♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  NGS Scores ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Who has increased their NGS score the most in November?  The top 3 people this month are:

Sue Chapman

Tony Turner

Brian Knight

Well done everyone!

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  How well are we doing with bidding and making Slams? ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

In November we bid 80 Slams and made 61%. An improvement on last month

This month's top scorers with 3 points are:

Mike Battisson, Anne Todd, Vera Watts and Sue Lance.

Well done everyone!

♠  ♥  COMPETITIVE BIDDING TRAINING ♥  ♦ 

There is an opportunity for club members to join in with the Improver's Class run by David Lewis to learn more about Competitive Bidding.

There will be 5 lessons on a Wednesday evening starting at 7pm.

Places are limited to 6 with the cost being £6 per lesson.  No partner is necessary.

Please click here for full information and to register attendance.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Season 8 of Social Teams ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

It's that time to start the new season of our Social Teams League!

To enter, please

- Fill in the form for your team to include the team captain and up to 5 players.  Click here to go to form to enter.    Please add the EBU numbers for your teams.

-  Please then go to the shop to pay for your team (not as individuals).  Click here to go to shop to pay.

There could be 2 divisions but this depends on the number of entries. The number of fixtures being dictated by the number of divisions.

The date and setting up of an individual match should be discussed between the two captains.

You can play on BBO or Real Bridge, whichever both captains agree upon.  If you wish to play on RealBridge we have a product setup for teams where the session has already been configured for teams.  Click here to book a team session.

♠ ♥  Club Christmas Party ♦ ♣  

           NOW FULL

The Club Christmas Party this year will be held on Thursday evening, 15th December at 7pm.  Location is Sherborne St John Village Hall RG24 9HR which is where the U3A play bridge.

Ticket price is £3.  Please click here to go to shop to pay.
Click here to go to reserve list                           

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  Social Lounge Sessions now open Monday to Sunday ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

As of 21st November - the Social Lounge on RealBridge will be started on a Monday and will remain open until the Sunday.  When you go into the shop to buy a ticket click anywhere on the 'bar' for that week to purchase a ticket.  One person buys a ticket for a whole table. You can then enter the Social Lounge any day during the week.  When you go into the lounge ensure that you sit at a table where no-one has been playing at before.  The hands will be from previous events so that when you look at Scores it will give you a good comparison of how well you have done against others.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ '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.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  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. 

 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  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.

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.  

Currently we are not offering Supervised Play 

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣  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.