Suffolk Contract Bridge Association
CLUB DIRECTOR TRAINING COURSE

Club Director training sessions will be run at Barleylands, Billericay (CM11 8UD) later this year.

The course is in four parts on Sundays September 14/28 and October 12/26. Each session lasts approximately 5 hours.

The director is Jacks Morecombe.

Cost for EBU members is £72 per session.

To apply or see more details of each day's session login to your MyEBU page on the EBU website then click on Utilities and Book Courses.

Refreshments are available at Barleylands. 

CAPTAIN'S LOG

Click on Captain's Log to see analysis by the County Captain, Paul Whetton, of some interesting hands played by Suffolk teams in the National online Teams League and Eastern Counties League.

Latest report is of the ECL match played on March 2 which also includes information regarding Paul's resignation from his role as County Captain.

Apologies for no report on Match 7 because of other commitments.

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RAISING THE BAR
RAISING THE BAR

 

Paul Whetton has been appointed Suffolk captain and is using his new role to offer a series of articles aimed at players who represent the county, or aspire to do so - but should help us all improve our game.

Paul's aim is to raise the level of performance by Suffolk players and he explains the thinking behind his approach in his first article. Click on BAR to read it.

All Paul's columns are available by clicking on Raising the Bar in the menu above. The latest one is entitled Slam Bidding.

EVEN MORE MARMITE!
EVEN MORE MARMITE!

In a sequel to Marc Chawner's popular compilation of no-trump hands and how to play them, click on SUIT PLAY BY DECLARER, and  BBO, to see how BBO robots played these hands (clever!) To complete the trilogy, Marc has produced a comprehensive article on defence. Click on DEFENCE to read.

Now, in yet another part, Marc has looked at the maths of bridge in his article Know Your Percentages. Click on PERCENTAGES to read.

There is plenty for players of all abilities in the above. Thanks once again to Marc.

LEARNING BRIDGE
LEARNING BRIDGE

If you have friends who would like to learn bridge but are not sure how to go about it or where to go, ask them to email learnbridge@suffolkbridge.co.uk

To find a teacher in your area click on BRIDGE TEACHERS

FACEBOOK

HERE - AT LAST!

It's been long overdue, but Suffolk Bridge now has its own Facebook  page.

The social networking site offers another way to advertise events and, in particular, to reach non-bridge players who might be interested in learning the game.

To find the page, go to Facebook and search for Suffolk Bridge.

BRIDGE ARCHIVE

Suffolk Bridge now has a dedicated website for archive material collected over more than 40 years, including winners of the county's main competitions.

Many thanks to Jill Tattersfield for compiling all the material and to Peter Bushby for makiing it publicly available by setting up the website. Click on ARCHIVE to see everything.

WEBMASTERS

Paul Rickard and Pam Pope are the webmasters running Suffolk's dedicated bridge website.

If you would like to publicise a forthcoming event or submit a news item for this website, please click Paul or Pam.

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For Bridge Players in Suffolk and North Essex
CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS RESULT

The 2025 Championship Pairs was won by Mike O'Reilly & Guy Lesser, with Ron Ion & Eric Wright in second place and Amanda Roberts & Paul Wilcox third.

The event was hard fought over forty-eight boards and at the end the top three pairs were separated by only 2%. Rob Sassoon directed with his usual calm efficiency which contributed greatly to the enjoyment of the day. The top three pairs will now have the opportunity to represent Suffolk in the Corwen Trophy competition where they will compete against the winning players from all other counties. 

CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS RESULT

L to R: Helen Mason (event manager), Eric Wright, Ron Ion, Mike O'Reilly, Guy Lesser, Rob Sassoon (Director), Amanda Roberts & Paul Wilcox.

Click HERE for full results.

2025 SUFFOLK ONLINE TEAMS LEAGUE

  2025 SOTL Winners  

Each year the Malcolm Pryor Trophy is awarded in May for performance in the Suffolk On Line Teams League over the previous year.

The 2025 winners are Malcolm Pryor, Chris Chambers, Chris Green, Michael Sherer & Peter Sutcliffe, with 35 Placing Points. They finished just one Placing Point ahead of Jo Harpur, Eric Newman, Dennis Valtisiaris & Diane Whitley. In third place with 30 Placing Points were Team Orton, and in fourth place with 27 Placing Points were Team Tattersfield.

In total 18 teams received Placing Points during the year, more details on this can be found by clicking Trophy. For previous years results, click Annual SOTL PPs in the Menu on the left of this page.

 Latest Season Underway 

The latest Suffolk Online Teams League, Season 20, is underway, with 26 teams playing in 5 divisions.

Results will be available by clicking on SUMMER. Final results from Season 19 can be viewed by clicking on PREVIOUS RESULTS.

Congratulations to the Pryor, Edwards, Lockwood, Peace, and Cook teams for winning their respective divisions.

9-HIGH CORWEN RESULT

The SCBA  9 High Corwen qualifier took place on Realbridge on Sunday the 6th April. Despite a disappointing turn out of just 5 full tables, with an 'all play all' movement the players seemed to enjoy the event where they were playing pairs of a similar standard.

It was an extremely close finish going into the final round where up to 7 pairs could have gone on to gain one of the three top places to represent Suffolk in the National final which takes place on RealBridge on Sunday the 31st of May.

The three pairs who qualified for the final where:

Sam Pickering and Caroline Harris         59.7%

Bim and Sam Wilson                                58.3%

Phil Peters and Amanda Roberts            56.4%

Congratulations to them all!

Click HERE for all the scores.

PRYOR TEAM QUALIFIES FOR PACHABO CUP

The winners of the Suffolk Championship Teams of Four event go on to represent Suffolk in the EBU's Pachabo Cup – a competition for all the UK counties' Champion teams of four which will take place in Milton Keynes on the 14th and 15th of June 2025.

Congratulations to our winners - the Pryor Team comprising Malcolm Pryor, Peter Sutcliffe, Chris Chambers, Mike Sherer and Chris Green.

Full details of the event can be found under: 

                 Championship Teams Regulations

CLUB TEAMS of 4
CLUB TEAMS of 4

Congratulations to the team from Dovercourt, winners of the 2025 Club Teams of Four event - Derek & Rita Brinkley and Martin & Debbie Burwood.

Thanks to Tony Shearman for directing and Tim Evans for organising an excellent event which attracted 18 tables this year.

Results can be seen HERE.

SCBA AGM

The Suffolk Contract Bridge Association AGM is being held at Elmswell (IP30 9UH) on Sunday May 18 at 2.00pm.

The meeting will be followed by a single session of Bridge with a tea provided in the interval at around 4.00pm and a prize for the winners..

Attendance at the AGM is, of course, free but if you wish to play in the AGM Pairs, please complete the entry form and pay the £5/head entry fee.

This event attracted 17 tables with very many of the players in their early stages of learning to play the game.

An enjoyable day was had by all and we look forward to making this a regular event on the calendar.

Click SCORES to see the overall results. More detailed information is shown in the Results section of the I&K website HERE

 

WOULD YOU LIKE A 9-HIGH GAME ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON?

There's an online game for NGS 9-High players (and that's most of us!) on BBO, every Saturday starting at 2.30pm.

18 boards of relaxed bridge, run by Kent on behalf of the EBU.

Click HERE to register and, on the day, just login to BBO and click on Competitive, then All Tournaments, then scroll down to the Kent 9-High event.

You'll find a friendly group of regular players - come and join in! You'll enjoy it.

To play in this event, you'll need to become an Associate Member of Kent CBA at a cost of £5/year - click KENT to see the simple application form.

BAH HUMBUG PAIRS

Congratulations to Jo  and Dennis for winning this year's Bah Humbug pairs event.

Click HERE for all the results.

 

SILVER MEDAL WIN FOR MALCOLM PRYOR
SILVER MEDAL WIN FOR MALCOLM PRYOR

Congratulations to Ipswich member Malcolm Pryor and his partner Ed Scerri who took the silver medal in the Senior Pairs at the 16th World Bridge Games in Argentina.

Malcolm is on the far left of the podium (in the shadows). He and Ed battled through the six-day event, qualifying, semi-final and final, three sessions a day.

CLUB TEAMS of 8
CLUB TEAMS of 8

 

The winning Woodbridge team of John Skinner, Iain Burgess, Conrad Simons, Alison Simons, Stephen Ashworth, Bill Bethell, Simon Riley & Viv Mason.

64 Players enjoyed the annual Club Teams of Eight event at Highwoods on November 16, with the excellent tea provided as usual by the local Sea Scouts.

Results are available HERE

Congratulations to WOODBRIDGE for retaining the Abbeygate Shield and qualifying to represent Suffolk in the national Garden Cities Trophy event!

CAFE BRIDGE SUCCESS
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Café Bridge raised over £1,300 for the Hospice charity and attracted players from far afield, as well as many Suffolk players. ..........

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  • Second place Susan and Richard
  • Third place Susan and Crispin
  • Winners Sue and Roger
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AUTUMN FESTIVAL
AUTUMN FESTIVAL

36 boards of Face-to-Face Bridge at Elmswell

Congratulations to the Winners of the Trophies for Men’s Pairs, Ladies’ Pairs, Mixed Pairs, Veterans (70+) & best on Handicap.

Click HERE for the results

  • Handicap Pairs Winners
  • Ladies Pairs Winners
  • Mens Pairs Winners
  • Mixed Pairs and Overall Winners
  • Veterans Pairs Winners

Mixed Pairs and Overall Event Winners - Rod & Sue Oakford

Men's Pairs Winners - Tim Evans & Chris Park

Ladies' Pairs Winners - Christine Cooke & Marlene Chant

Veterans' Pairs Winners - Alaric & Dorothy Cundy

Handicap Winners - Derek Phillips & Paul Starling

SUMMER SWISS PAIRS
SUMMER SWISS PAIRS
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Suffolk Bridge hosted a new Blue Pointed Swiss Pairs event of 36 boards at the Blackbourne Centre, Elmswell on Sunday July 28, 2024. ..........

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ZEB STOCKEN AT HINTLESHAM HALL
ZEB STOCKEN AT HINTLESHAM HALL
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Seventy-two players enjoyed an entertaining day with bridge teacher Zeb Stocken at Hintlesham Hall, including an excellent buffet lunch, with topics including slam bidding and planning your play. ..........

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SUFFOLK BRIDGE AGM
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The Suffolk Bridge AGM was held at Elmswell on Sunday May 12. ..........

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CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS FINAL
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Rick Hanley's team (Rick Hanley, Michael Sherer, Chris Chambers, Chris Green, Malcolm Pryor, Peter Sutcliffe) have won the 2024 Suffolk Championship Teams of Four with a 35 IMP victory in the 40 board final over Jenny Price's team (Jenny Price, Norbert Voelker, Tony Philpott, Nigel Bardsley). ..........

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IN THE PAST...

To see older items please click on

NEWS ARCHIVE

AGM NOTICE

This is to advise that the Suffolk Contract Bridge Association (SCBA) 2025 AGM will be held on Sunday 18 May 2025 at 2.00 pm at the Blackbourne Centre, Elmswell IP30 9UH.

The SCBA AGM Pairs event will be held following the AGM at about 2:30 p.m. at the same venue ending at around 6.00 pm, with a tea provided in an interval at around 4.00 pm. 

The entry fee for the AGM Pairs is £5/head and the entry form can be found HERE.

Meeting Agenda and list of Executive Committee Nominations are in the Menu on the left of this page.

WOODBRIDGE MID ANGLIA PAIRS

The 2025 Woodbridge Mid Anglia Pairs is being held on Sunday June 22 starting at 11am.

This will be a Blue Pointed event of 30+ boards scored by IMPs with an entry fee of £20/pair.

As usual, the venue will be the Community Hall, Station Road, Woodbridge IP12 4AU.

There will be a mid-session break of around 45 minutes and the event will conclude by 5pm.

It is recommended that you bring your own lunch.

Click ENTER to see the entry form.

 

FREE ONLINE LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS

Complete Beginners: click HERE to access nine free online lessons with Jack Stocken, one of the UK's most popular Bridge teachers. No need to register or download anything, just enjoy the lessons. The free lessons come with a detailed worksheet and a link to enable beginners to play mini bridge online (on BBO). After a while, online students will then be able to start improver lessons or visit their local Bridge Club to practice.

It would be lovely to bring in more beginners to this wonderful game and so Jack Stocken is delighted to gift a course of nine recorded online Acol beginner lessons to any potential beginners. Students do not have to register nor pay for these lessons, just go to the LearnBridgeOnline.com website and click on the lesson!

A list of local Bridge teachers can be found HERE.

Results
Championship Pairs Final
9-High Corwen
Club Teams of Four
Bury Swiss Pairs
Calendar
Sun 18th May 2025
AGM Pairs
Elmswell
Following 2.00 pm AGM
Sun 22nd Jun 2025
Mid Anglia Pairs
Woodbridge 11.00 am
Sun 29th Jun 2025
ECL v Beds Home
Online RealBridge 1.00 pm
Sun 13th Jul 2025
ECL v Herts Away
Online RealBridge 2.00 pm
Sun 20th Jul 2025
Summer Swiss Pairs
Elmswell 11.00 am
Thu 21st Aug 2025
Cafe Bridge in Bury
Sun 7th Sep 2025
Autumn Festival
Elmswell 11.00 am
Sun 28th Sep 2025
ECL v Norfolk Home
Online RealBridge 2.00 pm
Sun 5th Oct 2025
Suffolk Congress Swiss Teams
Elmswell
Sat 8th Nov 2025
Club Teams of Eight
Colchester 2.00 pm
Sun 30th Nov 2025
ECL v Northants Away
Online RealBridge 1.00 pm
Sun 14th Dec 2025
ECL v Essex Home
Online RealBridge 1.00 pm
Sun 28th Dec 2025
Bah Humbug
Elmswell 11.00 am
Sun 1st Mar 2026
ECL v Cambs/Hunts Away
Online RealBridge 2.00 pm
Sun 7th Jun 2026
Clare Swiss Pairs
Lavenham