PINNER BRIDGE CLUB NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2009

 

ISSUE NO. 249

 

 

Sheila is away this month. So I am afraid you are stuck with the assistant editor, yours truly!

 

NEW MEMBER

 

We are pleased to announce that Anthony Gross has been accepted as a member of Pinner Bridge Club. Please make him welcome.

 

NEWS OF MEMBERS

 

We were pleased to see Gwen Western back in the Club again on Monday evening following her foot surgery that has kept her housebound for a week. We hope she continues to make a swift recovery.

Belated congratulations are sent to Harvey Bengen, who was the captain of the team that won the first division of the Middlesex Bridge League. Very well done Harvey.

 

PROGRAMME

 

All members should by now have received a copy of the Club’s 2009/10 Programme. If you have not received a copy please let Sam or David know. The address we have in our records may be wrong.

I would draw your attention to the CHICAGO competition at 12.30pm on Friday 23rd October. Make a note in your diary now. This is a fun individual event. You don’t need a partner to enter. It is preceded by a light lunch organized by the Rubber Bridge members. Watch for the notice in the lobby and get your name up, as we need to know the numbers to cater for.

Already in the lobby are notices regarding the Channer Cup and the NICKO. Both of these have a cut off date for entries. So please do it now.

 

MEMBERS’ DETAILS

 

We told you last month that we would be collecting your details to send to the EBU. So far 236 members have responded to Sam’s request, for which we are most grateful, but we need the remaining 50 to do likewise. PLEASE if you have not emailed your details to Sam or returned the slip sent out with the programme please do one or the other.

On the slip we sent to some members with the programme we included a paragraph about “anonymous members”. As the slip was not sent to all members we reproduce it below so that everybody is fully informed.

If you strongly object to your details being given to the EBU and do not want to receive Master Points, English Bridge Magazine, the Annual Diary or access any of the services that require contact details, you can be an anonymous member when we will only give a pseudonym, chosen by you, to the EBU. Please let Sam know if you want to opt for this arrangement. Pinner Bridge Club will however still require all the details although they will not be passed on.

 

NEW DIRECTORS

 

I’m sure you will all be aware that 10 club members have taken the EBU’s Tournament Directors Course during the summer. They have all done very well and now need some hands-on experience before they attend the Assessment Session.

If therefore you see a different person directing occasionally please be understanding. But please act as you would normally so that they can get experience of trying to find the answer to your queries. An experienced director will be on hand to help if necessary.

 

HOSTING

 

Once more we appeal to all members to step up to the plate and take a turn at hosting. Everybody says it’s a wonderful scheme, but it seems that not everybody wants to do their share of the work. We would be very pleased to see more of our stronger players doing their bit. We know that you may have to play with a rabbit and may not have a good evening, but surely just one evening a year is not asking too much. The rabbit may even learn something.

The list to the end of February 2010 is up in the lobby. Please try to get it filled.

 

RULES OF DUPLICATE

At Pinner we try to encourage all our members to play duplicate in accordance with the EBU rules so that they can go to any club or competition and know what they are supposed to do. We do not go overboard and insist on the letter of the Law, but we do expect members to conform to the rules when their opponents could be put at a disadvantage. You may call this Bridge Ethics.

We propose to run a series of articles covering the most important aspects of these. This is the first one.

Convention Cards.

Why do we need to complete a convention card? The main reason is that your opponents are entitled to know about your bidding methods as well as your partner. There are other reasons, too, which are for your protection.  For example if the director has to decide whether you have misinformed your opponents or you have simply misbid, if you do not have the relevant information on your card he will rule against you.

Please help everyone by at least fully filling in the front and back of your personal scorecard, even if playing with a new partner. If you are playing with a regular partner you should have a full explanation of your system and methods on one of the EBU’s cards such as EBU 20b. This is particularly important if you are playing any complex system or conventions.

That’s all, folks.

David