2017 Lady Milne this weekend

This weekend somewhere in Wales we have the Lady Milne Trophy for the championship of the British Isles. You can find a link to the event via the English Bridge Union website.
http://ebu.co.uk

Once you head over to the Welsh site you will find links to Fearghal O'Boyles website and also to Ian Mitvhels website as well. Fearghal will be posting live running scores from the event.

On the playing side there are 2 events .. England versus Scotland for the main championship and Wales WBU NIBU and Ireland for the 3rd place spoon. Scotland and England are just far too strong for the other 4 teams due to training and dedication allied to a better level of bridge skill.

I think it was last year in Northern Ireland that Scotland finished the event on the first night with a 20-0 thrashing of England .. Needing steady results against 2x NIBU WBU and CBAI ..the event was well over. England did recover to take a distant 2nd place. This year the English include Fiona Brown fresh from her Ireland Moylan Cup victory with eagle eagle eagle finish on the last 3 boards as Garve Hanlon double bogied the final board. Garvey Hanlon ran into the normal non regular partnership problem of 1 thought this and the other thought this so Hanlons overbid was deemed Garveys underbid leading to a 3NT that even Sean O'Lubaigh would not think up as a psyche. Down 3 despite a defensive penalty card.

Hopefully this year for the first time in living memory the NPCs will come up with some original party pieces instead of the stupid blonde jokes of recent years or the intelligent woman joke from Scotland. Funny thing is most men spend most of their first year of life inside a woman and then they grow up and tell blonde jokes. They don't seem to notice the jokes are greeted by SILENCE.

From time to time a Welsh NIBU or CBAI sticks their head above the ditch but mostly the ending is the same ..a close 2nd or tight 3rd place. NIBU in 2009 in Limerick and again a couple of years ago before the unfortunate loss of their main pair due to a family illness. I think an NIBU win was certain that year.

Currently I am playing a long match using hands played by Jeannie Fitzgerald and Emer Joyce against various opponents on BBO including many GIB robots. After 210 boards I am back in the lead by 470 to 433 I think but its 37 imps anyway. I started off with a 50 imp lead early on but then thanks to several disasters by Jeannie Emer opponents suddenly I was around 100 imps behind and wondering what happened. I mean one hand saw a "world senior champion" fail to take the setting trick against 3NT doubled  in imps ... for me 1 down is good bridge but this chap felt like minus 750 was his choice .. and I think 20 imps swung.... 7 or 8 more of those boards and I was well behind.

However I could see the ending as the average plus imps was well below the requirement so I knew imps were coming my way and so far they have.

Still its possible if Team Ireland have done their homework and the other teams turn up below par and the Irish NPC uses his head instead of the rotation system that Ireland could win. This is a big ask but about 10 players on both England and Scotland  have to get hands that don't suit them.
Also an Irish NPC will have to prepare a gracious victory speech for the first time ever in Mrs Milne history.

The Irish team is Jill Kulchycky Petra O'Neill Joan Kenny Teresa Rigney Jeannie Fitzgerald and Emer Joyce. .....

I recall one time playing in a Regent Pairs championship and scoring what would be 3 90% plus scores against Petra O'Neill in the first round.  Her partner got up and picked up her keys and departed for home. Bye Bye 3 good boards .. I did not even get 3 average pluses. The boards were thrown out and replaced by a sitout. Its tougher to leave Wales though and its a different partner.

............................
Meanwhile back on the Bridge Now front ... the rating tests continue but we need extra factors as
currently the top players need to score near 70% to hold their ratings.

The top 50 of the 1520 folk who are in my database.

jim me	2205
Karl Cashen	2178
Pierre DELVAULX	2113
Patrick 27	2098
MC51	2093
Graham Hazel	2075
Igor Milevoj	2069
Marek.C	2065
pinco pallino	2059
Eamon Galligan	2039
B.J. O'Brien	2038
John Horn	2031
Tudor Trocan	2030
WBridge5 (Robot)	2030
Bernard CARPENTIER	2023
David Welsh	2020
pietro serioi	2016
Jinn	2011
Noëlle Delahaye-Levesque	1993
Paul East	1978
Igor Bek	1976
Tamara de Grady	1974
John Macdonald	1964
dr. Eddie	1962
HMN_WPB	1961
Claude Martin	1953
tom gilligan	1949
Jan Stavast	1947
CHARLIE	1944
Fran Swift	1938
George Kissov	1932
Maire O'Keeffe	1930
Terry	1930
Yves Costel	1924
Jim Wills	1921
Alice Bayandor	1919
Jean-François MARZAL	1918
Kerostia	1917
Jim Mullally	1910
David Boxley	1907
Jean Charles Brothier	1904
Paul Johnson	1901
Etienne Delangre	1901
tigo jean	1897
Mircea Kivu	1893
M. Hermsen	1889
GrantK	1887
Robert Pascal	1884
Baile an Mhota	1882
Ewac	1879

1523 players on the list in total and 4 of them rate below 1000.
The midpoint and starting value is 1500

Soon I will make a list of all people with Ireland flags.

http://bridge-now.com

Above is the website where you can play boards ..

This week I got around 67% average and gained all of 6 rating points
I got passed out by champion robot basher BJ O'Brien
Karl Cashen a champion snorer remains the top Irish robot basher by a distance.

Bridge Now ELO rating

Using data since January 2017 I have been calculating a rating list for

http://bridge-now.com

The basic formula is 3 times your old rating plus some factor of your expected performance plus top 50 players get 1-50 points. I need help on how to work this rating as currently the top 10 players need to pass 70% in a week of hands to maintain their rating. Consistent 70% scoring in bridge is too much to maintain I think. Maybe if I change the top 50 players getting 1-50 points to top 10% of the weekly players which is currently just past 700 so 1-70 points awarded for weekly placing. I am looking to parallel to the chess ELO ratings.

Also I let the Bridge Now site method of drop 5 bad boards for over 70 hands played
factor in as the experience gained from playing lots of hands

From May 2017 I will decay inactive players by 10 points per week and use top 10% as the bonus
instead of top 50. Maybe the number of times your current rating should be higher like 5 or 7 or 10
as we are calculating every week a fresh rating.



If anyone wants the full file then email eamongalligan@eircom.net
If anyone wants their rating hidden then email same
If anyone if Irish and wants to be included on Irish list then email same
Any advice send email


Current top 50

jim me	2212.174
Karl Cashen	2190.279
Pierre DELVAULX	2141.032
Patrick 27	2093.164
MC51	2092.939
Graham Hazel	2074.603
John Horn	2044.733
Eamon Galligan	2032.851
Tudor Trocan	2030.184
B.J. O'Brien	2028.115
pinco pallino	2027.22
WBridge5 (Robot)	2023.116
Bernard CARPENTIER	2023.078
Noëlle Delahaye-Levesque	2022.557
Marek.C	2022.488
David Welsh	2020.309
pietro serioi	2016.282
Jinn	2006.405
Igor Milevoj	1987.847
Paul East	1977.702
John Macdonald	1963.95
HMN_WPB	1960.717
Terry	1958.17
Etienne Delangre	1953.277
Igor Bek	1950.654
dr. Eddie	1948.755
CHARLIE	1943.769
George Kissov	1939.233
Fran Swift	1937.915
Claude Martin	1934.89
Tamara de Grady	1934.634
Yves Costel	1932.314
Jan Stavast	1919.94
Alice Bayandor	1917.697
tom gilligan	1917.401
Kerostia	1908.042
David Boxley	1907.344
Paul Johnson	1901.998
tigo jean	1896.731
Mircea Kivu	1893.477
Jens Wamsler	1890.628
M. Hermsen	1889.144
GrantK	1886.875
Baile an Mhota	1885.929
Robert Pascal	1883.836
Ewac	1878.76
James Morgan	1876.963
Martin Keller	1876.542
Jacques Bakker	1873.376
gilles lacroix                         1872 Current Top Irish ....(over 1800) Karl Cashen  2190.279 Eamon Galligan  2032.851 B.J. O'Brien  2028.115 John Macdonald  1963.95 Fran Swift  1937.915 tom gilligan  1917.401 Jim Mullally  1868.631 billy ronan  1860.748 Maire O'Keeffe  1856.351 pat cassidy  1840.164 Patricia A Kelly  1829.433 Jeannie Fitzgerald  1817.604 Rick Crowe  1809.813

Moylan Cup 2017

Venue .. http://malahideregionalbridgeclub.com

WIFI code .. Malahide1352 .... capital M

This weekend we have the Moylan Cup returning to its regular base in Malahide after a brief trip
to Greystones last year when someone dropped the ball and failed to book the venue.
Normally 28 pairs from CBAI and 12 pairs from NIBU but 29 CBAI pairs are listed
A decent field to be sure but still missing Adam Mesbur Nick Fitzgibbon Mark Moran Rory Boland John Carroll Rory Timlin Thomas Roche Thomas MacCormac Ronan McMaugh Donal MacAonghusa Hilary Dowling Long as well as some  who are capable but probably not as active in recent years as time moves on.....such as Pat & Maria Barry , Ray & Miriam McConville , some Scannells , Eddie Fitzerald Michael McDonagh, Michael McGloughlin  and probably a few others I have forgotten.

The list of entrants from the CBAI side

1	Hugh McGann	Fiona Brown
2	Ciaran Coyne	David Walsh
3	Derek O'Gorman	Terry Walsh
4	Lucy Phelan	Anna Onishuk
5	Maureen Pattinson	Bob Pattinson
6	Jeannie Fitzgerald	Emer Joyce
7	John Phelan	Liam McKay
8	Joan Kenny	Teresa Rigney
9	Tom McCarthy	John Russell
10	Tommy Garvey	Tom Hanlon
11	Louise Mitchell	Diarmuid Reddan
12	Wojciech Gorczyca	Marcin Rudzinski
13	Conor Boland	Karel de Raeymaeker
14	Ranald Milne	James Heneghan
15	Paul Delaney	Sean O'Lubaigh
16	Conor O'Hara	Dave Terry
17	Gay Keaveney	Enda Glynn
18	Fred Barry	Jim McAndrew
19	Sheila Kelly	David Dunne
20	Richard Elvin	Martin Garvey
21	Jill Kulchycky	Petra O'Neill
22	Joe Coyne	John McNally
23	B J O'Brien	David Jackson
24	Tom Gilligan	Eileen McCann
25	Pat McDaid	Connell McLoone
26	Liam Gaynor	David Redmond
27	Cian Holland	Dermot Cotter
28	Donal Garvey	Pat Quinn
29	Michael Donnelly	John Connolly

Nothing from the NIBU that I know about yet. I had to source this list from the mainland of England.
For some reason I cannot find any information on Irelands Premier Pairs event on any Irish websites.
I looked on CBAI FOB and DReddan ....maybe I best check Joe Murray dot ie ... Nope nothing listed there except for a Moylan Test Page with nothing on it. Maybe a quick visit to the NIBU might get me something. Nope nothing there.

It seems to be the SECRET competition instead of the Premier Pairs event of all Ireland.
Now I know HIDDEN HEARING sponsor some bridge events but HIDDEN ENTRIES. seems
bizarre for the PREMIER PAIRS  event of the year.

I know lots of intermediate bridge players who fancy themselves as bridge players and are busy collecting the B points to become Area Masters... I think you need 10 .....

Well 90% of this field are probably comfortably past 400 B points .. apart from a few ex-Gonzaga newcomers and a few chess players who dip into bridge and dip out as they feel the need.

I will attempt a Top 10 in no particular order except my version of experience..

1. Tommy Garvey Thomas Hanlon
2. Fiona Brown Hugh McGann
3. Derek O'Gorman Terry Walsh
4. Ciaran Coyne David Walsh
5. Gay Keavney Enda Glynn
6.James Heneghan Ranald Milne
7. Wociech G and Marcin Rudzinski
8. Conor Boland Karl Deraeymaker
9. Martin Garvey Richard Elvin ...........The Garve cannot ever be discounted
10 Donal Garvey  Pat Quinn

The problem is most of the entered pairs are IMPS driven and pairs is a totally different game

No women in my top 10 ... well the most active pair of the moment Jeannie Fitzgerald and Emer Joyce are completely IMPS so unlikely to feature in pairs

Top 3 .... Pairs 1 2 and 4 of my top 10 with Pair 9 depending on which Elvin turns up.

................
OF the unknown NIBUs .. Greenwood Anderson and Murchan Burns could make a noise of
some sorts but with the SECRETS committee ruling the roost its hard to know.

...........................
Meanwhile out on the robot front of

http://bridge-now.com

Galligan posted a fine 72 board average of 72% this week ... Maybe I could win the Moylan.
Karl Cashen posted a fine 69.9% on 100 boards ..

and the biggest surprise of all is THE GREAT MULLALL who posts 63% plus every week
on 70 plus boards but one cannot figure out how .

Moylan competitiors BJ O'Brien and Tom Gilligan trail Galligan by 9% and 8% this week respectively but the weekly grind of pairs play may see them in the top 10 of Moylan.
..............
Meanwhile the in form pair of Dave Terry and Conor O'Hara posted a 70% session in the Malahide bumper on Thursday night but that is a far cry from the Grade 3 Moylan race.

All the above is written tongue in cheek so hopefully those not mentioned will not take offence.

Junior Bridge Fundraiser

Last weekend we ran a fundraiser in aid of Irish junior bridge out in Malahide.
The we was Dublin North Region , Billy Ronan , Thomas MacCormac and Mary Reid aided by a decent supply of junior players. Juniors moved boards and filled in for some late arrivals who got the start time mixed up.

Junior bridge supports under 15 under 20 and under 26 age group levels of bridge

We had 15 teams of novice and 1 team made up of 3 Bs and a novice ..

For the B team any novice team meeting them was credited with 3 VPs added to their score.

Two big wins here were some funds towards junior bridge and being able to run a novice teams event for the novices of the Dublin North Region. We hope maybe next year with more advertising to formulate a Dublin North versus Dublin South type novice event. Something like say if we get 24 teams ... We would put 12 DNR teams as Teams 1-12 playing 12 DSR teams 13-24. Then we could have a true North versus South matchup.

Thomas MacCormac went through some hands mainly about having your rebid prepared and also about the value of distribution …meaning it is possible to make slam with only 24 high card points then Thomas threw it open to the floor for as long as people had questions.

Getting 15 teams of novices into one venue at the same time is a big deal.

I noted said novices exhibited normal bridge behaviour ..

1. We are not slow
2. We were held up
3. The opponents think too much
4. Going to wrong tables
5. Playing wrong boards
6. Its never their fault
7. Carefully laying out dummy 1 card at a time
8. Carefully playing out the last 7 tricks of winning cards .. (“Oh I knew they were all winners but they (opps) might not agree.
9. Many mobile phones were in use throughout the play despite it being disallowed
10. One lady was watching some sport on her lap as she played …well it looked like Blue and Gold jerseys
11. Arguing that we are North South and we never move tables ..

When I indicated Thomas McCormac was an international bridge player …the lady said ..April Fool .. pull the other one

Dublin North Region and Malahide Regional Bridge Club and Paddy English  were the hosts and I understand Paul Porteus donated a nice prize too. Some day he will get 2 boxes of stuff that are in my car boot.

Thomas said .. “The big point is Malahide/DNR/Paddy English done this for juniors …now I can go to the other regions for a similar event possibly helping organise an event solely for novice players of other regions.

Results and hands and full details of the event have been posted by Aidan Synnott

http://www.dnrbridge.com/styled-41/index.html

Some junior bridge players who were in my car afterwards getting a lift to Malahide Railway station were very impressed with the 3H opening made by the Fitzwilliam pre-empter in a recent blog.
"That's the kind of player we would like to partner .. No fear bridge "