The following is a message from the CBAI for all affiliated clubs:

Dear All,

We have all been made aware of the development and spread of the Covid-19 virus over the last few months through various media and now that the first cases have arrived in Ireland, we need to make a careful assessment of our activity and the precautions needed to reduce the risks for our members.

All clubs are asked to act responsibly and follow the protocols recommended by the HSE and Department of Health. Most are listed below, but please check official health websites for any updates -

Do

Wash your hands properly and often.

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve when you cough and sneeze.

Put used tissues into a bin and wash your hands.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Try to avoid close contact with people who are not well.

Don't

Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean.    Wash your hands first.  If no soap and water available, use alcohol based hand sanitizer.

You should wash your hands:

• after coughing or sneezing
• after toilet use
• before eating
• before and after preparing food
• if you are in contact with a sick person, especially those with respiratory symptoms
• if your hands are dirty
• if you have handled animals or animal waste

If a player is displaying any symptoms, they should not come to bridge. 

If they have returned from an area where the virus is known to be active, they should not attend a session of bridge for at least two weeks.

Liz Dowling and Michael Faherty were announced as the Top placed B Players of the recent CBAI Simultaneous Pairs across Ireland, north and south (SIM Pairs 2020).

Pictured are Liz and Michael having just received their prize from Tournament Director, Martina Mannion.

The entire club was delighted with this win.    

Michael and Liz, hoping to make a quiet entrance to the club on Friday evening, were instead greeted with a rousing round of applause from all present.  

So much for a low key entrance !! 

Well done to Martina Mannion who won the Player of the Year award.

Martina is a seasoned player who always has an encouraging word or a helpful tip for beginners, in addition to playing her own game.  Pictured below is 7 No Trump President Michael Faherty congratulating Martina Mannion on her win.

Well done to the winners of our Christmas Competition, 2019

What is a takeout double ?

A takeout double is a double of a suit bid at the 1- or 2-level and asks partner to bid his best suit.

IDEAL SHAPE to call a takeout double

5-4-4-0 or 4-4-4-1. 4-4-3-2 works also.  

What are the criterion needed to bid a takeout double ?

A take out double is used when you have an opening bid but the opposition open the bidding before you have a chance to do so.  

A double of an opening bid says to partner:

S          I have a Shortage in the suit the opponents bid (MAX. 2 cards in their suit)

O         I have Opening points

S          I am prepared to play in whichever suit you bid . I therefore have at least three cards in each of the unbid suits (Support) and am worth my double.

Name your suit partner.   You are the boss and you are about to decide what suit we will play in should we win the auction. 
I promise not to argue with you about your suit choice.

My partner doubled - can I pass ?  (I dont have any points and other arguments...(HELP!))

If there is a response by the opposition to the opening bid, the double is ‘taken out’ and may be passed.     However, if opener’s partner calls PASS and your partner has DOUBLED, then you ABSOLUTELY MUST ‘take the double out’ by bidding your longest suit, even with ZERO points.   If you have more than 9 points, you should remember to jump the bidding.

    WITH:

     0-8 pts Bid your longest suit at the minimum level

     9-12 pts Bid your longest suit, jumping a level in the bidding

As you are obliged to respond with ZERO points, it is very important to jump the bidding with REAL points and a real suit so that your partner can distinguish “something” from “nothing”.

I couldnt do it.  My partner doubled - but I had no points so I PASSED.  What happens now ?

The opposition are unlikely to bid again.    They may be delighted with the bidding so far and now they are able to play in 1(their suit) doubled and should do very nicely from that contract.

Exception

If you have length or strong cards in the opposition bid suit then you can PASS your partner's DOUBLE, thus converting the Takeout double into a Penalty Double.

World Wide Bridge Contest 2019

The World Wide Bridge Contest will take place on Friday, 7th June across the globe.   7 No Trump will be a participating club on the night.

You must register in advance to play in this tournament.  Text: 0867712345 to register your interest.  Non-club members welcome but limited places will be available.

Table money on the night will be €7 to include the entry fee to contest organisers.

The contest takes the form of simultaneous pairs, played using the familiar eCatsbridge SIM pairs format.

You must be a member of CBAI to play in this contest. 

Please bring your CBAI number on the night.

With apologies to new players who are currently learning but not yet CBAI members.

Link to details of prizes:    https://www.ecatsbridge.com/sims/wwbc/default.asp

Click below for a link to the NATIONAL LEADERBOARD for Friday night results

https://www.simpairs.com/default.asp?session=007614

Currently,

GAYE MOORE & CAROLYN DORE are lying in 1st place, with

CARMEL WALSHE & COLUMBA FEENEY in 9th place across Ireland.

If you participated in the Friday CBAI SIM PAIRS, you will find your results here:

https://www.simpairs.com/ranking.asp?session=007164&ClubID=b8r4nyy

Years ago there were only two acceptable reasons for not leading partner's suit:

(1) having no cards in the suit;

(2) having a death wish.

CBAI Changes to the Bidding Protocol for 2018 / 19 Season

1. Alerting Doubles

            For the purposes of deciding whether a double should be alerted or not, any double on the first or second

          round of bidding of a one or two level, natural, suit bid is deemed to be

                                                                            a TAKE OUT DOUBLE.

           All other doubles are deemed to be

                                                                            PENALTY DOUBLES.

              Any variations on this MUST BE ALERTED .

2. FORCING opening bid of a minor suit

             A FORCING opening bid of 1 of a minor suit needs to be ALERTED by the partner of the opener.

           If your partnership agreement is that 1 of a minor suit bid is forcing, then your partner must alert it. 

           The opposition then have the opportunity to seek an explanation if they wish, each at their turn.

3. Announcing ‘short’ or prepared minor opening bids (non-forcing)

             If we have agreed with partner that our  NON-FORCING opening bid of 1 ♣   or  1 ♦   can be made with

           zero, one, two or three cards in the suit, then when partner opens 1 ♣    or 1 ♦ , we say: 

               “Could be Zero” or

               “Could be One” or

               “Could be Two” or

               “Could be Three”             as appropriate,

          always defaulting the announcement to the minimum number of cards the partnership agreement has that it will open 1 ♣  or 1  ♦ with.

That is the regulation with regard to a non-forcing opening bid, which differs from a FORCING opening bid as mentioned above.

Laura Crowe

Adapted from the 17^th Edition of the CBAI Newletter, published September 2018

Columba Feeney.

Pictured are President, Michael Faherty presenting Columba Feeney with The Player of the Year Award for 2018.

From Left to Right:  Laura Crowe, Michael Faherty, Carmel Walshe, Columba Feeney

The team was placed Second in the Regional Cunningham League Finals earlier this year.

The Novice Team of Four from 7 No Trump were placed second in the finals of the Mid-Leinster Region's Cunningham League 2018.

A hearty congratulations to the team whose members were Michael Faherty, Columba Feeney, Carmel Walshe and Laura Crowe.  (Pictured are Laura Crowe and Michael Faherty, Cunninghams Representative and Ann Burns, President of the Mid-Leinster Region.)

Club President, Michael Faherty, welcomed all to our new home at Sarsfields GAA Club last Friday night.

He expressed a hope that we will all be very happy there.

Cheers Sarsfields.

7 No Trump has done very well in the Simultaneous Pairs collecting not one, but two, prizes.

CBAI have awarded cash prizes as follows:

Top 'A' pair :  Pat Karney and Tom Denver         

1st place in As and 5th place overall

Top 'Intermediate B' pair:   

Laura Crowe and Michael Faherty   

1st place of Intermediate Bs and 29th place overall

Top Intermediate B is pretty cool as Michael and Laura are both novices.

Well done to Pat Karney and Tom Denver.  This duo feature in the Top Ten overall in the Friday night SIM Pairs competition.    Presently at #6 as results continue to be tabulated.

Very well done Pat and Tom !    We are all very proud of you both.

A reminder that Sim Pairs night will be held on Friday, 9th February.

This is a chance to pit your skills against all other players country wide.  The competition is played out each night during one week.   Prizes are awarded by the organisers, the CBAI, within each player category and for the top players each night.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here but our Novice team had another fabulous 19-1 win on Sunday in the 5th round of this competition.

The competition is hotting up but the teams efforts were richly rewarded.

The team consists of Michael Faherty, Columba Feeney, Carmel Walshe and Laura Crowe.

The Novice Team from 7 No Trump took an early lead in this competition and continues to lead the charge after our fourth successive win last Sunday evening, 7th January 2018.

This is a phenomenal result from a new team.  Well done to all concerned.

The Novice Team of 4 took another incredible 19-1 win at Westmanstown in the third round of the league.   Three 19-1 scores in a row which I personally find amazing.   We are absolutely delighted.     No more rounds now till the new year.

Well done guys !

Congratulations to Liz Dowling and Veronica Kilkelly who were the second placed B players at the inaugural Naas Pairs Open regional competition held at the Maudlins Hotel on Saturday, 18th November.

Well done you two !!

Congratulations to our Novice Team of 4 who had another incredible win in the second round of the League.  The result once again was 19-1 to 7 No Trump.

Expect it to get tougher now as all teams become more experienced...

Congratulations to our Novice Team of 4 who had a very convincing win in the first round of the League.  The result after the two sessions was 19-1 to 7 No Trump.

A lot more rounds to go...

I am delighted to publish that the winner of our opening competition in honour of the name of the club has been won by:

Gaye Moore

ably assisted by her partner

Eilis Martin. 

Gaye was the first person to bid and make 7NT and is the winner of €100.

Pilot: This is United 480 approaching at 240 degrees. Request clearance to land.

Pilot [repeating]: This is United 480. Do you copy?

Pilot [once again]: This is United 480 to Tower. Come in please.

Control Tower: Copy, United 480. Level off at 3000 feet and maintain heading while we finish this hand.

Thank you to all members who played at the club on 22nd September in our Members Only competition.  The competition will follow on again next week and good luck to everyone !

It was an exhausting night but all members managed to play 18 boards which is the milestone we need to reach each week in order for the club to be able to award CBAI masterpoints.  This will seem like a breeze given a bit of time.   Well done to our winners on the night; Gaye Moore and Eilis Martin.

A special congratulations to Columba Feeney and Carmel Walshe who bid and made a small slam.

You can see all of the results by clicking 'Results' from the purple menu bar to the left, just under 'Hands'.

A tale of bidding a 7NT hand courtesy of ATeacherFirst.com and reproduced here by kind permission of the author...

The Elusive 7 No Trump

Sometimes, as I am sitting down at the first table of bridge for a duplicate

session, after greeting my partner and the opponents of course, as that is the polite thing to do, I will check the bidding box to make sure all the bids are there. Sometimes one bid is tucked behind or missing and I do not need that distraction when I am trying to concentrate at a duplicate game.

Depending on my perceived sense of the opponents’ fun and humor level, I might joke with them, “Just checking to make sure 7NT is there — I always like to have it ready!” Then all of us will have a little bit of a chuckle about that.

Hahaha. I consider the 7NT bid to be the “Jewel in the Crown” of the bidding box. If I ever get the chance to bid it and make it, I will have experienced something quite rare and special. Unfortunately, I did have that chance one time and I missed it.

This happened one afternoon when I was a novice player. (That’s my excuse, anyway.) I picked up this hand and almost wanted to jump out of my seat with glee and anticipation. Also, a little bit of trepidation because I can easily screw up a really good bid when I try to think too much.

At that point in my experience of bridge playing, I was still not thinking

“outside the box” and was trying to be very diligent about doing everything right, proper, and according to the rules. Things have changed for me since then — now I find that I should be confined to stay “within the box” more often! I do tend to get carried away with my bidding at times and take chances that I should not be taking. But in those days, I was very cautious. Too cautious, perhaps.

So with this hand, I counted my points as I had learned, and I counted them a few times. Was I seeing straight? I had 23 HCPs plus 3 for length. Is length that important with that many HCPs? Where’s my teacher when I need one? 

I do know this much — we may have a slam, probably in Diamonds, so I open 2♣ (strong hand, 22+ points). My partner bids 2♦ (“waiting,” 3+ points). I bid 3♥ to show my 4-card major, since our first goal is to be in a major. Those diamonds look awfully good though! If we can find an 8-card fit in a major, that is much better. The 2♦ bid by partner is  conventional — it does not mean diamonds. After my 3♥ bid, my partner bids 3♠ to show his 4-card or more spade suit. Now I am in a dilemma.

What would you bid at this point?

Remember, I am not an expert. I am just an average bridge player and back then, just a beginner. Now I teach bridge to beginners but that does not mean I know everything.  Should I bid 4♦? That might complicate matters since now we would be too high and could miss 3NT as an option. With a singleton, I don’t think that a NT contract is safe anyway. If I jump to 4NT to ask for Aces, he might think I want the Spade suit. Should I bid 5♦ and take it to game?

I was not totally stumped for thought, however. I knew enough to realize that I have just one loser in clubs so I decided to simply jump to 6♦ and that’s where we ended up. My partner got to play the hand since he bid diamonds first. Even though 2♦ is a conventional bid by him (his response to my strong opening of 2♣), it’s still the first mention of diamonds, so he became the Declarer. My partner was quite astonished to see my hand go down on the table and I was quite proud of it, too. He thanked me as he should! He had the ♣Ace so we made a slam of 7♦.

Rats! Why didn’t we bid it? My fault, of course.

So what should I have done? I am sure that the experts would easily know this, but I must be forgiven — I was just a beginner back then and I hope I am smarter now.

With this hand, I needed to forget the rules and use another strategy. I should have opened with 4NT, asking for Aces! If partner has 1 Ace, the bid is 7NT, of course! Should I care if the hand is not balanced?  Of course not! The hearts and diamonds are almost 100% going to run. There is a miniscule chance that one of the opponents could have 5 hearts including the Jack, but that is so unlikely that it’s not worth considering. If my partner is missing an Ace and answers 5♣ to show 0 or 4 Aces (I have 3 of them, so he cannot have 4), then I can always bid 6♦ on my own with this hand.

This was my one and only chance I have ever had to bid and play 7NT and I missed it. But every time when I sit down to play duplicate, I will still keep checking my bidding box and make sure that the 7NT bid is there. Perhaps I will be a little bit smarter in the future and will still have my chance to bid 7NT and make it in my lifetime!

© ATeacherFirst.com

The bridge club opened its doors on 15th September for our first night and a good time was had by all. 

Looking forward to many more bridge nights.

♦  7 No Trump is proud to be affiliated with the CBAI as of 7th September, 2017 ♦ 

The 4 guiding principles behind the 2017 laws revision are:

1. Remedy

2. Take away any advantage gained by an infraction

3. Find a way to let bridge be played

4. Finishing boards (once started) is mandatory.

7 No Trump Bridge Club is the latest bridge club to open in Newbridge, Co. Kildare and plays on Friday nights at Sarsfields GAA Club.  We are fully affiliated with the CBAI.   In the meantime, if you would like to apply for membership of the club, please complete the online application below or email us at 7notrump@lauracrowe.com as you prefer.  You will find details of the annual subscription etc on the menu to the left hand side of this page under 7 No Trump Bridge Club on the Where & When link.

You can apply now for membership online.

If you are a novice, please supply the month and year you started bridge lessons

How many bridge players does it take to change a lightbulb?

Four - it takes one to change the lightbulb and three to tell her how she could have done it better.

“Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn’t mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going 24 hours a day !”

Warren Buffet

Investor and Tournament Player

Bridge is the ultimate trick-taking card game, easily the greatest source of enjoyment that four people can have with a pack of cards.

Bridge is a sport: the World Bridge Federation is recognised by the International Olympic Committee. Just like every sport, Bridge offers enormous benefits to its players.

It is enjoyed by tens of millions of people throughout the world – more so than any other card game. In social circles it is considered the card game. Whether you play casually among friends or seriously in clubs and tournaments, you will find it to be fascinating, challenging and enjoyable.