♠ ♥ Bridge against a club in Portugal ♦ ♣ 

We have an opportunity to play against a club in Portugal on RealBridge for a different experience and to meet some new people.   The matches would be in an afternoon, probably with a 3pm start. There may even be a possibility of playing occasionally at a weekend. 

Please could you register your interest in attending some of these sessions on the booking form below stating your preferred days of the week

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Club Weekend Away ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

October 21st to 24th - FULL

PROGRAMME

Friday - 2pm Welcome Pairs, 7.30pm Championship Pairs

Saturday - 9.30am Teams, 7.30pm Handicap Pairs

Sunday 10am Swiss Pairs, 7.30pm Relaxed Pairs

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Friday Morning Sessions ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

Stan and Jean will try to direct and score as many Friday mornings as possible.
The club have never played morning sessions on a regular basis.
We would appreciate your support and attendance, please.
It starts at 10:00 and ends around 12:30 on Fridays
The main themes are to attend, play, win, have fun, enjoy, go home, and of course, relax.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Social Lounge Sessions Every Day with Extended Hours ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

Following feedback, from Saturday 17th July 2021 the club will be offering Social Lounge Sessions on RealBridge every day from 9.30 am to 9.30 pm.  Up to 20 boards.  £2 for members and £3 for non members per table.  The person who pays for the table needs to forward the RealBridge link to the other players.

The sessions will not be on the calendar but you can book a session as usual through the shop by clicking here.  You can purchase a session up to 7pm on the same day as the session. 

Enjoy!!

 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Club Shop  ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

You can use the shop to do any of the following:

• Pay table money for sessions on RealBridge or special charity events on RealBridge or BBO. 
• Apply for new Membership of the club or renew your membership.
• Book training sessions.

More information on how the shop operates can be seen from the 'Shop' tab on the left of this page.  When using the shop, the first point of entry should be the Home Page - where you register or log in to your account.  Click here to access the shop.

We would like to encourage members using the site to purchase an Account Top-Up providing funds that can be used to buy sessions or other products from the shop.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Face to Face Sessions ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

We have decided that we will set the following guidance for playing at the club:

• Do not attend the club if you feel unwell with any symptom including, but not limited to, upper respiratory, headache, fatigue and muscle weakness.
• If you are a person who has regular social interactions (for example with school aged children, other groups, wider family members etc) then before attending please take a lateral flow test on the same day as the session" (we gather these will no longer be free after end of Feb 2022)
  

  We will continue to employ reasonable safety measures during the sessions. 

As we start going back to playing Face to Face, we have created some reminders for us all of what we need to do.

Click here to access the document.

Go to appropriate date in calendar to book a session. 

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Having problems with RealBridge? ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

If you have difficulties with RealBridge you can phone their support line which is 0794 232 2209.  Support is available from 7am to 11pm.

If you use an IPad please ensure that you read and follow the advice issued by RealBridge even if you are currently not experiencing any difficulties with your Ipad.  Please click here to see the document.

A further update in June 2022 has been received from RealBridge in connection with Microsoft Edge and IPads.  Click here to see the document.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Topic Based Practice Hands ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 
Sometimes it can be helpful to just play a few hands and chat with your partner about a specific topic that you are either learning or revising.  Using the RealBridge platform we have created a facility which allows you to pick your own time to play practice hands focussed on specific topics as either a group of 4 or 8 players.  Here’s how it works:

·       Go to the Practice hands section of the club shop (click here) where you can see the topics available and buy the desired product stating the date that you would like to play.  (One person buys the product – 1 or 2 tables)
·       Within a couple of days, you will be sent guidance on how to run the session, notes on the topic that you can look at before playing and a handout which you can circulate after the session has been played.

We
·       The coordinator will circulate the links for the session and run the session on the day
·       You will play 16 hands and after each hand guidance notes will appear on the table which you can all discuss before moving to the next hand.
·       There is no time limit on the session, but expect it to last about 2.5 hours

Currently available are: Declarer Play Strategy, Splinters, Transfers, Law of Total Tricks, Roman Key Card Blackwood, Checkback Stayman, Dealing with Pre-empts and Fourth Round Forcing.

We also have a presentation explaining how the sessions are created.  Click here if you are interested to learn more about the setup of Topic Based Hands.

Supervised play sessions are aimed at helping players to develop their confidence with bidding and playing.  These sessions are not a replacement for lessons and it is not intended that new conventions are taught.  The supervisors will help participants get the best out of the systems that each participant plays.  Each session offers the opportunity to play up to 12 pre-dealt hands with a supervisor giving advice on each of the hands.  

Supervised Play will finish for the summer on 1st July 2022

Bridge for all players

Basingstoke Bridge Club is the largest club in Hampshire and 48th in England (by player sessions) and welcomes all bridge players, from complete beginner to expert. It runs an active teaching and development programme as well as sessions aimed at different levels of bridge.  More information is available through the 'Teaching at Basingstoke Bridge Club' section on the left hand menu.

The Club is currently operating a mixture of Face to Face and online sessions - check the calendar for details.

If you would like to know more about our club, please ring me on 01962 882715 or email me - bstokebridge.chairman@gmail.com

John Fairhurst - Chairman

The Basingstoke Chess Club use the premises when open. For information please phone John Shaddick on 01256 469749. There is also a link to their web site -  www.basingstokechessclub.co.uk