GD week 12: Hesitation – what to do?

We saw last week that if you spend a while thinking (= ‘hesitate’) and then pass, this can make things tricky for your partner, because she now has unauthorised information (UI) about your hand.

While we’re not going to get too legalistic in GD sessions, we are aiming to help players towards ‘best practice’, so let’s look at the three questions we ended with last time ...

Click here to read on

In spite of the gale-force winds and torrential rain forecast for the Saturday, around nine tables of members (plus several non-playing other halves) converged on Paignton, on what was to have been Brexit Day, for another very enjoyable weekend of bridge and social activity in pleasant surroundings of the Redcliffe Hotel.

As we've come to expect, Christine and Stuart organised things perfectly, even adapting Saturday's programme to include the Rugby World Cup Final. From the Friday early evening welcome drinks through to Sunday lunch, a great time was had by all.

Our thanks to Christine and Stuart – and to everyone who came along to support this very enjoyable event. 

For a taste of the weekend's activities, plus photos of the winning pairs, click here.

Most of us know (at least roughly) our rank as determined by the masterpoints we've accumulated. But do you know your NGS ranking?

The National Grading Scheme provides a picture of your current skill level and offers a mine of information about how well you (and your partners) are doing. 

As well as being a handy and accurate measure of your progress (especially if you're an up-and-coming 'improver'), the NGS will be the basis of our upcoming switch to 'stratification' scoring in our Gentle Duplicate sessions on Thursday morning, so it's well worth knowing what it's all about.

To find out how it works – and how to tap the information it provides – click here.

As we're an EBU club, we use the EBU Blue Book to determine which bidding systems and conventions we are permitted to use.

For most of our sessions, we comply with Level 4, which allows most systems/conventions that most players are likely to be familiar with.

For our Thursday morning Gentle Duplicate and Monday evening Assisted Play, however, we are limited to Level 2, which limits players to fairly simply bidding systems and common conventions: Stayman, transfers and Blackwood are all fine.

If you're not sure about the suitability of any parts of your system, ask any experienced Club Director for guidance. Alternatively, click here for a link to the Blue Book on the EBU website.

What to do if this issue comes up at the table? See our guidance in Doing things right ... (you can find this via Articles in the menu, left).

What level is right for me?

With the growing choice of daytime and evening sessions now available at Bath BC, newer members and visitors may not be sure which options best suit their level of ability and experience.

If you're in doubt, click here to consult our Guide to levels. (It's also available via the menu, left.)

And, of course, feel free to consult any committee member if you need further advice.