Friday, September 30, 2016

NIBU CBAI Camrose Trials.

The NIBU Camrose Trials take place this weekend in Kelvin and Malone. The strange thing is that the winners might not be on the Team according to the conditions of contest.

Quoting the NIBU website

"The Selection Committee will meet immediately after the final results are available but there will be no team announcement until the following day. The selectors reserve the right to select the strongest possible team – in their opinion - regardless of final placings. "

This is like if Mayo defeat Dublin on Saturday in the GAA Final the GAA will give the trophy to Dublin as they are deemed the best team by the media.

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Meanwhile Down South we are getting near Camrose Trials for CBAI. I don't know the full details of who is playing but I believe one junior team at least will be allowed enter. Entry for Camrose Trials are regulated by "B" points. This means juniors who are locked into Degrees and Masters and so on won't be allowed enter until they get older and have time to build an attendance record at "B" point earning events.

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I don't play much bridge these days but I can play in Camrose Trials due to my "B" point earnings in the past but the current crop of very keen junior bridge players might not be able to play due to not having enough attendance record.

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Saturday, September 10, 2016

Teams Qualifiers World Bridge Games conclude

The qualifiers for the round of 16 of the various teams events in the World Bridge games has concluded. The great card playing nation of Ireland has no teams left standing.

The Open Team has plenty of missed chances and several unforced errors all of which added up
to a hopeful performance which in the end missed out by 6.3 VPs. Those VPs were available with a
little more bridge knowledge.

So with Ireland gone I will support USA .. whose Justin Lall showed up to win at The Regent Bridge Clubs 90th anniversary a few years ago .. and England Ladies as they have Fiona Brown from Fermoy playing.

Yesterday morning I was 2 strange actions on the first 2 boards against Hungary by our esteemed front pairing....Now maybe its a weakness in their bidding system ..

They open 1C which is 10-13 or 17 plus in normal peoples high card points.
The opponent overcalls 3H and its passed back to the 1C chap whe o owns the 17+ hand.
Somehow they contrive to launch into 3NT with a combined 23 count ...
Now out in Malahide the folk play penalty against 3 level ...so it goes double and everyone passes.
Not for our two heroes who declare 3NT and go down 2 ... should be plus at both tables for 5 imps
but instead is flat board ... if they get it doubled its 300 + 100 = 9 imps


Then on the 2nd board we had our 2 heroes attempting 4H with a combined 18 count .. The Hungarian was not happy so he doubled and gathered in 800 and 14 imps
Now this won't total up to the 6.3 VPs required but it puts a large hole in it ..
Maybe the 3NT-4 two times in the other room would get us over the line
Of course there were another 20-30 hands over the week to gain VPS.


,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Meanwhile out in Malahide last night I saw a declarer holding Kx opposite Jxx and on receiving a heart switch declarer rose with KING and thus losr the whole HEART SUIT.
playing low establishes a HEART trick by force ..

Other players in Malahide failed to push the lads up a level ... example 1D 1H 2C all pass..
I am pretty sure I am going to bid 2S without even seeing my hand unless I have lots of clubs.

Another pair sailed into 4S vulnerable with my partner making a DIAMOND noise in the auction and holding 5 diamonds and being non vulnerable I tried the effect of 5D... I was quite surprised to find it
went PASS PASS PASS ... This is daylight robbery

Then we had

This one went Pass 1C X 1H ...I ventured 1NT
Then 2C Pass Pass back to me

I tried 2D with the 3 card suit ... with better agreements I could double but did not want the
Big Man to be huffing and puffing and blowing..
Anyway 2D got home ... Of Course I was only hoping to push the opponents up a level
but they left me alone in 2D ..
.............................................
Finally I must mention Declan the Donplayer ...who scored 56.62% on
http://bridge-now.com

Despite never having played a physical game of bridge .. but he keeps threatening to visit
Malahide. ....says I work for myself ..I am allowed play bridge on a Monday morning.




Wednesday, September 07, 2016

World Bridge Championships

The World Bridge Championships are taking place at the moment in Wroclaw. It is pronounced somewhat different but such is the Polish language. Now most of us will never play in the World Bridge championships but thanks to Bridgebase Online run by Fred Gitelman we can all watch if we choose.. Now lets be clear ... the average player in the World Bridge Championships would destroy the best player in 99% of our local Ireland Clubs .. The best players in the cities would be ok as in Mesbut Fitzgibbon ... but the local stars like Toomy or Johnny or Rory or Mickey or Jimmy would have no hope.

www.bridgebase.com

We can watch at the above website for free ..

There is also live video ...now watching bridge is like watching paint dry or a kettle boil ..
so only for the diehards .. and yes they do pick their nose ....just the odd time ..

The other day I saw two Irish lads bidding ...

1S P 2C P
2S  P P P

Amazingly the 1S 2S chappy owned only 4S ... Not even in my local club ..
However no doubt there is an explanation ...as both these players are very well educated and successful in their chosen fields outside of bridge. They are also both damn good bridge players..
So what are we missing,

Maybe the 2C bid is 3+ spades invitational or GAME FORCE ... all might be revealed ..

........................
The next day we noted a fine pair of players declaring 5C with a 5-1 fit I think ...

and to cap it all we found 2 World Champions declaring in 7D with 2 trumps each ...

...............
However don't even think of getting brave ... on the other 95% of the boards they are bidding slams that make and doing squeezes and other stuff never heard of in Dublin Bridge Cluibs ..

.............
Now today the Irish ladies went into battle against the USA ladies ...
4 bridge legends versus 4 of Irelands best female bridge players and I think 3 of the Irish have playerd full Camrose Trophy .. and own multiple Irish Ladies championships ..

After 3 boards the score is 34-0 USA .. with a final score of 94-30 to USA ...
so average it out to 9-3 in goals in a soccer match or whatever ...

Manchester City versus Dundalk (arguably England /Irelands top soccer teams)
If they play 12 matches ...its will be without doubt 12-0 to Manchester City ..
So to gather in 30 imps versus the US professionals is a good earner ...

I don't really have any point to make here except that it is tough at the World Championships
so lets knock those who are trying ..

Big Boy Murchan is out there too ... and its not easy for him either ...no matter what he says ..
Ciara Burns well known player from Northern Ireland is also fighting hard .. but the opposition is
serious ..Michael McGloughlin one of the greatest players in Dublin is battling hard on the same team. The remainder of the Moxed Team is Harold Curran Ann Fitzpatrick and Heidi Lillis..
One expects to see them make the last 16 at the end of the round robin and bow out after getting chosen by a top team ......but if they want to prove me wrong ...at least make the final 16 first ..

I am glad Team Open are not on vugraph tomorrow as I did 20 situps yesterday every time Boland Moran made a contract ... and they made quite a few against somebody ...

I should be ready for more situps by Friday ...

Expecting a poor return on http://bridge-now.com
this week ... should still be around 62% ....but losing ELO points

Its that bad that Declan the Donplayer is touting 57.5% and indicating if I have a bad week
I will be looking up at the Donplayer ..

Thnaks
Eamon Galligan

http://www.worldbridge.org/repository/tourn/wroclaw.16/Microsite/Results.htm









Sunday, September 04, 2016

Dunne Kelly Trayor O'Leary of Bankers on Vugraph now from Pula (Sunday 1530)

Amazingly I was watching the World Bridge championships on vugraph a few minutes ago and up pops Dunne on the screen .. Hmmm could it be David Dunne (former Irish chess champion) and old partner of mine.. Then the other side of the table fills up with Kelly .. could that be Sheila Kelly regular cross table opponent of David Dunne ..

So if you are bored with World Championship Bridge ... Ireland Open front 4 ran into a warmed up Dutch quartet this morning and got beaten by about 70 imps .. They won next match small against New Zealand ..
You can kibitz Sheila Kelly on vugraph NOW ...Its an 8 board match so hurry up ..
Even with Dunnes thoughtful  play it won't be lasting too long ..

Looks like some Trayer and O'Leary in the other room .. 5 imps up after one
Maybe its John Comyns partner Blanaid and maybe its Morris O'Leary.
I don't play much these days so I don't know all the new kids on the block.
I think O'Leary does some directing

Irish women got beat by France in round 1 and after rising the Templogue Terrors from the bench defeated Iceland by a small margin in round 2 ..

The Mixed Team had a good win in Round 1 .. got a hiding in Round 2 and eased past China in Round 3 with Lillis and Burns in top form ..

Team Dunne got beaten small .. 15-9 in Pula ..
Looks like they now use WBF scoring so Team Dunne back to 10th place in Pula Mixed Teams.

http://www.pzbs.pl/wyniki/turnieje/2016/pula/team/16pulamixmenleaderb.html


Saturday, September 03, 2016

Declan Donplayer amazes yet again

Last night I directed the Gala Pairs in Malahide. This is the annual season opening event. We had 39 tables after a couple of late cancelations. All went well and on departing Malahide Bridge Club about midnight I expected that was the end of bridge for the night.

I headed back to Rivervalley in Swords and parked up the car. Then over to Rivervalley Community Centre for a couple of Guinness. On entering the club I meet Declan the Donplayer. He gets a little excited and says "Eamon I need you to help me with something " ..

Now Declan is a local guy who learned bridge from scratch and who has never entered a bridge club as a player. He visited Malahide Regional one night for a look at how it all worked and kibitzed Maurice Quinn for a while. I taught him bridge in about 10 minutes one night and then introduced him to

http://bridge-now.com

For about the last 3 months Declan the Donplayer has been busy with his other pursuits of
catching trout , drinking , gambling , painting and decorating (his day job) , looking after his parents and his kids as well as playing the odd game of DON.

So it was quite a surprise to see Declan digging into his pocket and pulling out an Easons receipt with a bridge hand written on it.

QJx
Qxxx
AQJ
Axx

KTxxx
AKJxx
52
K

The above hands are in order from the top Spades Hearts Diamonds Clubs

1NT 2D
2H    2S
3H    4C
4D    4NT
5S     6H

I had a quick glance and said .. So you made 6H and you are showing me that you done Transfers and Cuebidding and Roman Keycard Blackwood and bid a slam .. OK well done

"No Eamon this was my opponents and I have no clue what they mean .. Yer man is bidding diamonds when he has spades + hearts  and the other lad is bidding HEARTS twice  with a 4 card suit. Then yer man bids that ACES gerber thing you told me and the other lad says I have NONE when he has 2. Then he does that Blackwood thing as he does not believe the GERBER ...so I have no clue what their bidding means.
However I got 14% and I want to know how these 2 dunce robots can bid a slam in 6H and not have any idea about bidding .... The only part they know is the No trump thing showing 15-17 points."

So I explained to Declan ..

1NT ... 15-17
2D ... a transfer to HEARTS
2H .. complete the transfer
2S .. presume shows HEARTS and SPADES and is forcing
3H .. Agree HEARTS
4C ... A cuebid in this case showing a shortage in Clubs
4D ... A cuebid in this case showing Diamond Ace
4NT ... Roman Keycard Blackwood asking for 4 aces and the Trump King as 5th ace
5S ....  2 of those 5 aces and also the Queen of trumps
6H ... Missing an Ace so lets stop in 6

So there we have Declan the Donplayers interpretation and my view of what the robots are showing.

Of course if I was bidding I would be transferring to SPADES first and I am surprised the robots did not do this as well. However Declan the Donplayer wrote down the hands and auction so I better believe him.

Now Declan is a strange character for bridge ... Anytime I mention bridge to Declan ..He gushes
"Eamon I love that game and I am delighted you accidently showed it to me one night. "

One night he said to me (after he had imbibed probably a couple of gallons of beer ) ... Eamon 2 people did something for me in this life ...

1. My uncle taught me fishing when I was a kid and I am still reeling in 2 pounder trout to this day ..

Eventually I took the bait as nothing was happening ...

"Declan ... ok the fishing is good and what did the 2nd person do for you ...

" Ah Eamon I thought you knew about the 2nd person ... "
"That's you and teaching me this bridge game that is so intriguing and changes on every hand"
"Eamon I am from Sheriff Street and nobody was playing bridge down there and I absolutely love this game "

So if people happen to use http://bridge-now.com one day they might see Declan McKenna

Declan has never played in a bridge club but he has scored above 52% some weeks on bridge-now.
This is a serious score for a chap who never went to a bridge class or a bridge club and learned from me about 2 years ago.

Actually I told an untruth ... Declan did go to a bridge class once .. Seamus Costello the well known North County Dublin player runs bridge classes in our community centre on a Wednesday night.
I told Declan to go down for a look some night .. Declan did ...

He met Seamus and had a chat and filled in when there was an odd number of players ..

However he came back and said ..

"Eamon those people are learning which side of the card is up ...they are starting from scratch ..
They don't know the concept of a trick or a trump or anything .... I have been playing cards for 45 years so its just not going to work with this learner trying to work out which side of the card has the good stuff printed on it"

I will just play the http://bridge-now.com
and fight the robots on http://bridgebase.com

And we are all good ...

I almost forgot ... The Easons receipt ... a non-bridge book

Religion for Living .. 24 euros 50 cents .... I did not realize Declan the Donplayer did religion.
You learn something everyday ... I thought .. Gambling Drinking Ladies and a little bridge online.

...................
Another chap who is past 60 and also a veteran of DON for almost 50 years played a few hands of bridge upstairs during a break in the DON game ... Afterwards and ever since ...Jimmy the Donplayer
gushes ..

"WHAT A GAME ... and tells anyone who will listen .... "100 times more complex than DON and also so easy to learn ...but I don't think I know 1% of it yet .."

And these are just 2 of the chaps I found in a small Swords boozer ...

There is also Shane who learned DON and BRIDGE and unblocked KQJx to defeat 6NT on the first bridge hand he ever declared .. However that's another story ...



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