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 "
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