There was a problem with board 14 last night.  Board 14 was played as dealt for the first two rounds (pair 14 vs 10, and then by pair 5 vs 4).  The first two rounds played the board as dealt, with North as declarer (either 4S or an unusual 2C) - with opening leads being made by East.

But from round 3 onwards, the board was not played as dealt.  Instead declarer was West (4S or 6S), with an opening lead by West or East!  Which is simply not possible.  The East-West hands simply don't allow for either the 4S or 6S contract, nor an opening lead from the declaring side!

When I re-examined board 14 this morning, the cards were no longer in the correct positions.  Everything was rotated by 90 degrees.

The only way this can happen is if the board was not kept pointing towards North, but had instead been rotated to point towards West.  I'm not going to make an attempt to work out how or why this happened.  It could be as a result of playing a Howell movement that caused some confusion last night.

The results couldn't stand as they did last night with this issue.  I did some research on how to fix this.  It is called a fouled board.  There are two sets of players, who played the board differently: one set who played the board as dealt, and another set of players who played a fouled board.  The two sets need to be scored individually.

EBUScore does this easily, as per section eight "Score Adjustments" of https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/ebuscore/manual.pdf, I simply had to mark pairs 3 vs 8, 5 vs 9, 11 vs 2, 12 vs 1 and 13 vs 7 as having played a fouled board.  If you now look at the scores for board 14 - those that played it as North are scored in comparison to one another and those that played as East/West are also scored in comparison to one another.

As a result, the overall positions changed quite a bit.  I'm ashamed to say that Lynn and I now came top!

Note: all places are now filled.  Keep watching for future courses.

We are running a beginner's bridge session from January 2024 - you will not need to have any previous experience in playing Bridge.

If you are already a tennis or croquet member, you'll be able to play bridge within your existing membership.  All you will need to do is pay the £1 table money per session, and when you start the course, buy the book that accompanies the course.

Details (as they stand) added below:

• Follow the English Bridge Education & Development’s (EBED) Bridge for All course - this will be a 30 week Year One course run over three terms of 10 weeks.

• The classes are around 2 hours in length.  Mainly hands on interactive sessions.  There will be some light flip-board explanation of the current lesson, followed by a combination of examples, practice cards, quizzes, demonstrations etc, followed by a recap of what students have learnt.  There may also be homework for students to complete between lessons.

• The course will be held in the meeting room of the East Dorset Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (directions):

Salterns Road

Lower Parkstone

POOLE 

Dorset 

BH14 8BL

• We’re hoping to have 8 students - this allows for two tables of four - which will be ideal for students to learn to play bridge.

• We're planning on running the course Friday afternoons from 2pm to 4pm, with a 15 minute break.

• The Bridge lessons will be free.  However, students are required to join the club and pay the usual fees for any session you play.

• For the remainder of the current year ‘23-‘24 this will be £35 for the Bridge section membership.  This would cover the time frame for the first term of the Bridge for All course.  The ‘24-‘25 Bridge section membership is expected to be £65.  You would need this if/when we run the 2nd and 3rd terms.

• There is a fee of £1 per session (table money) to cover incidentals.

• Students will be expected to buy the Beginning Bridge One book that accompanies the course.  It is expected to cost £21.90.  Do not buy this directly, as you’ll end up paying a lot more.

• Reservations for the course will be on a first come first served basis.

If you are interested then contact either Martin Webb (07595 453 913) or Sarah Cloke (07919 488502) to reserve a place.

Thank you to everyone who played in the Bridge Drive, and special thanks to Katy Norman and Jan Orpin for organising the entire afternoon.  It looked and sounded like everyone had a great time, both members, former members and guests.

A grand total of £524 was raised!

Well done to Barbara and Jill for their overall win!

Photos of the afternoon were taken...

The bridge section has purchased several Amazon Fire Tablets, along with a laptop PC, to allow for electronic wireless scoring of duplicate sessions.  We’re running the free-to use TabScore wireless solution alongside the EBUScore scoring software running on a laptop PC in the function room.  We’ve now eliminated the need for paper travellers (which are constantly the cause of many manual scoring issues), along with the need for collecting player names via paper.

The first screen shown on your tablet will be the Welcome screen:

Welcome screen

This screen will be shown whilst the Tournament Director (TD) is setting up the movement - do not press OK until instructed.  Once instructed by the TD, click OK to be shown a list of the table numbers for the current session.  Tap your table number and press OK again.  You will then be shown the Players screen:

Enter/Edit Players screen 

For each player in turn, tap the Enter button, and on the next screen enter either the player's EDLTCC player id or the EBU number - once entered and you've clicked on OK, then the above screen should be populated with the player's full name.  There is a list of current member's player ids printed and attached to the bridge notice board.  There are also lists of current member's player ids and visitor's player ids available.  If the player is a visitor who hasn't yet been allocated an EDLTCC player id and does not have a current EBU number, then enter Unknown instead.  Advise the TD of the visitor's full name, and after the session they will be allocated an EDLTCC player id.  For a half-table - you will only need to enter the names of the single pair of players initially sitting out at the half table.

Once you've completed entering all of the player's names, then click OK again, the tablet then shows a screen with all the boards to be played in the current round.  Note: you may be playing the boards out of order (especially when sharing boards).  Tap the board number for the current board.  You will then be shown the Enter contract screen:

Enter contract screen

On this screen and subsequent screens, contract details, optionally lead cards, and results can be entered. Previously entered contract details and results can be viewed or amended up until the end of the round by tapping on a View or an Edit button. This allows players at the table to confirm all the results for the round.

To skip a board (i.e. not play the board in the current round), tap the Skip button from the Enter Contract screen and OK. This might be necessary if the TD decides to remove a board or plans to make a subsequent manual or artificial adjustment. You have to enter a result (or skip) for each board before you can proceed to the next round.

The table will show the traveller (all the results entered so far for this board). This can only show results from the database, so results that have been entered or manually adjusted within the scoring program may not show correctly on the traveller:

Traveller screen

If the TD has imported the hands, the tablet will also allow you to view the hand records and makeable contracts.  On the Traveller screen, you will see a cards symbol – tap this to open the Hand Record screen:

Hand Record screen

At the end of your last round, the table displays a Ranking List screen:

Ranking List Screen

The ranking list will automatically refresh every 10 seconds.  This ranking list shows indicative results, there may still need to be adjustments and corrections applied by the TD.  the actual results will be available from BridgeWebs after the event has been fully verified.

Between rounds the tablet will display the movement information, and a screen to confirm the players and boards for the next round.  Once the event is over the tablet will display a Score entry complete screen:

Score entry complete screen

The new dealing machine has arrived!  We were able to order an ex-demo machine at a reduced cost.

Thank you to all those people who have made very generous donations.  For anyone who still wants to make a donation to help cover the costs, you can either donate by cheque or by bank transfer - the details are shown below.  Any donations will also generate further funds to the club due to Gift-Aid.

Bank details for donations: East Dorset Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited, Sort Code: 20 45 45, A/C number: 43584291

Please mark any payments with “Bridge Donation”.

Video of dealing machine in use

You may also be aware that we’ve purchased several Amazon Fire Tablets, along with a laptop PC, to allow for electronic wireless scoring of duplicate sessions.  We have successfully trialled them on both duplicate sessions this week (12th & 14th June).  We’re running the free-to use TabScore wireless solution alongside the EBUScore scoring software running on a laptop PC in the function room.  We’ve now eliminated the need for paper travellers (which are constantly the cause of many manual scoring issues), along with the need for collecting player names via paper.

TabScore on a Tablet

The initial feedback from everyone who has used them this week, is that the tablets are very easy to use, and actually simpler than using paper travellers.  We anticipate that the use of tablets will reduce the time between boards, and possibly enable us to play more boards per session, and will completely eliminate the awarding of averages for incorrect scores.

With both the dealing machine and the tablets, the setup of duplicate bridge sessions and then the subsequent scoring, will save many hours of repetitive work each week for your directors and scorers.  It also brings the bridge section into the 21st century!

An item was raised at the EDLT&CC Board meeting held on the 25th April, regarding the desire by the Bridge section to purchase a Duplicate Bridge dealing machine.  The result of the meeting is that we can go ahead with the purchase, funded by the club, along with the duplicate boards and bar-coded playing cards.

The only proviso, was, that as a section we consider raising table money, and/or ask members for voluntary donations to offset the costs.

After multiple discussions with various people on the way forward, it has been decided to do the following:

- Duplicate Bridge table money will increase, from Monday 1st of May, from £1 to £2 (non-members from £2 to £3).  This increase will apply to Duplicate Bridge sessions played on either Monday or Wednesday evenings.  Table money for Chicago Bridge will remain unaffected.  If, as last Monday, there are not enough tables to play Duplicate and we have to revert to Chicago for that evening, then we'll only require £1 table money.

- There is likely to be a Bridge Drive later this year, at the club, possibly on a Friday afternoon, where we'll play Bridge with a raffle and prizes, run as a fun social event, open to members and visitors alike.

- If anyone wants to make a separate donation, then please let me know of your intention.  The Club would then need to know what your donation is for and whether it is a public or an anonymous donation.  You can either donate by cheque or by bank transfer - the details are shown below.  Any donations will also generate further funds to the club due to Gift-Aid.

There is more detail about the dealing machine and the associated costs pinned to the Bridge notice board at the club.  We will be looking to purchase the dealing machine either late May or early June.  If you have any questions about any of these items, please contact me.

Regards

Martin Webb

Bank details for donations: East Dorset Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited, Sort Code: 20 45 45, A/C number: 43584291

A new list of "Points of Law, Etiquette and Procedure" has been added to the EDLTCC web site.  The details contained in this list will be used to help players and directors run Wednesday evening duplicate bridge as smoothly as possible for the enjoyment of everyone.  Some of the items contained in the list have been introduced by your directors over the last few weeks, but the majority of the items are standard laws and procedures followed by the majority of bridge clubs.

As Monday evening is Soft Duplicate (where we encourage visitors and new members who are interested in playing duplicate bride at the club first start out before progressing to Wednesday evenings) we will mainly follow the same guidelines, but your directors are likely to be more relaxed about the speed of play (there are generally less tables and therefore less movement around the room).

We will also reference the same guidelines for Friday afternoon's cut-in Chicago sessions.  We will use the guidelines on Friday to familiarise new members and beginners on the standard expected at duplicate sessions, and to help transition players who might be looking to take up duplicate bridge.

If there are any omissions, deletions or additions you'd like to see added to the list, please speak to one of the bridge directors.

There are now several ways to find either an occasional or regular bridge partner on the EDLTCC BridgeWebs site.

Existing Requests for Partners

You can see any existing general public requests for partners using Find a Partner.  If you are logged in this will also show any private member's only messages:

You can send a response to any request by clicking the person's name:

Calendar Requests

You can also see specific requests for partners against the calendar, and make your own requests via:

Use Calendar  to Find a Partner

From within the calendar you may need to expand the calendar by first clicking the button, which will then reveal the ability to see both the "Partner Required" buttons and any existing requests against any future session:

If you click any one of the existing partner requests you will be able to respond to the request.

If you click one of the "Partner Required" buttons - you may first be asked to check your identify (without needing to login) using either your email address, full name or EBU number (which will be matched against the list of known EDLTCC bridge members/visitors):

Once you have passed the identity check, you will then see the ability to place requests for a partner:

• Add request - immediately adds a request against the chosen session.
• Add and Email - immediately adds a request the chosen session AND then allows you to optionally send emails to members who have registered on BridgeWebs.
• Send Email - allows you to send emails to members who have registered in BridgeWebs.
• Forget Me - will forget who you are, so that next time you will need to re-check you identity.

Logged in - Advanced Features

If logged in you can also use more advanced features ("Find a Partner", "Messages", "Member List", "Account" and "Download") via Members Only:

How to Register or Login

If you try to access Members Only, you may first be shown the following, where you can either login, set/reset any existing password, or register:

If registering, please use the Member Registration Code edltcc

If you have problems then send me an email: martin.c.webb@gmail.com

For those that are not aware, its possible to play the hands again - online - here on bridge-webs.  Against the scores for a particular board there is usually a "Play it again" button.  Once clicked, select the "BS Online" button (if shown) which will enable you play the hand again.  The following is a screen shot of one of last Wednesday's boards that most people bid and made a small slam:

This example shows possible makeable contracts for East and West in the bottom right-hand corner.  If you just tap on one, for example 6S, then the screen changes to a replay mode:

This shows you the potential opening leads by south, with the actual recorded lead of 10D - you can change the lead by clicking on any other card in South's hand.  But if you simply click ">" you'll next see 10D led and dummy being able to respond with with the QD or the JD:

You may or may not find this useful!