European Open Pairs Final and Seniors/Womens Finals in progress (Sat June 29th)

Since 9am Irish time the European Pairs finals have been in progress.

Thomas Hanlon and John Carroll are in the top 10 or so of the 46 competitiors in the Open event.
Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon are in the top 10 of the Seniors event

4 Ladies Pairs are battling hard in the 46 pair Ladies Final .. All entrants went straight into the final.

Link to Ostend (running scores)

1146am

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Last weekend we had the M50 Teams held in Templogue. This event which is called the Gerry Murtagh Trophy encompasses teams from the 4 Regions which touch the M50.
Approximately 60 teams took part and scored points 3 2 1 for top 3 placings in their respective events.
Teams of Novice InterB InterA Masters and Open all took part,

Dublin North Region won the trophy for the 2nd successive year. The organizers from Dublin North Region and the M50 committee done trojan work in the leadup to the event and on the day to assist scorers Brian Lawlor and Eamon Galligan. Niall Burke Norma Madden and John Murray manned the floor while Eamon and Brian generally stuck to the technical end. In running scores were displayed for all competitions throughout the day.

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Tuesday evening BBO teams ...

Eamon Galligan is continuing to have a Team of 4 event online ..Bridgebase Online on Tuesday evenings from about 8pm. Probably best if groups of 4 people let me know they will turn up as a team but I can arrange 2 pairs into a team if they guarantee their presence.
Recently it has been Val Hand versus Malahide selection.

eamongalligan@eircom.net
..............................
Juniors

I ran into some Juniors on BBO last night. Murphyslaw also appeared and was a little taken aback to find that some Juniors playing about 9 months in total could manhandle murphy. The 9 months includes mini bridge time as well. Murphy the reclusive online player was very impressed. Its now nearly 8 years since murphyslaw started I think.
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Team Billy defeats Team Val in Galligan Teams

Last night in the 2nd episode of the Gallligan Teams a Malahide selection with Jim Doyle helping played a match against Valerie Hands selection. 63 imps to 51 imps.

The best plan from here on seems to be for Teams of 4-6 to let me know they will show up at approximately  8pm on a Tuesday thru the summer and we will play some matches. 

So if you have a team thats available on Tuesdays Eamon will facilitate whatever matches are required. 

So email to eamongalligan@eircom.net. This is geared towards Irish teams but we won't turn away a mainly Irish team with a guest or two. Currently we have 3 regular teams.. Irish juniors ..Malahide and Valerie Hands trials team. More are welcome. 

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As stated yesterday I posted a decent score around 65% on Wbridge5 but BJ took up the wooden spoon and fired out a 70% score. However Galligan is there again with his 3rd 65% score in 3 days and BJOBrian will not be catching that today I think. Elvis is currently fighting a losing battle as he languishes about 50% after 9 boards. BJOBrien has yet to swing his broken ankle out of his pit. The early bird gets the worm. Galligan has been up since 630 preparing some tough hands for the Rory Boland bidding session tonight. 

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

Shortly the Euro Mixed Teams Swiss gets underway. BBO coverage from 9am. I presume the same lads who were around in Dublin helping the vugraph operstors will be present and probably the BBO broadcasts link into the scoring system. I know the computer scoring experts were very helpful and knowledgable in Dublin last summer. Maybe they will return with another event in the near future. 

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

I went for a look at Neil Young in the RDS on Saturday night. Heart of Gold it was not but that did not matter to me as I read what it said on the tin. 

Neil Young and Crazy Horse....now Crazy Horse as the name might imply is not going to be a few lads with accoustic guitars singing about Needles and Damage done and Old men caretaking ranches. 

So on Saturday night I saw lots of folk who were giving me 20 years ..some even had walking sticks. 

I don't think they understood 3 67 year olds wielding electic steel guitars. However Neil Young is a force of nature and even the whales got a salute on Saturday night. 2 hours 20 minutes but some people left as they chose to ignore the Crazy Horse mentioned on the advert when buying the tickets. There was a brief outburst of slow clapping and boos but you cannot expect a guy to play from 40 year old albums even if it is what you think you are getting. 

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

Right I better get out of here as the vugraph should be up and running ..

European Mixed Teams tomorrow. Can you make 6S

Good afternoon folks
Tomorrow morning the European Mixed Teams gets underway followed on Saturday by the Open Teams.
Some Irish players will take part.

Mixed Teams

Cashel .. Joe Walsh Dolores Gilliland Maria Whelan and Gordon Lessels..
Hanlon  Hugh McGann Fiona Brown Marianne Harding and Thomas Hanlon

...........
Women  Teams

Brid Kemple and Cathy Bearpark join Gilliland and Whelan on Team Cashel

Kenny Kirby Pattinson Rigney make up a team of Candidates or Earhores

................
Open Teams

Mark Moran Thomas Hanlon Rory Boland John Carroll Hugh McGann Thomas Garvey
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And last but not least

The legendary Paul Porteus who is the best known bridge player in Ireland and knows who is ringing him up before the phone rings leads out his Senior Team with trepidation. I hope they have been doing their pressups.

Paul Porteus Des Houlihan Bob Pattinson Fred Barry
..............................

If Team Hanlon have been doing their pressups as advised they could go deep in the Mixed Teams but this is
not the Holmes Wilson so there is danger lurking around every corner.

...............
A hand from todays Wbridge5 event

The contract was 6S and the lead was a small diamond with the left hand

Little old men lead singletons with left hand.

 Galligan after pondering for some time eventually saw the solution. 

I guess other folk were on trick 5 6 7 before the eyes finally glazed over and the realisation hit them that they were going down ..

I have not looked at the list of Irish luminaries who went down yet but I scored 90% on a 450 player field so lots went down. Lets have a look 

All the players who went down in this contract would each consider themselves accomplished bridge players. National champions Trials players Camrose internationals Senior Internationals are included in the 7 players who I know went down. However on the plus side BJOBrien and David Synnott guided it home. 

I wonder would Paul Porteus be up to making it. 

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

Eamon will organise Teams on BBO for any folk who show up at eamongall table on BBO tonight from 8pm .I have at least 8 who indicated their presence.

  .

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The Regent is under siege

Last Friday night the Summer Bonanza started in the Regent. Paula had every reason to sing but I don't know if she did. 24 tables turned up if you include the Club Manager Declan Byrne and presumably some Tournament Director. 23.5 tables of players.
The Regent floors were squeaking loudly. This crowd of bridge players was the largest crowd playing in the Regent since Maurice Quinn cruised to victory in the 1994 Graham Cup leaving his partner struggling in a 5D contract on the final board as he went about the more  important business of rushing around to RTE to deliver some letter or message.
The lure of the 1000 euro brought in some heavy hitters including matchpoint specialists Karel deRaeymaker and Anna Onishuk or maybe she has a new name these days but I have not seen it in writing.
Anyway the result was inevitable ....

I show the top 12 pairs here and nobody could argue that we have lots of trials players here in this group so to score the best part of 75% is a serious achievement.
At least 17 of the 24 shown here have represented their country in bridge at some level.
I don't know about Harry Torney and Brian Dolan regarding caps as they played their main bridge before my time but Brian Dolan is of international level and Harry seldom lets much away when he plays. Delaney being an ex-irish chess champion/international is also an accomplished bridge player/national champion.
3 more nights of this event and you need different partners. The Great Mulall decided that the game in Malahide was more suitable to his skills on Friday night and duly collected the winning ticket with a barnstorming performance. He should be available for prospective partners who require a boost to their score in the Regent Summer Bonanza. Galligan approached 12 different players in the 24 hours before the Regent Summer bonanza but found all were already playing or in Nice or Paris or not feeling well.
So when he got the call to head for Malahide off he went.
http://www.malahideregionalbridgeclub.com/
Is Open all summer and is a fine venue for bridge .. It does not have stairs like the Regent so no climbing up those stairs. It does not have Declan Byrne either and its players are less intense and there is no fear of getting chopped up by Karel and Anna. Current internationals BJ and Ranald seemed to meet a painful demise on Friday at the hands of Anna and Karel. One of them sawed off a 4S contract and Karel/Anna sent it back.
...............................
Meanwhile on todays Wbridge5 Galligan has paused at 77% after 10 boards while he awaits the arrival of BJOBoru on the 1st tee. Had to stop for a while to write this blog.
Lots of decent Irish players having a little go at this 16 board daily tourney where you play as many or as few boards as you like

Most of the names are known to regular BBO and Irish players.

http://www.regentbridgeclub.ie/

http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

Above are the links for the last two articles 

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Finally tomorrow Eamon will facilitate some teams matches.on BBO,

Login from 8pm onwards if interested. 

David Synnott indicated he will attempt to supply a team of Juniors/under30s

Valerie Hand has already indicated her team will show up.

We had about 12 folks last week who showed up and played

I will do my best to make sure everybody gets a game. 

We played 3 games of 10 boards last week. Everybody who showed up seemed to enjoy the matches.

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

On Wednesday night I will be doing some bidding practice with some of the Irish Open Team going to Ostend. The table will be permission required to view due to the possibility of competitors looking in. 

I will accept any Irish folk who wish to look in ..Should be sometime after 8pm on Wednesday night.

watch for eamongall on BBO.

I can facilitate bidding practice for any pairs interested. I have no complaints so far. Of course pairs can do the bidding practice themselves if they choose but most think they are good enough already.

Others reckon they don't need it as they play WEASEL CONVENTION if in doubt

http://www.bridgeace.com/Weasel.pdf

Weasel is the best bridge convention ever invented. Pat Walshe used to say lebensohl was a way of life but he never came across the Weasel convention. 

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Pokerstars Galway Bridge August 3rd 4th

Folks
As some people may have seen since the Holmes Wilson various pieces of literature and information have been doing the rounds regarding a major bridge event in Galway in August.

http://www.pokerstarsgalway.com/

 The Pokerstars festival coincides with the Galway Races which run from July 29th to August 4th.
The bridge takes place on August 3rd /4th
Some wide awake folk might notice the 25 link. The inaugural World 25 championship will take place
at this festival as well ..July 27-28 .. This is a game well known in the West.
My brothers parents in law play it. I won 5 euros playing against them a few years ago. They are still looking for revenge. 25 is also played in a corner of my local community centre bar on a Monday evening with matchsticks as money. I am not sure of the conversion rate.

The list of Prizes is below ..for the bridge is below

Hi Eamon

The Galway event is open to Intermediate A standard and above and the prize fund will be awarded as follows

1st.        €5,000

2nd.       €2,000

3rd.        €1,000

Session prizes €300 x 3

1st Area Master        €350

2nd Area Master.      €150

1st Intermediate A.    €350

2nd Intermediate A.   €150

Sunday Ascenders.    €150

Best played hand.      €150.       As adjudged by me

As you can see there are a lot of prizes and everyone that attends has something to aim for. Would you mind sending a group email to who ever is on your list as well

Thanks,

Tom  

.....................................
I watched Thomas Hanlon play a few hands last night. Here is hand 19

 South John Carroll dealt and opened 1D and with silent opponents the bidding continued
1D 1H
2H 3D
4C 4H
all pass

All the while thru the bidding Hanlon was thinking ..the opponents either have 4S on or have a good sacrifice so how can we get to play in 4H non-vul  unmolested.
Result was 4H minus 1 for +50 to E/W who quickly realized they had a vulnerable 4S available.
Imps was the game in question last night and that would be 13 imps ..
Playing matchpoints much the same auction might happen and E/W won't get many matchpoints for that.
They can play 3S 4C 4S or double 4H for extra value ..

So the moral of this story is get into the bidding fast and out fast. It was suggested at the time that East
might get in over 1H or later over 3D.
................
Meanwhile Eamon had a go at starting a summertime team event for Ireland players on BBO.
I am happy to report we managed to run 3 10 board team matches with a Team of close to Juniors or recent Juniors playing against some established players.

Just to be topical I called the Teams Pokerstars and Galway in reference to the upcoming Summer event
The players who took part were
David Synnott Richard Boyd Wayne Sommerville and Jordan playing against Emer Joyce Jim Doyle Billy Ronan and Mary Kelly Rogers.
For match 2 Caz O Donnell replaced Jordan
For match 3 James Heneghan and Willem Mevius entered the fray in place of Emer Joyce and Jim Doyle.

Eamon plans to run the same again next Tuesday and all following Tuesdays for the summer.
However if lots of people start turning up some patience and organisation will be required as its tough
to get 8 people lined up for a match at exactly the same time. I press the button and the 8 people must be at their screens in the same minute.
I think all folk enjoyed their matches. We got thru 30 boards in about 2 hours 40 minutes including the time to setup the matches. So how come in some clubs it takes 3.5 hours to play 24 boards.
...........................
http://www.pokerstarsgalway.com/bridge/
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The Free Wbridge5 tourney continues to be available everyday
http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

See the old Galligan up the top there closely followed by Eddie Fitzgerald and the hobbling  BJ O Brien. 

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

Tomorrow night its Regent 1000 euro time. I better find a partner for that. Ray McConville is in New Zealand. I asked BJ already but don't think I got any reply. I will try Michael McGloughlin today but he will probably be playing with Heidi. Anyway its over 4 nights and the best 3 scores over the 3 nights count. 

That will do for now. All are welcome in the Regent Friday night. For anybody who does not know it Declan Byrne is the person you will most likely have most contact with as he makes the chocolate coffees and pours the cans of guinness. He can also manage a decent cocktail and I have seen him attempt the trick of juggling behind his back but the stuff ended on the floor most times. I think there was some movie with Tom Cruise as the cocktail maker. Declan is not Tom Cruise though but he is good at cleaning up the floor. 

http://www.regentbridgeclub.ie/

Thats all for now 

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan 

eamongalligan@eircom.net

New Bridge Champions of Ireland 2013(Laois)

Good afternoon folks

The new bridge champions of Ireland were elected at the weekend. The Specsavers "Fun Teams" took place in Westmanstown Leisure Centre on Saturday with a massive number of 69 teams taking part.
Even in an event of this size and publicity a team managed to turn up without being entered. How this can happen I don't know as other teams I know had been practicing for 3-4 months out.
The most common words I heard while setting up the event with the other workers (who will be mentioned later) was .."I have to find my partner .. I have never met him/her"

This means there were possibly 10-15 nervous novices about to play with a MASTER for a whole day that they had never met despite probably living within 10 miles of the person. Just my thoughts and I might be wrong. I have experience of this. 25 years ago I was meant to play in a Master Novice event in Malahide as I left my number on a sheet. Of course nobody told me about it so I never showed up until about 1030 that night. By then they had found a new partner for my nervous novice and I drank my pint and thought no more about it. Next evening I was sitting down to play in the Bankers Bridge Club when Gerry Kelly walked in and chortles .."It was you It was you pointing at me and talking to me " I was completely surprised by his comments and reaction. Turned out Gerry Ryan had done a "Most Embarrassing Moments" item on his radio  show that morning and my novice had felt embarrassed enough to ring in ..
(She was embarrassed when I strolled in none the wiser at 1030pm without a care in the world. The bridge event had been held up for 30 minutes while they sourced another partner for her so my arrival caused some shades of red) Poor Gerry is long gone but somewhere on some reel of tape is the story of Eamon Galligan and the Novice player.

So who are the Champions of Ireland ...I think it is County Laois

1st Damien Nee Heather Ridgeway Susanne Downes and Margaret Nee 

2nd Louth
3rd Meath
4th Cavan 
5th Wicklow 
6th Dublin South

Former legendary Irish junior international Jamie Martin togged out for his native Kilkenny and performed fairly well in 13th place out of 69. 
Nicky Fitzgibbon and Trish Stack turned up representing what they call the Kingdom.

The Trayer Team won the best spectacles ... the event being sponsored by Specsavers
Only 23 of the 280 folk present felt the need of a FREE hearing test. 
Funny how very few of them ever hear a director giving them information or asking them to finish up please. Of course several of our bridge folk would be already geared up with hearing apparatus.

George Ryan of the Irish Times turned up in person to collect the results. He always shows up at National events to get the results. George was once an avid bridge player but has not touched a card in over 40 years. He stopped for Lent one year and has not started since.

Former bridge TV star Thomas Lawlor showed up wearing a Manchester United jersey.
Although representing Louth this avid Meath GAA fan could not be seen in a Louth jersey.
Thomas appeared on the Consuming Passions series some years ago with among others the well know BJ OBrien. BJ currently is recovering from a broken ankle. 

I showed him a book that Michael O'Loughlin recently published and sent me a copy.
George said "Very well presented" 
George was the author of the ancient bridge manuscripts "The Bones of Bridge" 
and maybe another one called "More of the Flesh"
One was yellow and one was pink ..
Michaels book is called "Bridge: Basic Card Play " 
http://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Basic-Card-Michael-OLoughlin/dp/0957270518

Brian Lawlor Paul O'Reilly Eamon Galligan Bernard Higgins worked as TDs
Paul Porteus and Norma Madden done lots of stuff too
Bert McKay sorted out lots of boards at the end
Many players put away tables
Danny Liddy drove a bus from the West Munster  area.

CBAI Office also have it for sale .. CBAI members get a 10% discount when purchasing books and software down at the office in Templogue.

..............
http://www.regentbridgeclub.ie/   if you reckon you are good at bridge and have some stamina.
There is a major event with a prize of 1000 euro for the winner taking place over 4 Fridays of the summer.
Click the link for details. All contact details are there. Turn up on the respective Friday nights but you need 3 different partners to qualify for the main prize.
There is a rumour that Paula Tolan will be singing a song each evening. Paula is secretary of the Regent Bridge Club and will assist with any details on the event. Folk can ring the club any night after 7pm and Declan Byrne or whoever is in charge will assist enquiries.

............
There was also another event on at the weekend ..a 6 team event called the Egan.
This was one by Brid Kemple Aoife McHale Terry Walsh and Peter Goodman on a split tie from another Team.
I don't have much detail on this event. However details might appear on CBAI website or IBU section soon.
In the past this event selected the Irish representatives for the European Club championships but I don't think we play in it these days. Think qualification is tied to the National Team performance.
................
Next up the M50 teams .. in Templogue .. with Brian Lawlor cracking the whip ..
assisted by Eamon Galligan and John Murray and some other North Dublin bridge workers.
Dublin North Region runs the event this year for the 4 regions touching the M50.
.............

Now its nearly time to cheer the Meckwell Crazycrackers comeback in the US Trials.
They trail by 60 imps after 30 boards... 60 boards left ..
Nickell teams have pulled back bigger deficits in the past but the opposition has improved massively since then. In the past Team Nickell would be odds on favourites for any US trials but this year they are playing for the 2nd Team placing.

These 4 lads have already won the US trials and qualified for Bermuda Bowl 2013. 

Not too many grey hairs there ...but they know bridge. The oldest is about 35 years of age. 

http://usbf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=42&Itemid=437

Coverage of the final 4 segments starts on BBO today June 10th at 1500 hours Irish time..

However its a fantastic sunny day out side so there won't be much bridge watched.

The next time you balance over 4S this might happen

In the USBF bridge trials tonight Michael Seamon tried pushing the opps up a level and those opps went up 3 levels and then made the thing. Thats about 1000 points. ...1440 instead of 420.

It will be a while until I see one of these hands again .. Normally you give someone a push from 4S to 5S but don't expect them to take off and bid a GRAND.

After the hand all 4 players left the table ..Seamon went for a smoke .. Levin probably went with him as last I saw he smoked too... Lots of Polish bridge players smoke but I don't know about Pepsi ..and I don't recall Weinstein smoking.

Even the famous BJ O Brien would not bid a GRAND like this..but Thomas McCormac might.
...............
However I best finish the story ..In the other room Sonty and Berky roared into 7S with no pushing so
the 7C lost 2 imps in the end ..

Leaks in your Bridge Game

Leaks in your Game (Anonymous)

Poker players often discuss 'leaks' meaning situations where you perform less then optimally - either trying to eliminate their own or exploiting their opponents.  Leaks are also apparent in bridge but less talked about.  A complete list of leaks could fill the Oxford English Dictionary but I think we can summarize them at a high level.

1. Declarer play/defense 
2. System knowledge 
3. Bidding judgement 
4. Table presence 
5. Concentration 
6. Self control – a steady nerve in the face of good or bad results

Intermediate players have to work on items 1-3.  Bookwork is the best way to sort this out.

Experts grapple with items 4-6.  They are mostly eliminated through experience, review of your own performance and mentoring/coaching.

I think it’s easier for humans to see the faults in others rather than our own so it’s worthwhile discussing your own faults with people you trust - It's a delicate subject.  For example - even in the most loving husband and wife partnerships, both may want to the top dog in the bridge partnership.  For this reason, niggles can easily creep into both the giving of 'constructive discussion' while on the receiving side, it’s all too easy to think the person is over critical and they are having a go.

That's the real reason for a mentor ... you can trust their judgement and there is no axe to grind.

Now, suppose you’re looking for a partner, what should you look for and what are the warning signs?

What to look for -

        - Roughly your own ability

        - An ambition to match your own.  You need a demonstration of this.
                Everyone says they want to win.  Not so many are willing to put in the effort.

        - Even tempered / control of ego

Danger signs -
        - People who are too concerned with their bridge image.

        - Can’t acknowledge a mistake

The first flaw could manifest itself in many ways.  Here are just two –

        - Too passive in the bidding - These people want to be right in the post mortem, they are afraid to depart from the straight and narrow or back their judgement.  As an opponent you can trust their actions and you should exploit that.
        - The decision maker - They want to be in the paper.  They are the opposite of category A as they are always backing their questionable judgement and let’s face it no one has 20-20 vision in the game of bridge.  Against these people in teams, you should tighten up and play down the middle and wait for the big numbers to roll in.

[Aside: Every so often you will come up against very aggressive bidders.  You should not be lured into joining them at their own game – It’s a recipe for disaster as they have more practice in the mindless aggression game.]

Instead of feeding their ego, a good partner should be consumed with maximizing the result of the partnership.  You need equality in terms of the actions both partners take and you need to be consistent in similar scenarios.  Maximizing the partnership result is a long term project and means following system and believing (in) partner.  If partner repeatedly does not believe you in the bidding or the play and (s)he is often right, then you've discovered one of your leaks. You had better shape up or be prepared for partner shipping out!

Beware of toxic bridge partnerships, they are a cancer to you enjoyment of the game. 

_________________________________

Meanwhile out in Turkey Hanlon Carroll continue to battle but need some good boards to make the top bunch. However its a very tough event as all players are top European internationals in the 24 pair final. 

http://clubs.vugraph.com/AssaelBridge/calendar.php

Results can be found here .. 3 tables of vugraph for the Final Session of 24 boards starting at 1315 Ireland time. Calcutta Final A is the one we want. This will be updated in running .. after each set of 3 boards.

Don't forget the buildup to the Regent Summer Bonanza continues with the first game on Friday week

June 14th .. There is a rumour that Declan Byrne will dress up as Mystic Meg or maybe it is another member of the Regent. Regent Summer Bonanza 2013

Thanks

Eamon Galligan 

Thomas Hanlon John Carroll fly the flag in Turkey

Good morning folks

http://www.assaelbridge.com/en/participant

I see the carparks are forming beside Thomas's brain. or maybe he just got a bad haircut.

I hope he has thick skin. 

I know Thomas Hanlon and John Carroll are playing in the Salvador Assael  Memorial Tournament but without digging a little deeper I don't seem to be able to access the results ..I know David and Diane Greenwood are also playing but I will do some work on finding out the results webpage.

Hi Eamon,
>
> One more qualifying session, nicely placed.
>
> http://www.assaelbridge.com/en/
>
> Tom
>
> Sent from my iPad

Hurray I finally got there ..
http://clubs.vugraph.com/AssaelBridge/eventresults.php?event=89316

Thomas and John currently placed in 2nd going into the Final session of qualifying
A 3 session final A and B will follow

Salvador Assael represented the Turkish Open Team in Euro Championships in Dublin. in 2012.
................................................
The Regent Bridge Club 1000 euro for the winner slowly approachs with the players lining up to partner the incedible Brendan O'Brien who has space in his coffee jar for some winnings. Friday week June 14th is the big night. Thats the night before Neil Young appears on stage in Dublin.
Details are here ... http://www.regentbridgeclub.ie/

Declan Byrne will be the Master of cermonies ..
I don't know who is directing but Brian Lawlor would be a good guess ... or maybe the incredible Declan Byrne will do that job as well. I know former Regent treasurer and current Dublin South Region beancounter Mr James Mullally attempted the Regional TDs course last weekend but have not heard any results yet.
It could be him ..
.............................
Last night I was talking to Jamie Martin the former perennial Junior International player for Ireland.
He was there so long he got too old to play. Anyway much to my dismay I wandered onto his blog.
Some brain wrecking stuff there ... including Shortcake and mathematics ...
http://mybraincrack.blogspot.ie/

Here you will find bridge hands ..brain things and even bridge advice in a cryptical way.

One story that caught my attention and ended up with a piece of great bridge advice was here
http://mybraincrack.blogspot.ie/2012/01/mens-erger-je-niet.html

Click on this and go to the end of the story and you will see an embedded link about his young partner and
click on that.
I got a laugh anyway
............
Its a beautiful sunny day and all Billy wants to do is sit inside and play Jack 5.02 and work on his bridge game. He makes tournaments each day and leaves Jack clugging away on his old laptop and then returns home after work to play the tourney he has created.
Strangely enough I used to do this with GIB 15 years ago when GIB was about to become the greatest
computer bridge program ever made. GIB still lives on but no development since about 2001.
Bridge Base Online seems to own it now and GIB is doing a fine job as a double dummy analyzer and plays 1000s of tourneys each day. I personally still fire up the old DOS version sometimes. A fine program created by Matt Ginsberg   www.gibware.com

Nearly everybody has the DOS version free in their BBO directory these days but probably don't know it

Jack5 is now the current top of the shelf program for computer bridge enthusiasts ..
www.jackbridge.com

...........
I still highly recommend the daily Wbridge5 tournament and free Wbridge5 bridge playing program

http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

.

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Summer in Dublin 2 (The Declan Byrne Memorial)

Shortly the Dublin Bridge event of the summer will begin. If Des Scannell was still with us he would be the favourite as he was a great matchpoint player. Once when playing against him in a team match he saw a squeeze coming after about 3 tricks and knowing he was bazookered he put his cards back in the pocket much to his partners surprise. I knew I had him too. However you did not get much from Des at the bridge table except undertricks. One year we managed to win Bray Swiss Teams with Des playing with Michael McAulliffe and myself and Karel. Des was quite impressed with one result of +2800 when the Sheridans decided to play in 1S XX and did not make enough tricks.

Anyway that was Des one of the stalwart members of the Regent. The Regent has lost several players this year but I would only comment on those I know well. This Summer bonanza in the Regent is in memory of deceased members. 

So see you all there. I will be hunting the cash myself. No doubt the legendary bounty hunter BJOBrien will be there too. Maybe we will see the incoming President Thomas McCormac make an appearance.
..........
I went to the Arklow Cup last Sunday and it was good fun but I suffered a few heavy hits. However got in a few good blows myself. Two lads decided to take a puck at me in 4S and then one of them underled the HEART ACE so I popped HEART KING and was about to lose to the doubleton spade TEN when the lad jumped up with SPADE ACE ... 2 doubled overtricks was all the matchpoints. Michael McGloughlin played well on a few boards but mainly it was the opponents going easy on us.
http://www.cbai.ie/documents/ArklowCup2013.pdf
.............
Bray Bridge Club is celebrating 70 years of playing and they will have a Congress August 31 Sept 01 ..Swiss Teams and Pairs .. Loads of dosh there too for winners .. I have a hrd copy brochure but no soft copy yet. Probably will be up as soon as CBAI have next seasons calendar posted.

More on this Brendan Martin compered event later ...
................................
European Open Bridge Championships in Ostend coming up soon. I see there is an Irish team captained by Grainne Barton entered in the Open Teams starting June 22nd. I must look again and see who else is entered. There is also a Candidates Ladies Team entered.
..................
So I hear Declan has a new suit with big shoulders for the Regent Summer in Dublin event. He will expect to welcome lots of people from all directions there. Starts on June 14th I think. The night before Neil Young plays music in the O2. A voice like the wind ..so my brother says ..
...............

Ireland fail narrowly in Senior Camrose

The Senior Camrose Trophy was held in Cardiff last weekend and the Northern Ireland team had the Trophy in the bag but the bag had a hole in it.
The CBAI team represented by Pat McDevitt Michael McDonagh David Jackson Thomas Gibson and the muscular Pat Quinn Pat Liston (after their 5-6 sessions in the bidding gym ) suffered a heavy hit late on Friday night as the powerful England squad overwhelmed them. I have not analyzed the boards yet but that is like the scores I used to suffer against the Pat Walshe teams back in the day.
However fair play to Pat and Rory one night after another heavy defeat they spent the time to go thru the 24 boards with Paul Delaney and Myself. Probably cost us a beer but thats ok.

Meanwhile Mr Chop Chop expects ye all down in Sligo where sun is forcast for the Sligo Congress.
Sligo Bridge Congress brochure     Click the link for the brochure

You can even make the train home to Dublin or anywhere between at 6pm after the Teams event.
See the brochure and you might go there ..
Fergal says go

They having a party there too on Saturday night and you don't have to pay to go in unlike the bridge.

Meanwhile one of the hands that got my attention in the Senior Camrose ...

Anybody fancy getting into the bidding as North South. I spotted that NS had rolled home 4HX in the other room so felt somewhat disappointed that our lads could not enter the bidding. 

However it is not so easy to get into the bidding at all ..

Jan Martel took the bait and defended Jackson and Gibson to the hilt. I felt that with 10+ clubs in the game between North and West that a 1H bid from Jackson might get the ball rolling ...However I know for certain this would not be Jackos style. Jacko bids his long suits and slowly. Meanwhile in the other room South opened with some kind of 2D bid ... maybe both majors maybe something else ..it can be found on 

http://www.bridgegreatbritain.org/

if you drill down to Senior Camrose and convention cards.

Results and hands and data and stuff can be found here 

http://www.wbu.org.uk/Int/2013/SeniorsCamroseResults.htm

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

Thats all really ... Wbridge5 continues to flourish ... A great 16 board tourney which you play with and against robots .. BJ is still struggling to catch EamonGall or maybe he passed him out recently.

Heneghan has been putting up some fine scores recently and I also saw a high 60s score from A2 player Mary Kavanagh. 

http://bridgez.net:3002/ConnectingPlayer.html

Its possible to play the event here and you can play 0-16 boards a day ..at any time of the day and in groups  of 1 or 2 or 3 or up to the whole 16 in a sitting.

This is where its at. 

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

I saw Willem Mevius beating up on the Nelsons and Greer last night in the Inter City online league.

They will play a welsh team in the quarter finals. 

http://intercity.cloudapp.net/Results.aspx

Welsh dragons next for Cloonboo ...I dunno where Cloonboo is though

It might be where Jeroen and Bernie live. 

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

Summer in Dublin (Waterloo Road)

Good morning all ...

I am hearing there is money to be won for playing bridge in Dublin this summer.

Thats all the details I have for now. However the idea of trousering 1000 euros does appeal to me.

I suspect I would have to attend the Regent Bridge Club about 5 Fridays in a row in order to collect this cash. However with Ostend in progress for some of the same time my chances might be improved.

Depends whether it is imps or matchpoints. I being a student of the matchpoint game would have a great chance. Of course one has to examine the format and conditions of contest.

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

There is also some cash to be won down in Galway at the Pokerstars Bridge event on Bank Holiday weekend in August. Galway pokerstars BRIDGE

Click above for Fergals description

http://cbai.ie/competitions/documents/IrishBridgeMastersleaflet.pdf

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

Starting tonight we have the Senior Camrose event involving the Home Nations.

Details can be found here 

http://www.bridgegreatbritain.org/

You need to dig a little to find it. Home Internationals and then Senior Camrose.

Ireland are represented by Pat McDevitt Michael McDonagh David Jackson Thomas Gibson Pat Liston and Pat Quinn. 

I had the pleasure of tuning up Pat Quinn and Pat Liston in the bidding gym over the past 2 weeks. 

Hopefully the exercise will pay off. 

Bidding is the most important part of bridge but so few top players want to put in the training.

So its off to Cardiff in the United Kingdom for the Senior Camrose event at 1930 this evening.

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

www.regentbridgeclub.ie

for the 1000 euro prize. If you are not in you cannot win. 

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

Ireland team runs on well in Germany Bridge Teams.

The Irish Team climbed into Division 1 of the German Bridge Trophy and held their place this morning thru

3 tough matches. Now they have won 2 of the final 3 matches and are placed 5th in the top group. 

5th place is about it though as the gap is large to 4th place so unless they play and beat a leading team not much chance to improve.

However a fine performance given some of this team have been dusting off the cobwebs and they played 4 handed .

In Poker Terms they made the final table ...

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

The Presidents Prize is in full swing in the Regent. I don't get in there much as I spend too much time directing. However it is still the premier bridge club in Ireland.

www.regentbridgeclub.ie

Nowadays The Regent runs improvers and beginners and all sorts of levels as well as the Premier Wednesday night game. Former junior international bridge player Declan Byrne runs a tight ship and has educated himself in all facets of computer skills and tourney directing. 

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

A strong game can still be found in 

http://www.bankersbridgeclub.com/

but I have not played there for quite a while.

.......

Both the above clubs are probably semi open for the summer.. June to August but I am not certain of this so ring ahead to check with number or contact on website.

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

I am certain that Malahide Regional Bridge Club is open for all comers every night June to August.

www.malahideregionalbridgeclub.com

1930 each night ..Monday to Friday ..

.......

http://www.merlin-liveticker.de/gbt-2013/13_05_08_wer.html

German Bridge Teams we still await the final round start but results can be found here ..

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

If any pair wants some interference bidding practice feel free to contact Eamon Galligan at 0879032505.

No complaints yet ... Have had some strong Irish players in my bidding gym. 

I only set the thing up ..I don't educate folk. 

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan

German Teams .. Ireland team promoted to section B

http://www.german-bridge-trophy.de/

For those with the time and inclination and interest more details can be found above including the live ticker of the results. The next round starts at 1430 irish time ..and there will be 3 more rounds of Bonn Swiss.

By my estimations the Irish team will be promoted to Section B and will be leading that group going into

the next 3 matches. 3 decent results will be required to gain a further promotion into Section A for the final two sessions. One can study the format on the website if one chooses.

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

Open Bridge in Malahide Regional Bridge Club every Friday at 1930. 

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

I had another look at Basic Card Play ..a new bridge book by Irish bridge author Michael O'Loughlin.

A fine book for the beginning player and a good reinforcement for the inter B player. There are even a few tips for the Inter As and Area Masters too I suspect. 

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

Ireland team start in German Open Teams today

An Irish team comprising of Thomas  Hanlon ,Mark Moran ,Rory Boland and John Carroll will start play in the German Open Teams today. Coverage on BBO and live ticker I believe.

http://www.german-bridge-trophy.de/
.........................
I received a new bridge book in the post today. I looked at every page already.
A fine book for the beginning bridge player and those who took lessons in the last year.
Explains concepts very clearly and has some very good pointers that lesser players often fail to acknowledge.,,,,such as keep length with dummy and the same with declarer,
Also aces are for kings ...not 2s 3s and 4s.
Also the authors name Michael O'Loughlin is there in front of you on every pair of pages.

Finally its printed on very glossy paper and in a very attractive green and white shade.
Michael has been teaching bridge for over 30 years so he knows who it is aimed at.

BASIC CARD PLAY by Michael O'Loughlin...
.........
I would recommend it for people who attend Paddy English and any other beginner classes
around the world.
Here is  a review on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3DMWGZUF4IXNT/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

........................
www.wbridge5.com continues to be an interesting challenge..

I don't know Eddie Fitzgeralds new name so cannot post him.

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

I met a woman the other night who's first assignment when she started working in the ESB many years ago was to tot up bridge recap sheets to make sure they all added up to the same total.  The woman has never played bridge but she recalled this assignment. She continues to work in the ESB. 

Wonder who her boss was.

Clue ..A member of the Regent Bridge club. 

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

Carlow Congress results are covered on www.fob.ie under the National tab.

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

Bridge Congress comes to Carlow

Carlows 1st Bridge Congress in my bridge lifetime takes place this weekend

http://www.cbai.ie/documents/Carlow2013.pdf

See the pdf link above ...

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

Follow me up to Carlow ..Lonesome Boatman

Click above for music

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

Peter Pigot continues his well received Intermediate Bridge seminars

Please book early to e-mail address – . peterpigotbridge@gmail.com or Peter @ 086-8146230, Mary @ 086-8115793

Fee: €30 per person.

Duration: 14.00pm – 18.00pm

Comprehensive NOTES provided on the day.

Peter Pigot runs Bridge Games, daytime/night-time classes for Beginners, Next Step, Improvers1, Improvers 2 and Masters in Dublin and throughout the country. Bookings for classes being taken now. 

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

Of course if you don't like to learn from Peter maybe you could read a book or ask Eamon.

However Eamon only does bridge stuff online as he does not have the charisma of Thomas MacCormac or the easy listening style of Malahide Regionals resident teacher Paddy English.

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

However I have heard Peter Pigots sessions are very good but have never attended one of them.

30 euro gets me 8 pints of plain and about 16 games of DON in my local establishment.

DON is a well known Dublin and Cork game based around 9s and 5s. The 9 is called the BIG DON and the 5 is called the SMALL DON. 

Nigel DONelly is the best player in our club and Jimmy O'DONaghue is the most experienced.

However the McKenna brothers are creeping up and Philip Marx is also a contender.

DON is played with 13 cards and two sets of partners. Therefore all bridge movements can suit the game if required. However generally its just random hands and random partnerships and lots of snarling. Cheating in DON is known as BILLYING ... and RENAGING in DON concedes the game. Don't know if anybody has noticed but both the best players surnames begin with DON.

Any DON player can learn bridge in about 1 hour  and be competent in a few weeks.

Eamon started a DON game in his local club in November 2012 despite never playing the game 

and since then at least 30 players have passed thru the school. This is quite alot for a small club that often only has 6 or 7 punters in the bar. 

On Saturday May 11th we are having a BRIDGE game in that club as the DON players are intrigued by the bridge and want to see it in action as a demonstration. So we are bringing the mountain to mohommed as they say ..the BRIDGE to DON.

Demonstrating will be THE GREAT MULALL , BIG BILLY RONAN ,Eamon Galligan and another who will probably be PAT CASSIDY but I don't know yet.

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

I had two of Irelands Senior Camrose Team for a bidding session this afternoon. They bid 43 competitive hands in 1.5 hours. Its like a gym for bridge players.

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

Now I am going to Malahide for a game of bridge at the OPEN night there.Open Bridge at 1930.

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan

Team Pharon (Hanlon McGann) survive

Good evening all

I was up late last night having a look at the Yeh Bros qualifying bridge event. It carried on through the night.
Fiona Brown Thomas Hanlon and Hugh McGann were involved. The English Ladies plus 1 failed to get through the Swiss qualifiers in a very tough event. Team Pharon (Pharon is a Financial services company with a bridge connection) scraped thru in the final qualifying place but now have only one knockout match ahead of them. Lose and they are out. The top 7 teams plus YEH1 have double knockout.

Tonight PHARON play against CHEEK whom they defeated comfortably last night. However any team containing Justin Lall and Joe Grue among others is not going to be easy meat in a knockout match.

The vugraph show starts at 1:30am Irish time and I don't think the Irish will be on vugraph as they probably show the higher level matches.

..............................................
https://picasaweb.google.com/112513765865598513420/IBUSENIORSCONGRESSDERRY2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Pictures from Derry Seniors Congress coutesy of Mary Kelly Rogers
Results can be found at www.fob.ie

.........................
Enda Murphy pointed out my poker odds are wrong ...I still reckon its 221-1 to get pocket Aces or any two specific cards but he hasd been playing cards longer then I

Like the blog Eamon,

Need to educate you re odds [to save you money ]......

Odds of first card an ace are 4 in 52 ie 1 in 13 ie 12 to 1 against.

And second then is 3 in 51 or 1 in 17 ie 16 to 1....

Jacko will tell you these small diffs add up over time

Bear in mind you are dealing with a guy who only yesterday invested a tenner that Chelski would lead halftime and draw fulltime.....in other words Luis Suarez is a fine upstanding citizen, bless his little cotton socks.

Enda

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

Finally Law 73C reared its ugly head last night in Malahide

North deals and opens 1H holding

KQ5

AKJT

K93

752

East passes

South holding

64

9874

AT8

QT96

places a pass on the table in reaction to Easts pass (which he presumed was the opening bid)

Then South noticing the 1H bid makes some noises and attempts to replace the pass with some thing else at the same time indicating he might have a bid by verbal noises.

I am called and I deem the PASS as made given it was his clear intention to PASS and not an accident

WEST balances with 1S ............

NORTH now makes the aggressive bid of 1NT (claims he is upgrading as KQx of spades is well positioned)

EAST bids 2S

SOUTH wide awake now makes the bid of 3H

WEST pushes on to 3S ..

and all PASS ...

After the hand is finished ...I am called back and lots of noise is made about NORTHS 1NT bid being strange and unusual

I deem result stands as 3S down 3 is about 3 tricks less then I would make .... I say EW can appeal if they choose

Basically South was dozing and failed to notice his partner opening and passed but then decided to hand over some information for some reason that he would have bid something if he had noticed.

North for some bizarre reason felt his minimum opening bid had suddenly improved to what is about 18-19 balanced shown by the 1NT willing to battle alone bid. Obviously it is very safe to bid 1NT when partner has indicated verbally his ownership of about a 6 count. 

However I could not as a director penalise North for his method of evaluation of his hand.

I don't understand the method of evaluation but one does not get penalised for stupidity.

I would like some comments on this as I really did not know what to do .. People are supposed to make every effort to play honestly and Law 73C is there for folk who chance their arms.

Basically does North have a 1NT bid given his partner has used the verbals to tell him stuff.

I don't understand why anybody would act in Souths way ... A player of over 25 years experience.

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan 

News from Yeh Brothers and Kelbourne

Good morning all

www.joemurray.ie

Kelbourne is there .....Rory Derek Cian Ciaran took the spoils

..............
http://www.jcbl.or.jp/home/English/yehbros/players/tabid/1028/Default.aspx

For news on Team Pharon ... includes Hugh McGann and Thomas Hanlon and 3 Hacketts and 1 Bakhshi.
You can find all information here

The well known female poker star Fiona Brown is playing on an English ladies team too.

There is BBO coverage but Hugh and Thomas are sitting out this round and its on vugraph.
..................

www.fob.ie has the results of the Derry Seniors Congress ...

I am informed it is not the first Seniors Congress ... apparently Mary Kelly Rogers and her crew organised one in Hilton Hotel a few years ago.

Paul Porteus and Fred Barry rule the Seniors Bridge with a 1st in the Pairs and a 2nd in the Teams ..
...............
http://www.pokerstarsgalway.com/bridge/

Speaking of poker stars .. There is a large bridge event being sponsored by pokerstars.com

I won't attempt to understand how poker works but it appears you got to pretend to have a big hand all the time. Thats a hard lie to tell as I know from bridge that its 13-1 to get an ace ..first card and then you got to fish out another one from the remaining 51 cards ... so thats 17-1 ... These horses don't win too often.

Maybe there are other hands that are good .. but all these hands are 13 times 17 chance so its hard to get a good hand or a bad hand come to think of it ...

Apparently you collect lots of chips at the start and then use them to bully the other folk into throwing away their better hands ..

Wonder would it work in bridge ...

Does not need to now ...as pokerstars are sponsoring the bridge event and theres a big party after the bridge but as the 3rd session might be on the next day ..it won't be too big of a party ..

I wonder what to poker players do after they reach 50 as apparently you are done playing poker at 50.
The young guys beat you as your bits and bobs don't work as good as they did at 25...
Your neck throbs a little more when you are bluffing and your nose drips when you are excited
and a 50 year old in a hoodie and dark glasses with a scarf around his neck is most likely robbing the gaff then playing poker.

So maybe Thomas Hanlon will start the Irish Seniors poker event in 6 or 7 years time whenever he hits the big 50.or stick to bridge ...

HaHa
..............................................
The Dublin North Region Novices championships takes place in Malahide on Saturday April 27th ..
Thats bridge not poker
................
Malahide Regional Bridge club will be open for the summer
All welcome June July and August ... 1930 every night ....

malahideregionalbridgeclub.com
.....................
Team Pharon got a 27-13 win versus India and should remain in the challenging positions to qualify ..
I note they are using the new WBF scale where every imp counts for something ..

So you get scores like 17.84 to 12.16 and the like

Fergal O'Boyle has some work to do now ...2 decimal places of scoring
That will sort out his Pivot tables



Thanks
Eamon Galligan