Bridge Now ratings up to June 28th... Michael the Gardener places 8th

I did not publish the loast few weeks of Bridge Now ratings as the weekly scores were late coming out. Here are the ratings up to June 28th. I calculated all weeks despite not publishing and anyone is welcome to see the whole file or their own rating.
There are now 1768 players in the list and about 750 of those play each week.

Seems to be a problem with uploading my picture of the ratings ..Will put a better picture
later.

jim me  2292 Patricia A Kelly  1973 John Sawyer for Congress  1891 Courtois Joseph  1834 Karl Cashen  2204 Henry David  1968 michel doyon  1880 Smudge  1831 WBridge5 (Robot)  2130 gilles lacroix  1968 Kailash Gupta  1872 marcello martemucci  1827 pietro serioi 2112 Pierre DELVAULX  1959 Michael Beirne  1871 Paul Hutt  1825 dr. Eddie  2101 Jens Wamsler  1958 bgb37  1870 Mircea Kivu  1824 Marek.C  2094 Noëlle Delahaye-Levesque  1953 Laurence Berchem  1865 yi tat poon  1819 B.J. O'Brien  2090 Allan McDonald  1947 birdy18  1864 MC51  1819 Eamon Galligan  2088 миша ройтман  1936 lederic15  1864 Mieke Kyle  1818 Kerostia 2086 Jeannie Fitzgerald  1936 Caesar  1863 Stephen Kemper  1818 Igor Milevoj  2062 MargyJoy  1936 maxim68  1863 Bill Rasnick  1814 Patrick 27  2053 Jinn  1936 michael carter  1863 michel tourville  1814 Stanley Lin  2051 Yves Costel  1935 Lynn High  1861 pinco pallino  1813 John Horn  2034 George Kissov  1926 Jacques Bakker  1861 Bernard CARPENTIER  1812 zozo  2000 GrantK  1924 Baile an Mhota  1859 steven howard  1810 Terry  1996 Tamara de Grady  1918 Maurice Amar  1854 Catherine Erghman  1809 Paul Johnson 1994 tom gilligan  1905 Sefa Yüksel  1845 impossible d avancer bridge now  1809 Jim Wills  1987 Aldo Real  1899 David Welsh  1845 gerard clergeau  1807 Jan Stavast  1980 Igor Bek  1899 TEABAG1  1840 Art Vandalay  1805 pat cassidy  1978 GUIVARCH Jean François  1898 conor foley  1840 Utile 44  1801 Max de Beer 1974 Paule Amar  1896 UTILE 06  1836 André Van Pelt  1797

Declan the Donplayer and Shane the Unblocker are still battling away but are a long way from getting on the published list. 

This months Bridge World July 2017 arrived today. Some article about folk who fail to display negative inferences that may not be clear to their opponents. 

www.bridgeworld.com

Also the English Bridge Union website has buckets of bridge stuff to help people do anything related to Bridge...... Teaching Learning Directing and all the other many things ..

Shane the Unblockers revelation and Declan Donplayer "I love this game"

Last Friday night I ran into Shane Maxwell a guy I taught bridge in 15 minutes one night.
Shane is an acquaintance of Declan the Donplayer. Some day they might even partner up.
Anyway back then when I taught Shane the bridge in 15 minutes some might say I exaggerate.

However it is true. Back then Shane knew everything about everything so there was nothing one could teach him. He already knew from other card games what a trick was. He also knew which side of the card was the good bit , meaning the side with the coloured symbols or faces on it. So 15 minutes later Shane played his first hand of bridge. Defending against 6NT accidently or on purpose Shane after leading Spade 10 from KQJT ... (we experienced players lead KING) ..Shane on his first hand figured TEN knocks out ACE and later I get KQJ for down some.
However the play proceeded and robot cashed many tricks and evertually I start to doubt if Shane will be a bridge player as he pitches JACK QUEEN and finally KING of SPADES ..
Finally I notice 6NT has gone down 1 as SHANES robot partner had won trick 12 with SPADE 9 and cashed a winner. Now 4 years later after playing the odd hand of bridge on his phone from time to time Shane has returned with a vengeance and now being a 26 year old ADULT who earns money every week as an electrician and who now does not know everything about everything and recently has played up to 70 hands per week on www.bridge-now.com .

So recently the odd email has arrived from Shane listing some of his 90% and 100% scores on www.bridge-now.com and pointing out Eamongall placed below him on certain boards.

So we had a conversation about bridge in pieces spread over 2.5 hours in the pub. It might have been an hour in total as Shane talks to other folk about other subjects. Remember he used to know everything about everything.
So late in the night he asked about the YOU HOLD app I had mentioned earlier in the week.
So I took out my phone and we bid a few hands and I suddenly started to realise that something was wrong with Shanes understanding of bridge.

I would have told him back at the start in that one lesson probably something about bidding 3NT to get a bonus and neglected to tell him about 4H 4S 5C 5D also for game bonuses.

Shane had taken note of the fact that if you had about 25-26 points or so that you should bid game to get a bonus.

However as Shane knew everything about everything I never got to point out about the 4H 4S 5C 5D games and stuff around this game bonus.

So the intrepid Shane was playing away thinking 3C 3D 3H 3S and 3NT all produced the game bonus as long as he had about 25 or so high card points ...

"Eamon ..you dunce you never told me .. This is a game changer for me "

I alluded to the fact that Shane knew everything about everything back then so I probably saw no need to tell me about the 4H 4S stc ... So we will see how Shane goes from now on at the bridge.

...............
Now Declan the Donplayer on the other hand had the sense to go on google and find out about Game Bonuses or else he noted that he was getting 170 when the 4H chaps were getting 620 and did something about it.. Not our Shane .. Our Shane rolled along thinking the computer was short changing him.

And he thinks I am the dunce for not telling him ..

Moral of rhe story is .. Even those who know everything about everything don't know about BRIDGE. Shane the 2nd coming will be a serious bridge player.

Never gone to a club yet or played bridge with cards in his hands.

Shane posted a 35% and 39% and 45% in his 3 visible outings to date.

45% is pretty decent for a chap who has never gone to a bridge lesson or bridge club or played with cards in his hand.

To put things in perspective legendary Howth/Regent player Conor O'Hara managed 46% this week which was far below his normal near 60% average .... and I also spot a 1.5 year local novice from Malahide Regional Bridge Club posting regular 36% scores on Bridge Now.

Several local intermediates are posting around the 50% mark and my own Declan the Donplayer posts in the early 50s these days in between drinking gambling fishing and debauchery and minding his kids and aging parents. No time for bridge .. but every time I meet him ..

"Eamon I love this game ..its so intriguing and I am really grateful you distracted me long enough to teach me"
"Eamon we need to do the CUEBIDS and the BLACKWOOD next "
"Eamon I have those transfers sorted now and I have got the STAYMAN working "

Double Take

This afternoon I was having a look at the results in the European Open Bridge championships.

I looked at Open Pairs and spotted our men Hanlon and Carroll in 209th place of about 240 entrants ..
I spotted some Irish Ladies pairs mostly down the rear end of the field ..apart from Rigney Kenny.
However it is early days yet.

However when I went for a look at the Seniors ..I got this

For some reason I guess the officials wanted to make sure these older folk could see their results so
they printed out each pairs results TWICE.. Now it did not make any difference apart from indicating both Irish pairs have some work to do...but to spell it out TWICE..

If I displayed results like this in Malahide or god forgive on CBAI .. I would be laughed out of the room. This is at European level ... but of course it is a glitch in the HTML or something.
The real results printed on site are no doubt perfectly normal.

Hmmmm just went to Open Pairs ...must be my computer ... as this could not be happening

Repeated  pairs names there too .. maybe its my Microsoft Edge ..
Better by a MacBook quick

Plane Crash or Carrot disease ..Board 19 of last 16

Yesterday while reviewing the Moran Team exit from the Euro Open Teams I noted the loss of 14 imps on Board 19 in the 2nd half of the match. Given MORAN last the match by about 5 or 6 imps this was a large cause of the loss. Now I understand that the 2 way 1 club opening is flawed as its too easy for punters to get in there and interfere over 1C with no danger to themselves. However the problem is if you interfere you might solve problems for the Carrot lads.

Anyway here is the hand ..

Now out in my medium bidding club in Malahide which has many limited bidders I think they will all manage to declare in a spade contract .. but some might only reach a game contract ..
However we will forgive them that as at least they found the right strain.

I want to know how does Irelands 2nd strongest pair manage to end up declaring in 6C on a 7-0
fit. Straight away we are depending on a 3-3 break in trumps .. as we are also off the HEART ACE.
This is madness or a flaw or something went wrong or maybe Hanlon McGann were not seated North South. Even if this is so another capable pair in Carroll and Garve would be there instead.


C:\>cd gib
C:\gib>bridge -ULAscNSIT 1000
GIB Version 6.1.3, 1/4/03
Enter S hand: q98752.kj87.j82
Enter S hand: q98752.kj87.j82.
Enter N hand: AK3.3.AT.AKQ7542
Enter dealer: s
Enter vul (none, N/S, E/W, both): E/W
dealt 250 hands at time 0.02
book bid [default] P, considering P 1C-7N
prognosticate at time 0.02
complete at time 30.81; size 35
analyzed 35 deals (35 current) at 45.52 sec
P: 10.27 (prog 26.43 par 34.37)
1S: 9.88 (prog 16.43 par 34.37)
3S: 9.81 (prog 13.71 par 16.94)
2S: 9.79 (prog 31.71 par 34.37)
1H: 8.50 (prog -90.86 par 34.37)
4S: 8.18 (prog -143.14 par -69.91)
2H: 8.10 (prog -140.43 par 34.37)
1D: 8.05 (prog -107.77 par 34.37)
3H: 7.11 (prog -214.14 par 16.94)
1C: 6.77 (prog -233.71 par 34.37)
I bid P (45.55 sec)
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 11- HCP; 12- points
Enter bid for W: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 11- HCP; 12- points
dealt 250 hands at time 0.03
book bid [rule 10508] 2C, considering P 1C-7N
prognosticate at time 0.03
complete at time 23.33; size 35
analyzed 89 deals (89 current) at 69.16 sec
2C: 9.40 (prog 413.60 par 686.58)
1C: 7.79 (prog 315.84 par 686.58)
2N: 7.50 (prog 306.18 par 644.00)
5C: 7.39 (prog 280.45 par 594.00)
4N: 7.17 (prog 268.76 par 643.89)
3C: 5.83 (prog 172.98 par 686.58)
1N: 5.70 (prog 183.26 par 683.89)
4C: 5.65 (prog 163.60 par 672.88)
2S: 5.10 (prog 130.56 par 686.58)
3N: 4.68 (prog 139.00 par 570.97)
I bid 2C (69.16 sec)
That bid shows: Strong two club -- 23+ points; forcing to 2N
Enter bid for E: p
That bid shows: No suitable call --
dealt 250 hands at time 1.06
book bid [rule 12726] 2D, considering P 2D-7N
prognosticate at time 1.06
complete at time 8.17; size 35
analyzed 40 deals (40 current) at 22.03 sec
2S: 8.11 (prog 499.00 par 717.48)
2D: 7.53 (prog 419.50 par 717.48)
3S: 6.77 (prog 428.63 par 717.48)
3N: 6.34 (prog 363.00 par 631.05)
4S: 5.62 (prog 316.88 par 705.48)
2H: 5.38 (prog 323.00 par 717.48)
4H: 4.75 (prog 247.63 par 705.48)
4N: 3.21 (prog 163.00 par 425.30)
5S: 2.91 (prog 143.75 par 577.23)
6S: 2.03 (prog 125.00 par 351.60)
I bid 2S (22.05 sec)
That bid shows: Positive -- 5+ S; 11- HCP; 6+ 8421 HCP in S; 8-12 points; forcing
Enter bid for W: ?
P.P.2C.P.2S
South: 5+ S; 11- HCP; 6+ 8421 HCP in S; 8-12 points; forcing
West: 11- HCP; 12- points
North: 23+ points; forcing
East:
Enter bid for W: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 11- HCP; 12- points
dealt 0 hands at time 9.52
Trouble generating sample; generation failure set to 1
dealt 0 hands at time 15.08
Trouble generating sample; generation failure set to 2
dealt 0 hands at time 19.56
Trouble generating sample; generation failure set to 3
unable to generate useful sample; returning book bid 3C
I bid 3C (19.58 sec)
That bid shows: 5+ C; 23+ points
Enter bid for E: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 20- points
dealt 250 hands at time 2.91
book bid [rule 839] 3H, considering P 3D-7N
prognosticate at time 2.93
complete at time 6.79; size 35
analyzed 89 deals (89 current) at 27.62 sec
4S: 7.16 (prog 341.24 par 600.82)
3D: 7.04 (prog 347.08 par 631.16)
3H: 6.79 (prog 297.64 par 631.16)
3S: 5.92 (prog 280.51 par 631.16)
4H: 5.51 (prog 238.37 par 600.82)
3N: 5.35 (prog 240.73 par 582.65)
4N: 4.83 (prog 200.51 par 449.56)
5H: 4.29 (prog 184.66 par 476.10)
P: 4.02 (prog 115.39 par 110.34)
5S: 3.80 (prog 130.84 par 439.02)
I bid 4S (27.64 sec)
That bid shows: 11- HCP; strong rebiddable S; 6+ 8421 HCP in S; 8-12 points
Enter bid for W: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 11- HCP; 12- points
rule 1360 (73)
I bid 5S (-0.00 sec)
That bid shows: 5+ C; 2+ S; 23+ points
Enter bid for E: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 20- points
captained auction; returning bood bid
rule 229 (62)
I bid 6S (-0.00 sec)
That bid shows: 11- HCP; strong rebiddable S; 6+ 8421 HCP in S; 8-12 points
Enter bid for W: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 11- HCP; 12- points
rule 120 (91)
I bid P (-0.00 sec)
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 5+ C; 2+ S; 23+ points
Enter bid for E: p
That bid shows: No suitable call -- 20- points
P.P.2C.P.2S.P.3C.P.4S.P.5S.P.6S.P.P.P
Enter play for W: Enter play for W:

Even my crazy GIB robot from the late 1990s can bid 6S although it plays strong 2C opening..
but there it is in Black and White ...

I recall one time many years ago playing against Thomas Hanlon in the Regent and on making an off centre bid ...he commented ..

"Eamon you did not get that bid out of your computer .. "

Well the computer strikes back ...

.................
So what went wrong ..and can we fix it for the future ...
or did Hanlon McGann just play BASHWOOD or PUNTWOOD and presume partner had a club card. It seems absurd ....

It cost Ireland a place in the quarter final ..

Here are two auctions to reach 6 spades 

trivial for Shillelagh

1C     1S

2D etc................ 

2¨ strong GF 3+ card support for major asks major length/strength WWS+   

Mom and Pop bidding 

2C              2D

3C              3S

4NT            5D   0

5H (askQ)  6H  Qs+Kh

6S   1430

I am beaten by this development .. maybe Hanlon McGann denies a void in the bidding 

or maybe North pulled out the wrong bidding card at the end ..

It just beats me .. and my GIB program too ..
........................
Hold on to the horses ...It is slowly dawning on me that this session might have been live on 
BBO and I did not watch it .. 

Ooops I missed the live action .. Did not think to look on BBO to watch live ..

McGann wonders "Why so brutal "

Maybe it agrees spades with 4NT .. Hmmmm or maybe 6C was choice of slams..

European Open Teams 2017

Yesterday Sunday saw the 2 Irish Ladies teams bow out of the European Ladies Teams with barely a whimper. CASADOMA from the Wicklow area managed one victory over the bottom team to end up in 27th place of 30 teams entered.
Team Hibernia on the other hand bid a slam needing 2 3-2 breaks and some handling and went down losing 13 imps and their opponents bid a dodgy slam that made and lost 16-4 .. Then they got smashed by Denmark 20-0 and that was the end of that
3 late victories restored them to their 17th place start of day position. 17th is respectable but this team know they left 8 places behind them.

Meanwhile in the Mens Teams event Team MORAN after a good pre season on the BBO under the tutorship of one Krystoff Martens entered the OPEN TEAMS with some hope. After 4 rounds MORAN lay on the average score of 40 VPS and got beaten by GILLIS 18-2 to drop them to a 42% score and 87th place of the 120 teams.
Sunday morning dawned and TEAM MORAN got out of the blocks fast with 16 VPS against a team named 1over2. Entering Round 7 in 62nd place they met a team called DACIANS from Romania ..
18 VPS followed and MORAN was up and running at the right time.
MORAN entered round 8 in 40th place and 9 VPs outside the Knockouts.

Round 8 ..MORAN got what looked to me like a good draw ...who calls their team NPC DAISY and no known NAMES on the team ....despite many bridge legends on other possible opponents nearby.
The strikers were in form and 41 imps were shot past DAISY and 19 more VPS for the total.
Up to 20th place now and beginning to enter dangerous territory. All teams up in this rarefied atmosphere can do damage.

Round 9 and MORAN drew what looks like an Italian team with one of the Race Cars on board.
Italian teams are always capable but MORAN fired out 40 imps on the first 9 boards and won the match 40-8 and another 18 VPS to rise into 9th place .. On these 4 matches MORAN had scored about 71 VPS out of 80 .. That's almost a 90% score ...

Nearly as good as Team Galligans final session in Coen Trophy 2001 .. 148 our of 150.

Round 10 required a steady match against CHATEAU ROSENOVO which seemed to be a BULGARIAN TEAM ... A 1 imp win secured  qualification for both sides.

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

Currently TEAM MORAN play the Round of 16 and are getting the worst of it for now.
However a couple of good swings and they will be back in it.

http://db.eurobridge.org/repository/competitions/17montecatini/microsite/Results.htm

Results can be found at the above link and also running scores ..
...........
Meanwhile out in the other worlds .. The Irish Ladies Teams are learning about BAM TEAMS

TEAM HIBERIA are finding the going tough with 3VPs out of 18.
9 boards played and its 2VPs per board.

Meanwhile .. CASADOMA on 9 VPS REGENT on 8VPs and the more
experienced BANZAI have 12 VPS ....all out of 18.

TEAM BANZAI currently lies in 10th place out of 112 teams ..

A big lesson for TEAM HIBERNIA and a column for Mr Comyn

After 9 boards of the Round 5 match against team TOP ONE in the European Open Bridge championships TEAM HIBERNIA one of the Irish Ladies teams had eked out a comfortable 19-1 imps lead and were looking good to close with nice victory.
Board 20 pictured above was placed on the table

5 clubs looks a reasonable contract and of course 3NT if one could bid that after a 3S opening looks iron clad. Nobody in the Ladies found or was allowed play 3NT .. A couple of intrepid souls in the Open Teams bid 3NT and several made 5C.

However our HIBERNIA WEST ended up declaring in 4S doubled and got smacked for 800.
I personally cannot figure how one gets into 4S as surely the most one could open with the WEST
hand would be 3S ....and even that is a stretch for a disciplined player. I think most will open 3S but its kind of a trick short in reality when you are vulnerable. So I will have to wait to hear the story.

Meanwhile in the other Ladies match our team of CASADOMA having stuck their heads over the precipice ran into some heavy fire and were trialing 46-0 as board 20 hit the table.
They came out the better of it ...with their opponents declaring 3S down 2 in one room and 4H on the 6 nil break in the other room .. CASADOMA collected 4 undertricks for 9 imps and a VP saved on the score.
Meanwhile the MORAN team also struggled on the same board 20 ,,,MORAN declared 4H against the 6-0 break on the NS side and declared 4S amazingly undoubled on the EW side.

All because of a hand that GALLIGAN would certainly ponder reducing to a weak 2 spade opening or a PASS. Its just not enough for a 3S opener no matter how big your chest is or how big you want to puff it out.

CASADOMA versus HIBERNIA Sat June 18th 1530

Currently we are halfway thru the 2 week European Open championships. There are 2 Irish ladies teams taking part. One is mainly from the Wicklow area and the other is most of the Irish Lady Milne team. The 2 teams are meeting at this moment in the 4th round of European Open championships.

Board 1 saw Hibernia declare in both rooms going down a trick in each contract to trail by 3-0
2H by E and 1NT by North..... a 9 card club fit East West being spurned in both rooms.

Board 2 is a 15 point opposite 8 point hand where No Trump is declared ..
Casadoma NS made 9 tricks and Hibernia played cautiously to make 7 tricks.
Casadoma declaring 3NT gained 11 imps against the 1NT of Hibernia

Board 3 saw both sides declaring 4S and 1 imp went to Hibernia ...now trailing 14-1

Board 4 saw both sides declare 1NT and 1 imp to CASADOMA now 15-1 up

Board 5 saw both sides declare 4S ..and 8/9 tricks made ..2 imps to CASADOMA ..17-1

Board 6 saw both sides go 4 OFF in a 2H contract ..flat board ..HO HUM There must be some lesson
there .. .still 17-1

Board 7 saw 3NT up 2 by CASADOMA and 4S made by HIBERNIA ...18-1

Board 8 sees HIBERNIA bid 6S and make 13 ... better than lots of pairs so far but only the direct
match matters so lets see the response ..the response is good ... CASADOMA equal the SLAM.
Many pairs missed this slam so its a decent board for both Irish sides ..

Board 9 saw CASADOMA down in 4H so prospects for HIBERNIA improve but we await
the result in the other room ...Lots of pairs losing 50 on this board ..so we wait and see.
HIBERNIA bid and make 4H in the other room and gain 10 imps ... Score 18-11

Board 10 saw CASADOMA NS bid and make 4S ..CASADOMA will win the match
but lets see by how much and 4S is made in the other room and the match ends
CASADOMA 18 HIBERNIA 11

Gilliland Whelan Newell and Cummins played for CASADOMA
Kenny Rigney Fitzgerald and Joyce played for HIBERNIA

http://www.eurobridge.org/

You can find all details of the event at the above website ...
Go to Microsite from there

Other Irish teams are MORAN in the OPEN , BANZAI and DUBEL in SENIOR

Sligo Bridge Congress in progress

This weekend June 9th-11th we have the Sligo Bridge Congress under the guide of Ferghal O'Boyle aided by Diarmuid Reddan and the ever capable Sligo Congress Committee. Mairead Basquille is no doubt overseeing all.
Currently in the Congress Pairs is in progress with some of the  new kids on the block out in front after a few fences John Connolly and Stephen Barr. However the experienced English campaigner known as THE GARVE  is already hot on their tail and MacCormac McMaugh maintain an eye on proceedings from back in the pelethon. The Knights and English visitors Root Naat will also be around at the finish and maybe the Ennis Dannys might emerge from the pelethon. Long time partners Hilary and Gilda might also compete for the prizes but they have no recent form at this level.

All can watch the running scores on http://fob.ie

.................
Meanwhile on Bridge-Now here are this weeks ratings