Last night after directing 29 tables of bridge in my local club I went for 2 guinness in the the local community centre. I attempted to log into Paddy Power for a game of Holdem for a euro. However Paddy seemed to be asleep or down or not working.
So having already completed my WBridge5 and it being a little late for any Irish being on BBO. It was around 1140pm. So I was a little stuck for any of my normal things to do.
Suddenly Declan McKenna breaks off from the other group of Don players and rushes over.
General greetings etc ..
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Then Declan says ..."Eamon you need to tell me what this double means when the opponents open the bidding... My partner keeps doubling and they keep making 1 something and getting a score ..
So I asked Declan a few questions and soon it emerged he had created an account on Bridgebase Online and had found something called Solitaire Bridge and he was off ...
However he did not understand the bidding .. so I told him some stuff ..
Then I showed him how to watch interesting tables ...and basically he is hooked ..
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Last week this same Declan accompanied me on one of my directing nights just to see what this bridge was all about... Declan is one of a group of about 35 Don players in the local community centre. While I was talking to Declan another chap came over and indicated he had called into Malahide Bridge club one night and had a look at the bridge but felt he was out of his depth..
It won't be long before bridge starts in Rivervalley Community Centre. Another Declan told me last night he has been on You Tube watching the "Introduction to Bridge videos"
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Meanwhile down in St Cronans which was the very first bridge club I attended one snowy night inthe first week of January 1985 ... There were only 2 people there so I went to the pub and when a 3rd turned up they called down for me.
Geoff Barnes Beryll Walshe and Ann Marie Woods were the first people I ever played bridge with in a club setting. One of the founder members of St Cronans Bridge Club celebrated her 90th birthday last week... Congratulations Nellie Dockrell
http://dnrbridge.com/styled-6/photos-8/files/page48-1003-full.html
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This coming weekend we have the Holmes Wilson National Teams championships ..
www.cbai.ie has teams and information ..even if only 96 teams are show..
I understand there are 108 teams ...the biggest ever
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Meanwhile I cannot recommend highly enough the Wbridge5 16 board daily tourney
Play 0-16 boards in ones and twos throughout the day up to 1am the next morning.
http://bridgez.net:3002/connexion.html
Thanks
Eamon Galligan
