So there are 16 boards left and its gone 8 flat boards so far and this board flashed on the screen.
Then a flat 3NT-2
Then Meckwell got caught in a speed trap
Then we had watched this board in the other room and came to various conclusions but we had not dreamed what was about to happen.
Now I am sure the Great Mulall will have something to say about this when he sees it. He would have been long tucked up in bed dreaming about all the tricks he might make in the Regent or the time he had the Dream team in his cab back at the Buffet Cup in 2006...."I just dropped home my new team ...Hamann Soloway and Zia" along with the Great Mulall squeezed into the same car.
However we all presumed 7D would be doubled and go off a few tricks and that would be that .. +710 against maybe +800 or even less ... but no major panic.. After some long thought South Bobby Levin placed the 7S card on the table .. and all passed ..
Back in 2006 I walked into a discussion at the Buffett Cup in Ireland and the current world number 1 player of the time was discussing who might be the best player in the world. There was mention of Z&B who I figured out was Zmudsinski and Balicki. ..probably best pair. Then there was some talk about a guy from Norway and I was there presuming Helgemo..as were a few others.... "Never makes a mistake" blah blah ..
Somebody mentioned Geir ,,,and the speaker said in broken Italian English ...No No No ...Tor ... Tor Helness is the toughest opponent ...
So Tor is on lead and tracks a heart and we all drift back to the Open Room for more Meckwell versus Fantoni .. Evertually the result comes thru and its 7S made ..and 17 imps ..
You can find the match here ..its probably at the top of the page. There are a few more good boards to come but in the end Nickell won by 2 imps at the end of 64 boards.
At the above link you can see some video of after the Nickell team won and them scoring up when Meckwell came out of the other room and the lovely Golden Retriever dog which belongs to one of the players ..maybe Bobby Levin or Steve Weinstein as it appears to like them very much.
Of course Golden Retrievers are the friendliest dogs ever anyway.
BJ O'Brien was watching this for quite a while but he had to retire after stanza 3 ... Galligan stayed the whole pace.
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I am noting that the Regent Bridge Club is rising again as a venue of good bridge. They held the Senior Trials on St Patricks Weekend recently ... I think the aforementioned BJ O'Brien won that as well. Apologies to BJs Team mates .. Rex Pat and Michael but its BJ O'Brien...
Then this past weekend the Regent put on the Corn Cairdeas which seems to be an annual love in between BJ and 11 others representing CBAI and some 12 folk from the EBU ..
BJ won that event as well ..
Information can be found here on those results and on the Regent Bridge Club.
The Regent Bridge Club probably remains Irelands premier bridge club as it still has the deepest level of bridge playing strength in the country. Limerick Cork Galway and Belfast may disagree but the Regents 20th best player will probably be a full international player of some repute and their 50th best is probably some way ahead of the Great Mulall.
The Regent is the place to go if you feel bridge is your game ... If like many "good " bridge players you prefer to be a winner ..you can find a pond to swim in to suit your level and win lots of competitions but you won't really count until you conquer the Regent. Obviously this does not apply to non-Dublin area residents ..as we don't expect ye to travell all that way for club bridge as well as Nationals/Trials ..
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A note on technology ...and bridge clubs ...
Back in 1994 or so when Grace Finnegan was President ..the first computer entered the Regent ..it was the old one from Graces house or office or business or someplace. All the folk who had scored by hand for years looked at this box and carried on their normal business .. Nobody would have dreamed that 20 years later the computer and its peripherals would dominate the Regent Bridge Club..
The current computer ...Deals Hands .. Works out the best way to play .. Scores competitions ..
Generates movements .. and probably counts up the money ..
Ooops I am wrong there .. Computer still needs an operator so maybe its the Regent Club Manager Declan Byrne who helps the computer do all these things ..Oh and Declan has Bridgemates as well ...little white boxes that gather the information for the computer to score events ..
Oh and there is the website mentioned above ...
I landed in at the Regent yesterday morning to run the end of the Corn Cairdeas .. I had a movement and some bridgemates and planned boards 1-30 played in groups of 10.
Declan looked at me and said where are you going with that stuff ... You won't be needing thar ..
The players know where they are going and who they are playing and they play boards 11-20 on every round and they don't do bridgemates .. You get the scores from the Teams of each side and make sure they are the same and give them to me and I will instruct the computer to send them out to the masses ..
"What about the scoring" says I ....Dont' worry about that ..The computer does it ..
Well do I have to printout stuff ...NO NO NO ..just get the scores and put out the correct set of 11-20 for the round you are playing ..Then sit down and wait for the next round ...
When you go to the Regent to direct ...its all ready to go ...and if its not Declan already knows its not working and waits until you figure it out and then says ..I have that sorted ... just was waiting for you to figure it out ...
However Declan is getting kind of large ... He has to keep buying larger shirts ...
He is up to a size 18 neck now ..Too much sitting at the computer instead of climbing the Regent stairs.
The stairs are very squeaky though ..
Wonder will Declan be angry and tear up my Bridge Laws book which I left in Regent yesterday.
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