Berks & Bucks staged the final of the Waller Bowl yesterday in Windsor [qualifying heats held in clubs], and Burnham members figured extremely prominently.

Of the 4 pairs qualifying from the Burnham heat, all finished in the top half of the field, and A-team captain Naomi Gibbs playing with Mike Rawlins finished 4th.

Another of our A-team pairs, Bob Holder and David Owen, finished in 2nd position.

But [drum roll] Club Chairman Graham Dickens playing with wife Sue finished top of the leader board with 61.93%, and collected the trophy!

Congratulations to all our pairs, but especially to Sue and Graham.

The Burnham committee has decided to change the Undo regulation for its online games.  Up until now, no Undos have been allowed, either in the bidding or play of the cards. 

With effect from January 6^th 2025, the Club has changed its Tournament Regulation on Undos in online games played on BBO. Ever since Burnham sessions started online the regulation has been not to allow Undos in the bidding or play. Club regulations are now to allow Undos in the bidding but not in the play.  This aligns Burnham regulations with those in events regulated by the EBU, SBBC and many other clubs. 

Undos in the bidding will be allowed for genuine misclicks, but not for changes of mind, lapses of concentration or inattention to the game.

The regulation is based on extracts from the Laws of Bridge (2017) and the EBU Blue Book (2024).  Please note that opponents have the right to refuse an Undo request if they are unsure of the circumstances; the TD must be called if there is a request for an UNDO in the auction, and the situation is at all unclear. It is not “unfriendly” to call the director at any time in our game.  Most misclicks can be avoided if your BBO account settings Confirm Bids and Confirm Cards are turned on.  To read more about the change, please Click Here.

If a member or visitor (not familiar with the regulation) requests an Undo during the card play, the director must be called immediately.  The director will rule that Burnham game regulations do not allow Undos during the card play and instruct the request to be refused.  Please remember that "Best Behaviour at Bridge" requires players to respect such a director ruling.  

The first match of the new season in Berks & Bucks Division 1 took place last night [4 September]. and it was between our two teams.

In the first set of [6-board] matches, it looked like the A team was on its way to an easy victory, but the B team had other ideas, and in the end the A team just prevailed [12-8] in a very closely-fought encounter.

So Burnham A tops the division, with Burnham B second. What a wonderful season it would be for the Club if things finished like that!

Having dropped out of Division 1 at the end of last season, our 'B' team has decided that Division 2 is not for them, and this week's matches have confirmed that the team finishes the season in the top position.The team won its final match against Yateley and H/C on Tuesday [19th], and it was then a matter of biting fingernails to see how the second and third teams in the division would fare in their final matches. Interestingly, both of these teams [Basingstoke A and Newbury] also had matches this week, both against Austenwood, and both lost to Austenwood, thus sealing Burnham's table-topping position.

Congratulations to the guys and gals of Burnham B.

As the 2022/23 programme has now drawn to a close it's been a disappointing season for the three Burnham teams.

Despite getting off to a strong start [with a 20-0 win against our B team], the A team narrowly failed to repeat last season's stellar performance, and had to be content with second place behind a strong Reading A team. Partly as a result of the A team's strong start, the B team will be waving goodbye to Division 1.

Our third team played in the Chiltern League, which means we could call on members who are tied to other clubs as far as Berks & Bucks is concerned, and also occasionally on A- and B-team players. The team had to be satisfied with the bronze medal, gold and silver going to the two Newbury teams.

The Club very much appreciates the efforts of all members who played in one or other of the teams, and we all owe a particular vote of thanks to the team captains who take on the organisational role as well as managing their teams. We're hoping the same members will be up for the challenge again next season, and we're always delighted to welcome fresh blood into our league-of-8 ranks.

Many of last night's players have reported that they'd noticed an error in the results on the Club website, an error which also affected the upload to the EBU.

The problem was that everything to do with hand 3, including its hand record, was duplicated as board 4. The error has now been rectified on the Club website, and the corrected results have been uploaded to the EBU; these will take effect during the EBU's overnight NGS update run.

Thanks to everyone who spotted this and reported it.

We have upgraded the website to Bridgewebs version 2.19q. This version introduces changes to the presentation of results but, if this isn't to your taste, there's the facility to switch back to the previous layout.

If you have any related comments that you'd like brought to Bridgewebs' attention, please let me know.

The Club switched its Monday-evening session to BBO at the outset of Covid, and continues to operate online.

All sessions are pairs events, with the third Monday of the month being scored via cross-imps.

The Club operates two teams in the Berks & Bucls League-of-8 divisional competition.