Paul Whetton has been appointed Suffolk captain and is using his new role to offer a series of articles aimed at players who represent the county, or aspire to do so - but should help us all improve our game.
Paul's aim is to raise the level of performance by Suffolk players and he explains the thinking behind his approach in his first article. Click on BAR to read it.
All Paul's columns are available by clicking on Raising the Bar in the menu above. The latest one is entitled Planning.
Rick Hanley has stood down as Suffolk captain and, as announced previously, he has been succeeded by Paul Whetton.
Despite have a small pool of players to call on compared to other counties, and with some top Suffolk players choosing not to represent the county, his tenure has been marked by an overall improvement in results, notably by the B and C teams.
Richard Evans, chairman of Suffolk bridge, said: "Rick has been an excellent captain whose enthusiasm, leadership and ideas have inspired the county squad and underpinned its improved performance. He has also shown great courage at a time when he has not enjoyed good health."
Rick (L) & Paul (R)
The format for this year's competition is as follows:
1. Heats to be held in Clubs during October/November. The heats will be F2F. There will be an online open heat in January 2024 for anyone who has missed their club heat.
2. All players who achieve 50% or more in a heat will be eligible to take part in the Final at Elmswell (IP30 9UH) on Sunday April 21, 2024.
3. Players may attempt qualification once - please ask players before play starts if they wish to attempt qualification.
4. Any out-of-county players who achieve more than 50% in a heat will not be eligible to play in the Final since the top three pairs in the Final will be invited to represent Suffolk in the Corwen Trophy to be held F2F on June 15/16, 2024.
No trump contracts are like Marmite. You either love or hate them.
Players who fall into the latter (not to mention former) category might just wish to have a look at a fascinating article packed with loads of different hands produced by Marc Chawner, one of Essex’s very best players, on their county website. It kicks off with some relatively straight forward examples before featuring some crackers which will test the best.
Click on NO TRUMPS to read.
In a sequel to Marc Chawner's popular compilation of no-trump hands and how to play them, click on SUIT PLAY BY DECLARER, and BBO, to see how BBO robots played these hands (clever!) To complete the trilogy, Marc has produced a comprehensive article on defence. Click on DEFENCE to read.
There is plenty for players of all abilities in the above. Thanks once again to Marc.
If you have friends who would like to learn bridge but are not sure how to go about it or where to go, ask them to email learnbridge@suffolkbridge.co.uk
To find a teacher in your area click on BRIDGE TEACHERS
HERE - AT LAST!
It's been long overdue, but Suffolk Bridge now has its own Facebook page.
The social networking site offers another way to advertise events and, in particullar, to reach non-bridge players who might be interested in learning the game.
To find the page, go to Facebook and search for Suffolk Bridge.
Suffolk Bridge now has a dedicated website for archive mateiral collected over more than 40 years, including winners of the county's main competitions.
Many thanks to Jill Tattersfield for compiling all the material and to Peter Bushby for makiing it publicly available by setting up the website. Click on ARCHIVE to see everything.
Paul Rickard and Tony Pearson are the webmasters running Suffolk's dedicated bridge website.
If you would like to publicise a forthcoming event or submit a news item for this website click Paul or Tony