Declan the Donplayer ACHIEVES

Late each Wednesday night up to about midnight the dunce with the laptop can be seen beavering away in the local community centre bar attempting to get his 70 hands played by the weekly closing time for Bridge Now.
http://bridge-now.com

About 4 years ago one of the local reprobates took an interest in this bizarre game of bridge as the locals call it. "That's an old dears game Eamon " they say ..
I reply .. "Lads we are old dears .. " ... as we are mostly past 50 and heading for 60 .. and beyond.

Anyway one of the major reprobates took a large interest in this game and this was Declan the Donplayer ...real name Declan McKenna .. painter decorator drinker gambler dancer singer .. you name it he does it ... father carer fisherman card cheat  and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,now bridge player.

Problem is Declan is different than most other bridge players ... He loves the game even though he has only set foot  in  a bridge club once. Everytime I meet him ... "Eamon I love this game and thanks for showing me" ...Now I am going to beat you ..

Of course I never believed him as I am a National champion several times ..and he is a 1 time visitor to a bridge club. It could not happen or could it ..

Early last week maybe around Monday or Tuesday ...I met Declan the Donplayer and he was indicating the time might be here .... He asks .. "How is your Bridge Now going this week"
As I was having a bad week and was chasing hard to reach 60% average ...I told him "Not too good but not bad enough that you will get near me .. " ... "We will see about that Eamon ... Declan is thinking about 62% this week ..... I thought he was messing but I had a doubt in my mind as   Declan the Donplayer loves this game and has progressed to scoring over 55% the odd week.

So to cut a long story short ...

Above is a screenshot from http://bridge-now.com

It shows several Irish players I have flagged as friends or people I know in real life who are all regular bridge players some good and some international and some lesser players.
Karl Cashen and BJ O'Brien are well known at the top of the Irish game.
Most of the rest are above average Malahide players .. The number on the left is placing out of just over 700 players this week.....so 56% got you into the top 200.
Sitting in 40th place for the week is a very proud Declan the Donplayer ...and even prouder Eamon Galligan who educated this player by answering his questions.

I met Declan the Donplayer last night and he was engrossed in the weekly game of DON but as soon as he lost a game and was sat out he was over to me .... "Eamon did you look at the ranking for last week .. Eamon did you look upwards and see Declan the Donplayer looking down on you"

So we agreed that each week for the foreseeable future I would spot him 10% and the winner gets a pint. Anyone who does not post a score loses that week. The secret is Declan only goes past 19 boards when he has a good head of steam up.
........................
Meanwhile we also have Shane Maxwell another bridge learner. Shane has visited Malahide Regional Bridge Club twice and does not believe in playing in the novice game .. or inter B game ..
Its straight in there with anything from 50 years experience downwards.
A few weeks ago Shane came to Malahide and got a bad trimming ...
I asked him .."Well how do you feel now " ... "I feel embarrassed " replies Shane ..

On the way home .. I asked him .. "Is there anything I can do for you from a bridge point of view"
Shane said nothing ... .

Nearing his home I asked again ..
Shane replies .. "There is actually .. Could you write out what my upbids mean ... "
Upbids says I ????

Turned out that in his world an upbid was a single raise or a double raise ...
like 1H P 2H .. or 1H P 3H ...

So next morning I duly emailed Shane a pdf of a bidding system ...

...................
Going back a little ... I taught Shane bridge in 15 minutes one night when he had a few beers on and now he has progressed to being able to play in some kind of way.
Last year I ran into Shane in the local beer club and we were discussing bridge and I was very confused by what he was saying.
Eventually I figured it out.

Way back on the night I taught Shane I told him about GAME bid bonuses ...but I only got as far as the 3NT or else he missed the 4H 4S ..5C 5D part ...
Shane was playing bridge for 2 years online thinking the 3 Level was game bid in every suit ..
ala 3NT is game ... It was quite a revelation for both of us ..

.................
Last week I met Shane again ... and he was talking about handicap points in bridge ...
I was totally lost again ...... A few days later I worked it out ...

HCP..... he understood it as HANDICAP POINTS ...he is a golfer ...
He knew it was 4321 for Ace King Queen Jack ...but nobody ever mentioned

HIGH CARD POINTS ...

Shane scores regularly on http://bridge-now.com   in the 39% to 49% range
He is not up with Declan the Donplayer yet but he also loves the game.
.....................................
So there you have it ... part of my life on the bridge periphery .. .

Shortly I am off to Malahide to demonstrate the dealing machine .... 10 people claim it does not work.  Last night I dealt two sets of 30 deals in 10 minutes each. The black clouds hovered over me but gradually they softened and turned white..

Dealing machine 1100 from http://www.jannersten.com/
is going like a bullet train ... sometimes the cards come out so fast they fly out the end of the machine. Several folk are doubtful if the machine is fit for purpose.
Galligan sits down and the motors start whirring and the cards fly into the card holders ...

The dark  clouds slowly turn a white shade of pale.

We also have a brand new Mark 5 machine and it also deals like a dream in Galligans hands but sometimes it pulls through 2 cards. However I think it needs some deeper thought.
Maybe there is more to this issue. Could someone be licking the cards or putting shaving cream on them.

Strangely enough Eamon Galligan and Tom Gilligan can work it fine ..

Anyway my robin is outside looking for some crumbs .... soon the squirrel will appear on the window looking for fruit or nuts

Its all go in Swords ..

UPDATE on Dealing machines ...

Mark 5 machine would only deal 1 card if any at all so it needed some tender care and attention.
Eventually it was persuaded to deal a few boards in a row. However it is now in the washing machine on a spin cycle. I need to learn how to clean it. I will get it back to the way it was when I took it out of the box brand new. However Andrew is not sure about the design.

I think it just needs a good cleaning and some daily maintenance.

Machine 1100 is still going like a rocket ..
Andrew dealt some boards this morning for Friday night .. He remains to be convinced though.
Andrew works on the statistics ..10 people cannot be wrong and 1 person right. The saga continues but the boards keep getting dealt.

Bridgez is a good practice website

Folks

Ye could do worse than playing the 16 board daily Bridgez tournament. Several well known Irish players partake from time to time. you get a monthly rating and various reports.

I got some good boards today. 

Meanwhile up in Donegal former Donegal bridge star almost won the Donegal Congress Teams.

Results on 

fob.ie

COYNE WINS CAMROSE 2017 Trials

The 6 man Coyne squad of Gay Keaveney Pat McDevitt Ciaran Coyne Peter Goodman Enda Glynn and David Walsh took the first and only prize in the Camrose Trials this weekend.

I think the prizes are a weekend in Belfast and another weekend in Gormanstown.

I might be playing the hands later in the year against my Jack robots to see if I can beat the Coyne team. However first I have to finish winning the Lady Milne trials. I am only in 7th place after 30 boards of the 150.

Congratulations to the Coyne team on their victory. We did tip them or Fitzgibbon as the winners
and we did indicate the 4 man team might struggle with stamina. A 6 man team gives the pairs a chance for a break and a chance to mentally refresh.

The Coyne weekend looked like a well planned operation. Play 2 sets and sitout. Then play 2 more and sitout and so on for all 3 pairs. The Keavney McDevitt pairing contributed 2.2 imps a board for the final 24 board match ...a decent run rate.

I notice the Phelan yacht went backwards fast as they moved into rougher waters after a fair  weather start. The bigger boats of the top end of the draw caused larger wash on Lake Templogue surface.

As a player who managed to gain entry to his first trials on a holding of 9 B points when Derek Stokes was retired from directing the trials. He offered me a chance to play and had enough B points for the 2 of us to gain entry. We placed 2nd last of a field of about 22 pairs. However the experience moved  me forward in bridge very quickly. I expect the same to happen for several of the newer Camrose trialists if they put in the work. You cannot pretend to be a bridge player.

An Inter B player from Malahide recently posed me a question

"Is Adam Mesbur any good at bridge "

He indicated that their paths crossed in a work related environment many years ago.

I indicated "good" would hardly describe it ... some other word several levels above ...

Camrose Trials 2017 Match 8.5

Meanwhile out in Templogue a shocked Fitgibbon quartet have started well in the 2nd stanza. Eamon sits here in Swords playing the daily Wbridge5 tournament.

http://bridgez.net:3002

Boards 4 and 5 yielded me a 95% and a 96% scores. This can also happen any pair in the Camrose Trials if the boards contain the imps and the pair contains the skills and knowledge.

Anyone want to take up the Daily Challenge on the above website. You can challenge legendary Army bridge player Elvis or top Northern Ireland star MrT2000 or the more ordinary eamongall.

Anyway back to http://fob.ie for the end of Match 8.

Fitzgibbon is on the move but running out of boards and still trailing by 2 imps to the SouthEast Warriors. However they have climbed back into 2nd place. However Coyne is still holding Onishuk at bay.
With 2 boards to go on Match 8 Coyne has reeled Onishuk in and its a draw. This means Coyne has also probably seen off all challengers. Mind you I think Coyne has still to play the rampaging O'Gorman squad who have as expected and mentioned in a previous issue of this blog come on strong.
Nah I got that wrong ....

The final round is Coyne v Ekman .. Fitzgibbon v Elvin .. Onishuk v O'Gorman
MacCormac plays Doyle and Phelan plays Donnelly in dead rubber matches.
An unlikely loss for Coyne and a large win for O'Gornan ..could see the rankings change.
Fitzgibbon also needs a large win after getting ambushed for a winning draw by Doyle.

However the Ekman team does not have the killer instinct required to trouble the vastly experienced Coyne team. The mainly Connacht based squad has recently signed up honorary Leitrim man Peter Goodman to the squad. They also managed to distract David Walsh from one of his other loves
http://lapteck.com/

He repairs and sells technology for Galway area geeks and ordinary folk who still use laptops like me in between the odd game of bridge.

Camrose Trials 2017 after Match 7 of 9

The final day of the Camrose Trials 2017 has just started. The main matches of Round 8 are Coyne versus Onishuk and a side order of Fitzgibbon versus Doyle. Fitzgibbon and Onishuk both need to score heavy in this match to reel in Coyne. However Coyne is a 6 player squad and their lowest scoring pair upped their run rate considerably yesterday. Strangely Onishuk have started the bumbling KK pair. Kelan volunteered a full VP of slow play on his partner in Match 7 allied to a 2 VP penalty for his phone going off during play. Phone are meant to be visible and turned off while bridge is in play. This is currently the biggest rule in trials bridge at the moment. Boland and McAulliffe have been playing very well for Team Onishuk but Kelan Karel have put in lots of work over the last few years. However they failed to fire in the recent Jim Cahill Premier Pairs held in October.
Meanwhile the unheralded and struggling South East team of Jim Doyle has jumped out to an unexpected  22-1 lead after 4 boards against the powerful Fitzgibbon team. All this points to Team Coyne placing first and being selected for the party in Gormanston in March.
However the Onishuk Clifford pair have a good scoring rate of 0.6 imps a board if they appear in the 2nd half.
Update after about  8 boards of Match 8

The South East Warriors have increased their lead against Fitgibbon to 30-3. This is a strange position for Team Doyle who have averaged less than 2.5 VPs per match so far. However its going to require a large turnaround for Fitzzgibbon to get back in contention. However there is no better pair in Ireland then Fitzgibbon Mesbur to grind down the opponents. These two players have enormous bridge skills and experience. Allied to the incredible ability of BJ O'Brien to find rabbits in hats and the solid if boring bridge of Ranald Milne one expects a comeback but we are now down to 16 boards to save the trials. After 9 boards Doyle has stretched the lead to 35-3. The outlier is here to sing it seems. Eventually Fitzgibbon runs out of boards. Only 16 boards left and 32 imps in the bin.

Meanwhile Onishuk is doing the business against Coyne and is within 5 VPS at this stage in the direct match.

A further but unlikely scenario is that Fearghal or someone unwittingly swopped the bridgemate.

Running scores at http://fob.ie
............
On a another item completely I took delivery of a new Mark V dealing machine for Malahide Regional Bridge Club, It looks like a cross between a Dealer4 and a Duplimate machine.
Declan Murray will love this one. We were using an early model of Duplimate for the last few weeks and it started to come into its own in the last week or so once we learned its strange ways.
I think the Mark V has a camera instead of a barcode reader but I only had a cursory glance.
........
Meanwhile I spotted a nice piece of software from Poland ..

http://bcalc.w8.pl/   a fine piece of kit for a nerd bridge player.

The programmer Piotr Beling even responded positively to my suggestion that his software could do with some PBN output script. After examining his output I guess I can make a script myself to create PBN files but Piotr indicated the next release might have PBN.
.......

Camrose Trials 2017 Half-time review

In the 2017 renewal of the Camrose Trials Onishuk powered by winning performances by Boland McAuliffe and Onishuk Clifford lead at the half-way point. Their 3rd pair Kelan/Karel have found the boards unsuitable so far.
Meanwhile Team Phelan is going well due to a powerful 0.69 imps per board from the Phelan household. One might note the presence of 6NT-1 on a hand that looks cold especially on the Club to Ace lead versus the Elvin team. However this is only 0.1 of the score. There is still 0.59 per board on
the rest of the boards. I better not play that pair for money. However they are going to need some pick up from their team mates to win the event. However the Phelan squad have been here before.

Team Coyne is also powering along with their top 2 pairs near 0.5 imps a board and their 3rd pair of Keaveney McDevitt is average so far.

Team Fitzgibbon powered by a surprising  0.55 imps per board collection from Ranald Milne and BJ O'Brien allied to the expected steady 0.3 imps per board of Nick and Adam are sitting comfortably in 3rd place. A small worry is what appears to be 2 time penalties of 0.5 VPs against presumably the more thoughtful side of the team. They shared the penalty with their opponents.

The Donnelly team made up of what appears to be most of the probably Junior Camrose team are motoring along in 5th place and well in contention. Synnott is past Junior Camrose age I think and I don't know about Gormally.

Team O'Gorman is strolling along at average pace in 6th place and that level of performance is not going to win the event. Still having to play 1st 3rd and 4th places so a decent pick up in performance could see them compete for the prize.

Further down Gilliland Whelan are finding the going tough but with team mates Connor and Doyle also below average nothing is being lost and good experience is being gained by all.

The Elvin team backboned by the elegant bridge player that is Peter Pigot and the "Art of Declarer Play" author Justin Corfield has struggled thru the first half. The arrival of Holland Cotter might help but that means either of the aforementioned elegant players are on the bench.

Ekman has suffered 2 heavy losses and two small wins don't make up for that. Both pairs are leaking 0,5 imps a board so are not going to win many matches.

The final team of MacCormac are struggling despite a Friday cameo by the well known chess player Paul Delaney. Delaney also owns some National Bridge titles. The 2 MacCormac pairs are underperforming compared to their normal level. I might challenge MacCormac mcMaugh to a money game at this rate.

All information is published on the Fearghal O'Boyle website. Last year while directing in Ballinasloe someone asked me if I was FOB.ie ..

The Trials continue in Templeogue Bridge Centre on Sunday and Monday.
Spectators are welcome.

http://fob.ie
has all the information and running scores ..

Camrose Trials Weekend

Today I noticed that the Camrose Trials are taking place for the 2nd Ireland Team in the 2018 Camrose Trophy. Team Moran is already pre-selected and I think that's a fair selection as they are playing well and working hard.
Now this weekends event looks like a good game of bridge.

I notice already that Wojech Gorchyca has morphed into Paul Delaney. Delaney is a pretty powerful player to bring in as a sub if such is the case. Delaney is also a sometime partner of Marcin. Maybe Delaney is on the team but just not listed on fob,ie.

So we have 10 teams in the battle ...I will rate the teams out of 1000 per team
I rated players on a sliding scale from 10 for the strongest players in the field down
to 1 for the least experienced.

1. Nick Fitzgibbon 775
2. Ciaran Coyne  733
3, Derek O'Gorman 600
4.Thomas McCormac 580
5,Anna Onishuk 575
6,Richard Elvin 517
7,John Phelan 425
8,Michael Donnelly 400
9.Stefan Ekman 325
10 Jim Doyle 225

So Eamon expects Coyne or Fitzgibbon to win but O'Gorman MacCormac or Onishuk could make
it if they perform to the best of their ability or if somehow they have added some recent bridge skills
thru training sessions. Fitzgibbon might suffer from Milne O'Brien stamina issues being a 4 man team. MacCormac seems to be using Paul Delaney along with his 4 named players.

I note the presence of 5 lady players in the event but only one in their regular lady partnership.
A leading Irish bridge columnist indicated the Jim Cahill Premier Pairs would have provided a good training session for the Lady Milne squad. Any Lady Milne squad pair could have entered Camrose Trials but there is only one pair. These Camrose Trials have most of the 12 Premier Pairs playing so is also a decent event.

Lets see how good my tipping is...

Live Camrose in running results are on
http://fob.ie

Lady Milne Trials Match 5 and 6

Sometime in the last week I must have played Match 5 of the Lady Milne Trials.

Board 11 saw 15 hcp opposite 8 hcp and a 5-4 spade fit and a singleton in each hand.
However 4 pairs did not get to the unbeatable 4S. This allowed me 4 imps against the datum of 320.

Board 13 saw 1 pair Jeannie Fitzgerald and Emer Joyce arrive in a delicate 4-3 4H contract which had no beating. 4H 5C and A of diamonds. The rest of us generally hung out in 3NT or 5C going down.

Board 14 saw me leaving out 1NT to the East West robots. One pair on this 20-20 hand reached the incredible contract of 3NT... Pender McDonagh.. Down 3 only cost them 3 imps. I mean 16 opposite 4 ...how does one arrive in 3NT.

Board 15 saw my robot opps bid a reasonable 4S which had no play and went 3 off for 150.
One of the leading ladies pairs stopped off to double Whelan and O'Donovan in 2H and then allowed
the top score of 200 EW to slip away and lost 670 and 11 imps. Most pairs dropping a couple of tricks in 4S.

Board 16 I gained 7 imps when I persuaded my robots to languish in 3S with 13 opposite 13.
6 clubs was the top spot but 5C up 1 was enough to gain 5 imps on the field. 4S was good too.
However 3NT was hopeless but Cotter Kelly were allowed make it. 2 others attempted 3NT and went down.

Board 18 saw me gain 5 imps in making 120 in 1NT. Incredibly Joyce and Fitzgerald stole away with 10 tricks in 3NT when there is no play for it. 7 tricks double dummy and they are gone off with 10 tricks.

Board 19 saw me lose 5 imps to my robots making 5Ds which is cold despite missing the AK and trumps. One unfortunate pair attempted 6C and this was not a success missing the AK diamonds and suffering a diamond ruff to boot.

Board 21 was a painful hand for me. The robots rolled home an easy 12 tricks in 4H and I lost 6 imps on the field despite 13 tricks available. The whole thing depends on picking off a doubleton Heart Queen. However 3 pairs went light in the 4S contract.

Board 25 the robots allowed me away in 4S when most of the field went down as expected.
Sometimes robots are generous. However I losr imps several times on nothing boards.

Finally on board 28 came the moment I was waiting for. Holding AKJx of spades my robot opponents bid to 2S and my partner backed in with a double. 

I decided passing 2S was a little risky so bid 3H. 

The robots pushed on to 3S and I was able to drop the hammer.

1    10 Joan Kenny & Teresa Rigney                   82.98
  2     3 Dolores Gilliland & Sandra Newell            75.68
  3     6 Anna Onishuk & Lucy Phelan                   74.54
  4    14 Valerie Burke-Moran & Ann O'Connell          72.78
  5    11 Aoife Mac Hale & Antoinette McGee            68.68
  6    12 Cathy Bearpark & Liz Ann O'Reilly            68.01
  7    17 Jack & Eamon Galligan                        65.84
  8    15 Jeannie Fitzgerald & Emer Joyce              64.11
  9     9 Marian Croke & Catherine Lonergan            63.30
 10     2 Eileen O'Donovan & Maria Whelan              58.66
 11     7 Betty Cotter & Jean Kelly                    56.54
 12    18 Jacky & Jackie                               54.16
 13     5 Liz Taaffe & Kathleen Vaughan                53.74
 14     1 Jill Kulchycky & Avril Whelan                51.11
 15     8 Hilary McDonagh & Gilda Pender               48.06
 16     4 Louise Mitchell & Maureen Pattinson          46.94
 17    13 Bernie Lodewijks & Mary Stanley              38.87

Still only in 7th place but chasing hard as I have to reach the number 1 position.
Still 90 boards to go I think ..

Lady Milne Match 4 ..board 7 killed me

I am just after finishing Lady Milne trials match 4 and thought I did pretty good although missed a few chances near the end on boards 9 and 10. However there are no mulligans allowed so we don't go back and replay any board.
On scoring up I find out I got killed on Board 7 where the Jack robots East West bid and made 4H against me. Going to look at this board now and see if I butchered the defence or it was a bad lead or what. I am losing 11 imps on the board against the Ladies datum. That's like half a match.
Just like the slam on board 30 of last match.

There is nothing I can do against 4H no matter how I defend.
Simple and maybe double dummy line of spade towards QT7 and playing 7
or running the 8 eventually set up the spades for a diamond discard. However we won't suffer on that simple line that works. Also after my 1!C opening and Heart King appearance any declarer is in good shape regarding the big cards..
Finally the line of play which would produce a fine burst of energy ...
There is some kind of guard squeeze which operates ..
On the run of the Hearts even after playing a spade to the 10 (a lesser play)
South gets squeezed out of his(in my case) 3rd diamond or 3rd spade..and the spade Queen is up for a diamond discard ...or the 3rd diamond in declarers hand grows up.
No problem Eamon loses 11 imps to the Ladies field ...

I guess Jack can play a bit of bridge ...

Somebody on 5H-2 ..Somebody in 4S-2 Two folk down in 4H.

Its just impossible to go down in this contract of 4H.

Eamon is the poor sod in the 17v 18 pairing losing 11 imps 

Playing the Lady Milne trials

I am currently playing the Lady Milne trials as North South using my Jack computer bridge program as partner and opponents. After 30 boards and thus 3 10 board matches I am holding down 10 place of the 15 pairs plus myself and the Jack pair. I lost heavily on board 30 where my Jack partner roared into a failing slam.

Oddly enough my robot found the Heart Queen lead and this left me in a making position
but playing honestly I tried for some sort of Spade King Heart Jack squeeze before taking the spade finesse and going down. Only one other pair ventured into the slam. I even told my robot NO HEART FIT AND NO CLUB FIT but there was no stopping it. Still if I had known a HEART QUEEN from Qx was possible I would have gained some imps instead of losing imps.
One working finesse can meant 15-5 win or 5-15 loss. Still I am ahead of 6 pairs after 30 boards.

1     6 Anna Onishuk & Lucy Phelan                   39.79
  2    10 Joan Kenny & Teresa Rigney                   38.44
  3     3 Dolores Gilliland & Sandra Newell            35.93
  4    12 Cathy Bearpark & Liz Ann O'Reilly            35.53
  5     9 Marian Croke & Catherine Lonergan            33.57
  6    11 Aoife Mac Hale & Antoinette McGee            33.05
  7     1 Jill Kulchycky & Avril Whelan                32.99
  8     2 Eileen O'Donovan & Maria Whelan              32.36
  9     8 Hilary McDonagh & Gilda Pender               31.10
 10    17 Jack & Eamon Galligan                        30.08
 11    18 Jacky & Jackie                               29.92
 12    15 Jeannie Fitzgerald & Emer Joyce              28.82
 13    14 Valerie Burke-Moran & Ann O'Connell          27.04
 14     5 Liz Taaffe & Kathleen Vaughan                26.17
 15     4 Louise Mitchell & Maureen Pattinson          23.28
 16     7 Betty Cotter & Jean Kelly                    22.21
 17    13 Bernie Lodewijks & Mary Stanley              21.72

invitational Pairs Sunday Indo article

Today in the Sunday Independent weekly bridge column John Comyn indicated the Jim Cahill Invitational Pairs would have provided suitable practice for this years Lady Milne squad. The top end of the Jim Cahill Invitational included several  European Class pairs (as opposed to World Class). Some of the players on the top 7 pairings could have claims to be world class but that is another argument for another day.
As this years Lady Milne squad involves 6 pairs is John really suggesting that all 6 pairs should have been invited or allowed entry in some way to the Invitational Pairs. At the bottom end of the Invitational Pairs we have Donal Garvey Pat Quinn Terry Walsh BJ O'Brien Karel deRaeymaker Kelan O'Connor. In Tier3 on the overall results we have John Carroll Mark Moran Wojciech Gorczyca & Marcin Rudzinski Eddie Fitzgerald & Michael McDonagh.

I don't know how to run a comparison but I would expect if 3 teams of the above mentioned 6 men played a 2 session teams event against the Lady Milne squads 6 pairs we would see a comfortable victory for the bottom half of the Invitational Pairs.

Some years ago we ran a weekend session where the Senior over 60s squad took on the Irish Open team in a 3 pairs versus 3 pairs training session. The Open Team won by average of 14-6 per match of 16 boards. That senior team included Adam Mesbur Nick Fitzgibbon Pat Barry Rex Anderson and I cannot recall off the top of my head if it was BJ+1 or the O'Briain brothers who filled the 3rd slot that weekend.

If the Lady Milne squad feel the need to check their strength against some opponents they could issue a challenge to for example The Regent Bridge Club or the Bankers Bridge Club. I suspect either of these clubs could field capable teams up for the challenge.

The above named 12 players would be who the Lady Milne squad would replace in the Invitational Pairs if it came to it. Some other capable pairs such as McMaugh MacCormac , the O'Briain brothers, Tommy Garvey John Phelan Diarmuid Reddan Rory Timlin Michael McGloughlin James Heneghan and a few Northern Ireland males and maybe a few Junior Camrose current players could also be considered for inclusion in the Invitational Pairs ahead of most Lady Milne squad members.

Recently the Lady Milne squad have been receiving some training from one Michael Byrne a fine English international player and coach of many English youth teams over the last decade or so.
This should enable a placing of at best 3rd to be achieved in the Lady Milne Trophy.
Currently Scotland and whatever combination England will send are too strong.

My only aim is to encourage all Irish teams to more training and dedication and eventually more successes at international level. The 2 recent Irish Open formations have had lots of success to a European extent. The Bermuda Bowl proved a "Bridge Too Far" in 2007 but getting there was an achievement in itself. I saw Thomas Hanlon's happiness at reaching that goal along with the rest of his team and NPC David Jackson. Paul Porteus even threw us a party at the Airport.

So to more Irish success and no more Lady Milne wooden spoons. We might win the Junior Camrose as well if we sneak up on England.

Ireland Invitational Pairs Session 1 extra

Yesterday in the Regent Bridge Club I witnessed some fine bridge plays. I saw Adam Mesbur bring home 2HX by enlisting some help from the opposition to take a finesse. I saw Nick Fitzgibbon deem a lad held JT8x in a side suit ...and play the suit for no loser. I saw Cian Holland roll home 3DX against Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon. It was unbeatable but one still had to make it with KQTx of trumps against you. Cian took about 7 minutes before touching a card at trick 1 ..making his plan.

Starting today Saturday October 7th we will have current leaders Ciaran Coyne and Donal MacAonghusa on one of the vugraph tables Play starts at 11am.

http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph/schedule.php

One can find the schedule by examining the above link.

http://www.fob.ie/

One can fnd the results above but might need to do a little work.

http://bridgewebs.com/regent/

One can find the venue here ....well at the above link ... or 25 Waterloo Road Dublin 4

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Irish invitational Pairs Session 1

Yesterday October 6th I attended the Irish Invitational Pairs organised by Jim Cahill and Ann Tuite.
This is a fantastic event but one has to be quite good at bridge to make the roster or else own a good partner.
Today we played 64 boards and we vugraphed 2 tables all day.
Not too many spectators turned up on site but that meant more of the wonderful sandwiches for the lads. I had no need to go for any chipper or anything all day. oranges cups of teas fantastic sandwiches and loads of chocolate things and grapes too .

www.fob.ie
has all the results but focus on the one that mentions 64 boards .. .

Tomorrow Saturday we have a full day ... at least 64 boards .. .
Sunday we have whatever is left of 176 boards .. maybe 44 boards ..
Spectators are welcome all day .... Come in and have a look.

Venue ... Regent Bridge Club ..

Regent Bridge Club has been the Premier Bridge Club in Ireland for as long as I can remember..
and maybe Declan Byrne the club manager have nurtured that ... He has a tough job negotiating
all those club members and now Declan has to negotiate Academy members too.
Younger but braver maybe

Anyway here in the Premier Invitational Pairs ...I saw this board ..

Now a couple of great bridge players expressed horror when they spotted this result.

They were expecting a fine score for making 5D doubled .. .but noted 2 episodes of 6D making on the board. The general indication was IMPOSSIBLE ..

However Thomas Hanlon made it ...

Now any old dunce knows that only other dunces bid slam off 2 cashers .. 

so slam off 2 cashing Hearts and you got KQx of clubs is serious ..

So you get serious and win a HEART trick and you bang out King of Clubs.

How bad can it be ...dummy has one HEART ...so do something ..

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

Anyway some heroes decided to bang a LAZY HEART ...

and HANLON done the squeeze ...same way as Eamon would have done it ..

Eamon loves squeezes ...and this might be a PUN ////

The legendary Charlie Cullen ...former Regent member and partner of Joe Walshe...

carried a battered and torn copy of CLYDE LOVE squeezes in his pocket.

Eamon also owns a copy but my copy is cleaner and less torn.

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

KING of Clubs ...break that looming SQUEEZE ...

because you don't want Hanlon doing you like SEABISCUIT .....

or maybe it was HMG2 ....the lad who used to have 4 books of KELSEY squeezes in hard back on his FERMOY bedroom floor back in late 80s ... I saw them there ..

Ireland Premier Pairs 2017

Next weekend we hold the Ireland Invitational Premier Pairs event in the Regent Bridge Club at 25 Waterloo Road Dublin 6. 12 of Irelands top pairs have been invited to play in this prestigious event.
The event is  sponsored and organised  by Jim Cahill and Ann Tuite respectively.

http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph/schedule.php

Check the above link for vugraph and playing times thru the weekend.

Mark Moran & John Carroll

Tom Hanlon & Hugh McGann

Adam Mesbur & Nick FitzGibbon

Eddie Fitzgerald & Michael McDonagh

Peter Goodman & Mike Pownell

BJ  O'Brien & Terry Walsh

Wojciech Gorczyca & Marcin Rudzinski

Donal Garvey & Pat Quinn

Ciaran Coyne & Donal MacAonghusa

Rex Anderson & David Greenwood

Gay Keaveney &Cian Holland

Karel de Raeymaeker & Kelan O'Connor

Above the list of players ...All of them quite good at bridge. 

We plan to vugraph 2 tables to the outside world and will run a vugraph

room downstairs in the Regent. All are welcome to attend and watch.

Friday October 6th 2017 .. 

12:00-13:30	Session 1 of 11 (2 tables)	12 boards
14:00-16:00	Session 2 of 11 (2 tables)	16 boards
16:15-18:15	Session 3 of 11 (2 tables)	16 boards
19:30-22:00	Session 4 of 11 (2 tables)	20 boards

Scoring is matchpoints throughout. 

Bermuda Bowl in progress in Lyon France

Meanwhile out in France the various World Bridge championships are in progress. Ireland has no teams qualified for this prestigious event. In order to qualify a team has to be in the top 6 or 7 countries in Europe and that is beyond Ireland at the moment. It was also beyond England and Poland so that's how tough it is.
However despite not being present at this fantastic event I took the opportunity to take on the Worlds best by downloading the BBO files for Match 1 of the event. BBO provides vugraph coverage so I was able to download files from 8 matches across Ladies Open and Senior.
I joined the 8 files together giving me about 8 replays of each board. I then used Jack bridge program to make an imps pairs tourney and sat down to play with my Bessie partner Jack.
16 boards later after a bright start I lost heavily on 2 boards and ended up on minus 5 imps.
This is not so bad as the legendary Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth were 2 imps behind me.
Brown and Brock the great English ladies pair were on plus 6 imps thus 11 imps ahead of me.

Other software programs can also be used to do the same job as far as I know.

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

Meanwhile there is also 

http://bridge-now.com

or 

http://bridgez.net:3002/

Finally if you go on 

http://bridgewinners.com 

you will find links to the World Bridge Championships pages and bulletins.

Bray Bridge Congress Sept 01 2017 ..Go there to play bridge

Greystones and Bray were my first 2 places of residence when I was very young.

Sunbeam Cottage Greystones  beside the railway and near the beach.

Bray Congress 2017
Friday 1st September to Sunday 3rd September
Royal Marine Hotel, Bray

This event will not be possible without our sponsor Revive Active!
Please visit the Revive Active! site for a brief 20 second survey to retrieve your discount code.

http://info.reviveactive.com/revive-active-surevy-1

Last year, our Congress sold out, so get your entries in to
Anne Daly 086 2596889 or

braybridgeclub@gmail.com

Friday 1st September
7.30pm Mixed Pairs
7.30pm Gala Pairs
7.30pm Intermediate B Pairs
7.30pm Novice Pairs

Saturday 2nd September
1pm Congress Swiss Pairs (2 sessions)
1pm Intermediate A Pairs (2 sessions)

Sunday 3rd September
11am Congress Swiss Teams (2 sessions)
11am Intermediate Teams (2 sessions)

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

Currently I am playing the Bermuda Bowl hands. I make tourneys for Jack from the BBO records.

If anyone wants them send email to eamongalligan@eircom.net

 That's after 9 boards of Match 1 of round robin. Levin and Weinstein are beating me so far.

However I am beating Fiona Brown and Sally Brock so I would have good chance in Womens event.

Bridge-Now ratings to August0217.. Dublin Summer Congress

Folks
Here are the ratings calculated from http://bridge-now.com up to August 02 2017.
A 2% decay is included for anyone missing a week. Also it takes several weeks of play to build up
a rating from the 1500 points starting point. The formula includes a small adjustment for number of boards played and also bases improvements on current rating. Thus a 1400 player scoring 65% on 70 boards will increase more than a 1900 player scoring same 65% on same amount of boards.

So the image above has the top 130 players or so of 1800 who have played sometime this year.
About 750 folk play 20+ boards each week.
The Great Mullall has dropped out of the rating list due to lack of dedication to the cause.
Declan the Donplayer remains with plenty of work to do on 1444
Shane the Unblocker is further back on 1333.
Great Mullall is on 1676 and decaying at 2% per week.
The magical BJ O'Brien suffered a 49% week and missed a week also to decay his rating somewhat but he will return to the upper echelons shortly no doubt.
BJ won the bumper prize in the recent Dublin Summer Congress Home Instead sponsored Bridge Congress Pairs. Nobody was ever going to defeat the star pair of Adam Mesbur and Michael McGloughlin. Thus I term 2nd place as the bumper prize.
Links to all Dublin Summer Congress events are at
http://fob.ie 
and this link sends you to Diarmuid Reddans Bridgewebs for some results.
................
Some world bridge championship starts shortly in Lyon France. 
I will watch out for Australia Open Team as I made them some hands for bidding practice.
The Mark Moran led Irish Open Team will also participate in the Transnationals.

.................
Meanwhile the well known bridge teacher Thomas MacCormac is on tour in Omaha. 
Look on Facebook for "Great American Bridge Tour" and you will find information about the gang Thomas travels with. 
https://www.yabberz.com/post/between-countries-the-great-american-bridge-tour-heads-to/87643655/?highlight=87643655


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

Thomas Hanlon exits Spingold in wooden box

Early this morning Irish time a battered and bruised Thomas Hanlon was placed in a wooden box after being exited from the Spingold. Poor chap did not even make the finish line.
However his team provided great entertainment and went 3 matches deeper than expected of an original 17th seed.
Early on we noted a lad signing off in 4S and 2 rounds of bidding later same lad on the same board launches into 7S. Something went wrong with the bridge algorithm.
I did not watch all of the match but reports indicated that most of the 6 members of the Mittelman team produced some howlers ...
Here is a screen grab of the 3rd stanza where Team Diamond was nailing down the coffin lid.

All hands and records can be found on BBO vugraph project.
http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph_archives/vugraph_archives.php

Meanwhile out in Westmanstown the elderly gentlemen destroyed their field in the Rory Egan Congress Pairs. Well done to Adam Mesbur and Michael McGloughlin.
A near 70% first session set them up for a good dinner and a second session of 62% was enough
to gather in the shillings. The legendary BJ O'Brien was in a distant 2nd place with his partner David Jackson keeping the stats.
Meanwhile another Irish player Thomas MacCormac is these days attending many US Nationals.
This is a great game to be attending. More Irish should go to a US National.
If interested talk to Thomas as he would know all relevant details and issues to sort out.
Sometimes a lesser player needs a waiver to enter the big USA events and stuff like that.

Today the Kieran McGarry Memorial Teams event take place in Westmanstown.
I recall seeing Kieran and Rory Egan on Prime Time marching into the Red Cow to confront
an alleged scammer back in the days when scams were only beginning. Kieran also was heavily involved in the physical end of recent Dublin Summer Congresses in CityWest.
Those tables and all the other equipment don't put themselves out or put themselves away.
Kieran was also a very capable player at times. Kieran won 3 Wednesdays in a row in the Regent back in the day and at that time even one victory in the Regent Wednesday night game for a non-international was an achievement.

All results and running scores at
www.fob.ie

My understanding is that Rory Egan leads the group that organises this Dublin Summer Congress.
In the Congress Teams its hard to look behind the Mesbur Fitzgibbon powered BJ team or the Goodman team both of which are pretty power packed.

One also notes the presence in the Pairs and Teams field of the well known bridge teacher Peter Pigot junior. One understands he runs some good bridge seminars. I presume he has a website somewhere.

...............
Just to be clear ..Hanlon reaching the semi-final of the Spingold is a massive performance.
Especially given he was not in a team of all professionals.
Thomas partnered Leslie Amoils from Toronto and this is not the same as when operating in his 30 year partnership with Hugh McGann or if partnering another bridge peer.
The problem is to be counted as a winner of any major event a player has to play 50% of the boards.

The 30th anniversary of the Hanlon McGann marriage must be coming up shortly.
.

Thomas Hanlon arrives in Spingold semi final

Early this morning Irish time ... like at about 430am the Mittelman NPC team qualified for the Spingold semi-final in a nail biting finish to their Spingold quarter final.

Having started out with 3 double digit losses on Boards 1-3 many hours before and thus trialing by about 34 imps to 0 Team Mittelman got the train rolling and trundled along into a 6 imps after 54 boards of 60. Board 25 (55) saw Zia take the low road in 3S and making 12 tricks ... 5 imps to Hanlon and a lead of 11 imps. Board 26(56) saw Hanlons team mates make 2NT+1 and Hanlon was allowed declare 2C... Hanlon played well to guide home 9 tricks and another 6 imps in a double part score swing leaving Hanlon ahead by 15.

Board 27 looked like an action hand

1H from Zia and Hanlon found 2H michaels and after long thought Les Amoils left him play there.
Hanlon played like BJ O'Brien and steered this home for another 2 imps ..
Now leading by 18 imps ... the end of the tunnel was in sight and some much needed sleep for myself ,,Michael O'Kane and I understand Rory Boland was watching on the big screen down in Carrick. This was past 4am Ireland time ..

Board 28 landed on the screen ...

We expected Hanlon in Heat 4 at the moment to steer this hand safely into the 6NT port.
However the bidding took unusual turns ..

2C 2D
2N 3D
3N 4D
4H 4N
5S 6H

And they were in the wrong slam ...
What went wrong ...
Did 3NT throw Amoils
Did Hanlon think 4D was retransfer
Why did Hanlon answer 4NT in HEARTS Keycard
Did Hanlon think he had told his 2 card HEARTS story with 3NT

Anyway 6H had to go 1 down and the lead shrank to 4 imps with 2 boards to go.
Board 29 was a push in 2S ...Still 4 imps ahead ..

And the final board of this fascinating battle hit the table in both rooms. At this stage I was logged in twice on the web based BBO and the old client ..Upmark in the West seat put the DOUBLE on 4S by our team mates .. This was booked for 2 off and 300...and the Diamond 9 was tracked.
Meanwhile in our room Amoils passed as dealer and Zia Jansma arrived in 4S unmolested ...
This was booked for down 2 .....same D9 was tracked ...

Neck and neck ...it looked like a 1 imp loss for Hanlon ...

However both Wests contributed the Queen and the Diamond RUFFS were GONE ...
plus 100 for Upmark and plus 50 for Hanlon ...
2 imps swing ...

Hanlon and Mittelman NPC survive to fight in the Spingold semi finals ...

......................
Now eventhough the Spingold is one of the 3 Main Annual ACBL events ...many of the teams feature a lesser player who hires 4 or 5 stronger players to help him win one of these prestigious events.
These lesser bridge players are generally very high performers in their workplaces and businesses but have not spent the time to reach expert in bridge. However they allow bridge professionals a living.
I guess its like an investment in Bridge but otherwise playing bridge all over the world would be too expensive for many bridge proffessionals.
All of these lesser players have a great interest in bridge and are very capable players but just not the extra piece that the proffessionals have. Thus many professionals in these client partnerships seem to do what looks like bad plays but usually these "bad plays" can be connected to a carding error or bidding error by the client. Real small things to the ordinary bridge player throw a professional off much easier. It might be the play of a 7 instead of a 6.
Also the lack of long hours of partnership practice are lost to the professional so his or her regular partnership agreements are gone.
Thus a del Monte or a Hanlon might look to have done something stupid as they are not playing with their regular partners of 20 plus years. Hanlon might have presumed he had told his story with 3NT and thus Amoils must have 6 card hearts to insist on HEARTS..
Now Les Amoils in a damn good player and has played for South Africa in Bermuda Bowl I think ..
He seems to be Hanlons partner at the moment for North American Bridge events.
Del monte partners Bercuson who I had not come across before but that's due to my lack of attendance of NABCs since the last time in 2007 in San Francisco.

Anyway well done to the Mittelman team ...so far ... The Diamond team is a ferocious opponent though.

When I was in San Francisco I was out on a smoke break outside the Marriot and I was George Mittelman in a group of bridge players. They were approached by a beggar guy and as George searched for a small note ...he dropped a 10 dollar bill and quick as a flash the beggar guy bent down and made off with it ....gleefully thanking Mittelman as he moved quickly away ...
Mittelmans bridge friends clapped him on the back and indicated ... Thanks Mitt ..you paid for all of us or something like that. November 2007 that was...

I have been asked why is Mittelman NPC ... The answer is I don't know ..
Maybe its just cos he is from Toronto ..
Mittelman used to partner a young Fred Gitelman ... they were known as THE MEN.

NO OFFENCE is intended to any Hanlons or others mentioned in this article.

Thomas Hanlon v Nickell

Early this morning ...as early as 440am myself and Michael O'Kane from Northern Ireland witnessed a treat of bridge. Our man Hanlon plus 5 took on the bridge juggernaut that is number 1 seed Nickell who featured Meckstroth Rodwell Levin and Weinstein... arguably the greatest foursome ever assembled at bridge.

Stanza 1 Mittelman got our to an early lead of about 40 imps ...57 plays 16
Stanza 2 Mittelman added to that lead to build I think a 90-17 lead but lost some late imps to lead by 47 at the half ..
Stanza 3 .. Nickell powered back with a 53-5 set to lead by 1

Stanza 4 is above  ..

You can find it here
http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph_archives/vugraph_archives.php

Some great bridge in there .. Really worth a look ..

Now maybe some will say Team Hanlon played in luck .. but you need an awful lot of luck to defeat
a power packed team of bridge legends.

Also bridge at the table is not as straight forward as replaying a vugraph later.

................
Its like the tennis ... Wimbledon looks serene ...two lads batting a ball over a net ...
However that ball travels at something past 100 mph but TV gives no indication.

Sometimes in Fitzwilliam when I am bridge directing I see ordinary decent tennis players playing and I am shocked at the speed of the ball.
Yesterday I stopped for a look ... Some lad Barry from Ireland was playing a Storrie guy from England. This was not Wimbledon ..

1 chair umpire
2 end of court umpires ...one of who doubled as scoreboard operator.

The Irish lad served and added a shout to send the ball on its way.
The end of court umpire had to mind himself as that ball came hard and fast.
The umpire has nowhere to go ..he is up against the boundary wire.
No ball boys here or soft towels between games.
Nobody picking up the balls ...the players themselves did that.

It went 15-0 30-0 40-0 and game Barry who leads 5-3 ..
Then it was 5-4
and by the time I got upstairs to move the boards ..it was all over .. 6-4 to Barry and 2-1 win.

Now the Wimbledon lads probably are hitting 30% faster than last night ...
It is something like trying to catch a golf ball hit by a driver.

Meanwhile on the next court a large crowd was watching in the gallery between the courts.
My guess is Simon Carr son of legendary Dublin GAA captain was playing ..
I did not venture down there as it was a little far from the bridge room.

Sometimes the bridge is played in a room that opens out into the stand and I can watch more easily but last night there was a meeting in progress until near 11pm so I could not access the stand.

Still the lad called Sam Barry was picking up tennis balls 12 inches away from me as this non-tennis player had a look. I saw Phil Collins in the Aviva I think ... he was about a quarter mile away in a wheelchair.

I was also watching the early stages of the above vugraph as well and moving the boards in the bridge room.

Hanlon+5 make Spingold last 16

Last night or early this morning Irish time Irelands apparently finest bridge player reached the last 16 of the Spingold Vase. The Spingold is arguably one of the strongest events of the bridge calendar.
This year 102 teams hit the dance floor and at least 90 of those teams would win or go very close in the Holmes Wilson.
The multi championship winning Monaco team with Helness and Helgemo and Christy Martens on board got ambushed before the main event even took off. Seeded 14 they ran into a JOLLY team seeded 93rd. However JOLLY was kind of decent featuring 4 of the best American juniors including some Rosenberg prodigy. So it was goodbye Team Monaco probably the heaviest funded bridge team in the world.
Anyway back to Hanlon .... and a bid I found disagreeable.

Anyway this match was on vugraph and myself and Declan the Donplayer were nearing the end of our few late pints in the local speak easy. Declan having learned the bridge and got the bug always keeps a passing eye on my laptop just in case some transfers or other might appear.
I had pointed out to Declan about Hanlon up top being the best player in Ireland and I headed off to the loo. On my return for the final board of the set Declan greeted me .."Eamon are you sure this is the best bridge player in Ireland" .. I said "Oh yeah " .. Declan the Donplayer replied .." Well if I painted like he is bidding on this hand then I would not get many decorating gigs"
I had a look and I said ... "That's not too good .. Passing 4DX seems normal.
"Yes " says The Donplayer ...and he might even turn vulnerable by the end of the hand ..
"Eamon how does that vulnerable work anyway ?? Is it like the power play in cricket ? "

Anyway there goes Hanlon bidding 5 Clubs and going down for a flat board ..
The Donplayer who has only twice attended a bridge club recommends PASSING..

Partner is a passed as dealer hand and we have a 13 count. Well 15 but if our Diamond Queen is not eaten up then even more reason for passing as we get some uncounted TRUMP tricks.
However no doubt yer man will ask some of his expert buddies and they will all pat him on the back for lulling the other team into a false sense of security. However it beats me .. One down is normally good bridge.

Mind you one also notes the loss of 23 imps for not bidding on ...both doubled in other room but its 2 missed games and some imps could have been saved. Several ways to save some imps on boards 26 and 27 for Hanlon table.

However TONIGHT from 5pm we might get the chance to watch again .. 5pm 7pm and later midnight and 2am approx.

"Eamon I am from Sherriff Street .. I got baptised 9 times ..3 times as a girl .."

Anyway later on in the small hours Irish time when the pub was long closed Team Mittelman backboned by Thomas Hanlon won the final 2 sessions and qualified for the last 16.

I expect Nickel versus Mittelman to be on vugraph this evening but depends on the voting for the matches. Also if not on vugraph at the start then it depends on the players as North American vugraph folk put on the closest matches for sessions 2 3 4 ..

Anyway no matter who is on vugraph ... www.bridgebase.com and make an account and watch some great live bridge with 96 of the best players in the world in action ...including Westmeaths own Thomas Hanlon.

Hanlon is on the bottom right team .. Mittelman NPC. Seeded 17 and they will play the Number 1 seed Nickell in the next round. Last year we had the Irish juniors play Nickell in a similar event called the Vanderbilt. The Irish juniors failed to get over the line but they stayed to the end and were still running on after the last board .. However it was in the next field.

https://bridgewinners.com/     plenty of information on this and many other events on the site to the left.

Now its time to bring the dog for my 10000 steps

Might get to see a little Irish Open Tennis tonight in Fitzwilliam .. I direct the bridge in Fitzwilliam most Thursday nights and normally the bridge room opens up to the GODS seats in the stand.
Last year I saw Tommy Carrs son Simon play a match.

An Irish U26 attempts 3NT and gets doubled..

/Earlier this week I mentioned the minus 2200 I suffered and the whispering death across the table quietly mouthing DONKEY.. Well today I log in to check on the broken Irish U26 squad.
I knew they were playing the Netherlands and I knew a good trimming was coming ..

However on board 13 shown above .. the Irish North South figured 3NT was going to be a good contract so they bid it. Meanwhile the Dutch E/W were also figuring 3NT was a good place to play so they doubled it.

 2 East West pairs did attempt 3NT but only managed 8 tricks ...

Our brave Irish lad made THREE ......

Em tricks for MINUS 1700...

Now there could be an explanation ....maybe it was state of the match ...after all they were 40 imps behind at this stage ...so maybe trying for a swing ..

...............
One time in Irish Camrose Trials back in 2005 ..playing against the exempted team .. the heavies ...too good to play in the qualifiers .... My solid partner opened 1H and I held like a 2H response with 3 card hearts and 7 points ...
The exempted opposition regarded us disdainfully and bid 3NT ..which I chose to double..given my partner never opened with less than 13 hcp. and I had 7.
The more adjusted opponent tried to extract themselves into a 4 minor contract with his 55 via a redouble  but the partner was all out for blood attended by his two kibitzers ...one Mary Finn and one Fionnula who sometimes plays with the incredible BJ O'Brien.
The opponent managed to make THREE .....em TRICKS ...so that was 3400 ...6 off redoubled ..

I let them off the redouble to save embarrassment and breaking of the scoring system.
Reality is I forgot so only entered 1700 on the sheet ...was minus 170 in 2H+2 in the other room.

So 3400 or 1700 or 2200 need to be in the IN column ..

The Irish U26 strike back eventually

Having watched the 20th place Estonia dominate Ireland U26 this morning I departed my computer as they got ready to tackle Greece ..another 20th place team. Unfortunately Ireland got dominated again by this seemingly equal opponent. 18.5 VPs to 1.5 VPs.

So Ireland moved on to face a tougher team TURKEY.

Ireland got out to a 44 imp lead on first 10 boards.

Board 1 was 5DX which is cold versus 1NT making 9 .... 9 imps
Board 2 .. Turkey were a trick short in 6S v 4S both making 11 .. 12 imps
Board 4 .. Turkey declared 2NT on a 28 count holding while Ireland made the 4H game ..

So taking a tennis analogy looks like 3 severe unforced errors

Then board 8 sees the Turks tackle Irelands 4-3 fit 2S 16 count partscore and only get it
one off ... Ireland did have a 9 card Club fit they could have tried but guess they got tipped off
in the bidding that Clubs were breaking badly.
Ireland make the 24 count 4H contract that many other tables seem to be getting home in.
However it is no gimmee. Although I guess there are only 3 trump losers on a good view.

So after 10 boards its Ireland 44 Turkey 8 and not much bad weather approaching

....................
Lets go back live and see how last 4 boards go

Board 11 and 13 were flat

Board 12 saw Ireland lose 6 imps for gaining 200 for 2 off ...and losing the 4H game of 420.
One would think doubling 4C might be a good option if you are not chancing 4H.
Its plus 2 imps instead of 6 out ....8 imps swing

The final board is 14 ... one presumes Ireland will take this match with a victory

Danger lurks here ...one might bid a slam and go down on a weak club play.

17 VPs to 3 at the moment but various good and bad possibilities on board 14

1. Miss game
2. Bid slam
3. Make slam
4. Go down in slam

And we wait ....quick check on vugraph ..it is hardly on there

The long wait is over ...They probably forgot to enter score in bridgemate ..
No swing ...

17 VPS for IRELAND under 26 ... Glad I could bring good news ..

As before

http://www.eurobridge.org/ and go to Microsite for all information and results 

Watching the European Youth Teams hurts

This morning I was up early to put out the bins as its not good to miss the bins. So I put out 2 bins full of rubbish. So I was happy that was the end of the rubbish.

Decided to play Wbridge5 16 hands daily FREE tourney while waiting for Junior Bridge to start.
I play this somedays with the target of finishing ahead of the best player in Malahide. Most days I finish ahead but I always want to put 10% on him ...just so he knows ..

Today I managed about 9% win ...

Then the bridge started .. playing 20th and 21st today the lad says

Well the 20th place team is currently leading Ireland U26 by 70 imps after 8 boards ..
That's like when I used to come up against Pat Walshe Rory Boland  Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon all on same team in Regent Leagues. Maybe Nick was not playing that night ..It might have been Hanlon. Galligan Delaney Karel Anna got chewed up and spat out.

But this is our Great New Bridge hopes getting chewed up by Estonia ..

Board 2 was a 20 count facing a 6 count and our lads play in 3H+1 ..
They only have a 4-3 fit so 3NT is normal

Board 3 is a 3NT where there seems to be no play except wide open .. 3-3 diamonds and a heart finesse plus 3-3 break giving 4 Hearts 4 diamonds and spade ace ...There is no other line but our lad
finds a DOWN 2 line ..

Board 4 . 16 hcp opposite 10 hcp ... our lad is the only outlier .. the only lad to declare 1NT
The other 25 tables all declare 3NT ... as do all the grandpas and grandmas in bridge clubs across the country.... that's any bridge club ...even the one in the far west of Galway ..that always wins the Simultaneous Pairs ..

Board 5 .. and its not getting any better .. our lads choose to defend 2DX despite having a 4-4 spade fit ...4S is no gimmee so would forgive declaring a spade part score ...but minus 180 in 2D is not going to please teamies .. At least it did not cost much as Teamies lost 620 in 4S.

Board 6 ... if left alone North South might do the transfer to clubs and superaccept into 3NT but that's hardly going to be left alone as East West have a large diamond fit so will be competing in diamonds or might even find a 4-4 heart fit for some part score
Our lads paid out on 3NT in one room and 5 clubs probably a sac in the other room

6 boards gone and the score is 55-1 and growing ...this Irish team are broken ..

Board 7 .. brings some peace and fresh air ...we only lose 3 imps for down in 3NT in both rooms.

Board 8 .. Minus 760 ... and the opps have a 5-5 spade fit ... 1NT redoubled ...the excitement continues ... "We are playing the 20th place team resounds in my brain ..

Board 9 .. and Estonis are not finished yet .. .they have no choice but to smack 5 clubs
and when the fire is put out ...that's minus 800 ....83-1 after 9 ...

Board 10 brings a double part score swing .. some other tables even bid game in spades ...
It kind of makes on good lies in the cards .. lose 7 more imps .. so score is 90-1

Board 11 our lads begin the comeback ... 4 imps in the bag ... 5 plays 90 ..

Board 12 ... our lads make 3NT in Open Room ... Maybe the Estonians will go in 6 or 7 clubs going down ...We will see ... This match is still in play at board 12 ....

We will have a quick look at our other 2 teams ...

The Under 21s are battling in a 17 team event and its not going well. However this is a much less experienced squad than the aforementioned Under 26 squad. The U21s are here for experience.
The U26 had reasonable hopes of making the top half. However we need to be very aware that European U26s is a high level of bridge.. much higher than Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer.

Our 3rd team are the Under 16s and again its an experience thing here too.
Ireland and Scotland are the whipping boys or "girls" in our case here.
We got our victory against Scotland ...and a 28-39 loss to the Netherlands could almost be counted as a win as Netherlands never send out bad teams in any bridge event.

...
So congratulations to all Irish participants as these are tough events to go to and find out some more work is required to even be competitive.
Its like Cavan GAA team going out last Saturday against Tipperary ... Half Time arrives and Cavan lads are leading 0-12 to 0-6 ... and Northern Sound commentators are gushing in their praise of these great Cavan lads .. Some lad making his debut called Caoimhin O'Reilly is getting great praise ... he scored 2 points I think is the first half ....Nobody noted the Tipperary lad hitting the crossbar just before half time... Those Cavan lads must have gone in the dressing room and listened to Northern Sound. I brought the dog for a walk as I counted my winnings ...
Came back with 7 minutes left to find ....Tipperary 2-13 ... Cavan 0-13 ... These great players had managed to score 1 point in 30 minutes of play ... while Tipperary banged in 2-7 ...
Meanwhile Northern Sound commentators were long gone ...they were over commentating on Monaghan putting 3-23 past Wexford ...

The Cavan lads thought it was over at half time ... Someone forgot to tell the opponents ..
Once you start going backwards ..things speed up ..

So with trepidation one will return to the Estonian Ireland U26 bridge match

Yes the 6 clubs forcast came through ...and Ireland banged in 28 imps to finish on a high.
However the damage was done earlier ...and the result remained 20-0 loss.
90 imps plays 29 ... I think one starts getting points at around 55 imps or lower.

The Irish Under 26 did well to gain some traction in the last few boards.
28 imps is a nice collection but no use in this match except to recover some confidence.

.............
So its Greece next for our recovering heroes ...

http://www.eurobridge.org/
All information and boards and results can be found at the above link by going to the Microsite.

www.bridgebase.com
Play of several matches can be watched live on Bridge Base Online ..
One is unlikely to see any Irish teams as normally they show leading teams playing other
leading teams ..