| EAST MIDLANDS BRIDGE CLUB |
 We are a friendly club. We pride ourselves on our welcome for novice players, to the extent that we restrict our players to Level 2 (this means that experienced players cannot play systems that make it hard for novice players to compete against).
For any further information contact Liz Hall (01283 703705).
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| PYM BERRY and ALAN & PAT SMITH TROPHIES 2026 |
The two competitions will run on the 2nd Monday of each month from January 2026 to December 2026, with the best 6 percentage scores for each pair being aggregated to give an overall score for the year. Pairs with a combined NGS rating of 10 and above will compete for the Pym Berry trophy, whilst pairs with a combined NGS rating of 9 or less will compete for the Alan and Pat Smith trophy.
To make the scoring fair, on the 2nd Monday of each month the duplicate session will be run as a single winner event. A summary of scores will be updated each month and displayed below.
The NGS ratings of each pair have been recalculated for this year’s competition using the NGS ratings at the end of 2025. This means that a few pairs have changed category for this year.
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2026 Competition
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Jan
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Feb
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Best 6
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Pym Berry trophy
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John Griffin & Cedric Cockroft
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58.18
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61.33
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119.51
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James Nelson & Gill Nelson
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57.95
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56.23
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114.18
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David Briggs & John Cater
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56.82
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52.24
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109.06
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Michael Douglas & Philip Anstice
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54.77
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53.56
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108.33
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Margaret Watson & Pat Hobson
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50.45
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53.51
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103.96
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Derek Turner & Jeffry Teece
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49.09
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53.15
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102.24
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Chris Paling & Glenn Partridge
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45.45
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47.48
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92.93
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Malcolm Young & Tim Hallam
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42.05
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48.45
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90.5
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Steve Cave & Chris Rogers
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70.23
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0
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70.23
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Jim Parker & Judy Lomas
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0
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67.66
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67.66
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Chris Rogers & Richard Hodgkins
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0
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61.42
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61.42
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Trevor Pilkington & Tony Haywood
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59.77
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0
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59.77
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Richard & Rosemary Edwards
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58.41
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0
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58.41
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Richard Edwards & Roger Mallinson
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0
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57.93
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57.93
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David Taylor & Jim Parker
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53.86
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0
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53.86
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Sue Birch & Rosemary Edwards
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0
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50.21
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50.21
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Graham Burgess & Jane Burgess
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49.32
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0
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49.32
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Stephen Read & Peter Illsley
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49.09
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0
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49.09
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Judy Lomas & Sue Birch
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46.59
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0
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46.59
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David Taylor & Liz Hall
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0
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45.42
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45.42
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Alan and Pat Smith trophy
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Bert Coombes & Mehdi Modiri
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42.73
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50.45
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93.18
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Jean Rickards & Brian Rickards
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43.86
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48.69
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92.55
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Wallace Bryce & Mary Styles
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48.41
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41.84
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90.25
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Brian Minion & Jeanne Musson
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44.77
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43.63
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88.4
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James Francis & Janet Baker
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41.82
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38.24
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80.06
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Sue Sanders and Jenny Roe
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41.14
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28.63
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69.77
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Paul Knighton & Elaine Knighton
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0
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67.02
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67.02
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Anne Townsend & Barrie Whitcomb
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0
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53.49
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53.49
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Kate Goodwin & Gill Mallinson
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0
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46.96
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46.96
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Jacky Stone & Sue Wright
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0
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46.39
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46.39
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Tony Johnstone & Tom Morris
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0
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43.04
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43.04
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Sandra Moore & Jacky Stone
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35.23
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0
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35.23
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Mary Cater & Tricia Alderman
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0
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30.56
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30.56
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| Judy Lomas Presenting winners of this years Pym Berry Trophy |
 Winners David Briggs & John Cater
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| Tony Wakeling and Tom Morris receiving the Alan and Pat Smith Trophy 2025 |
 Winners Alan and Pat Smith Trophy 2025 Tony Wakeling and Tom Morris
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| 2025 CLUB CHAMPIONS |
THE DAVID WRIGHT TROPHY
Congratulations to Steve Cave and Derek Brooks the 2025 winners
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| EMBC WhatsApp GROUP |
British Rail players will know about the WhatsApp chat group set up by Jim Parker a few years ago. This gives people the opportunity to share news, information and other chat, plus the occasional humorous anecdotes. Perhaps more importantly though, it means that players can hook up with a partner if their normal one is unavailable for some reason. A simple post of “I'm without a partner for this Friday's game” will more often than not elicit a response from someone in a similar position.
We have now set up an equivalent group for East Midlands Bridge Club players.
In keeping with best practice we will only include people in the group who have requested to join. Anyone who wants to be included can either:
Send a text message to Brian Minion on 07485 175655
Or send an email to brian.minion@btinternet.com
Or fill in one of the forms on the noticeboard and hand it to Liz Hall, David Taylor or Brian Minion
with a request to be added to the EMBC WhatsApp group.
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| Level 2 Conventions |
Please remember that EMBC Monday night bridge only allows Level 2 systems.
This item addresses the question "What does Level 2 mean'.
It has been updated with the Blue Book changes (1-9-2022).
One Level Opening Bids
A one-level opening bid in a suit must either show 11+ HCP, or show 8+ HCP and satisfy the Rule of 19. An opening 1NT must be non-forcing. It may show any agreed range with at least 10 HCP, with no singleton or void and no 7-card suit. Within those constraints, any common English system may be played e.g.:
• Natural one-level openings (such as Acol), including the possibility of a three-card minor suit opening on some balanced hands
• Five-card majors with better minor or a short club suit
• A strong club, possibly with a nebulous 1D opening (e.g. Precision, Blue Club, Nottingham Club). The 1C opening must, by agreement, satisfy
(a) any hand of at least 16 HCP
(b) any hand of as few as 13 HCP in any two suits totalling 10+ cards
All standard responses are permitted, but (apart from negative responses to a Strong 1C opening, or a catch-all 1NT response) artificial weak bids in response to a one-level suit opening are not allowed. This means transfer responses to a short club opening are not permitted.
Two Level Opening Bids
Any opening that shows 4+ cards in the suit opened is allowed (e.g. Acol Twos, Lucas or Weak Twos, a Precision 2C opening), as is any meaning or meanings showing a hand conforming to 16+ HCP or 13+ HCP in any two suits totalling 10+ cards (e.g. Benjamin 2C and 2D openings).
A two-level opening showing a three-suited (4441, 5431 or 5440) opening bid including length (three or more cards) in the suit opened is also allowed. Alternatively, two of a suit may show a three-suited opening bid short in the suit opened (such as the Precision 2D opening).
‘Multi’ style openings are not allowed. Neither is a 2NT opening bid showing the minors.
Click the title of this item for a summary. Alternatively, if in doubt, please see the EBU Blue Book https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/laws-and-ethics/blue-book/blue-book.pdf or ask an EMBC TD
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