On behalf of the members, the committee recently made a donation of €500 to the SONAS Refuge from domestic abuse in Blanchardstown, which has been gratefully acknowledged by the team at the SONAS Refuge.

The club Christmas Party night was held in the Mulberry Restaurant at the Halfway House, Navan Road on Tuesday night December 3rd.  27 people attended what was a very enjoyable evening with a very nice meal.  The prizes for the Club Pairs, Mary Walshe Trophy and Turkeys were presented by Club President Tom Daly to the winners following the meal.  A list of the winners in the different competitions is below.  Some photographs of the presentations will be uploaded to the web page shortly.

Club Pairs: 

1st place - Siobhan McNamara & Tom Daly,

 2nd place - Alice McLoughlin & Catherine Quinn,

3rd place - Noirin Casey & Emelie Gorman,

Joint 4th place - Patricia Meade & Teresa Hill  -- Mary Bell & Maura Colgan

Mary Walshe Trophy

1st place - Eithne McDaid & Kay Plunkett

2nd place - Catherine Quinn & Alice McLoughlin

3rd place - Breda & John Finn

4th place - Elizabeth Fitzgerald & Margaret Duggan

Turkey's

1st place - N/S = Jim & Pauline Farragher,  E/W = Maura Colgan & Mary Bell

2nd place - N/S = Marie & Dermot Mulcahy  E/W = Teresa Hill & Patricia Meade

3rd place - N/S = Emelie Gorman & Catherine Kelly E/W = Kathleen & Michael Connellan

 

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

Mount Sackville Past Pupils Bridge Club

Committee 2024/2025   

Web page maintenance: Dermot Mulcahy

A) An air purifer with HEPA filter suitable for the size of the room we use has been purchased

B) Members are asked to bring their own bidding box if they have one.  For any member who does not currently have their own bidding box the club has obtained a limited quantity of new bidding card inserts for the existing club boxes and these will be sold to any member who requires a bidding box at €5, which is the cost to the club of the new inserts.

C) New table cloths have been purchased.

D) Hand sanitiser will be available at each table and we request each member to use it before commencing play after each round.

E) Currently mask wearing is not mandatory but if any member feels more comfortable to wear a mask their choice should be respected by other members.

SOME OTHER POINTS TO NOTE:

Finally, please make it your business to put fellow members at ease. Do not cramp personal space, observe sneezing and coughing etiquette (cover your mouth with your sleeve/ elbow or tissue) and take all hygiene measures seriously. Please do not attend the club if feeling unwell or suffering from a cold, coughing or sneezing.  Please play your part in making the comfort and safety of all players our priority.

New E-mail address: msvppbridgeclub@gmail.com

The email below was sent to any members for whom we had email addresses.  If you did not receive this email please notify us of your current email address and we will forward it to you with the attachments.

This is the new email contact for Mount Sackville Bridge Club.  We are forwarding you a copy of an email received recently from the CBAI with their Newsletter  and a Code of Conduct for online bridge also attached.

This email address will only be monitored once a week, so if you send any messages or responses relating to this information please be patient if you do not receive a response for a few days.

The following was issued by the Mid-Leinster Region of the CBAI.

Do’s and Don’ts at Bridge

1. A player may not correct partner’s mistaken explanation of a bid or signal.
2. If partner hesitates before calling, a player must show that the action now chosen could not have been influenced by the hesitation.
3. Your opponents are entitled to know of any partnership agreement you may have.
4. A player may only ask for an explanation when it is their turn to call.
5. Lead face down, but turn the card over before dummy is shown.
6. Check your tricks.  Agree score.  Have contract and result entered before spoiling your won/lost cards.
7. Do not accept the decision of opponents if a ruling is required.  The T.D. is responsible for all rulings.
8. Players have a duty to ascertain how opponents communicate:
   Basic system – Acol or Precision or . . .
   Variations – strength of NT, 4 or 5 card majors, etc.
   Other – discards, leads, signals, etc.
9. Bids above 3NT should not be alerted unless they occur on the first round of bidding.
10. Defenders may ask one another about possible revokes.
11. As a matter of courtesy to all players mobile phones should be switched off and not used except in case of an emergency

The meaning of Double – as the name suggest – is to raise the stakes.

If you Double an opposing contract, you win more Points

if they fail, but you concede more points if they succeed.

When Bridge began over a 100 years ago, double was limited

to those occasions where you expected the opponents to fail in their bid.

However, it was realised that you would be most unlikely to be

confident enough to double a low-level suit bid,

when partner had not yet spoken.

And that if the opponents happened to have bid,

a suit in which you were very strong,

it was far better not to tip them off:

rather to keep quiet and wait for them to get into deeper trouble.

In 1912 New Yorker Major Charles Patten and Bryant McCambell

independently invented an alternative meaning for the

“Double” – the “take-out double”.

It is believed that this was the first convention in the game

(although it is now so universal that it is rarely thought of as such).

The take-out double – “partner, please take out my double into another suit”

shows an opening hand or better with no other convenient bid: 

no suit to overcall, and an inability to bid notrumps.

To learn more on doubling  contact your local Bridge Teacher or Coach,

or get a copy of Bridge Lessons (Double) by ANDREW ROBSON,

(www.arobson.co.uk) The above extract is from this book.