It has been a long haul since March 2020, when Club face-to-face (F2F) bridge was suspended.

We are starting to hope that we might soon return, and we need to make preparations so that it gets up and running as early as we are able. However, the huge increase in popularity of on-line bridge is unlikely to disappear: the world of bridge might well have changed forever, with some people wanting to carry on playing some on-line bridge alongside F2F. 

Your Committee needs to be in a position to make some decisions: about venue, what sessions to run (both F2F and on-line), which platform to use for any on-line bridge we run (BBO, RealBridge, or some of both), and even what to do about our AGM.

We need to know what you, the members, would prefer. Therefore we are carrying out a members survey. You will receive it by email on Saturday 15th May. It should only take a few minutes to complete. We are allowing until the end of May for people to return their responses, but why not do it straight away when you receive it? It is important - your answers will shape Warrington Bridge Club as we move forward out of the upheaval, disruption, and upset caused by Covid-19.

Please rest assured that your personal responses will remain confidential - we will only share the overall statistics. 

Our "random" Teams of Four event is now a regular feature, on the first Tuesday of each month, on RealBridge, starting at 715pm. 

You enter as a pair, and are drawn to partner another pair at random. Teams of Four is a great format.  For any members who might be unfamiliar with it, there are some significant differences in strategy from Duplicate Pairs; you can find out more here. Please come along and give it a go. 

Here are the upcoming dates: 1st June, 6th July, 3rd August, 7th September. You'll also find them in our Calendar.

If you'd like to play, register (as a pair) to play, by emailing Dave Tilley, or ring him on 07984 529673, ideally at least a couple of days before the event, to allow time to make the draw. 

A Warm Welcome to Warrington Bridge Club.

We are the premier Bridge Club in the Warrington area, and always delighted to welcome new members.

We aim to provide a pleasant experience for bridge players at any level, whether you’re an experienced player looking for competitive duplicate bridge at club level, or a near-beginner, looking to learn and improve, or anywhere in between. We offer lots on on-line bridge activities, including lessons on Zoom, especially in this period when face-to-face Club bridge isn't possible. 

EBU affiliated

Looking for information or advice about playing or learning bridge in the Warrington area? Let us help!
You can contact Mike Dennis, Club Secretary, direct on 01925 268553 or 07787 101766 or mike.dennis1@btinternet.com, or email the Club on PlayBridgeWarrington@gmail.com

Or you can simply apply to join. You can find our application form here Membership Application Form

Members will be pleased to know that the EBU has been taking action, where they've found sufficient evidence of unfair or dishonest play. Over recent months there have been several instances where it has been proved that online players have had knowledge of some aspects of each other’s hands obtained by illicit communication with each other. The disciplinary action taken has resulted in suspension of EBU membership for periods of up to 5 years.

There’s more information here.

EBU Competitions News 

The coming weeks and months are always full of events for all standards of players, and this year even with the competitions currently online, is no exception. The upcoming National Swiss Teams provides the opportunity to play in a national field. There is still time to enter the Schapiro Spring Foursomes which always attracts a strong field. With regional events, and the EBED Spring Sim Pairs, there really is something for everyone - we hope there's something which takes your fancy.

You can read all the details here: EBU Event Focus 198 

FREE Mini Course on Double
Jack Stocken has just finished recording four short videos on "double". He covers the take-out double, double for penalties, further use of double and the protective double. Click here to register for free, and then access the videos and worksheets.

If you like the videos then you can join his live online class on Mondays for Intermediates and on Wednesdays for Beginners/Improvers. Click here for further details.

John Armstrong Trophy

GREEN POINTED Swiss Pairs - Sunday 23rd May 2021 - on RealBridge

M&CBA is pleased to be running its green pointed pairs event again this year. Last year there were 90 pairs.

Enter in advance on the M&CBA website by following this link: M&CBA

11am start. Around 45 boards played in two sessions, with a short break.

Entry fee of £12 per player - collected via the entry link.

Green Points and NGS qualifying.

The event is being run for M&CBA by Adam Wiseberg.

If you have any queries, please e-mail Adam Wiseberg or Dan Miller

Warrington Bridge Club now offers three levels of on-line, or "virtual" bridge: a Teams of Four "Lockdown League", competitive duplicate pairs, and supervised "gentle" duplicate pairs.

To see what's on, look at our calendar, here Calendar of upcoming events

Our original informal pairs “Lockdown Leagues” ran for 8 series, from April to December, and served a great purpose in getting members together, and accustomed to on-line bridge. However, as other on-line bridge options have developed, the demand has dwindled. We have decided now to replace it with a new format competition, Teams of Four. Details can be found here Teams of Four

Our competitive duplicate pairs are run under the auspices of the EBU, and attract Master Point and NGS gradings. The schedule is 

• Sunday mornings, 11am, 16-18 boards, on BBO
• Monday afternoons, 130pm, 16-18 boards, on BBO. Now a "10-high" event, to encourage less experienced members to take part.
• Monday evenings, 730pm, 21-24 boards, on BBO
• Wednesday afternoons, 130pm, 16-18 boards, on RealBridge
• Friday evenings, 730pm, 21-24 boards: Now on RealBridge, from 1st January 2021.

Our supervised "gentle" duplicate pairs runs every Thursday morning, 1030am. We allow a generous time per board, and play no more than 12 boards. From 26th November 2020, it moved from BBO on to RealBridge.

Information about all our virtual bridge events is posted under a new tab on the website, called  On-line Bridge.  

Supervised Gentle Duplicates run every Thursday morning, start time 1030. 

We have been running these events since July on BBO, but now, starting on 26th November, we have moved them over to RealBridge. You can find out all about RealBridge, and how to use it, here RealBridge

If you'd like to play, please make sure you are logged in to RealBridge at the latest 10 minutes before the start, to allow time to sort out the tables, ensure everyone has a partner, etc. It doesn't matter if you have a partner or not, we will almost always be able to get you fixed up. However, if you don't have a partner, it's strongly advised to log on even earlier and ring David Tilley (07984 529673) with as much notice as you can, saying you are looking for a partner.  

Lessons

There is a free Zoom lesson on improving your bridge, at 0945, alternate Thursday mornings.  So far we've done 

• Competing in the Bidding when the opposition open one of a suit
• Stayman
• When to Draw Trumps
• An Introduction to Doubling.  
• More on doubling - the "cheat seat"
• More on competing- what to do when partner overcalls
• Slam bidding Part 1 - NT slams
• Losing Trick Count
• Transfers
• Slam bidding Part 2- suit slams
• Tips for Defence Part 1- signalling
• Tips for Defence Part 2- leads
• Weak Two's
• Bidding strong hands Pt1- opening 2NT & responses
• Bidding strong hands Pt2 - opening 2 Clubs

You can find the lesson notes here Lessons on Zoom, or on the website, go to New Players, then Lessons.  To find out when our next lesson is, consult our Calendar.  If you have any questions about how to join a lesson, please contact David Tilley (tilsit@btinternet.com) or Jim Steele (jimsteele_uk@yahoo.com). 

Now it is clear that we are going to be more and more dependent on playing on-line for our bridge for a while to come,  it is perhaps a good time for a refresher on the etiquette. Click here to see a few pointers. Etiquette for on-line bridge

Charges for on-line bridge

The Management Committee has reviewed our costs and income, and has decided that we need to increase our charges a little, with effect from 1st November 2020. The fee for our regular Duplicate Pairs events will increase from £2.50 to £3.00, and for our Gentle Duplicates from free to £1.00. There is a full explanation of this change, and why it is necessary, here Charges for on-line bridge

Please Log-on in good time to play!!

Some members have got into the habit of logging in at the last minute to play in events. This makes things very hard for our Tournament Director, who then has to make last minute adjusments to ensure full tables, sort out the movement, etc.  It is frustrating for everyone, as often it causes the event to start late, wasting everyone's time. Please ensure you are considerate to our TD, and to other members, by logging in and registering to play at least 10 minutes before the event start time. 

Supervised Gentle Duplicate Pairs 

We have been delighted with the take-up of our Supervised Gentle Duplicate sessions on Thursday mornings They were originally intended to be once a month, but due to popular demand we are now running them weekly. From the start of October, we introduced a short Zoom lesson on alternate Thursday mornings, before the Gentle Duplicate session, and include some hands in the session which relate to the lesson. 

Monday Afternoon Duplicate Pairs

As you will know, we run 5 regular Duplicate Pairs events per week, on Monday afternoons, Monday evenings, Wednesday afternoons, Friday evenings, and Sunday mornings. We have now decided to re-designate our Monday afternoon sessions as “10-high” , ie players with an NGS grading of higher than 10 – the more expert players – are excluded. If you want to know more about NGS gradings, you can find an explanation on the website here National Grading Scheme (NGS)

The idea is to make the session more relaxed, and suitable for less experienced players, as a stepping stone between gentle duplicate and full Club duplicate pairs. New Player members are welcome to play on Monday afternoons. Note that the cost per session is currently £2.50, and will be £3.00 from 1st November.  New Player Members, if they intend to play regularly in  such sessions, will be expected to move up to full member in due course: the guideline is having played 3 times. The sessions start at 1.30pm.