Fourteen players competed on the final evening of the Individual Rubber Bridge competition.  The top scorer for the evening was Dennis with 4840 points, followed by Pat with 4560 points and Jean with 4430 points.  Jean was the only player to move up in the rankings, overtaking MargaretK and Sheena.  Any hopes of others making a big move to upset the overall competition results were a bit forlorn.

Many congratulations to Graham who set out on a mission to regain the trophy in 2018 having lost it to LindaM in 2017.  MargaretM and Clinton, in particular, put up a great fight to take the lead but Graham was able to build up a substantial lead and takes the title of Winner with 60270 points, so that the fight then was for the Runner Up spot.  In the end it was MargaretM who managed to hold onto second place and take the Runner Up award with 54480 points.  Graham was given his trophy on the night but MargaretM was not present and will be given her award on the first evening of the new season.

Thank you to all twenty-two players who took part in the competition throughout the year, and especially to those who turned up come rain or shine and often came bearing treats for us all. Thanks also for contributions of coffee, tea and biscuits which have taken the pressure off the finances.  Pat was very often the one who took on the task of doing the washing up with some others also helping.  We need to share out that task a bit more next season so that we all do our bit.

We look forward to welcoming you back to Individual Rubber Bridge for the start of the 2019 season which begins on Friday, 11 January 2019.  On that date, if you are coming along please bring a contribution of food or drink for the buffet.  

The evening began with Dennis being presented with a cheque for £13, shield and pen as his share, along with DaveW, for coming top in Dounby in the overall results of the Bill Hughes simultaneous pairs competition. They also came 60th overall in the final results.  Well done both of you! DaveW was not present and will be given his award at a later date.

This week, nine pairs competed playing 27 boards over nine rounds. No boards were Passed Out or Not Played.

Five attempts at Small Slams were made on boards 10, 17, 18 24 and 25. On board 10, 6♠ doubled by East was brought down by 2 tricks. On boards 17 and 18, 6♠ by MargaretM & LindaM and 6♦ by DaveH & Sandy made exactly. On board 24, 6NT doubled, a contract arrived at owing to a misunderstanding in the bidding, was brought down by 4 tricks. while on board 25 6♦ was brought down by 2♦  tricks.  

Top pair for the evening were MargaretM & LindaM with a very good score of 69.44%. In second place were SheilaW & Pat with 61.81% and third were DaveH & Sandy with 56.25%.

In the year to date rankings, the leading two pairs of Roger & Dennis and DaveH & DaveW are very close with their current averages being 61.81% and 61.37%, respectively. It is also very close for third, fourth and fifth places with MargaretM & LindaM, Graham & SheilaL and Pat & SheilaW being on 59.94%, 58.96% and 58.28%, respectively. Expect things to be shaken up a little soon as DaveH &Sandy have now competed on nine occasions so from the next time they compete their results will qualify in the year to date competition. Their average is a little lower at the moment but no doubt they will get that sorted soon.

What a close run thing the 2017 Duplicate Pairs competition turned out to be.  Two weeks ago DaveH & DaveW were in the lead and then last week Dennis & Roger overtook them by a narrow margin so it was all down to what happened this evening.

Seven pairs competed and DaveH & DaveW were top pair for the evening, scoring 65.63%, allowing them to drop a low score. Meanwhile Dennis & Roger came second with 63.54%, allowing them also to drop a low score.  Third equal on this last evening were Graham & SheilaL and MargaretM & LindaM with 54.17%.

When all the calculations were done, Dennis & Roger finished with an average of 63.05% for their best ten scores to take the Duplicate Pairs trophy.  Runners Up, and just 0.01% behind on an average of 63.04%, were DaveH & DaveW. 

The other part of the competition is the High Score award for the best single evening score achieved by a pair. That award went this year to DaveH & Sandy.  with their High Score of 73.96%.  They also came third in the main Duplicate Pairs competition.

Congratulations to the successful pairings - very impressive!  Many thanks to all who took part in the Duplicate Pairs competition during the year and we hope to see you all back again next year.  In the meantime...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The return of DaveW for the first time in the new season gave us the opportunity to congratulate him and DaveH on their very successful result in winning the 2016 Duplicate Pairs competition and to award them with the perpetual trophy to share for the year, the small trophies to keep and the mini trophies for achieving the highest single evening score in the 2016 season. They were also handed their certificates for being the Club leaders in the Children in Need Simultaneous Pairs competition. Well done guys.

The return also meant that the partnership was in action again and they started as they mean to go on with the top score of 61.31%.  In second place were Roger & Dennis with 57.74% and third were Graham & SheilaL with 52.98%.The first and third pairs bid and made 6♦ on Board 6.

The same three pairs also lead the rankings average score although at this stage no-one has competed on ten occasions so it is very early days yet.  DaveH & DaveW have this evening's score as their average, 61.31%. Graham & SheilaL lie second with an average of 58.58% and Roger & Dennis lie third with an average of 58.27%.

The final evening of the Duplicate Pairs competition perhaps lacked the excitement of the final evening of the Individual Rubber Bridge competition but the leaders going into the evening, Roger & Dennis were taking no chances that they might be caught at the last moment. They produced their third best score of the season, 63.54%, enabling them to drop a score of 59.38% from their ten best scores and increase their final average to 62.95%. This meant that they lifted the Duplicate Pairs trophy. Congratulations to you both.

Graham & SheilaL had an average of 61.85% before the final evening with SheilaW & Pat - last year's winning pair - close on their heels with 61.60%. Graham & SheilaL were not present on the last evening and SheilaW & Pat tried valiantly to close the gap but ended the evening with no change to their average. It is therefore Graham & SheilaL who will receive the Runners Up award next time they are at the Club. A great effort, well done! Having been a consistent winner for many years in the Individual Rubber Bridge competition but thwarted in both the Duplicate Pairs and the Individual Rubber Bridge competitions this year, make no mistake - Graham will be on a mission in 2016. [Shhh...someone hide the doubling cards.]

The High Score award for the best single evening score of the season went to a pairing that played together early in the year but then went their separate ways, DaveW & David. Their High Score was a massive 78.75%. DaveW was present to receive his award and David will be given his separately. This was a great achievement as the only other pairings to achieve any score of over 70% were DaveW & MargaretM with 70.83% and Roger & Dennis with 72.22%. Well done!

Thank you to everyone who has support the Duplicate Pairs during 2015 and we hope to see you back in 2016 along with any new pairs that would like to come along and join us. The next season begins for duplicate on Tuesday, 12 January 2016.

Individual Rubber Bridge
Iris Clyde (Runner Up) and Clinton Rendall (Winner and High Score)

What a cliff-hanger it was! With Iris leading before the start of the final evening's play and Clinton lying in second place, Clinton was clearly on a mission to earn a high score and finish with a flourish. None of us could have imagined the drama of it all. Partnering each other in the final round and being the last table to finish playing, poor Iris was surrounded by all the other players as she played to make the slam. Is it not bad enough trying to do that without an audience? She did well to make the slam, with an overtrick, but in doing so she very sportingly handed the overall series win to Clinton. A great evening's play from Clinton and great sportsmanship from Iris. Roger, who had been holding the High Score lead for the season could do nothing but stand by and watch as Clinton claimed it in that final round. Great fun and what a way to end the season.

Thanks to some respite from the stormy weather, we managed to hold our normal Individual Rubber Bridge session, with thirteen players taking part.  Before play began the opportunity was taken for Chairman, Roger Davies, to present Gladys Marwick with her High Score mini trophy for having achieved the best single evening result of 2014 with an impressive score of 8050. Congratulations, Gladys.

Getting off to a good start this year and laying down a marker was LindaM on 6040 points - well done Linda - followed by Malcolm on 5720 points and Graham on 5090 points. There were only two more players, Iris and Pat, with scores over 4000 with the rest of us languishing way behind.  Many of the Friday players arrived hoping to put up a good challenge to Graham's dominance of the competition this year but clearly he has no intention of making life easy for us. Still, it's early days yet and we can live in hope that opportunities will arise.