Good morning... Lets see whats happening in Eamons world of bridge

The first Congress for Seniors (and anybody else ) takes place in Derry next week. I think it starts on Tuesday 16th of April and ends on Thursday 18th of April. However I have (God willing) a bunch of years to go before I get to Derry Seniors Congress.

http://www.cbai.ie/documents/DerrySeniorsCBAIwebsite090413.pdf

All the information is in the link above. Mary Kelly Rogers seems to be one of the main drivers behind this congress. I will have to check the results to see if she was playing in the event. I suspect she will be confined to the Open Pairs though. I did not read all the information in the pdf file but there is plenty there. Seems to be good deals on hotel rooms in Derry too ...if you have a few Sterling pounds on your window sill...
I have a few Sterling notes as I got a few sterling for petrol expenses when I was invited up to the Camrose Trophy in Belfast this year. That was good ..they invited me for the weekend and gave me money for petrol as well. Thats a good deal.
...................
Meanwhile some of us continue to play along in Wbridge5......a daily tournament of 16 boards for anybody who wants to play. They keep a monthly record of your total for the month. A recent recruit Edward Fitzgerald has taken over from BJ O'Brien as the monthly leader but BJ has fired in some 70% scores this month already and will be expecting his Wbridge5 and jam collecting experience to outrun the new guy over the full month. Lets have a look at current standings

Eddie is still out the front for now but he is not playing much this month or maybe he had to start a new account as he mentioned on BBO that something happened his setup. We will see. 

other players with scores above or near 60% are Jim Sexton Jeannie Fitgerald Billy Ronan and the secretive Northern Ireland Camrose player Paul Tranmer. David Synnott Brian Wallace and Dermot O'Brien are also on 56% scores for the month so far. There are probably other Irish players using Wbridge5 whom I don't know about. 

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

I note a new account opened yesterday called garozzo (NY US) ...hardly the man himself but maybe ...he normally goes as papi or sillifu when online..

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

John Comyn has alot to answer for ...and here is another thing. John wrote recently in the Sunday Independant about a wonderful individual event held in Templogue recently. Next thing the tournaments officer in Malahide calls me and says ..."I read in the paper about fantastic individual event....etc etc ..."

So last Tuesday  morning I hear we are doing an individual event in the tourney I was directing that night.

Now individuals are historically a disaster area as you have in my case 18 tables ...thats about 60 plus people to get mixed up and do things wrong and get mixed up and eventually get annoyed. So here I was with the novice inter B group in Malahide about to run an individual event. So I print out the movements and get them started. We get thru the first 3 boards fairly ok as everybody has their unique number 1-36 in each 9 table section. On Round 2 or (boards 4-6 ) the fun starts.. I tell them N/S up/down 1 and EW up/down 2.

So most people find their new tables and start playing. Boards are staying on the tables thru the night. However after playing boards say 1-3 ... the final board is left on top. Thus the new folk arrive and play board 3 when it clearly says on the sheet play in order 1 2 3 ... So some chaos ensues... Next thing we have folk moving from table 8 in one section into some table in the other section.. Finally in rounds 4-5 we had to tell EW to change to up down 3 for 2 rounds. However we got to the end eventually and it was time to go. I stood outside and over 90% of the players said "That was interesting and great and I played with 21 different partners....a little awkward to begin with as we never done it before but we liked it.

This was played in Malahide Regional Bridge Club last Tuesday night.

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

Last Saturday night I was logged into BBO and myself and Jeannie Fitzgerald were playing a pair of robots. Then James Heneghan arrived and partnered a robot. Finally John Murchan bullied his way in to partner James so we had a human game going. BBO is very good if you can source some good players to play against. Over the years I have ran into some tough games on BBO. Back around 2005/6 I used to get into Team matches including the likes of Justin Lall and Agustin Madala and even one time 3 Meckstroths.

More recently BJ OBrien had me play 21 boards against Roy Welland and Sabine Auken.

One message came thru back in 2006 ..."Do you know your team mate is the best junior player in the World" Of course I knew ..

However playing against Heneghan and Murchan is a fine game as well..

TONIGHT FRIDAY APRIL 12th

REGENT BRIDGE CLUB

OPEN INDIVIDUAL FOR ALL.

YOU can play a hand or two with the legendary REGENT TREASURER 

BJ O'BRIEN

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

Galway Congress Pairs (in running)

Richard Boyd and Thoms McCormac are making a valiant attempt to podium in Galway Congress Pairs tonight. However they will need to continue to play well and have some things from above pass them on the way down. We will see what happens on the remaining 8 boards.
The odds are that Keavney and Jones will gather in enough score to hold onto the half time lead.
They are two very strong players albeit in a decent field. Plenty of capable players are out of the top 8 currently. Tomorrow there is Gala Open Pairs and Teams on Monday.

www.fob.ie  has all the results both Congress and Open Pairs

...........
I note the Wbridge5 player Elvis stormed to a 67% score today... while the Heneghan drifted lower.
Maybe Elvis is an expert.

Board 15 today was a good one for those who wait ...I got it 5 off doubled ,,, others got it 6 off doubled ...when the robot lost the run of itself ..

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Wbridge5 March 30th

Good morning folks

Wbridge5 is starting to motor in Ireland these days. Early in March an interesting player appeared called Give_Up_Eamon presumably aimed at me but this account has stopped playing for the last week or so.
However the well known Irish Camrose player James Heneghan has emerged as the man to beat in the recent past. Eddie Fitzgerald of the FourSeasons B&B in Galway is getting to grips with the French bidding system and the infernal robotic partners and is pushing up the leaderboard. BJ O Brien is at his imp collecting best even if it is a matchpoint competiton. You don't get much dummy play if you partnering BJ so this game suits him down to the ground as the robot never looks to declare any hand. Jean Fitzgerald from Ennis is putting in a reasonable 58% shift with the Wexford men Ronan and Sexton also up there with 58% months.
Elvis is a reclusive player from Malahide who thinks he is an expert bridge player but the reality is he has not played against many real experts in his bridge life. However a 57% monthly contribution is nothing to be sneezed at but the facts are he is 7% per board behind Heneghan who is probably ok to be termed an expert. After all he has a yellow star on BBO and several international caps on his kitchen wall.

Mr Heneghan also has a large collection of Martens books on one of his kitchen tables. He lives in a rather long house so its hard to tell which is the kitchen and which is the other kitchen. However I was impressed to see the large colourful collection of Martens books on the table a few years ago. 

www.martensbridgeuniversity.com I think is the site for getting a sampler of these very good books.

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

Galway Congress will shortly be in progress with the Congress Pairs ...and other associated events I think for intermediate players.

Gala Open Pairs event tomorrow ... www.galwaybridgecongress.com

Teams on Monday 

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

Greystones Open Cup takes place next Sunday April 7th ...so go there 

Eamon, we'd be most grateful if you could mention the Greystones Open Cup in your blog.

Here are the details. best wishes, John

Greystones Open Cup1.30pm on Sunday 7th April
at the Greystones Bridge Centre
2 session Match Point Pairs
1st (400 euro), 2nd, & 3rd Prizes
1st & 2nd Session
Best Intermediate & Best Local
TD Brian Lawlor
Entries (Master / Intermediate)
John Hautz 01-2861485 or 086 0555493
<jhautz@eircom.net>
John Royds 01-2819283
<roydsjf@gmail.com>

Kindly sponsored by Glen Fuels, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow 01-2861444

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Over the last few days I noted the ability to play hands from the vugraph archive on BBO with a partner against two GIB robots. Being a great fan of the GIB robots since receiving an email when in Saudi Arabia from Matt Ginsberg who was developing same to be a tester , I dived.

Sadly I found these web based robots to be very crippled. I understand this as BBO could hardly run robots for loads of members at a decent strength. In future will have to source some known human opponents when playing these vugraph hands. Robots are great for practice and training as you can discuss your system as you go and the robots don't care. However random humans get irritated if you don't play at their pace and you talk during the bidding.

Of course we would never take advantage of the robots by telling pard a card or anything.

However BBO is a fantastic service and I can figure something out if I need to play robots.

www.bridgebase.com

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

Played a hand back a while in Live Bridge with the aforementioned Elvis and he was dealt approximately 

Axx ..J...T976543..KJ and game all and 2nd in hand after West passes

The self acclaimed expert quicky opens the bidding with 1D and with silent opps

I am holding KQJTx ..Qxx ..J2 ..Qxx

So I bid 1S and my esteemed Elvis rises it to 2S ..

tempted to pass this with my aceless wonder I noted I have near7 losers and decided I best give one lift as we are playing weak NT so pard does not have a balanced 12-14.

so I go 3S...

My man pulls the 4S card out of the bidding box at the speed of sound ..

(When I was a kid I had no concept of the speed of sound ..I used to shout into a sewer pipe and race down the field to see if I could hear myself at the other end of the pipe..)

I have no concept of the evaluation algoritm that Elvis applies to bridge..

Its a 9 count with no primary spade support and it feels it wants to roar into 4S vulnerable in a pairs game. After some helpful defence I emerge with 9 tricks for minus 100...and retreat to some safe place. On my return I am greeted by the gleeful Elvis ..90% that was pard ...

it was only the 2nd time played  and being a TD I understand the score could only be 100% 50% or 0% ...so I just said what about if they were actually playing against me and doubled me and I went off a pile .. They ate their partners DK and then cashed the DQ..setting up the diamonds. So I escaped for 1 off undoubled.

The end of the night score was 50% but 3S making was 90% ..they might defend better against 3S and give me the same score. Trump leads are probably best or force the dummy before diamonds are up ..

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

That will do for today ..

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan

BJ and Eamon note with reverence the slamming of the door as Heneghan storms into Wbridge5 with a vengence. Well it answers the question as to who is NOT Give_up_Eamon as I thought it was James.
I even spotted the incredible mobrule making an appearance for one day. Mobrule is better than BJ by a little but BJ lets him play on his team as he does not like playing against him.

Anyway Heneghan has eased into the lead with 80 boards played this month so will be a man to aim at in the future. The King is pushed off the throne. BJ is now a dowager king. 

It continues to snow in Swords. Its nearly April and cars were covered with snow today. Its a tough life for biards who have no food. 

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

Charity event in Malahide Regional tomorrow night for the Lions Club. All are welcome. 

Malahide Regional Bridge Club Broomfield Malahide.I think its 10 euros to play

http://www.malahideregionalbridgeclub.com/

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

GALWAY BRIDGE CONGRESS THIS WEEKEND

http://www.galwaybridgecongress.com/

Thats all for today. 

Fitness for Bridge

Folks

I came across this video on youtube a few days ago ..7 minutes of exercise ....well you don't do as much as they do but you do whatever you can..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNflCriyE74#aid=P9-apahz0WY

Important : .. if you have not exercised in a while you better get a medicial checkup first..

otherwise just stand there and watch this thing ...well maybe shake yourself out or walk around the room

.................
www.bridgewinners.com is a fine website with plenty of coverage of current bridge events.

It also has a nice feature where problems are presented and you can answer the same either publicly or unpublished. You can see who agrees with you and who does not.
The higher your percentage on each problem the most likely you are with the mainstream.

The mainstream on this website are strong bridge players as far as I can see.
..................
Galway Congress is on this coming weekend ..
http://cbai.ie/competitions/documents/congress_brochure2013_print.pdf

Pairs on Saturday
Teams on Monday

In between on Sunday there is some Open Pairs and an evening Swiss Pairs.

http://www.galwaybridgecongress.com/

Entries can be made here
.......................

A 3 club opening

Good afternoon folks

I am directing the intermediate B national final and I just strolled by one of the tables spotting a dealer opening with STOP 3 clubs ..

I had a quick look as I thought he held .. 7654.. 65.. 6 ..QT6543

His partner pondered his 15 count briefly and passed .. .3C was the contract and 3C made

I am now looking at the hand record ...he actually held

T752 ..4 .. 84 .. QT6532

and his partner gave him

KQ9
KQ72
AT962
J

...............
I have been frisky in the  past myself but this 3C opening shocked me ..enough to write it up.

Just got called to a table where defenders complained that declarer was taking several minutes to make a play. Declarer involved has not been slow all weekend so I checked if he was awake and left him at it.
The man made 5C and scored up 100% ..

http://bridge.silvertexter.eu/results/3O3.TXT

It will be Auken versus vanProojen in the Vanderbilt Final later today.

Can be watched on www.bridgebase.com

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Vanderbilt Last 16

Good evening folks

I am back watching the Vanderbilt last 8 now. Above is whats left in.
Number 1 seed Nickel had a rollercoaster ride  falling over 50 imps behind in quarter 1 and recovering slowly but surely to take the lead early in quarter 4. However Team Norby were not finished yet and a grand slam by Madala Bocchi followed by a Levin Weinstein accident to bid 6S left Nickel behind again and the boards were running out.
On Board 60 of 64 Nickell made 3H up 1 against 4H-1 to pull level at 130-130
An imp was lost by a diamond queen played too quickly or tiredly (4 man team) setting up a finessing position for an imp.
Board 61 saw Nickel gain 2 imps with 180 versus 120 to lead 132-130
Board 62 flat
Board 63 saw Norby gain an imp for 132-131
Board 64 was flat to bring to an end a fantastic match up...
Eamon fell asleep about board 59 as thats where my vugraph record ended.

.........
On Logging on today to watch quarter-finals of Vanderbilt I noted Auken on vugraph.
Strange that as I saw Monaco just keeping out a messive comeback in 4th quarter.
However an appeal while I slept saw Auken win the day ...
So the juggarnaut Monaco Team is gone for this year. I am a Monaco supporter as we had Geir and Tor in Ireland for Buffet and Euro Teams. Nice lads. Also vugraphed Fulvio and Claudio in CityWest several times.
They will win more stuff no doubt but not this Vanderbilt.
..............
I think Ireland juniors won something in White House. However my Dutch is not great.
Houten Lepel divisie .... Irelande

I read this on a dutch bridge site ... I don't know who is Houten Lepel but maybe he is a famous bridge player from the Lombard Club.

That will do for now ...

Charity Bridge Event in Malahide on Thursday March 28th Open to all. in aid of Lions Club.

Malahide Regional Bridge CLub

www.malahideregionalbridgeclub.com

Thanks Eamon Galligan

Wbridge5 follower and Vanderbilt

This morning early while doing the Wbridge5 hands I spotted an unusual name in the list that I had not noticed before. Give_Up_Eamon. One has to presume with some pride that somebody from Ireland has started playing Wbridge5 and is going to get some better scores than I. Nobody can beat BJ at collecting jam and persuading robots to misdefend. This morning he managed to persuade the West robot to play the only cards to let out 6S on board 1. I was there planning how I would roll home 6S but suddenly it dawned on me that I needed some robot help and it was not coming.

Not so with the incredible BJOBrien. The robot quickly plays the first 2 tricks into BJs large maulers and BJ quickly wraps up 6S. Now I am not giving anything away here as all declarers play 6S as this is the way Wbridge5 sets it up. 

Even Give_Up_Eamon went a quick 3 off like myself but we all got 33%. 

A quick glance at the overall monthly scores indicates that Give_Up_Eamon scored 65% on his/her only play so far so possibly a recent recruit. 65% is a good score unless you are the jam factory that is BJOBoru as he regularly rolls home 70+% scores. I will be paying attention to Give_Ups scores for a while to see how  it does. Regardless of comments made about BJ or Give_Up Wbridge5 in my humble opinion is a good tool for any bridge player to play some hands and get 400 comparisons as to how they rank up. The site only has 16 boards a day and a player can play 0-16 boards per day and the site will give you a monthly report to your email address. All sorts of strange measurements like how good is your defence or your bidding or declarer play compared to the field and double dummy.

Meanwhile out at the cutting edge of bridge which is the US Nationals ...these days it should be called the US Internationals as the top games are packed with legends of the game (well only the living legends) ..the folk who have passed on cannot obviously be there ...but I suspect if there exists a spirit world then the ghosts of former great players meet up in the ceilings of the bridge halls at the US nationals 3 times a year.

When I attended the US Nationals in San Francisco in 2007 they held a memorial night for Paul Soloway.

Paul played in the first Buffet Cup in Dublin in 2006 despite struggling with illness at that stage. He still turned  up and played on the USA team. I recall one time while vugraphing that he fell asleep while playing against Thomas Hanlon and Hugh McGann. The Irish lads did not know what to do but somebody gave the table a little nudge and Paul rejoined the world and promptly followed suit. I think I have it on video but its an old video camera and one would have to trawl through several tapes to find it. 

Meanwhile back in the present there have been some small shocks in the Vanderbilt on paper. However the field is so classy that nothing is a real shock. Seed 51 is the highest seed still alive but this seems to be a Canadian team and includes several bridge proffessionals. So its not such a shock if they defeat a team of their peers. Round of 64 they knocked off a team with some powerful Icelanders and Norwegians on it.

Round of 32 a strong American team fell to Korbell. Next up is a round of 16 against another on paper seed buster.. the 35 seeded Chinese team who are probably legends in Chinese bridge circles but won't have a pile of ACBL points/results to get a higher seeding. 

Another team busting the seeds is the Grainger Team seeded 47th ... at least 3 of these are well known names for those of us who frequent Bridgebase Online at the US after work times .. 

Donn Granger and more recently Roger Lee are regular BBO players in high level games and several contribute to the BBO forums ...which are a great place to read about bridge ...

forums.bridgebase.com

bridgewinners.com

Meanwhile the top 9 of the 10 original seeds remain alive but 7 8 9 and 10 will face off today as we reduce to the quarter finalists. The juggernaut Nickell Cayne and Monaco teams are all surviving comfortably but the 3rd seed Diamond is gone,beaten by the afore mentioned Chinese team.

The Moss Team bowed out to the defending champions Amoils as seeded losing by about 50 imps ..

This is not a severe beating in this league where some teams withdraw after 3 sessions not wanting to receive another pounding on the last 16 boards. 

That will do for this morning I think ...well maybe a quick picture of the White House Standings for Juniors 

http://www.jeugdbridge.nl/index.php?id=white-house-juniors

The Irish team of Boyd Synnott Connolly and Somerville are playing ...

I notice they have interchanged partnerships in some matches ... hardly the thing to do during international competition but its probably with their hope of qualification gone and they trying out new partnerships for the future. Maybe some player is getting too old and they need to try out a new partnership for future full Ireland junior teams. 

Thanks

Eamon Galligan

White House Juniors

Today at 1530 which is about now the Ireland junior team are on Bridgebase Online playing against France.
Unfortunately in the last round Ireland seem to have run into an in-form English team who got good results on several boards and thus beat Ireland by 57 imps.
However that was a once off ...or maybe a twice off.. I expect a better result in this match though.
We will watch and see.
However be aware that the French juniors are extremely good players historically.

I have to go buy the dinner so off I go but I will leave BBO on so I can review when I get back.

http://www.nbbclubsites.nl/club/1003/uitslagen

Has the current positions. Ireland need a big win but France is tough.

Connolly at the helm in 4S but its a big ask but she is a capable player 

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Mesbur +3 qualify to last 32 in Vanderbilt

Yesterday in Saint Louis Missouri if thats how it is spelt Team Moss whixh includes Adam Mesbur Nick Fitzgibbon and Thomas Hanlon won their round of 64 match over Team Barrett. However Team Barrett included some world  class Polish players Romanski and Kowalski.
Pat McDevitt who is defending his Mixed Pairs title qualified comfortably for the next session in about 40th place. This is a 4 session event .. I think 2 sessions are done already.
The Hamann Team got ambushed by the Granger squad but the Granger foursome are a very decent quartet that I have seen playing in various matches on BBO.

Folks
I draw your attention to the following link which describes how one of the best partnerships in the world
Levin Weinstein resolved and discussed bidding a slam off the trump ace

http://bridgewinners.com/article/view/behind-the-scenes-levin-weinstein-postmortem/

They both knew they did not do it on purpose ..

So today at the Nationals we have Team Moss backboned by stalwart Irish pair Adam Mesbur and Nick Fitzgibbon taking on the Amoils team.. They will probably find this one another "Bridge Too Far"
Opposition of Joe Grue Thomas Bessis Brad Moss and Fred Gitleman is tough enough but there is a Swedish guy there too. Don't know much about Leslie Amoils but this team is defending Vanderbilt champs so thats a start. Canada is a little far away for me but the Amoils name has been around since I was in San Francisco Nationals in 2007. Joe Grue was a young  teenager in Minnasota when I worked there in 1998 for a while.

And don't forget the Seniors Congress in Derry

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

Also more sad news ..

Malahide Bridge Club lost the recently returned to bridge Paul Coree on March 15th ... Paul was a bridge player in Bankers Bridge Club / Portmarnock and later Malahide. When I was a budding player I remember targetting Paul Coree and Seamus Boyle as folk I needed to pass out. I never really got to pass out Paul Coree as he stopped playing bridge before I got the chance. From Malahide website it seems that Paul had played most Thursday nights this year with Dan Brilley.

Bob Hughes-Hallet who I played against some Friday nights over the last few years in Malahide passed away on March 17th. Bob was still competitive despite being well past 90 years of age. One was never sure what was in his hand as I think he played Colonial Acol from Argentina. I know there was some Argentinian connection somewhere. Bob was a nice man who knew he was up against it playing against me but it did not stop him scoring well from time to time.
Bob felt sick during a tournament I was directing on February 6th. Wed Simultaneous Pairs and the only thing that bothered him was that he might mess up my movement. I assured him that we just continue with a sitout for the rest of the session. I have not played in Malahide since that week so I never saw Bob again.


May they rest in peace. Funeral detaisl on www.rip.ie

All the best
Eamon Galligan

While playing Wbridge5 this morning just a few minutes ago my robot emerged with a BJesque 7C bid when the opponent robots had reached 6D. Of course its favourable vulnerability but it takes plenty of programming to make a robot understand sacrificing. I am not sure how this hand will go as I have not played it yet. 

It was a successful sacrifice and we scored 43% ... Well done my robot.

However I personally would have been in earlier to persuade the opps to stop in 5Ds or something else.

Wbridge5 .... a great way to get in a little practice for real life bridge as you are comparing with 400 other real life players playing the same cards as you. Its also possible to edit the convention card a little.

As can be seen above Pat Cassidy is out in the lead for the month of March. However Galligan and BJ will pass him out when he plays a few more boards as 63% is a heavy average to keep up for a month unless he sits there and does not play. BJ regularly piles in with 70% scores.
Eddie Fitzgerald is battling against the robot system and will be a bigger feature once he gets the hand of it or changes to a more suitable system. Jim Sexton is firing away at near 57%.  Billy Ronan is having a good month on 58.4%. Maurice Quinn has been fairly quiet this month.
My dog is eying a magpie through the patio door but knows its not worth the effort as magpie is too smart.
Its also snowing anyway and he will mess the floor if he goes out the flap.

Fancy your chances in 4H from the North after East strikes out with the Club Jack lead.

I don't really know where my man found the 2H overcall. However hopefully the lad can declare a little and make this contract. So club jack and you are up ,,,

Dog has finally succumbed to the magpie taunts. Crashed though the dog flap and magpie fluttered upwards still taunting the dog.

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan 

Vanderbilt has started

Good morning
Greetings from snowy Swords. We are in shock in Swords as the snow falls in mid-March.
Vanderbilt started at US Nationals in St Louis yesterday with some matches to trim the field of 69 down to 64 starters.
Team Moss includes Adam Mesbur Nick Fitzgibbon and Thomas Hanlon along with Mike Moss.
They are 28th seed which gives an indication of the power in this tournament. Some Scottish folk from the recent Camrose Trophy are seeded in the mid 50s and had to qualify in the preliminary round. Thats Team Gipson who include Samantha Punch and Stephen Peterkin who represented Scotland in the Northern Ireland piece of the Camrose Trophy.
www.bridgewinners.com is running a fantasy bracket where a person can enter their winners of each round of the Vanderbilt. I picked Moss to win their first round and then succumb to Amoils in the round of 32.
bridgebase.com will start showing matches from the round of 32 onwards.
There are lots of powerful teams in the top 16 seeds of this event and many legends of the game below that.
Go and have a look on bridgewinners.com ...
Also bridgewinners.com has a fine quiz type thing where you can answer loads of bidding questions and be shown your mark among the other answers and who answered the same as you. As bridgewinners.com is populated by many very strong players a high percentage answer is likely to be correct.
I got some single % answers as I often go against the field.
http://bridgewinners.com/tournament/2013-spring-nabc-vanderbilt/fantasy/view/eamon-galligan/ is where I posted my guess of who will win the Vanderbilt Trophy. I am going for the new Nickell team.

acbl.org is the ACBL website and has links to the bulletins and results of St Louis US Nationals.
Pat McDevitt is also playing there

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Wbridge5 tourney /Free Program

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

www.wbridge5.com

Folks
Here is one of the best bridge items I have come across recently.
A free bridge program that plays pretty decently. Wbridge5.
There is also a free daily tournament which folk like BJ OBrien and Eamon Galligan and the well known Army Bridge player Commandant Wallace take part in daily. Bjoboru eamongall and billpat patbill (Billy Ronan and Pat Cassidy) I don't know the account of Mr Wallace maybe it is bmw maybe it is Elvis as in the king is alive. Thats what you say when you score a singleton King. I once attempted to score a singleton King in 3NT by leading my singleton small from dummy for my 9th trick... did not work. 3NT minus 1 was a fine score but after losing 6 club tricks 3NT-3 was not.

I highlight mpb above as an example. mpb is a club player in Malahide who wished to improve his bridge a little so I went around to his house and set up Wbridge5 and told him he can play 0 to 16 hands a day in this tournament and do his own improvement. For the first week or so he struggled in the low 40s but a year later he seems to be averaging around the 52% mark. This is a large improvement in one year.

16 boards is more than enough for most people but if one wants more one can play the free program with random or selected boards as much as they want. My point to mpb was here are 480 boards a month and thats like 20 bridge sessions extra for you.

Recent recruits to Wbridge5 are Senior Ireland player Eddie Fitzgerald and Camrose Northern Ireland player Paul Tranmer. If its good enough for BJ Eddie and Paul then its good enough for everybody who wishes to play a little computer bridge. Probably works on Ipad and mobile phone also if you travelling on the train or bus or even car.

Ashbourne Bridge Club

Over the last two weeks I have been directing in the Presidents Prize in Ashbourne Bridge Club. The venue is the Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA premises. I had a look around outside and noted the presence of a a stand beside the pitch with approximately 400 seats .. 77 seats by 5 rows and then some standing room at the back. Also the pitch can clearly be seen and watched from the bar/function room area.. A nice place for a relatively small GAA centre. I personally recall being driven 75 miles to the back end of Donegal to stand in the lashing rain to watch Cavan Gaels get destroyed by St Kierans one Sunday. I have a vague memory of the score being 5-8 to 0-3 at half time and some dude called Kevin Keeney at corner forward doing the business.
Anyway back to the bridge. The players land and pull out their gear from a back room .. Tables and chairs and clothes and a box of cards/paperwork. They set the whole lot up and are ready to go. First night started at 1930 with a draw for partners. Then play starts at 1940. 24 boards later we called a halt at 2230.
2nd night we started at 1930 and at 1023 decided on going a final round so 26 boards completed by 2245 and most of the tables packed away.
26 boards played in 3 hours 15 minutes and everything packed away. Thats the way bridge should be played. I recall a night when it was 1130pm in the Regent and we not finished the 26 boards.
The President is Mr Pat Moyles

I had a similar experience in Whitehall Bridge Club where Mother Moyles and son John Moyles play.
Started at 1930 and 24 boards later in 8 matches of 3 boards and first players out the door about 2210.
Everything packed away and last person out the door at 1030pm.

So in short we spend too long playing too few boards in the purpose built bridge clubs. Imagine if we had to pack away 40 tables in Malahide after a Wednesday night. We need to pick up the speed. Even international bridge is played at 16 boards in 2 hours 5 minutes.

Thanks
Eamon Galligan

Irish Schools Bridge Teams

Last weekend in Galway the Irish Schools Bridge Teams championships took place. We thank Galway Bridge Centre for making their facilities available to us. 24 teams took part in the event. 

This year was the inaugural playing of the Gay Keavney Trophy. 

This Trophy was commissioned by the IBU or CBAI or Irish Junior Committee in honor of Gays 29 year involvement with Schools bridge. 

The following Schools were represented 

Laurel Hill Limerick

Belfast Royal Academy

Carrick .......maybe it is Carrickfergus 

St Vincents Dundalk

Gonzaga College Dublin

Bangor Grammar

4 sessions of bridge were played starting with a seeded round robin which graduated into a Swiss for 1 round. After 2 sessions and 8 matches the top 8 teams split off into the Gold Final and the rest continued play in the Silver Final. Gold Final was 7 match all play all with 6 board matches. Silver Final was 7 round Swiss also with 6 board matches. 

Gold Final 

BRA2 ...........150

BRA1 ...........143

Carrick1.... ...132

St Vincents1..126

BRA4........... 120

BRA3........... 103

Bangor1......... 89

Gonzaga......... 87

Silver Final 

Bangor2 .........136

Laurel Hill5......123

Laurel Hill4......119

Laurel Hill1......117

Bangor3...........115

Laurel Hill3.......115

Laurel Hill6.......114

BRA5...............112

BRA6...............109

Carrick2............101

BRA7................94

Laurel Hill2.........94

Laurel Hill8.........90

St Vincents3.......82

Laurel Hill7.........79

St Vincents2........70

100 under 19s in total .....well I think there was one 18 year old and some who looked about 

12 years old. All playing bridge and using bridgemates and circling the scoring computers after

each round. 

There were no rows or anger displayed. All played away happily and looked forward to McDonalds or the equivalent on Saturday. This year the teachers did not throw my dinner in the bin before I ate it.

Most  of the Gonzaga Team started playing bridge 6 weeks ago and managed to make the Gold Final against players who are playing somewhat longer. The Gonzaga folk were quite surprised to find the chef in their Bed and Breakfast was giving them bridge advice each morning as well as breakfast. The chef was former CBAI President Edward Fitzgerald. 

If any of the schools players read this I highly recommend 

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

You can play a 16 board tourney here each day or anything between 0 and 16 boards.

It will compare all players and give a score.

Eamon Galligan and the chef both play this most days.

Thanks 

Eamon Galligan

Dublin North Region Hand of the month

Dlr: N Vul: E/W T QJT63 9 KT6542 A72 A84 AQT85 87 J843 5 K643 AQJ3 KQ965 K972 J72 9

Last night while playing a bridge game on BBO with my friends the following hand turned up. Eamon was seated in the West seat with Dealer North and EW(us) vulnerable

North East South West
2H P 4H ?

2H alerted as 5+5+ hearts and minor and 6-10 hcp
4H is the normal bid with the East hand exerting maximum pressure.

So its your go and you are vulnerable and are you a woman or a mouse.

Much to the dismay of the opponents I emerged with a 5D bid and everybody passed quickly and to further dismay found that I was making 5Ds.

After some examination of the hands my opponents indicated a large WOW factor for my bid followed by well done dude.

This hand was played on the internet and there was no pauses before East passed or any indication that the beautiful dummy was held. There are many folk out there who might produce a double with the EAST cards ...its pretty close and has the shape. However my pard deemed it a pass which is ok.

My main reason for bidding is I can visualize a Heart singleton in partners hand and thus there will be support for my suits in some shape or form.

Half the other folk who played the hand also reached 5Ds but none of them had to deal with 2H P 4H bidding beforehand.

What do people think... Of course it is much easier to bid 5Ds if partner pauses and passed ..thus the old HESITATION pass ...well known throughout the country or WEASEL as its known in the borough of Waterford... two squirms and shift in the chair is 10 points.

My gracious opponents Peter Pigot and James Heneghan were not so giving in the rest of the hands and myself and partner Maria Whelan fell behind by several imps.

The Malahide Strong-weak player event

Last night in Malahide Regional Bridge club the first Charlie Higgins Invitational was run. The event has been run before but this was the first time it was christened the Charlie Higgins invitational.
Charles Higgins is a long time member of Malahide Regional Bridge Club and possibly of other bridge clubs before the Regional premises was built. Every Friday night there is Open Bridge in Malahide Regional at 8pm organised by Charlie Higgins. Charles has performed many jobs for Malahide Regional Bridge club over the last 22 years that I have been around that club.
On any Friday when Charlie is away he always has somebody organised to take up the slack ..
Usually this will be his right hand man Brendan Redmond or his left hand man Dermot McCourt.
Danny Doona has also stepped in once or twice.

Jobs I remember are he was Captain on various nights on various years. Being Captain means doing the scoring and being present most of the nights of the year on your specific Captains night.
You got to turn up 30 minutes early and prepare the club room for play.

Charlie also looked after club maintenance for at least one term.

Charlie also finds time to play competitive CBAI tournament bridge and can be found at most national bridge bashes at the top level. He can usually be found at the annual Holmes Wilson event which is the CBAI flagship and will be around for all Dublin North Region events.

Last night during a break in play I was perusing the result sheets of the previous few weeks in Malahide and I was rather surprised to note ...65.5% Dan and Mary Cowhie ...
Moving along the board I then spotted 70.3% Dan and Mary Cowhie ...
Now I know Dan and Mary a long time as I have been drinking tea in their house in Malahide several times back in the early 90s when they had a dog called Sheeba who you could push.
However scores of above 50% would be normally their lot so I am happy to see the Cowhies post some big 65% plus scores. I doubt that any more then 10% of bridge players ever manage a 70% game. Dan has been on the audit committee of Malahide Regional Bridge club for years. I presume he is still there.

Anyway lets have a few hands from last night ...a bigger er post will follow later.

On Hand 1 I held a large 2 count so felt I won't be doing much here

Q86543
T754
2
93

So I sat back and listened as North Mr Brilly chose to pass and that went
Pass Pass PAss to my partner who emerged with 2NT back to me ..
So being a lad who likes to play the hands as people seem to hand me tricks more often then the rest I made a plan of campaign..
Lets try stayman as if partner is playing this we need a good trump fit as she is not so good on the Notrumps ...you cannot ruff in NT. Happily partner responds 3D to the Stayman and it looks like the Gallo has chances of grabbing another hand to play. While pondering a soft 3S or a pushy 4S there is some shuffling from the Brilly. Now the Brilley seldom bids unless he has a monster but he pushed out the double card. I looked at my singleton Diamond and my nice 2 count and decided if Brilly got Diamonds then my singleton is nice so I pushed out 4S ..
The diamond lead and the appearance of the Spade ace pretty much ended Brillys passed hand bidding so it was easy enough to bring in the good 4S contract.
Partner a beginning player perused the result sheet and my curtain card muttering you only had 2 points and you bid game....I said I don't need points ..I just need Brilley to tell me my diamond singlton is good. Strangely enough up to then the 7 players had all missed game.

Board 2 .. I held

AK984
8
2
AKJT52

and I opened 1C and reversed into 2S and pard placed me in the normal 4S contract.
Sadly I ran into the heavy weather of a 5-1 club break and drifted 2 off.
The analysis says 5S makes but I only managed 8 tricks
The analyis would know about 3-2 breaks and 5-1 breaks before playing the hand though.
However some wizards managed to reach the heights of 6C and 6S and obviously drifted 3 and 4 tricks off so Gallo got average . Some other wizards played in the Master Novice contracts of 3NT. Surely with a 5-3 spade fit and 3 singletons the bidding can hardly not reach 4S.

Board 3 was our first board and our hero Brian Wallace opened 2N partnered by his sister.
3NT was the contract and Wallace has some problems. Disdaining the spade finesse and later taking a diamond finesse after Eamon pitched the Diamond Queen at trick 11.... given he was squeezed by the dummy he had no choice but a diamond finesse later and Wallace had only 10 tricks when I dunno what he was doing as with 2 cards left ..and JACK and KING of diamonds missing it can only have been a practice finesse.

Board 4
Eamon played in the quiet Master Novice 3NT ...and failing to drop the club queen only managed 11 tricks.

Board 5

Saw Eamon at the helm in 2H and that yielded 9 tricks after losing 2 diamonds and a ruff fishing out heart queen and then lost Club aCe ...a good score

Board 6

Here we defended 1NT and pard managed to block the spades severely and then pinged away her club King entry for some reason ..Scary stuff
A spade contract would have yielded 8 tricks and at least she could see all our cards

That will do for now ... Next blog will have BBO style hand diagrams ..

Oh Murphyslaw the famous BBO ACol Club player has retired from bridge ....the poor fellow

Maurice Quinns 1 euro DNR League Feb 8th 2008 First Half.

http://homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys/BGlossary/BlogsBridge.html Here are loads of Bridge blogs


Last Friday I finally got the call from Team Wallace , the team I am attached to in the Kirwins North Dublin Masters Bridge League. We played 28 boards in 2 halves of 14 each. Our opposition was the powerful Meade squad backboned by Madge Kinahan supported by Eileen McCann Lily McHugh and Ann Doyle.
The same boards were played at each table and also played in the Charles Higgins directed Friday night open pairs. This is open to all comers on a Friday night and starts at 8pm. Last Friday ran 9 tables which is a decent turnout given we had about 10 tables in the Masters League at same time.

Anyway on to the action which I will relate by Board number. Team Wallace was Eamon Galligan and Wallace1 Wallace2 and Wallace3 to protect the innocent.



Board 1



found Wallace2 opening 1D and I bid 2C and heard 2D from Wallace2 so I pushed out a 2S bid. Wallace2 bids 2NT and I raise to 3Nt. So we are in 3NT and there are only 8 top tricks.
Defence started with Hearts and Wallace ducked the first 2 hearts. Defence continued hearts setting up the declarer to collect 9 tricks via a strip and endplay. Unfortunately Wallace calculations emerged with doing something in diamonds instead of the well known strategy of running off 6 club winners and analyzing the oppositions reactions to this.
Defence need to build an early spade trick to beat 3NT legitimately but they failed to note this.
Flat board so a chance missed ...probably at both tables.

Board 2 saw Eamon have a go at 2H 4-3 fit contract and drift one off but gained 1 imp
Board 3


saw Eamon attempt to steal a board in 1NT after the board appeared ready for play about 1 minute after the previous board...Eamons information gatherer logged PASSOUT.
Moral of the story never pass on a passed out board quickly. Sadly my sharpness failed me as Wallace3 held a 4333 11 count with 4 hearts and rolled out the Stayman Gun and settled me in 2NT. He made the normal club player bid but all of my bridge friends would pass 1NT without a thought. Lost 2 imps .. Now down 1-2 in imps.

Board 4. Here we played in 2H+2 after a balancing auction. I don't see us every bidding 4H here although there is a case for needing less points as the opening bid has located most of opps points. Somehow we lost 4 imps on this board. Sounds like Wallace2 and Wallace3 went for 300.
Down 1-6

Board 5. A normal 4H contract where Wallace1 picked up an imp for dropping a trump queen
Down 2-6
Board 6.

Opps made 9 tricks in 1NT against us for -150 but Wallace2 and Wallace3 ventured into 3NT with 15 opposite 9 and a pair of 4333 hands. Evaluation not being the strong point.
Not the roundy shape of these horrible hands
Lose 8 imps and Down 2-14



Board 7 Galligan makes 9 tricks in 1NT and drops another imp .. Now 2-15 down
Board 8 We play in 4C North South making 150 and it looks to me like opps have decent play for 4S. Guess it went off at other table for 200 in something as we lost another 2 imps
Down 2-17
Board 9 Wallace3 plays in 3NT and ventures 3 off to lose 150.. Other table off 2 so lost 2 imps more to trail by 2-19. Contract had been makable double dummy as a singleton Club king is there.
Board 10 .. and some light appears in the tunnell as our opps travelled all the way to 5D after some offence by Galligan ...a 1 Spade overcall. 5D drifted off amid some muttering of discontent with her play by declarer. Wallace2 and Wallace3 scooped in the easier 3NT contract and the Wallace empire had struck back. 12 imps to the cause. Now 14-19 and rolling
Board 11 saw Eileen McCann make a good pass of 2NT with a balanced 4 count but Wallace1 still nailed it for 2 off and 100 and 2 imps.. 16-19 and rolling faster..
Board 12 saw Team Meade play in 3C making 10 when 3NT is a favourite. Guess Wallace2and 3 made game as we won 7 imps on the board to take the lead. 23-19 with 2 boards to the half.
Board 13 saw Team Meade being pushed to 3Ds by club bidding by Galligan. Wallace1 scooped in the 5 entitled tricks and that was another 6 imps to Wallace now leading by 29-19
Board 14 ..Wallace1 scooped in 9 tricks in 1NT to gain another imp.

Half time score = Wallace 30 Meade 19

Bridge evening hosted by Billy Ronan

Last Monday was a Bank holiday so Pat Cassidy and Billy Ronan attemped to knock off the legendary Great Mulall again. Great Mulall had elbowed them aside the previous time by about 130 to 70 imps over 28 boards.
This time 32 boards of pre-dealt boards were ready and waiting for the Great Mulalls perusal.
Mulall and partner played North South throughout.

Board 1 was an easy 3NT especially as Ronan on lead with the spade AKQxx chose to lead a non-spade and 12 tricks rolled. His partner held Spade J32
6 clubs was cold though for North South

Board 2 had Mulall stealing away in a quiet 2S for +140.
Billpat might compete in 3H losing 100 even if doubled

Board 3 and the great Mulall strikes for the only time in the match.
4C doubled and mulall leads the Spade King gobbled up by the AQ
-710 and minus 12 imps
Running score 4-12 to BillPat

Board 4 Great Mulall disdains the 5-3 Heart fit and plays in the 4S 5-2 fit and with
spades 3-3 620 and 3 imps is clocked up

Board 5 Billpat play in 3C to gain 2 imps
Score 7-14

Board 6 Mulall plays in 2H-1 .. 2S is good for Billpat
Flat board but Billpat have 21 hcp

Board 7 Billpat overstretch to 5D which drifts 2 vulnerable tricks off and 5 imps to Mulall
Board 8 Billpat play a normal 3C making
Board 9 Billpat reach another 5 level contract 5C which again drifts off 2 vulnerable tricks.
Should be one off ..
Score 18-15 as mulall eases back into the lead
Board 10 a quiet 2D going off 1 vulnerable

Board 11 Great Mulall holding KJT6 ,void, KQT,KQJ962 opens 1 club and Pat Cassidy overcalls 2H weak jump. Galligan fingers the AJT72 of hearts and the other 2 aces in his hand and passes
Ronan passes and Galligan wonders will Mulall find the normal takeout double he must hold.
Mulall bids 2S without pause for thought and the storm that was brewing for Cassidy recedes.
Galligan bids 3N and 490 and 2 imps ...Cassidy would not have made many tricks in 2H

Board 12
1NT 12-14 opened by cassidy and 2H anti by galligan and Billpat find their way into 4S and Great Mulall starts to gurgle and bubble. He anoints the 4S with the Red card and continues to
gurgle happily. We don't have much but normally 6 trumps to Ace is trouble.
4S-2 doubled and vul netted in 12 imps
Score ... 32-15

Board 13 A standard 4S by Mulall
Board 14 Billpat played a hopeless 3D and 2 off and 3 more mulall imps
Board 15 Team Mulall ventures into 3S and the spades break 5-0 but no double materialises
and its just 4 imps away. I am fairly sure Mulall got us up to 3S ...

Board 16 and Bill Pat play 3S which might make but is one off and 3 imps to mulall

Board 17 Billpat venture into 3D and galligan with KQxx of trumps decides not to double and its 3 off for 150 and 4 imps

Board 18 Galligan holding Kx of diamonds against 3NT ...gets a spade lead eating SQ in dummy with Ace and spade back won by Jack in declarers hand. Declarer plays small diamond to AQJxxx on table and galligan ducks smoothly .. Brief pause for thought and declarer Mr Billy Ronan plays Ace of Diamonds and topples galligans King... Mud on face as 3NT has no play.
However there are not many declarers who would not return to hand and take the 6D tricks and 2 spades and the Heart Ace .....but Billy Ronan spoiled the story ..the fecker ..
Meanwhile Mulall boiled at the other side of the table as 8 imps went out the window and the rest. Mulall is a grinder and does not appreciate flare plays when they lose...
However on seeing the hand record sheet afterwards he appreciated the attempt..
Score 43-27 Mulall

Board 19 Finally the Ronan steps in the dog doodah ...Pass Pass to galligan who wields
an off centre 2S hammer ...Double by Ronan holding more then half the deck.
Stop 4H by passed hand Cassidy ...Stop 6H by Big Billy ..
Cassidy should be bidding 3H lebenshohl with a 7 count and J3 . JT965 . AJ82 . 98
but wanted to get to 4H game ..
2 off and 13 imps pulled in by mulall

Board 20

BillPAt play a doomed 3H and lose 2 imps
and mulall leads 58-27

Board 21 flat in 2H
Board 22 and Mulall wields a 2S natural bid over 1NT opener ... Galligan fingers his shapely 14 count and 3NT is on his mind. Suddenly a double appears from Cassidy and Galligan knows mulall must still have cards from last hand in his paw.. All pass and Galligan retreats to back garden giving Mulall the dummy .. The Lead is made and mulall starts placing the dummy , gurgling louder and louder as the hcp appear ..
A few minutes later I can see the Great one delivering his lecture to a despondant Billy Ronan.
YOU SHOULD NOT PLAY YOUR DIAMOND JACK
I am not sure how the play went but the only lead that causes trouble seems to be a trump.
11 imps to Great mulall

Board 23 and Galligan holding A . K987653 .762 . K2 chooses to open a vulnerable 3H and
opps play in 3S ..off one and 4H is cold ... maybe a 1H opener is best ..
4 more mulall imps

Board 24
Mulall steals away in a quiet 3C for 4 imps

Board 25
Billpat bid and make a standard 3N

Board 26 and Galligan gets caught speeding and goes for 800 and 13 imps out
points 20-20 and had an 8 card fit but the police were out
mulall lead down to 78-40 but billpat failed to score for the last 6 boards

Board 27 Mulall wields a 5 card 2S opener ..not sure where he learned that one
Cassidy overbids with 2N and Ronan clambers into 4H .. Galligan ponders his 13 count and
mulall always has points so the AXE is applied and Ronan emerges with 7 tricks and 10 more mullal imps

Board 28 A quiet 3Nt for flat board
Board 29 Billpat are down in 4H holding a 21 count and 9 card fit
Board 30 Billpat climb into a normal 3NT .. Mulall leads the spade Jack from JT9
Billpat should make this I think but instead drifts one off and 8 imps away
Running score 100-40
Board 31 Billpat arrive in 6S and mulall leads a club ..

Q93 . QJ . QJ5 . AQT95 opposite AKT762 . A832 . A4 .4

According to the gospel of Mulall the clubs can be setup for discarding and 6S is cold .
Billy failed to follow the Mulall gospel and another 11 imps is out window.

The final board arrived ... and Billpat is battered and bruised after going down in 15 of 21 attempted contracts.
I don't recall what exactly happened but Billy reached 5H vulnerable and the great mullal
holding KJ43 of trumps applied the axe and Billy went 2 off for -500 and 11 more mulall imps.

Final score using compensation scoring = Great Mulall 122 Billpat 40

Sumation

Billy went to the cooker and found a large plate of curry and we all munched it down.
Billy and Pat were very happy as they are used to placing highly in their local club in Malahide Regional. They are somewhat taken aback to find the Great Mulall plays about 2 times a month at most but can step out of his taxi cab and stamp on 2 A players. Mulall claims size matters and his brain is larger then the rest.

On Tuesday Eamon and Mulall went to a local pub for a review of the boards.
We did not get to review many boards as Christy somebody was playing loud Irish music.
Celtic Fusion I think was the name of the band. Instruments somewhat tinny but a few guinness
and the tinny got forgotten. There was also something else going on in the corner but I never worked it out. Seemed to be some older gentleman holding discourse with some attractive younger non-Irish ladies. However said ladies seemed to be able to put away their pints of lager.
Anyway older gentleman disappeared in taxi with younger women but I don't know what it was all about.

Thats it
Thanks
Eamonn ...but I doubt you got this far ..

Wednesday May 23rd at the Regent .

Last night I went to the Regent Bridge Club Dublin for the 4th night of the Presidents Prize. I made the mistake of venturing upstairs where all the leaders were sitting North South. I was playing(not sure if I should call it that) with the Great Mulall(mulall on BBO)
Our first boards were Board 7 and 8 and we played Thomas McCormac and Tomas Roche.
Board 7 I was dealt a fine hand S A. H void. D AJ9653 .C AKQJT3. South passed and I opened a quiet 1D and mccormac made a quiet overcall of 1H

P 1D 1H 1N
P 3C 3H X
P 3S 4H X
P 5H P 6D

That was hard work getting partner to finally surender and concede that he had some support
for my powerful minor hand. Trying to smack Tommy McCormac in 4H.. good plan except +200 or +500 is not much good against the slam. Anyway we made 6D+1 as I was afraid my club might get ruffed after the 9 card heart suit became visible as my Heart Ace got ruffed.
Board 8 was quieter with opps in 3H and I did not double as Tomas Roche always has his bid and one heart honor in dummy and the tip off might let it home. 3H-1
No major harm done so far but 6NT scores far better then a minor suit slam in MPs

Boards 11 12 versus Ranald Milne and Des Scannell

Opps opened a weak NT and a 4 count transfered to spades with me thumping the 2H as it went past anbd ranald completed the transfer to 2S normally showing 3 cards. My man gurgled away happily failing to notice that he was being robbed blind . He did have a 13 count and not sure why my double of 2H did not incline him to take interest in the hand. Anyway it drifted 3 off for 150 for the lads and a decent score but -100 or -50 would not have fared so well. Board 12 saw me venture in over another weak NT with a 2H anti bid .. my partners system but when quizzed about it he seemed doubtful of my 2H bid meaning. Anti means Hearts and a longer minor. When he placed down dummy it was clear he had other things on his mind as dummy held 5233 and surely moving to the safety of the longer minor looked normal and cool. However my man knowing I am an excellent card player figured the 4-2 heart fit was the Matchpoint place to play and after some generous defending +140 brought the large smile to the mulalls face ..
Next we moved on to Boards 15 and 16 versus Ruth Giddings and John Comyn

Board 15 Ruth opens 2S P P .. and I hold J8 .. K864 ..Q53..AQT3 in SHDC order.
The little Ruth bell goes off in my mind ...strong 2 bid but hey letting ruth play in 2S when she has 8 playing tricks is hardly a winning or manly action and Comyn is looking disinterested so he has TAT. So place the double on the table and partner starts to bubble. Eventually 3H is placed on the table ..he is 4333 with AQ7 cards in hearts and 10 small cards..
This was passed happily all round and the Great Mullal outdid the double dummy analyzer by 2 as he was allowed suck in 9 tricks.
Board 16
saw Eamon dealt ...S 98 H AT5 D K9762 C QJ5 and bouyed by mullals success on the last board after John Comyn opened 1S I ventured in with a low calorie take out double. Ruth barely stopped to glance at my bid and rolled out the cannon as we call it on Bridgebase.... Blackwood.
Mullal pondered his jack but passed quickly and JC admitted to possession of 2 aces and Ruth
suitably saddened slowed down to 5 spades.. I led a spade and with John Comyn at the helm
John says ...this will be childplay if Eamon is to be trusted.. Presuming he meant he had most of the tricks bar the Heart Ace ..he led a heart towards dummy and I grabbed my ace and that was 12 tricks but no slam bonus.
Next we met Grace Finnegan and Jim McAndrew on boards 21 -22
I pick up S.K7 H.AJ95 D.AQ96 C.942 and open a weak NT which gets doubled and pard passes normally forcing a redouble. However Jim intervenes with 2S and when passed around to partner he ventured 3C and opps go 3S with their 10 card fit and we are robbed blind as we have more then half the deck and pard has AK to 6 clubs.
Board 22 they play 3S and go quietly off one.
Next we go around the corner and we played Anne Johnson and Heidi Lillis
Board 1 I played quietly in 2Hs gathering in the standard 9 tricks. 1H P 2H all out
Board 2 was the board that caused some annoyance but I missed most of it. Being favourable my board stealing antennae are up so 55 in the blacks and a 10 count is an easy spade opener.
My horse bids a semi forcing NT alerted and I bid 2C and my horse places a quiet 2D on the table and after the mandatory question of 1N alert ...I say he got diamonds and weak and long and up to about 10 hcp , its passed out. I excuse myself quickly as mulall is at the helm.
I stay away a long time as I know there is war coming as opps have to be near game if mulall is near minimum. About 7 minutes later I emerge at the table and there is some loud discussion going on. One opponent has never heard of semi forcing NT but I not being sure the relevance of this comment decide to say nothing. I would have came into the auction if I knew he could be that weak... 1NT is always 6-9 hcp points ... Christ my mulall had a 6 count and 6 card diamonds and this is the premier bridge club in Dublin or Ireland and they are complaining about a lad bidding 1NT alerted with a 6 count and 6 diamonds.. Standard basic mamma paapa thievery is what it is and its found in any basic matchpoint manual. Steal the opponents boards if you can.
Opps had 2H 3H 4H 2S 2N contracts available but if you don't bid you cannot declare as far as I know.
Anyway after this it went downhill rapidly ...
I opened 3S with the thought that I might venture 4S if opps bid a game that my pard did not deal with. 3S 4H and PAUSE .... and PASS ... Well I went ahead with my plan and bid 4S ......I don't see anything wrong with this as it was my original plan although there is no way to prove it. Anyway 4H is going off so it was a bad plan... although several were making it. I hate it when partners pause and pass..
Next hand I let out 4S
Next table I made above average tricks in 3NT for below average score
Then I balanced in over 1C p 1NT P P with 5431 hand and partner picked diamonds as the suit
and got doubled ...of course he might have removed to a major when he got 2nd chance.
2H is definitely doubled as one opp has AKQ but no and we play in 3-3 fit for -200
Next table we miss game when pard holding 11 count and 6 card clubs KJTxxx calls this invitational when the barman asks what game are we playing in ..
Next we played Terry Walsh and Ester Stewert and in a 2NT with 8 tricks forcably and easy 5 tricks for defence 80% of the room is making 3NT+ while we are in 2NT making 10 tricks.
I still don't see the tricks but hey just another bottom.
Next table I ventured 4H opening bid with AQJxxxx and an outside Ace. This ran into a double normally a very strong Nt and I went off 5 when they were finished gutting me.
I finished off against Don Seligman and when I ventured 3C over Joe Walshes 2H weak bid I got doubled by Don and picked up an 11 count in dummy with 9x of clubs but unfortunately Don had the missing 5 trumps and life was destined to be another -200.
When all that was added up we had 39% much to mulalls surprise and horror.

If you read this ..thanks for listening .. www.regentbc.com has the gory details.
I must get them to publish the boards file as well as I think this is possible.
Thanks
Eamonn Galligan .. eamongall on BBO.