We are a friendly club.  We pride ourselves on our welcome for novice players, to the extent that we restrict our players to Level 2 (this means that experienced players cannot play systems that make it hard for novice players to compete against).  

For any further information contact  Liz Hall (01283 703705).

The two competitions will run on the 2^nd Monday of each month from January 2025 to December 2025, with the best 6 percentage scores for each pair being aggregated to give an overall score for the year.   Pairs with a combined NGS rating of 10 and above will compete for the Pym Berry trophy, whilst pairs with a combined NGS rating of 9 or less will compete for the Alan and Pat Smith trophy.    

To make the scoring fair, on the 2^nd Monday of each month the duplicate session will be run as a single winner event.  A summary of scores will be updated each month and displayed below.The NGS ratings of each pair have been recalculated for this year’s competition using the NGS ratings at the end of 2024.  This means that a few pairs have changed category for this year.

With effect from April 6 2025, table money will increase by 50p.  Members will now pay £4.50 and visitors £5.00.

The fees have increased because EMBA has increased our fees to them.  

British Rail players will know about the WhatsApp chat group set up by Jim Parker a few years ago.  This gives people the opportunity to share news, information and other chat, plus the occasional humorous anecdotes. Perhaps more importantly though, it means that players can hook up with a partner if their normal one is unavailable for some reason.  A simple post of “I'm without a partner for this Friday's game” will more often than not elicit a response from someone in a similar position.

We have now set up an equivalent group for East Midlands Bridge Club players.

In keeping with best practice we will only include people in the group who have requested to join.  Anyone who wants to be included can either:

Send a text message to Brian Minion on 07485 175655

Or send an email to brian.minion@btinternet.com

Or fill in one of the forms on the noticeboard and hand it to Liz Hall, David Taylor or Brian Minion

with a request to be added to the EMBC WhatsApp group.

Please remember that EMBC Monday night bridge only allows Level 2 systems.

This item addresses the question "What does Level 2 mean'.  

It has been updated with the Blue Book changes (1-9-2022). 

One Level Opening Bids
A one-level opening bid in a suit must either show 11+ HCP, or show 8+ HCP and satisfy the Rule of 19.  An opening 1NT must be non-forcing. It may show any agreed range with at least 10 HCP, with no singleton or void and no 7-card suit. Within those constraints, any common English system may be played e.g.:
• Natural one-level openings (such as Acol), including the possibility of a three-card minor suit opening on some balanced hands
• Five-card majors with better minor or a short club suit
• A strong club, possibly with a nebulous 1D opening (e.g. Precision, Blue Club, Nottingham Club). The 1C opening must, by agreement, satisfy
   (a) any hand of at least 16 HCP
   (b) any hand of as few as 13 HCP in any two suits totalling 10+ cards
All standard responses are permitted, but (apart from negative responses to a Strong 1C opening, or a catch-all 1NT response) artificial weak bids in response to a one-level suit opening are not allowed.  This means transfer responses to a short club opening are not permitted.
 

Two Level Opening Bids
Any opening that shows 4+ cards in the suit opened is allowed (e.g. Acol Twos, Lucas or Weak Twos, a Precision 2C opening), as is any meaning or meanings showing a hand conforming to 16+ HCP or 13+ HCP in any two suits totalling 10+ cards (e.g. Benjamin 2C and 2D openings).
A two-level opening showing a three-suited (4441, 5431 or 5440) opening bid including length (three or more cards) in the suit opened is also allowed. Alternatively, two of a suit may show a three-suited opening bid short in the suit opened (such as the Precision 2D opening).
‘Multi’ style openings are not allowed.   Neither is a 2NT opening bid showing the minors.

Click the title of this item for a summary.   Alternatively, if in doubt, please see the EBU Blue Book https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/laws-and-ethics/blue-book/blue-book.pdf or ask an EMBC TD

Bridge Classes are available online and can be set up on a day and time to suit you.  

If you or someone you know is interested in learning to play bridge contact Anne Townsend by email at annetownsend346@btinternet.com or phone 07377 555341