Pat Walshe R.I.P.

From today's bulletin in San Remo.

"The well-known Irish bridge player Pat Walshe died on
21st June 2009, after a short illness, at his summer home
in Wexford Ireland.
Pat represented Ireland internationally on many occasions.
His most notable international performances included
a gold medal in the Common Market Pairs, and
silver in the Mixed Teams Championships. He won every
major national Irish Championships, and was ranked as
a Grand Master.
He will be sadly missed by the Irish contingent in Sanremo,
whose thoughts are with his wife Grainne Barton
Walshe, his stepsons Andrew David and Paul Barton,
and his darling step-grandson.
‘Ar dheis De go Raibh a anam’ (Translation: May his
soul be on the right hand of God).
A book of condolences will be available at the information
desk for anyone who wishes to express their
sympathy."

Funeral arrangements:
Tuesday, 23 June - Removal to Church of St. Mary the Immaculate and St. Joseph,
Carrick-on-Bannow at 7.30pm.
Wednesday, 24 June- Funeral Mass at 12pm followed by burial at Bannow Cemetery.

Pat was one of Ireland's true bridge magicians and I hope to find a couple of hands to post at a later time.

Karel and Anna on Tour

Dear Readers,

The European Open Bridge Championships are on in Sanremo at the moment and the Mixed events have just been completed.

Irelands top Irish mixed partnership Karel DeRaeymaeker and Anna Onishuk finished 9th (out of 300+ pairs) - A very fine achievement and their best to date abroad. I want to congratulate them (and commiserate on what could have been).

This is on the back of a good performance in the teams with Lucy and John Phelan.
They qualified for the last 32 teams and were knocked out by one of the favorites.

I'm sure many of my Irish readers want to know how K & A do it...

1) They have very good card play technique - the have studied books and have the intellectual grunt put it into practice. There are 2 aspects to this offensive and defensive. I would say that defense is what separates them form any other Irish mixed partnership.

2) Aggressive system and implementation of it. 2 level openings:

- 2C shows the majors (4-4)
- 2S shows the minors (5-4)

These bids really roll the dice but to a lesser extent for the offense. Particularly over the 2s opening, the defenders are on the back foot.
Not everyone can or should play this because success in the resulting contracts are predicated on 1) above.

3) Overcalls are very aggressive, frequently on 4 card suits. The partner of the overcaller must be light footed as the overcaller can be very light.
Weak jump overcalls can be based on 5 or 6 cards suits.

All of the above make them formidable to play against.

We wish them more success in the future.

Have a good game,
Rueful

Textbook hand; Bidding best forgotten

Dear Readers,

I was playing with some friends on BBO last night when this hand came up ...

Let me set the scene
I was Non Vul Vs Vul and the dealer passed and I opened 1 &clubs
My right hand opponent is a talented player and bids AGRESSIVELY - or maybe I should say that his hand does not have to perfectly match his bid - there is a fluidity in his game.
My pick up partner had shown himself to bid and play well on the previous few hands.

Mr Fluid overcalled 2 ♦ (showing a weak hand with a 6 card suit) and partner bid 3NT. Like a Rueful Rabbit trying to wear a Hideous Hog mask I bashed out 6 ♣ which ended the auction.

[The more cultured bid is 4 ♣ (which is forcing) but it was late at night and time was of the essence as the leveretts were about to wake up.]

Here was the full layout ...

Mr Fluid led a heart to the Queen and Ace.

I played the ♣ J to the Ace and a ♣ to the king to finesse the diamonds.
Cashed the ♦ Ace discarding a heart and ruffed a heart. Then I entered dummy with a trump to play a spade towards my hand, playing the 8 when West played low. No matter how the spade honours are distributed, the contract is cold.

The holding in spades is quite a well know holding for producing and endplay situation. (It was part of the reason I had confidence in bidding the slam.)

Like I said, nothing to fancy merely textbook stuff.

Have a good game,
Rueful

Bridge Lessons

Hi All,

I have started a new website to promote my bridge lessons which I'll be holding all over the island of Ireland.

The site focuses on advances/expert lessons but I'll be teaching all grades.

Please check out my site ... www.ruefulrabbit.com

I've also added a sample lesson in the form of a web video. Its quite a difficult hand but I hope you enjoy it.

Regards, James.

Camrose 2009

Dear Bridge Players,

From an Irish perspective, the '09 Camrose was not a success. In the end the two English squads fought it out the EBU taking the upper hand. Congrats to them!

All was going well for Ireland in the first two matches against Wales and England. At that point I though we would win. But the Scots got their tails in the air from the start of the 3rd march and kept going. After that it was a plod all the to the end of the competition.

Anyway enough doom and gloom - If thats what you are after go the business pages.

Have a good game,
Rueful.