There is a separate section which desribes the organisation and management of the club which is reviewed and updated annually.

 All members and visitors will be expected to support the friendly and informal ethos of the Club.  Experienced members will have the duty to be encouraging and supportive to those less experienced in the game of duplicate bridge.  Less experienced members will be expected to familiarise themselves with the procedures of duplicate bridge, for example scoring, alerting and the giving and receiving of information on bids and playing conventions  - see below Some simple guidelines for trouble-free bridge.     

When there is an infringement of the rules of bridge, players should try to resolve disagreements amicably and take a fairly relaxed view.  If this proves impossible or players are in doubt about the rules (e.g. over revoking) then the Director for the evening should be approached.

Members and visitors are expected to contribute to the smooth running of the club and of each evening’s bridge. In particular you are expected to:

1. Arrive at least five minutes before the start of the playing session.

2. Help with arrangements for setting up the session.

3. Be courteous and friendly at all times.

4. Respect the ethos and procedures of the club.

5. Help with refreshments.

6. Greet opponents at the start of each new set of boards and thank opponents at the end of each set of boards.

7. Avoid slow play and move promptly when asked by the Director.

8. Avoid carrying out a post-mortem on the board just played or any in the set of boards unless time is available at the end of the round.It is impolite and unfair to discuss previous hands in the presence of new opponents.

9. Keep noise levels to a minimum when sitting out, when discussing a board or waiting for the director to call ‘move for the next round’.

10. Only offer advice to opponents if directly asked.

11. Leave the club only after clearing away bidding boxes, furniture etc and thanking the Director.

• If you can, arrive a few minutes early to help set up tables, deal boards and set things out in the kitchen.

• Help with refreshments and clearing away at the end.

Be proactive – don’t wait to be asked.

If you are North, you have important responsibilities in making sure things run smoothly:

1. Make sure you have the correct boards and play them in the correct order.For the first round, write pair numbers and FULL names on the attendance sheet that is passed round.

e.g. Table 5    N/S Richard and Liz Joyner   E/W John Chater and Al Joyce

It really helps the scorer if full names are used.  If it has not already been done, write the correct board number on the front and back of each traveller.   Before inserting into the board, fold it lengthwise so that during play, it can be partially opened to see which pairs have played the board but without revealing scores.

For all players:

1. Count your cards before looking at them.Approach the director if you do not have 13.
    
2. You are allowed to display the final contract card (but not the bidding) throughout the play of the hand but it must lie flat on the table so it cannot be seen from other tables.

3. At the end of the play, leave the cards in order, face down, until you have agreed the result and the score with your opponents.Use the back of the relevant bidding card if in doubt about the score.Enter thecontract, the lead and the score, on the correct line of the traveller – the line on which is printed your table number.All players should help with the scoring and agree it before playing the next board.It is good practice, but not essential, to count your cards before replacing in them in the board to avoid mis-boarding errors for the next players.

4. At the end of each round, check that the boards are in the correct order and pass them on in an anti-clockwise direction.Please take care if the movement requires a relay table and sharing of boards, because this is when mistakes most often happen.At the end of the evening, take the score sheets out of the boards and take them with the boards to the scoring table.

5. Please try to avoid post mortems as this slows down the speed of play for everyone.

If you are West, East or South, your job is to help North.   

You must be careful about giving ‘unauthorised information’ to your partner.  This could be from body language (e.g. frowning) or comments made (e.g. ‘I don’t know what to do! or ‘Is that a transfer?).   Good advice during the bidding is to avoid looking at your partner and stay silent unless you have a question.  This does not mean that light hearted comments cannot be made provided they do not convey helpful information.

Some bids require your partner to announce what they mean

e.g. Open 1NT  partner announces what the point range is e.g. ‘12 – 14 pts’  

e.g. Open 1NT, partner responds 2H, opener announces  ‘transfer to spades’

Other less common bids need alerting.

 The English Bridge Union Rules about alerting are not simple.  The best advice is that if you think that your partner has made an artificial or conventional bid below the 4 level which your opposition may not understand, you should alert it. ( An artificial or conventional bid is one which does not mean what it says, e.g. 2D after opponents have opened 1D).

Below the four level, if you make such a bid  and it does not need announcing, your partner should show the blue ‘Alert’ card which then allows the opponent who is next to bid to ask the question, ‘What do you understand by that?’  e.g. If you play weak 2’s and open 2H,  partner announces ‘weak’. If your partner then bids 2NT, you need to alert if you are playing the Ogust convention.  Bids above 3NT do not need alerting. You should only ask a question when you intend to bid and it is your turn to bid otherwise you can ask at the end of the bidding. 

The player on lead may ask questions before he or she makes a lead. The lead card is then placed face down and the player on lead says, ‘Any questions?’   This is an opportunity for any of the other three players to ask questions about the bidding.  It is therefore very important for players not to put bidding cards away until the lead card is faced.

You can ask a question of the opponents at any stage of the bidding provided it is your turn to bid. You must only ask the partner of the player who makes the bid. You can even ask a question about the bidding during the play provided it is specific e.g. what was your opening bid.  You cannot however ask for a full review of the bidding.

It is good practice to say ‘having none?’ to your partner when he/she discards on a trick (you do not say this yourself when discarding).  This will prevent revoking which often incurs a penalty of two tricks.

It is accepted practice that the declarer asks the dummy to play the cards unless they are absent with refreshments etc.  Dummy should not try to influence what is played in any way.

Application for Membership of East Bridgford Monday Bridge Club.

Name      __________________________

Address  ________________________

               _________________________

               _________________________

Tel. No,  ________________               e-mail _________________________

I wish to become a member of the above club, and I agree to uphold its code of conduct, ethos and procedures.         

 Signed _______________________