQJ and 4 more clubs while playing against Sean Burgess and Terry Walsh in the short lived Wicket Club. Terry opened 1NT non vul .

I chanced a double and now Burgess offered me 4-1 odds that I would not take the first 7 tricks.

I had little knowledge of gambling at this stage but figured if I took the first 8 tricks I might lose the bet so I quietly backed down. When partner showed up with AK in some side suit we took the first 10 tricks. 1700 in the old scoring .. We won that match. 

.........

My 2nd Burgess story happened the first time he met me or became aware of my existance.

I went down to the bar in the Bankers halfway thru a routine trimming by the Hanlon team in a Roadstone League match ..My team featured the Mulhall brothers Dave and Justin along with Kevin O'Dea. Hanlon fielded Maurice Roche and Terry Walsh along with himself and Burgess.

The first words Sean Burgess ever spoke to me were ....

"Who the EFF are you " ... 

"Eamon Galligan" says I 

Do you realise you just outbid and outplayed the best bridge player Ireland might ever see.

Blank stare from me who was more interested in approaching former Bankers Barman Alan Malone and sourcing a pint.

........

"Not so quick says Burgess....

You just bid and made 3NT+1 against Terry and Maurice on board 7 ...

My partner who is the best player in Ireland managed to gather in 5 tricks in 1NT..

So that was the day I entered the world of Sean Burgess. 

..........

Sean emigrated to Thailand and passed away about 15 months ago .. 

Sean was a stalwart member of the famous LESS intermediate bridge team 

Armless Legless Faultless Endless.

O'Lubaigh was faultless and somebody else never shutup.

somebody else drank lots of beer .

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

Diamonds are not this mans best friend

Last night I played in Malahide Regional Bridge Club in a 5 times a year partnership.
However we do have 4 Word documents which amounts to about 8 pages of notes but its
fairly large text so just the basics covered.

All semi regular partnership (as well as regular partnerships ) should develop a small document containing their understandings and add to this document as stuff comes up. In this day and age one can maintain this document on their phone and send it to partner as it is updated. One could even record it in a sound file and play it back to oneself.

I remember back in the early 1990s I read the whole Carrot Club system onto a tape cassette and used to play it back to myself on trips to bridge events or even on the way to work. What kind of dude was I ..

So onto Malahide and off we go ..

Round 1 was a sitout so that was boards 25-27 done
Round 2 Boards 4 and 5 went fine but on board 6 our pard had a go at declaring 1 club.

9743........................AQJ
J32..........................Q94
KT5........................A98
JT2.........................K876

A poor score as pard only managed the 6 tricks. Clubs broke 5-1 with AQ953 over the King

Round 3 was most of the matchpoints
Round 4 boards 16-18

Board 16 we competed into 3S at unfavourable and escaped the matchpoint double and arrived at
the double dummy total of 8 tricks for 80% of the matchpoints.
Board 17 the male opponent over ruled his partners suggestion of a weak hand with 2S and declared 2NT. A heart finesse worked and I was looking at the bare Heart King and a grim outcome but the man failed to cash Heart Ace now and unknown to himself could have taken 9 tricks for all the matchpoints but emerged with 5 tricks.
Board 18 my man decided to angle for 3NT with a passed hand facing a 3rd hand opener (I did have a full 14 count but with both opponents advertising spades my man decided he would tough it out in 3NT. The opponents holding 10 spades between them decided to lead their suit and that became minus 2 and not much matchpoints.
Round 5 boards 22-24

On 22 I chanced bidding 4H when I should'nt and it only fetched 9 tricks and 30%. Passing 3S for off would have worked better . 23 and 24 were fairly quiet for 57% and 93%.

Round 6 boards 1-3

Board 1 saw our opps languish in a 4-2 2D contract and that was not a success
Boards 2 and 3 were quiet collections of 60% and 80%

Round 7 7-9
Board 7 saw the opps roar into 5D despite owning a 5-4 heart fit so despite being left with
my spade Ace it remained 100% ..
Board 8 saw the Diamond man emerge from his shell.

Playing Tartan 2 bids I opened with 2S holding a spade diamond 2 suiter..

2S P 2NT Asks my man with a flourish ... Despite rarely playing Tartan 2 bids I managed to make the correct bid of 3D showing a weak Tartan hand with diamonds as my minor.
Now my partner started to squirm and wriggle in his chair .. then he started to mumble and for a few minutes the opps and myself thought he was going to get sick or explode or something.
I offered to make a different bid if it would ease his discomfort .. One of the opponents offered to go around and help him with his bidding..
My man continued to wriggle and squirm.. Now this lad is well over 6 feet tall so the poor chair was probably struggling but eventually he placed the 3S card on the table ...
A man of my integrity quickly passed ... and was declaring 3S ..

I think they led Club Ace ...

And the great wriggler placed his dummy on the table

AT
764
AKQ to loads of diamonds
K

and mutters well if only you knew the system and made your correct bid I could maybe reach a better contract. You cannot possibly have diamonds like you said you have ..

with a little help I quickly gathered in 12 tricks ... despite the 5-1 trump break

KQ943
Q
JT92
JT9

Ok I was a diamond short but I did not think lacking 1 diamond piece would stretch the auction by about 7 minutes. Best defence would beat me one off in 3S but they allowed me win the Heart Queen and when one round of diamonds stood up I was motoring.

Board 9 saw me ease home in 3C

Onto round 8 and we are on the home stretch.

The opponents were Porridge and his wife. He is called Porridge as when setting him up on WBridge5 we gave him the name Porridge as a pack of Odlums Porridge oats were in sight.
He plays Wbridge5 most days as does the Great Wriggler of Diamond fame ..

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

anyway board 13 saw Porridges pard declare 1NT and gather in 6 tricks for about average
Boards 14 saw Porridge holding 6 clubs to the KTxxxx and nothing else and hearing his partner show 21-22 balanced via 2C 2D 2NT .. Mr Stirabout decided to try 3C ....getting a 3S response
....Porridge continued with a 4C bid ...hoping his partner might pass it ..but that brought 4NT ...
Porridge wriggled briefly and decided rather then declaring 6 or 7 clubs it might be prudent to pass.

Mrs Porridge went to work in 4NT and noted the fall of the Club Queen on her Ace ... hooked the Club 10 (not muttering restricted choice) ...and claimed 11 tricks .. for most of the matchpoints ..

On 15 Mr Porridge had a go at declaring a 3NT that makes double dummy but he ran into some clouds and rain fell on him as he drifted 2 off ...as the Great Wriggler was allowed in to cash some tricks.

Finally the end ..

Board 19 saw 1D 1H 3D all pass ...the opponent thought stop 3D was a shut out bid so we got lots of matchpoints
Board 20 saw my man demand a diamond lead ...holding QT643 ... one wonders at his logic as well as his suit ... where he got the idea of a lead directing double one can only struggle to imagine.
I duly led my K of diamonds and when back in I followed with my diamond 9 ... That was not a success so 7% ...
Board 21 .. I declared 3S .. and hooked a spade losing ..
I owned a 5-4 fit in diamonds ...with AJxxx in the dummy ...
The Diamond 10 came back ... I rose Ace as I was not prepared to lose some ruffs ..
10 tricks made ... The woman held KT doubleton ... BAH ...
Got 36% so not too bad ...

We managed to emerge at the top of the page so we kept our equity.

Last night we were playing an online game of poker and we were nearly bust ..

However as it was closing time ...we put on a push and got up to 3600 chips ..(we started with 1500) .. I rushed home to log back on and finish the tourney. Built up to 5100 chips and was doing ok. Dropped back to 3000 chips and was dealt pocket 77 ... Needed to make a move so ALL IN ..

6 player tables ... Got called by the BIG BLIND who owned 5000 chips .. 

He had AK .. 

AK versus 77 .. 

flop ..I am still winning 

turn ... I am still winning 

river .........was a King ...just as I was reaching in for the money ...

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

Yesterday I saw a woman analyzing her partnership hands with Excel .. thats pretty good I thought ..She downloaded a pile of hands from Bridgebase Online and then used the Double Dummy Program to produce some data and then used 

We finished +0.21 but -50 against par.

Missed 7 slams, 13 games and 7 partials against par.

(use excel formula  =COUNTIF(M2:M140,"WmSlam") )

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan 

Match 1 IBU trials

Board 1

4 NS pairs came a cropper on this board by bidding to 5C/5D and getting shown the error of their ways. 1 out of 6 Jack robots took the 5D phantom.

A couple of pairs lost heavily on Board 2 one pair going 4H-3 and another pair allowed the optimistic 4S home. 

Board 3 saw one EW pair caught speeding in 1D doubled and vulnerable ...
West might have opened 1C North doubled and East bid 1D and ran into the speed trap.
I wonder who the brave West was that decided to open that balanced 11 count.
As they said in Kellys Heroes ... "No point in taking on a tank with a water pistol"

Board 4 above we saw 3 established pairs failing to reach 4S. A 23 count with a good trump fit allied to a source of tricks. Seems possible to bid 4S if you also include the singleton club. 

If there was 3 small clubs in the East I don't see the 3 spade folk bidding any better.

Somebody took a stick to Hanlon McGanns 3D contract but then failed to swing the same stick and 3D was allowed make. 

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

Board 6 was quiet 

Somebody got out the stick to McMaughs 2S contract and could not get it down. 

Looks tough to beat even looking at all 4 hands 

..........

Board 8 saw Team BJ bid and guide home a double dummy 24 count 3NT ..

None of the other pairs managed to bid this high.

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

Board 9 saw one pair over reach to 6C and one pair double the cold 5C.

...........

Board 10 saw an 8 card suit and several pairs attempting to bring in 3NT on a combined 17 count.

I don't blame them as a 2-2 break in diamonds or a 2nd diamond in partners hand leaves them in good shape ..but it was not to be and the low roaders got the imps for playing 1D/3D

Could have been 10 imps away for the low roaders. The 3NTers presumably would have protective company from other game chasers. 

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

That will do for now. 

Thanks Eamon Galligan

IBU Trials 2014

Good morning folks
Yesterday afternoon I took a trip down to Citywest to catch the end of the IBU trials where 8 teams were doing battle to make the 4 semi final places.

Teams
Derek O'Gorman, Terry Walsh, Gay Keaveney, Enda Glynn
Steve Bearpark, Gordon Lessells, Hilary McDonagh, Gilda Pender, Martin Brady, Stefan Ekman
Ciaran Coyne, Donal MacAonghusa, James Heneghan, Willem Mevius
Lucy Phelan, Louise Mitchell, Dolores Gilliland, Maria Whelan
Maureen Pattinson, Bob Pattinson, Marcin Rudzinski, Ronan McMaugh, Peter Pigot, BJ O'Brien
Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, John Carroll, Tommy Garvey, Rory Boland, Mark Moran
Richard Elvin, Brian O'Farrell, Wotjech Gorczyca, Slawomir Lubanski
John Murchan, Ciara Burns, Greer MacKenzie, Hastings Campbell

My thoughts before the trials started was

Hanlon Coyne O'Gorman with one of Murchan and Pattinson

Despite the presence of Lady internationals Gilda Pender and Hilary McDonagh alongside bidding practice addicts Brady and Ekman (up to 1000 hours bidding practice in last couple of years) along with Steve Bearpark a recent new Senior international was partnered by Gordon Lessels in a non-regular partnership,  I felt this team would be outlasted by the extra experience of the above named 5 teams.

The Phelan Team was playing 4 handed (or is it 8 handed) ie 4 players .. This means no breaks at all and consistant pressure applied by the other teams. Phelan Mitchel have caps at Open Camrose and Whelan Gilliland made the Lady Milne Team last year.

Finally the Elvin team I felt was up against it. Brian and Richard had struggled in a recent trials event maybe the recent Camrose trials. The two Poles I am not too familiar with. Wotjech has been around Regent /Bankers/Dublin for approx 10 years but I think this is his first trials.
Slawomir I know little about except he appeared in the last few years and most of what I know of him is that his name is often spelt wrong by directors/entry takers. It was indicated Slawamir was a Polish junior international. He did play in a Junior Pairs event which was held in Poland in 2001.
About 70 Polish pairs played in that event along side Jamie Martin and Andrew Barton of Ireland.

Anyway much to my surprise and probably some others Elvin started out putting 14 on Murchan and 17 on Phelan to jump into the lead after 2 rounds. Hanlon was not far away after being held to 10.5 by Phelan in round 1 they eased Garvey Carroll into the fray on Friday evening and scored the maximum against Pattinson 20-0.
.....
Saturday morning arrived ..

Elvin won his 3rd match beating Pattinson
Hanlon put a large score past Coyne
Phelan beat O'Gorman

So Elvin still running well

............
Round 4 Elvin continued the surprising run by defeating Coyne and now stood on a nice
score of about 57.4 out of 80 with the other teams running out of matches and Elvin rapidly
approaching the 70 VPs that would guarantee qualification.

Round 5 saw Hanlon hand out the expected beating to Elvin but Hanlon was beating all teams by a decent score. Now Elvin needed an NPC to ease them thru the last two matches on Sunday.
I think they remained in 2nd place despite the loss to Hanlon.
..........
Round 6 saw Elvin meet the bottom placed Bearpark... However Bearpark leaped off the bottom
and surprisingly blitzed Elvin 20-0. I was told that the hands suited the Brady Ekman bidding system. I will play the hands later against Jack and imp against Brady Ekmans opps and see how
I go. I expect to make a plus score without having Elman Brady bidding skills. That will be in a later blog.
..........
Round 7 saw possibly 6 teams fighting it out for 3 places. Hanlon was home at this stage.
Coyne and O'Gorman were favoured but heavy losses could drag them back into the mire.
Pattinson saw off Phelan comfortably and the other matches went as expected with large wins for Coyne and O'Gorman.

Final IBU Trials results from fob.ie

All details of IBU trials can be found on www.fob.ie

.................
Hanlon scored a comfortable 81% of the VPs and now enter the semi final.

............................
Last night I went for a drive around Dublin and tried out my new technology that I got for Xmas.
A Samsung Galaxy that counts my steps. I am making an effort to do 10000 steps a day. I am told that will give me a shape less like BJ O'Brien and more like the new steamlined Thomas MacCormac. I found some of Rory Bolands wine on my travels so that was ok.

This morning I was up early so I went for 3200 steps with my dog to burn off Rorys wine.
............
Last night I played Match 1 of the IBU trials against Jack bridge program.
hand 13 had what seemed a decent slam in 6S. However despite having a conversation earlier in the day with a trialist about the hand where I indicated it was an easy slam ... I still could not bring myself to bid that slam .. so I languished in 4S like my esteemed trialist.

..................
BJOBrien pointed out to me yesterday that I have not blogged since December 02 2013.
Well it has been Xmas ...
I think I might post an IBU semi finalist  special

So you declare 5 clubs on the lead of Heart King and at trick 2 the Heart Queen ...

Can you out perform an IBU trials semi finalist. You will need more than 10 tricks.

Can you make it ..