Galligan v Blanchman and Cahill Pairs after 56

Nothing new on the Jack Premier and Master Pairs yet.
Maybe I could play 7 boards of the Jim Cahill Pairs and see how I go.

However I played a challenge this morning against Blanchman and I watched a Bernard Magee video on Strong Openings.

Here is the video on Galligan versus Blanchman. 16 boards .. winning 5 losing 3 and drawing the other 8 apparently for a 56.25% score

Galligan v Blanchman

Board 50 I got a 16 count and strong No Trump type hand. Opps opened a weak2 in hearts and I competed to 4D over 3H. Made 4D and got 100% score. All others sold out to Hearts part score.
Now Galligan is 48%.
Board 51 appeared and Eamon has 4441 with singleton diamond buys it in 3H and after trick1 note the opposition own 11 card diamond fit. 30% this time losing out to 5D doubled twice and 4S made.
Fair enough as we missed a game.
Board 52 11 hcp opposite 7 and I am in 1NT non vulnerable but opps don't have any fit as such.
Made it for 100% .. and am now 48.6%
Board 53 I was dealt 8 card club suit and after 2H P 3H I bid a silly 5C and collected 20% for going down 2 and minus 200 ....4H was making so somewhat unfair to only get 20%.
Board 54 ...another 20% for going down in 4D when 3S has some play.
Board 55 got some luck as 3NT-2 gave me 60%.
Board 56 the final 1 of this blog post ..

However board 56 where I scored 50% allowed Goodman Pownall to slip past me.
So Eamon lies in 9th place after 56 boards of 147 so plenty of home with 2 human pairs behind me and one awaiting Coyne and Walsh to pass me on the way up.

Jim Cahill Premier Pairs after 49 boards

Good afternoon folks

As per previous posts Galligan is tackling the Jim Cahill Premier Pairs event. After a cautious start Eamon gained some momentum in the last 7 boards and eased past Grandmaster O'Brien and Grandmaster Walsh. Also has gone slightly ahead of the powerful Midlands pair which is Fitzgerald and MacDonagh. So after one third of the event Galligan lies in 7th place of the humans and about 9th overall.

So as one can see from the screenshot Galligan is a tiny amount ahead of Eddie and Michael.
This event was held back in November from 9th to 11th and was a very nice event.
The matchpoints is less vicious for me as I have added in 4 GIB robots and then theree is also my table of 3 Jacks and myself.
I hope to overtake Coyne and Walsh soon as I know they lack stamina and I also know their final placing which I hope to be ahead of.
This event has already been promised for next year and I think they should run a little qualifier for it or suggest a national event to be the qualifier for about 3 pairs. Maybe not next year but the Master Pairs or the Moylan could be a qualifier or at least grant an invitation to some pairs. Not many but about 3 places could be offered to the top 10 in Moylan or Masters Pairs.

Premier Pairs Master Pairs and Mullingarman

Good afternoon all

Yesterday evening I continued my efforts at proving I should be playing in the Master Pairs. So far the proving is not going so well. Irish Bridge player Jim Cahill created and sponsors the Premier Pairs event for the last 3 years. Ann Tuite puts all the wheels rolling on the ground. They have a committee of about 9 who are mainly players in the event. Eamon does the vugraph with some helpers. Martin Brady does the TD job and Declan Byrne tends the Regent premises and deals thee boards and the myriad of other things that Declan performs for the Regent Bridge Club.
Anyway I made a tourney for my Jack bridge program and despite vugraphing most of the boards and even playing half a board I am struggling at the back of the field with my robot. Even worse I have my EW opponent robot running at 75% to give me the odd trick. However I need more it seems.

So after 42 boards theree I am ..last of the pairs. Even behind Eddie Fitzgerald and Michael MacDonagh. Not just behind but 2.5% behind. I also added in a GB replay of thee hands to flatten some of the scoring a little. Its a great tourney but personally for the vugraph purposes I think it needs to be scored as some kind of imps as folk watching vugraph like to watch imps.
I agree that high class matchpoints is a great form of bridge but I don't like being Paddy Last.
However thanks to Jim Cahill and Anne Tuite for this wonderful event even if it is matchpoints.
Still 105 boards to go so plenty of time for Galligan to rise.
.......................
Meanwhile down in Templeogue a few weeks back CBAI ran the Master Pairs ..
We made a Jack tourney for this as well but after 3 matches and 21 boards Galligan is reduced to middle of thee field. However one hopes to make some progress soon.

Finally some good news .. Galligan defeats Mullingar Man by 9 imps.
Galligan 18 Mullingar Man 9

The link above has the last 8 boards including the final board where Mullingar Man loses the 2 ends of a 2 Heart contract losing 140 and 200 for 8 imps.

Galligan tackles Master Pairs

This morning after much effort by someone else Galligan was able to play the Master Pairs comparing against all the players who played in it real time. So far I have played 14 boards which is 2 matches and trail a long way behind the 2 match leaders Ronan McMaugh and Marcin Rudzinski. However there is plenty of time left.

Board 14 was unfortunate for me

Here the robots stopped in 3NT and made 12 when I failed to find the Heart Ace cash looking at KJxx in dummy. Shame on me. 690 and 5 imps to the robots against the datum. 

That dropped me back to joint 28th place after 14 boards. Still there are about 80 pairs behind me.
Anyone who has the Jack bridge program or any other bridge program that plays pbn files is welcome to have the pbn file we made with all the names and scores.
eamongalligan@eircom.net if you want it.

The bad news yesterday is that James Heneghan arrived back in Dublin and no doubt disturbed the leafy suburbs of Griffith Avenue. There is even talk of re opening the Garda station for Xmas.
The good news is there is still another 4 years of James in USA to come.
Still James is a very capable bridge player and the proud owner of all of Martens bridge books.
Well he owns at least one copy of each.
www.martensuniversity.com

If you think you have some idea about playing bridge and you want to find out ... have a look at
the above website and you might get a shock.
Martens has been spotted sitting at a bar in the Rathmines area the odd time. He likes the guinness allegedly. So if you want a head wrecker bridge book Martens has about 20 of them.

A couple of months ago an irish bridge player ordered 2 Martens books and put my address on them as I provided some bidding hands for said bridge player.
One is called Guide Dog and the other is called Imagination .. I have seen some good stuff during my recent visits to the throne.
The most recent one was a player drew one round of trumps too many ...
Holding like AKQJTxx in trumps he thought drawing a round of trumps was a good idea.
His opponent on his left showed out and quickly deposited the HEART ACE as a discard ...
Nope it was not a signal ... he was just creating a later entry for his partner who held Qxx of HEARTS with Kxxx in the dummy.

So if you see James Heneghan discarding an Ace of Hearts you will already have drawn one trump too many.

The various Irish trials and Blanchman movie

Good morning folks

I hear something is afoot with the Irish trials for the various events. Seems there might be some kind of merger between NIBU and CBAI for Home International trials. This will be good if they organize some training weekends for the teams and hire Galligan to run it. No point in picking easy boards and some ordinary lad to talk about Stayman and Landy. Get the big lad in and throw some thought provoking hands at them. Eamon has been knocking lumps off Hanlon team for years and anyone else who showed any interest.

Today I played a bridgebase challenge against Blanchman and after a reasonable set I found poor Blanchman had gone into orbit and the final score was 78-4 over 16 boards.

Galligan versus Blanchman

Meanwhile back to those trials. I think the Moran team won the last Camrose Trials in a canter so even in their weakened state they could see off all challengers. The reason for this is they do far more work than anyone else. How do I know ..well I am still making some hands for them.

I got the message from the new kids on the block that NPC Grainne pointed them at me.
I contacted Tyroneman and put hands in his account.
He has been working through them and told me the hands showed himself and partner a thing or 2.

"Eamon we thought we were good but those hands knocked those thoughts out of us"

So IBU ... some team needs to beat the Hanlon Moran team.
By all means hold as many pairs trials as you want ...but only to select a team to take out Moran.

Some team should select THEGARVE ... he owns an irish passport and can play a little.

The 16 board Bridgez tournament

Today I played the 16 board Bridgez tournament. Its a good facility for practicing each day. The server is quick and one can blast through the 16 boards comfortably in 30 minutes or else take it more thoughtfully and take breaks thru the day.

I recorded todays session but I was also watching and listening to Bernard Magees videos.
I need to keep up with what the Malahide membership development folk are doing.
Then I can counteract their moves.

Below is my video. You might here Bernard Magee talking in the background as I had him rolling on
another PC behind my laptop. He puts the dog to sleep. When he is sleeping he does not pee so thats a good thing.

Galligan on Bridgez

Magee likes killing Kings with Aces

He also points out to all those notebook wielding defenders ... When dummy comes down there is loads to do. One should not be scribbling in some notebook or entering stuff into the bridgemate.
One should be focusing on that dummy and paying attention to partners lead.

After all declarer is already working on his plan and its disrespectful for one to be scribbling in a notebook instead of planning the defence.

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Galligan loses to Mullingar Man again

This morning  played a bad set of boards going down 4 vulnerable on one part score board. Also dropped about 5 other things during the 16 board set. Could have been 50 imps on a bad day.

Speaking of Mullingar  recall a few tough "intermediate " opponents from back in my short few months as intermediate. Jim McAulliffe I think was the mans name. He suffered from some illness that confined him to a wheelchair and that was back in the late 1980s probably maybe 1990 at latest. However there was nothing wrong with his bridge or head.

Then there was Claffey ... who on seeing dummy might comment to the unknowing stranger "Could go down on a bad day " and Madam Claffey would sit up straight and defend like a demon and down you went none the wiser. You had jusr been Claffeyed and you did not even know it.
I think he is still around but he would not know me and I would not get "Claffeyed" these days.

Galligan 19 Mullingar Man 31

I was taught bridge originally by a now Mullingar resident .. I had no idea what was going on but they needed a 4th I think. There was no internet in those days. It was a distant thought in Bill Gates mind. Funny enough Bill Gates does play bridge at a high level. I saw had a look at him once .. baseball cap .. striped tee shirt and jeans. However not being one of those sucker up types and not being playing against him  I had no reason to examine him more closely. He had enough folk button holing him.

The Dallas Aces were a great Bridge Team of the 1970 and 80s. They were formed to defeat the Italian Blue Team. I ran into some of them too.

Mike Lawrence was in the Bankers Bridge Club in the early 90s
Bob Hamman was in Templogue and Swords in 2006
I played against and had a conversation with  Billy Eisenberg
I read loads of Eddie Kantar books. Some old lad that looked like him gave me a hiding at bridge once in the US Nationals in 2007.
Paul Soloway was in Templeogue in 2006
Bobby Goldman used to play on okbridge before BBO was invented in the early days of online bridge as did Soloway.

Galligan versus Kilkennyman

Today  played 12 boards against Kilkennyman.
However Kilkenny man failed to finish the 12 boards so we will have to add a small video with the results and analysis later.

Galligan v Kilkennyman

12 boards of matchpoints .. results to follow maybe

..................
Found a nice little app called Bridge CCAnalyser for phones .. Android maybe

Strangely enough  I was on one of my computers .. I think it was the all in one thing and  logged into Google and found the app. Suddenly a window popped up on my screen saying
"App will be installed on your phone shortly"

That afternoon  noticed a new app on my phone ...  guess it is the new world

This is a app of the program Suitplay for PCs ... by Jan Rom???? from Holland  think.

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Mullingar Man gets lucky to defeat Galligan 32-21

This morning it was blowing outside.  I got a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea and sat down to play Mullingar Man.

Mullingar Man wins

Above the link to Mullingar mans victory

The country man has 6 spades to AKQ and AK outside and calls it a STRONG 2 clubs opening..
Gets to a slam and makes it just and wins 13 imps.

Then he accepts an invitation with a minimum and buys  a dummy that should bid game.

Finally some downgrading evaluation lost Eamon a non vul game swing when 9 tricks were on top in 3NT.
Even Mullingar Man can cash out 9 high tricks.

Galligan versus PW

Galligan versus PW

Galligan defeats the Man from Mullingar

This morning  took on the Man from Mullingar in a challenge on Bridgebase Online.
This man taught me how to play bridge and still considers himself a superior player despite receiving numerous beatings. A man of supreme confidence.
However there is nothing wrong with confidence. Even off a 15 handicap in golf ...he still does not geet it. 15 handicap means ..you take 15 more shots than par to get around. He calls it value for money. More shots then the scratch who pays same golf club membership fee.

Mullingar man gets good pasting

Anyway its nearly Xmas and the CBAI and all the bridge clubs will be winding down.

Therefore we will have to resort to the online places

www.bridge-now.com
www.bridgebase.com

And also

Bridgez
http://bridgez.net:3002/playonthecloud

One can knock up some practice on some of these sites

Time for the bowl of porridge here ... Flahavans and a microwave and a drop of milk.
Years ago one used to cry when one forgot to put the salt in the large pot of porridge but nowadays I think the salt is included or maybe I don't need it.

Stanza 3 of Jim Cahill Premier Pairs plus a video

I just played the 3rd stanza of 7 boards of the Jim Cahill Premier Pairs.
Jim gathered 8 capable Irish pairs to compete for some good prizes over the weekend of Nov 9th to 11th 2018.
I made a tournament for Jack using the results and adding in 1 play by the GIB robots.
After 21 boards I rank in 10th place of 12 but some well known bridge capabilities are behind me.
One is the incredible BJ O'Brien.
However on 41.9% I am a long way from my normal 55% plus  efforts at bridge. Maybe I am not as good as I think. I will keep playing even if I get dumped into the 30s.

Below is another video made from the Bridgebase challenges. This is a great new method of playing bridge against friends on BBO.

Galligan v PW

Master Pairs 2018 ...Moving Day

Good morning all.
Its Master Pairs Sunday and moving day. The only day.
Marquee Pair Adam Mesbur and Nicolas Fitzgibbon lead the way and are rolling along nicely with a 12 VP lead on the recent fast risers Delaney and Brady. Delaney Brady may have presented too early but as Delaney will say if we are to win we have to defeat and overtake the current leaders.
However it is hard to squeeze a trick out of Mesbur Fitz let alone put together 20 tricks and a convincing win. Any the first hour of Sunday morning will tell. I am with Adam and Nick.

Meanwhile the peleton are gathered behind these 2. There are lots of good Irish players in the top 40 places. Coyne Garvey will be climbing into the top 10but have to overcome the elegant Conor Boland and the snarling presence of Kelan O'Connor. However maybe Kelan has matured with age. John Phelan touts Boland O'Connor as the next FitzMes but I think there is about 40 years of work to be done first. It might have been a beer goggled thought.

. The new partnership of Moran MacAongusa can do damage due to training done and international experience. Gilligan Ronan two bulldozers from Malahide face up to the elegant Cian Holland and the intelligent Anna Onishuk. Would be an interesting match to watch. Goodman Keaveney meet the incredible BJ O'Brien and the solid citizen Ranald Milne. BJ is incredible as he reaches and makes incredible contracts. However some years ago BJ won 6 Nationals and podium-ed in the other 3. So not to be sniffed at. Porteus Barry meet Ronan Marcin. Wonder who will win between Wheels Fitzgibbon and Wooden Spoons Kenny. O'Lubaigh McAulliffe could be there with 3 rounds to go.
MacCormac Barr meet the brothers O'Briain. There is also the looming presence of Brays John Noonan and Carol Ann Cummins.

So lets see how it all pans out as we are reaching the scoring up time

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Anyway they played the 4 matches of today and Fitzgibbon Mesbur won in a photo finish from O'Gorman Walsh with Delaney Brady a further 10 VPs behind.

Masters Pairs Final result