♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Club AGM 2021 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

The 2021 AGM took place on 29th November. 

There is a recording available for those who didn't attend the meeting - details below

Please Click here for Meeting Recording and enter the passcode below:

Access Passcode: $mjF&u22

All paperwork is under the Membership area of the left hand menu.

Splinters product has now been added (Dec 2021)
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  NEW - 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: 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.

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

From 4th August the club will run sessions on Wednesday afternoons at the club house - Maydene, Sherborne Rd, Basingstoke, RG21 5TG.

From 16th September, Thursday evening sessions will be operating at the club premises.  Whilst everybody is welcome to attend, the intention is that this is aimed at less experienced players (as it was pre-COVID).

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

• Those attending are requested to take a Lateral Flow Covid test on the morning before attending - giving those attending a further degree of confidence about the environment.
• All those coming to the club will need to have had the double dose of the vaccination.
• If you have any cold/flu symptoms you should not attend, and we will be doing temperature checks with a contactless thermometer before entry.  Hand sanitiser will be available on entry and at each table.
• We will operate a booking system with no host available.  The booking system can be used to find a partner. 
• We have set up a cashless system for collecting table money (using either contactless or chip and pin with credit cards (there is no additional cost to members).

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. 

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ New '9 High' Session ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

Following the success of the first 9 HIGH TEAM EVENT this will continue every month.  See Calendar for further details.

The 9-high session is aimed at less experienced players and shortly we will be using this session to introduce those currently in the beginner classes to duplicate bridge.  Consequently, the session will be run with Simple Systems only - that is basic ACOL bidding. This permits all the standard ACOL strong and weak 2 openings.  You can make any conventional bids after the first round of bidding has completed.  It specifically excludes the use of Multi-2D openings and the Multi-Landy defence to 1NT as these are first round bids that can have multiple meanings and do not define at least 1 specific suit.  

We are going to retain the 'mature' 9-high criteria for taking part as this is being set as a standard across many counties for this type of session.  Whilst not making it a formal constraint on attendance we suggest that this session is best suited for those who are up to and including 'Master' in the Master Point rankings, to emphasise the focus on the expected level of experience.

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.  

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Online sessions ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

These sessions will be run mainly on RealBridge with a few on BBO.  There are 6 types of sessions:

• Club pairs - running on Monday and Friday evenings on RealBridge or BBO
• Club teams - running on the last Monday of the month on RealBridge
• Relaxed pairs - running Friday mornings on RealBridge - normally fewer hands played with a more relaxed time allowed per hand
• 9-High pairs - most Tuesday evenings on RealBridge
• 9-High teams - once a month on a Tuesday evening on RealBridge
• Club Social Lounge - every day from 9.30am to 9.30pm.

More details about each of these sessions can be found using the menu on the left of this page.

Check the calendar for details of dates and times