May 21st, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Dear Bridge Players,
Jacko has organised the following practice matches for the Irish Open team on Bridge Base Online.
PORTUGAL Open team this Thursday, May 22nd @ 7.30 PM
The lineup for this match is Nick FitzGibbon – Adam Mesbur; Tom Hanlon – HughMcGann
Result: Ireland +45 IMP over 22 boards.
As ever results can be downloaded here http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/index.php
DENMARK on Wenesday, May 28th @ 7.30 PM (Time To Be Confirmed)
CAYNE on Thursday, June 5th @ 7.00 PM
IRISH Senior team on Wednesday, June 11th @ 7.30 PM
Have a good game,
Rueful Rabbit
May 20th, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Dear Bridge Players,
I got a great email today from a great practitioner and servant of Irish bridge.
Seamus Dowling has commenced writing a History of Irish Bridge which is due out in Autumn 2009. Here is what Seamus has to say …
“Right now I am trying to trace personalities in other sports who also were (are) well-known in bridge, with a view to having a photo gallery and, possibly, brief pen pictures – obvious names who reached the top of their sports spring to mind: Pat McCann (golf), Jimmy Smyth(hurling), Bethel Solomon (rugby), Róisin Troy (cycling), Hugh Peacocke (boxing). There are many more, some, perhaps, of which I am not aware. Also I would like information on personalities from the business, academic and other fields who play or played bridge. Also I am looking for anecdotes (must be verifiable and non-libellous). All available national records CBAI and IBU have been examined – I have very little from NIBU sources – but there is a dearth of knowledge from some provincial areas – I am still hopeful. Soon a line will be drawn beyond which I will seek no further.”
I think we are obliged to assist Seamus in any way we can, as everyone will benefit.
Seamus was generous in his praise of this column and I would like to wish him the very best with his book and I look forward to the publication.
Seamus can be reached @ seamusdowling@hotmail.com
Have a good game,
Rueful Rabbit
May 19th, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
1 Comment
Today, I’m featuring a great contribution from Michael McGloughlin.
Rueful Enterprises Ltd. are keen that Michael joins the editorial panel – will keep you posted.
The Rueful Blog/Newsletter has also signed an initial 1 year deal with the Paul Porteous in the CBAI to cross publicise our web sites.
The Hand
The hand is taken from a recent Seniors event with Paul Scannell at the helm.
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Dlr: E
Vul: E/W
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 AJ9xx
 x
 AKQx
 Q7x
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
K
Axx
Jxxx
AK10xx |
|
Bidding
(2H) – 3C – P – 3S (forcing)
… 6C p p p
The final Contract of 6 Clubs looks to be well with the odds. Winning the Heart lead ruffing a heart and cashing the Club Queen reveals that West has been dealt J98xx in Clubs
Paul Scannell demonstrated great technique to land his 12 tricks. He crossed to his Spade King took a second top trump played a Diamond to the Dummy, discarded his 3rd Heart on the Spade Ace ruffed a Spade and played Diamonds and found the hand on his left following to everything and in the ending as the 4th Diamond hit the table the position was
………….North
………….S xx
………….H –
………….D Q
………….C –
West
C J98
………….South (Declarer)
………….S –
………….H –
………….D J
………….C K10
West had no choice but to ruff and found himself playing a Club back to Declarers tenace to concede the 12th trick
No doubt the Declarer was fortunate to find that West had the dreaded 3/2/3/5 shape and having to follow to every card until trick 10 but he was unlucky to run into a 5/0 trump stack.
May 16th, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Dear Bridge Players,
The Open Team
Fair play to Jacko, he promised to email me details of all matches as they are arranged. They play Denmark on Wed 28th May @ 7:15
Line Up: TBC
The Juniors
I haven’t mentioned these boys yet but they are off to Beijing in the autumn.
Maybe I’ll dedicate a post to these chaps in the future after I do some ‘recon’ on their respective talents.
They have a practise match Vs Team MacDonagh next Monday.
No more details at the moment … email me if you know the line up times etc.
The Women
The women have promised me some info on their matched but no details yet!
C’mon gals, get with the programme! Or else I might have to challenge you!?!
Oh, there is a fundraiser for them in Limerick at the end of the month. details on the CBAI website or from diarmuid.reddan@gmail.com
Team Rueful
Rueful will need a panel of team mates for public bridge executions. ‘Working Class’ players or better can apply.
Have a good game,
Rueful Rabbit
May 16th, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Dear Bridge Players,
Thanks
Firstly, a big thank you to the many people who have wished me well. A rabbit cannot survive on carrot alone – positive feedback will add to my enjoyment in bringing you this column.
Identity
It seems that my identity is quite a talking point if the post bag outside my burrow is anything to go by. For the record, three people know my identity but I won’t name them as I’m sure they would be pestered. My sole motive for using a pseudo name is to peak interest in the game.
Promise
I will reveal myself before the end of the year – it depends on how quickly my plastic surgeon can get through his work 🙂 If I were to leave it longer, I think people might start clubbing innocent rabbits or leverets to death.
Have a good game,
Rueful Rabbit
May 14th, 2008 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Hi All,
Today, I’m reporting on the exploits of our top flight bridge players.
Kinder and Hugh have been near top spots in England for the last two weekends.
Spring 4’s
Ganlon (for want of a better shortening) were playing on team Gillis(2nd seed) and were eventually knocked out by Allfred in the Semi final. Most of the top seeds were bolstered by professional with the exception of the eventual winners Jagger (I think? Otherwise, let me know)
Carvey (John Carroll & Tommy Garvey) were engaged by team Mossop(8th seed) who were knocked out in Round 3.
BBO had very curtailed coverage due to a power cut at the venue.
Crockfords
Ganlon and Carvey played on Team Hackett in the Crockfords finals finishing 4th out of 8.
Details & pictures available from http://www.ebu.co.uk/
In summation, the lads were disappointed with the outcomes as you’d expect .
The real test will come on the 14th June when Team Ireland start the European Champs in Pau on the 14th June. The team is the same as the Bermuda Bowl/Europeans ’06.
David Jackson (NPC)
Adam Mesbur – Nick FitzGibbon
Tom Hanlon – Hugh McGann
John Carroll – Tommy Garvey
We all wish the very best. I hope Jacko will keep me posted on news/upcoming matches on BBO.
I’m delighted to say BBO is increasingly awash with Irish players of all grades so the message to the rest of you is come join the fun.
Carrot club is the foundation of 2 of our open pairs on the team. If you fancy trying it out, I’ll
play it with you for a few hands … my name is Rueful_R
My system link is: http://homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys/CGlossary/CarrotskiClub.html
Have a good game,
Rueful Rabbit.
Email all news to rabbit.rueful@gmail.com
July 19th, 2007 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
1 Comment
Sorry that I have not been round in a while. Here is a hand from a recent club competition that I liked.
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Dlr: S
Vul: E/W
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QJ
AK74
T63
AKJ3 |
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|
2
QJT93
Q74
T874 |
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K98743
85
K52
Q9 |
|
|
AT65
62
AJ98
652 |
|
|
The Bidding was:
N – E – S – W
1C – (1S) -1NT – (P)
3NT All Pass
Qh Lead.
I won and lead the TD which lost to the Q and the HJ came back. I won and played 2 rounds of spades neither covered. East discarded a D4 on the 2nd spade. Finessed the diamond and cashed the 2 diamond winners. On cashing the SA, West looked uncomfortable and discarded a club and I pitched the heart. Then I ran the clubs from the top for 12 tricks and all the matchpoints. Thats right West was ‘inexorably’ squeezed on the SA. East was likely to hold the CQ for his overcall.
May 22nd, 2007 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
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Most will agree that both the nation and the people have got it all – to much to mention here in the Rueful blog. The same applies to the Italian the game of bridge and I hope to plant some ideas in your mind as to what they do.
They have:
- A successful history
- A wealth of talented players with old/young masters bringing on talented youngsters
- Building innovation on top of innovation (with regard to systems)
- Professional approach
- Big sponsors for top teams
Lets talk innovation:
Versace-Lauria employ 2D to show balanced hands (without a 5 card M) in the 18-19 HCP range. What does this achieve?
Both play natural minor opening meaning that they never have to show balanced hands greater than 15 HCP (as they play a strong NT). This frees up room for more accurate distribution showing. I.e. the auction 1m – 1x – 2nt is never natural.
Majors:
1M – 2C is a relay for shape and points – For more on this, follow the link to David Collier on the right.
Gazzilli: The details are courtesy of Sudhir Aggarwal who published in Delhi Bridge Association Newsletter, Vol. 3 Issue 7 – December 2005
What have I Irish Got?
- A team of 7 talented men (incl. the captain) who came 2nd to Italy in the ’06 Europeans
- Professional approach
- A sponsor
Not a bad start for the forthcoming Bermuda Bowl.
Other links relating to this post:
bocchi-duboin.pdf
lauria-versace.pdf
May 15th, 2007 ~ Rueful Rabbit ~
2 Comments
I was watching the Cavendish Invitational pairs on BBO and the web last weekend. I was following Ireland’s top pair Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann who finished 16th out of 56. In spite of the quality field, I’m sure they are not happy with the result.
On BBO we were very fortunate to have Larry Cohen and many other commenting. We heard that Larry was not playing this year as he objects to the scoring method. He feels that it leads to too many random results. I’ll try to get more on the specifics of this some other time.
While looking down the entry list I spotted the names of two young hot shots Justin Lall and Gavin Wolpert who were the subject of a bridge documentary posted on YouTube (but since removed). They have since parted ways partnership wise. They were playing with Bart Bramley and John Kranyak respectively. Anyway, I googled Lall’s name and I came across his blog. Some interesting stuff on his pages.
One of Justin’s links was to David Colliers blog (a Manchester based junior). This I found even more interesting as he has adapted and presented some of the methods developed by the likes of Garozzo, Bocchi and others. He talks about treatments of 1M – 2C and 1M – 2D; well worth a look for system heads. This is similar to what Hanlon-McGann use within their 2 way club system (A Carrot Club derivative).
I have spent time in the past trying to untangle the system of two of my favorite pairs Bocchi-Duboin and Versace-Lauria. What I like about they systems is the natural initial actions followed by often precise (complex) investigations.
One of the things I intend to explore here in the near future is the way both pairs dedicate an opening bid to balanced 18-21 HCP freeing up more space for (1 level) openers response. I.e. If you open 1x, you never have to show balanced hands in the 18-21 range. I’m sure this might not excite many of you right now, but I hope to elaborate on this and even make it a bit of fun system you can try with your partner once I post some detail.
Please feel free to comment.
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