When we play face-to-face the monthly prizes are a way of recognising people who have had a good set of results. The same people don't always win, partly because there is a separate prize for each of the weekly sessions and partly because a handicap is applied to previous winners.

Playing online is not quite the same because there are fewer sessions with more mixed participation, so we have been looking at how to recognise people who are doing well by looking at NGS scores. This shows that in May the top 10 NGS improvers were:

Congratulations to Susan on a great set of results in May!

In June we will have five Tuesday sessions and four Fridays. We will therefore be able to do separate tables for each of those and maybe one for the "specials" on Thursdays as well. Anyway, for now well done to all those shown above. The rest of us can set our sights on improving our scores in June - even if we don't expect to finish top every week!

The Deva has so far played four friendly teams matches against other clubs on BBO, winning 2 drawing 1 and losing 1:

• On April 21st we lost to St Albans BC and
• On May 7th we beat Berwick-upon-Tweed BC 
• On May 21st we beat Bath BC by 113-107 VPs
• On May 23rd we drew with Altrincham BC 40-all

We have a six-club, round-robin tournament scheduled to run through the month of June.

Thanks to Simon Anderson for all his hard work organising this and to all our players for their fine efforts.

♥ We are now running Deva Bridge Club online events on Bridge Base Online (BBO). ♥ 

In addition to the regular 18 board, match-pointed pairs events on Tuesday evenings (7 pm) and Friday afternoons (1.30 pm) the club has now started to run some different formats of competition (e.g. Swiss pairs, indivdiual) at 10.30 on Thursday mornings. All Deva online events are restricted to Deva members and prospective members. To get added to the list, email Simon Anderson (simonand1402@gmail.com) or send a message on BBO to username vebu208347.

All of these events are on the calendar and the results are posted to the website quite quickly after play has completed.

To register for any event:

• Buy BB$ in advance to pay your table money (3 BB$ per person).
• You can register on your own or with a partner starting 2 hours before the event is due to start.
• When you are ready to register, login, click on Competitive then All Tournaments. This will bring up a long list so you can then type Deva in the Search box to find our event.
• Clicking on the event name will bring up the registration screen and, if you are registering as a pair, you can type in your partner's name to send them an invitation. (They have to be online to accept the invitation.)
• If you are looking for a partner, click on the Partnership Desk tab and add your name or invite somebody who is already on the list to play with you.

If you need help, you can call Simon (07927 886704) or message one of the Deva TDs on BBO:

• The Deva virtual club manager (vebu208347)
• David Smith (wynnstow)
• Simon Anderson (Simon 1402)
• Graham Campbell (GFC 1306)
• Daniel Miller (ToffeeDan) or
• Laurence Stone (lozzzzzz).

Fancy a drink and a chat after the game?

Well, the drink is optional and the chat is virtual but now you can meet up with your buddies after every Deva virtual club session. So why not extend the sociability on Tuesday evenings, Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons by joining up to discuss the hands, what you would like from the club or just life in general!

You're going to need to Zoom, which you can get on your phone, tablet or PC by clicking here. Once you've got that set up you can use this link (The Post Mortem Arms) or the following details:

• Meeting ID: 786 1091 2521
• Password: 6g5G29

Don't worry if you're the first one there, wait a minute or two and someone will join you.

P.S. If you're still in your jammies you don't have to turn the video on!

As many of you will know, the Deva is now operating as a virtual club with tournaments being played on Bridge Base Online (BBO) every Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon.

Results from these competitions are available on this website with BBO usernames translated into actual names. The format is a bit odd at the moment and you have to click on your score to see the details on the BBO website. We are hoping to improve on this format for the results to make them more like normal club session results in due course.

The club is also running inter-club teams matches. If you would like to be part of the "squad" for these matches please contact Simon Anderson (simonand1402@gmail.com).

Following the Government's advice released on Monday 16th March the committee has decided to close the club until further notice.

In the meantime you might want to try playing online. The EBU has written an article (click here) about the options and is organising some EBU games on Bridge Base Online (BBO) which you can find out about by clicking here.

Club members are also happy to provide advice for newcomers to Bridge Base Online (BBO) and Bridge Club Live (BCL).

I play on BBO (as Simon 1402) which is free and is mainly populated by players from across the globe who play the American five card majors and strong no trump system. It does however include a "club" specifically for Acol players which has its own homepage here. You can contact me for help in getting started by emailing simonand1402@gmail.com or calling 07927 886704.

Laurence Stone has indicated that he is happy to help with BCL and you can contact him by emailing laurence@thestones.me.uk or calling 07770 677559.

If you have anything to add please email webmaster@devabridgeclub.co.uk.