Championship Pairs (for the Bearn Trophies)

This is a face-to-face green pointed competition, being held face to face at Newcastle u Lyme Bridge Club on Sunday 16th March, ie next Sunday. This is literally the last call for this special event, the entries close later this week. It will be two sessions of bridge starting at 11 am, with a wonderful buffet lunch in between. Finishing approximately 6.30 pm, but obvious numbers dependent - this is an all plays all event.

Green points are awarded and as county champions, and runners-up etc., the highest placed pairs will be invited to represent the county at the Corwen Trophy. This is the national final for the county championship pairs from all of the counties. The entry fee is £17, details are on the website, but let me know and we will happily enter you.

The Corwen will be on Sat 31st and Sun 1st June, starting at 11am, and will be approximately 48 boards each day. Entrance fees, which the EBU says are reduced to £30 / player will in part, or fully be subsidised by the county, dependent on final position in this qualifier.

Championship Teams

This is 9 weeks away but will soon creep up. This is the Teams equivalent of the Pairs event above. It is open for any SSCBA team of 4, not only those who are currently participating in the league. It will be on Sunday 18th May, again at 11 am at Newcastle u Lyme Bridge Club.

Again, it would be good to see as many as possible at this event, and to that end I am happy to operate as a broker for pairs looking to form a team for this event. Sooner is of course, better than later! Again, this is green pointed and this time the leading team (and potentially reserves) will be invited to represent the county at the equivalent National Event, the Pachabo. This though will be Face2face at Milton Keynes, 14th - 15th June.

However please do not let a reluctance to play in the National Events deter you from playing in the local events. And while on the subject of teams of four...

2024/25 League 

This is currently being led by

This is conveniently played on BBO, is one night a month, and to be honest I am disappointed that I didn't get my act together for this, this year. That is something I hope to rectify, and I would encourage all to take part. The next season starts in September.

Mixed Pairs

This is scheduled for Sunday 8th June, at Radbrook Community Hall in Shrewsbury. Further details to follow next month.

County Match

On 9th March we played Derby in the Midlands County League. The results were;

Dawes 1st Team SS beat Derby by 19 imps (11-9?) Cutler, Beavon, Bingham, Togneri, Vickers, Shuttleworth, McCartney and Church

Markem 2nd SS lost to Derby by 29 imps (5-15) Smith, Aherne, Adey and Nelson

Porter 3rd SS lost to Derby by 34 imps (4-16) Lees, Lees, Kinsey and Calder

A Story...

This is being penned following the county match against Derbyshire. Unfortunately, and another story, this was with a reduced participation, as rather than 3 teams of 8, Derby could only field a 1st team of 8, and 2 teams of 4, for the 2nd and 3rd teams. I know Paul C, was very frustrated at this, and the lack of opportunity for a game for some of our players. Incidentally, please stick your hand up, if you want to represent the county, this is by no means a closed shop. (They even let me play...)

However, to host these events, played online on RealBridge, requires some training on this platform. This skillset we have now acquired in the county, although setting up a configuration file for a team of eight, and two teams of four, is beyond us at the moment, and did cause some anxious moments on Saturday night. Even the technical experts had some issues - but a big thanks to Paul for persevering with this.

RealBridge better emulates f2f bridge by utilising the technology of your computer, or tablet. It uses the camera, microphone and speaker of the device and you can see, hear and be seen and heard, by the other players at the table. (A little like zoom, or skype but laid out for the bridge table) It has the advantages of other online games, which suits me, for I cannot revoke, make an insufficient bid, nor lead out of turn etc. It doesn't help me with remembering the system though - although seeing what partner I am playing with does help.

It is different from BBO, for example in that you cannot just dive in, and have a random 6 boards with a stranger. This system is configured around events, and each specific event has a unique log in code. For example, if you look at the Newcastle u Lyme website they have this specific link (disguised with a hyperlink), under their calendar of events, each Sunday night. This loses the security of for example the Wednesday night BBO game, where only named people can play, as in principle any visitor to the website can click the link.

However, having acquired the technology, at least to put together a simple Howell or Mitchell, if not 3 teams of eight event, it has been mooted that we should, as a county have a weekly daytime game, on this platform.

This will have some challenges as on BBO you need to pay before you can play. This is not the case with RealBridge. SSCBA are an account holder with RB, as such we will be invoiced on a monthly basis. This on the number of players, and number of hands played, on their account. It is significantly cheaper than BBO but does give the logistical headache of passing these costs onto each player. I know that with Newcastle for their Sunday game, I have an account and need to top that up on a regular basis, although what my account is at, I've no idea. No doubt Viv would email when in debt?

Anyway, this is just bing banded around at the moment, and no doubt the committee will consider this in due course.

BBO - Wednesday Night

Another county "sponsored," event is the Weds night BBO game, this had 6 tables last week, and the standard was (from memory) about 54% average ngs. This is a county event, and only needs your name to be pre-entered with the county, and cost ebu$3.

Anyway thats it for know, next update in a month's time

Cheers

Tony