Tyler Hill Bridge Club in Kent have kindly invited Brierfield to play in a Teams of 4 match on BBO. The match comprising 2 rounds of 8 boards will be at 7pm on Wednesday 2nd June. Teams of 4 will play an opposition team ranked according to their NGS grades. At the end of the matches the Victory Points for each will be added to determine which club has won. This match is just for fun and to enjoy playing against somebody else for a change. If you are interested in playing please contact Nigel Hopwood. If you cannot submit a team of 4 never mind as Nigel will endeavour to make up a team from pair or single entries. Tyler Hill can raise about 10 teams so with your support this could be a worthwhile event.

Jack Stocken has produced four short videos on the double.

He covers the take-out double, double for penalties, further use of double and the protective double.

If you would like to access the videos and worksheets that accompany them, click here to register for free.

Members will be pleased to know that the EBU has the power to suspend a member where they find sufficient evidence of unfair or dishonest play. Over recent months there have been several instances where it has been proved that online players have had knowledge of some aspects of each other’s hands obtained by illicit communication with each other. The disciplinary action taken has resulted in suspension of EBU membership for periods of up to 5 years.

There’s more information here.

We are continuing to run a short refresher lesson before some of our improver sessions, using Zoom.  We hold our normal duplicate session afterwards. We are running these lessons every two weeks with the next one being 6 May 2021 when we'll continue the topic 'Bidding Strong Hands'.

You can join in the lesson without any obligation to play in the improver session, or you can play in the improver session without attending the lesson - it is completely flexible, to suit whatever you prefer. If you do intend joining the lesson, please let us know beforehand, which helps with numbers etc, and please join the meeting a couple of minutes before 9.45. Please don't come along late, as new people joining once we've started can be quite disruptive for everyone else, and you may not be admitted.

If you wish to join us, contact Jim Steele who will send you a Zoom link to the room.

You can use Zoom either direct from your browser, or by installing the Zoom app on your device.  If you have never used Zoom before, there is plenty of help online to get you started -just Google "Zoom" on your browser. It is completely free to use - no subscription necessary. If you need help with Zoom, feel free to contact David Tilley or Jim Steele and they will help you.

We have recently approved an application for membership.

You'll find details on the 'Information for Members' page in the Members Only section.

The Committee has suspended collection of this year's subscriptions until after the AGM.

RealBridge is the nearest thing to face-to-face bridge you can get, without actually being in the same room as the other players round your table. It incorporates video and voice, so the 4 players can see and talk to each other. We're now offering 3 sessions per week on RealBridge (Wednesday afternoon, Thursday morning and Friday evening).

If you’re wondering whether you’ll be able to use RealBridge on your device, click HERE.

We've produced a Guide to Best Practice which you'll find useful.

The RealBridge website offers excellent guidance, a blow by blow description of the features of RealBridge and how to use them. It is well worth your time to go and have a look. Go to the RealBridge website, and click on Players, Player Guide. It is all beautifully and clearly presented, with screenshot illustrations. are also on RealBridge.

To play in a RealBridge session, click the link in the top right column of this page. 

The link is not active until 2 hours before the start of the session.

All of us on the committee are working hard to keep both the fabric of the building and the spirit of the Club going as best we can during these difficult times.

If you have any questions, or any suggestions for how we can improve things please email the Club at brierfieldbridgeclub@gmail.com. Or keep in touch via our Facebook page.

Now it is clear that we are going to be more and more dependent on playing onine for our bridge for a while to come,  it is perhaps a good time for a refresher on the etiquette. Click here to see a few pointers.

John Stell has some excellent Tutorials, aimed at beginners/improvers.

In particular, on Tuesday evenings he focusses on doing a commentary on live games which many of our members have found entertaining.

Thanks to Alan Purdy for sharing this. 

The Club wants to encourage you to play bridge online - both to maintain your interest and also to keep you in touch with each other. 

If you have a computer, laptop, iPad or tablet, and an internet connection, then you have all you need to play bridge online.

But if you don’t understand what to do, or you have questions, or are encountering difficulties, we have a team of buddies who would love to help. Please get in touch with any of the following: Trevor Mayes, Janet Marshall, David de Andrade, Peter Banks, Norman Cope, Sue Ozer, Anne Spencer, David Spencer, Angela Scott, Nigel Hopwood.

As well as the help from our buddies, there’s some useful information at 'Playing on BBO'  in the menu to the left (with many thanks to Cheltenham Bridge Club for putting this together and sharing it). You’ll also see a list of YouTube videos on various BBO-related topics that you can link to. 

Huge thanks to David Tilley for organising and setting up our virtual Club (BWS), joint with Warrington and Stretford. BWS are currently playing 5 sessions a week - Monday afternoon, Monday evening, Wednesday afternoon, Friday evening and Sunday morning. These are charged at £2 per session. See the calendar for the session times.

If you’ve never played in a BWS session you’ll need to email David with your name and BBO user name, no later than the day before the first event you want to play in.

You may prefer to play casually online (which is free on BBO) in which case the Club has two further options.

1.  Register your interest as an individual or as a pair with Anne Spencer by email and she will try to put you in contact with other members. You can then set up your own private tables for four on BBO and play whenever you wish. (See the video guides mentioned above)

2. Nigel Hopwood is coordinating the setting up of groups of four to play on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. To take part please email Nigel with your names (individual or a pair) and BBO user names no later than 10pm on the preceding Monday. Please indicate if you are experienced in setting up an online table. Nigel allocates the tables of four and the players themselves decide how many boards to play. 

Enjoy your bridge!

The EBU has announced that Brierfield Bridge Club is now the 12th best attended in the country. Up 2 places from last year and, for the first time, the best attended club in Lancashire. 

With thanks to all our players for your continuing support.

Many members will have heard of Bernard Magee, especially if you’re on the Mr Bridge mailing list.

Bernard does live broadcasts via YouTube every Monday Wednesday and Friday starting at 11am. They're free, each lasts about 40 minutes and they’re good for beginners and intermediates.

Thanks Trevor for sharing this.

Bernard Magee Bridge