The English Bridge Union is trying to do more to promote bridge after the considerable decline in numbers playing since lockdown eased. The Education Department is introducing a new form of teaching to get intending players to the bridge table quicker called 'SmartBridge'.   Kent has been selected as a trial area and Maidstone Bridge Club is part of this trial.

Smart Bridge will be a mixture of on-line learning and face-to-face supervised sessions;  the latter will be held at the Civil Service Club, Recreation Close, Maidstone ME14 5AZ.   Day and time yet to be decided but will almost be certainly during a morning or afternoon weekday.

Cost of the course is not yet know, but this first course will be subsidised.   Further details will be posted here when available. 

In the meantime, anyone interested in learning to play bridge please contact Jacquie on 07986 989764 or email learnbridge@btinternet.com.

Anyone interested in playing at the club or general enquiries please contact Barry on 07442 132119.

Anyone who has not paid their subs for 2022 will no longer be able to access the members' area on this website.   If you have a query about this, please check with Georgina or Jenny (F2F evenings) or email learnbridge@btinternet.com

The Maidstone Civil Service Club has seen some extensive works undertaken over the last few months. In addition to a complete refurbishment of the toilet facilities (Ladies Please Note!), including a new Disabled Toilet, decorations and lighting have been improved. The most obvious visible change is to the rear of the building where a new patio has been built with a new access ramp and a sheltered area over the rear entrance.

The general bridge playing conditions are now first class so why not come back and try Face To Face again on Wednesday nights. We start at 7pm and finish at 10pm. Coffee, Tea and biscuits and water are provided and alcoholic drinks can be purchased at the Bar. All are welcome. Please remember we now collect monies with contactless payments, not cash.

Information to all members agreed at the AGM held on 2 March 22:

• Club annual membership fee to be held at £5.
• Table money and fees to remain at £3 for F2F and £1.50 for Real Bridge.   The difference is due to extra expenses at the club and also the provision included of hot drinks and biscuits.
• Guest money to remain at £4 for F2F and £2 for Real Bridge (in this case, only with a member who is responsible for payment of the fee).   Maximum of 3 attendances as a guest, after which the player will be invited to join as a member.
• New ladder pairs competitions starting in April 22 on first Wednesday and first Friday of each month.   Wednesday competition will be joint F2F and online.
• Reintroduction of former mentor sessions 

Bridge sessions as follows:

F2F at the Civil Service Club - every Wednesday starting at 7.00pm.

Online - every Wednesday and Friday starting at 7.15pm.
All on-line games will be held on Real Bridge 
 

New information for those using iPads with iOS 15 for Real Bridge

If you are experiencing problems with freezing or loss of audio during a session, please email learnbridge@btinternet.com and we will forward you an email from Real Bridge showing the solution to these problems 

Payments due for games played online are listed in Members' Only area

Slow play online -  Players are responsible for maintaining their own connection and slow play will have a board stopped or removed with an adjusted score of 60/40 awarded to the opposition.  

Games on Real Bridge will cost £1.50 per player per game;  payment will be due retrospectively at the end of each month and amounts due with payment advice will be posted in the Members' Only Notices at the end of each month.

Visitors -  Visitors are welcome to play at the Club - please contact Chairman beforehand.   Members may invite a friend as a guest to online sessions for one complementary session;  to action this please email learnbridge@btinternet.com with the name and email address of the guest, and state which date you wish to play.    Thereafter visitors may play for a maximum of 3 online events as a guest as a cost of £2 per player per game;  the member inviting the guest will be responsible for this payment and the cost will added to their invoice at the end of the month.  

Links to Real Bridge games are in the Members' Area - Notices.   You can still play without a webcam and audio on your system.  Links will not be sent by email so it is up to members to make sure they can log into the Members' Area and access the links.  Late arrivals can be accommodated - login, go to the lobby and notify the Director to allocate you a seat.   For players new to Real Bridge, go to the Real Bridge website where there is a great deal of information and a webcam/audio test, plus 8 board free trial sessions offered by Real Bridge. 

Members can also view again scores and hands played on Real Bridge sessions.   Links for the past few weeks are in the Members' Notices section so you should save the link on your own system if you want to keep it longer.  Click on the link which will take you to the score table, click on the board number and then the contract results - this will bring up an option to scroll through card by card.
   

Rules of bridge for online competitions

• Players are reminded that all bridge rules must be followed in on-line competitions.   Bids must be alerted or announced as in face-to-face bridge.   This includes ethical considerations such as not indicating to your partner which card to play.    Background noises should be kept to a minimum and your microphone is best muted during play unless you need to announce a bid or explain further at the request of opponents.
   
• Opponents can only request further information at their own turn to bid or before the initial lead is made
   
• Use of UNDO is allowed but only under standard bridge rules.  Undo is intended to be used for a misclick, not a change of mind.   Regardless, a card played must remain and cannot be undone unless it is a genuine and obvious misclick.   Use of the double click option is recommended for those who have problems with selecting the correct card.  Any queries should be referred to the Director for adjudication.

• Claims - declarer must state his/her line of play at the same time as the claim.   Once a claim is requested, both defenders are prompted to accept or reject the claim. If they both accept, the result is recorded and the deal ends.  If either defender rejects the claim, you should call the Director to adjudicate the claim, or if everyone agrees you can also play on.  A defender is allowed under Law 68B2 to object to his partner's claim.   If play continues after a claim, the non-claiming side can see all four hands.