WALES ACHIEVE OUTSTANDING 2nd PLACE IN LADY MILNE

By Tony Disley NPC

The Lady Milne was held online on RealBridge in conjunction with the Telscher Trophy.

Sarah Amos and Ceri Pierce arranged a number of practice sessions of 4 tables for both teams and willing volunteers to get used to the nuances of RealBridge with screens.

During the event Ceri[aka my PA ic IT]enabled us to use the WBU Zoom facility to hold team meetings both before sessions and after stanzas and a WhatsApp group for general communication.

The team started with a bang on Friday evening winning the first stanza v N. Ireland by 77 Imps .Despite a 7 Imp deficit in the 2nd set , that translated into 19.11 to .89 VP. After losing the 1st stanza by 20 imps a spirited fightback saw us gain 30 imps and beat the very strong England team , or so we thought [see below] A subdued match against EBU , losing by 9 and 14 or 5.76 to 14.24. However we approached Sunday in good spirits .

Again a strong performance in the 2nd stanza to overturn an 18 imp deficit to win by 13 imps and 12.6 VP against Ireland left it all to play for in the last match v Scotland . Losing the first half by 6 Imps left us in 4th place behind England , Scotland and EBU . In the first 13 bds of the last set set we gained 32 Imps with some terrific play and despite losing 19 in the last 3 had done enough to secure 2nd place.

The only sour note of the weekend was that England appealed a board where they questioned the Welsh declarer’s claim to make 5D..we were ruled against and lost 11 imps meaning the match result was overturned to a 1 imp loss.Whilst perhaps technically correct ,the ruling imagined that the declarer might take a very unlikely line and left a very bad taste in our mouths that England should pursue the outcome.

My thanks to the team for their unfailing good humour and the spirit they played in and my congratulations for their performance.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FROM PARTNERSHIPS WANTING TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SELECTION TO REPRESENT WALES IN NEXT YEARS LADY MILNE AND TELTSCHER ONLINE EVENTS.  IT IS LIKELY THAT ONLINE TRIALS WILL BE HELD AT THE END OF JANUARY 2020.

MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED ON THIS BLOG ON 27/11/2020

EMAILS TO simon@welshbridgeunion.org

 

FURTHER TO LAST WEEKENDS TRIAL THE FOLLOWING TEAMS HAVE BEEN SELECTED.

WALES TEAM

J Pottage & A Ratcliff

A Disley & A Thomas

D Jones & A Dunn

NPC: Simon Richards

WBU TEAM

G Davis & S Ingham

M Roderick & P Murphy

A Stephenson & P Kaufman

NPC: TBD

CAMROSE TRIAL – THE LAST POST

ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED IS ON THIS LINK

(WE SUGGEST YOU BOOKMARK THE LINK IN YOUR BROWSER)

THANK YOU TO THE 14 PAIRS THAT HAVE ENTERED OUR CAMROSE ONLINE TRIAL.

THE TRIAL WILL BE HELD ON THE REAL BRIDGE BRIDGE PLATFORM.

WE MAY HAVE ALL 14 PAIRS BUT THERE COULD BE 12 OR 13 DUE TO POTENTIAL DROP-OUTS.

THE NUMBER OF PAIRS WILL DETERMINE THE EXACT NUMBER OF BOARDS TO BE PLAYED.

THE MAXIMUM IMPS YOU CAN RECEIVE IN A MATCH WILL BE CAPPED AT 40 IMPS.

YOU CAN SEE YOUR OPPONENTS AND VIEW OR DOWNLOAD THEIR CONVENTION CARDS HERE.

THE SELECTORS WILL REVIEW THE RESULTS AFTER THE TRIAL AND THE TWO TEAMS FOR THE FIRST CAMROSE WEEKEND WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY 13TH NOVEMBER AFTER THE SELECTORS MORNING MEETING.

CAMROSE TRIAL UPDATE

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO EXPRESSED INTEREST AND FOR BEING PATIENT AS WE HAVE FINALISED EVENT DETAILS.

THE EVENT IS NOW INTENDED TO BE HELD ON REAL BRIDGE. WE SUGGEST YOU ALL TRY TO HAVE A PRACTICE MATCH ON THIS PLATFORM.

YOU CAN NOW ENTER THIS EVENT USING OUR SPECIAL CAMROSE TRIAL ONLINE FORM.

YOU CAN SEE WHO HAS ENTERED ALREADY

BEFORE USING THIS ENTRY FORM (BY CLICKING ON LINK ABOVE):-

• MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COMPLETED AND DETAILED WBF SYSTEM CARD IN PDF FORMAT HANDY ON YOUR LOCAL DRIVE.
• YOU WILL ALSO NEED A CURRENT CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD TO PAY THE £60 ENTRY FEE FOR EACH PAIR.

ON 1st NOVEMBER WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A LINK TO VIEW AND OPTIONALLY DOWNLOAD YOUR OPPONENTS SYSTEM CARDS.

ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE ONLINE ENTRY FORM EMAIL simon@welshbridgeunion.org

We have expressions of interest in playing from the following pairs and we are looking forward to a great contest played on an exciting new online bridge platform.

Paul Lamford & Gary Jones
Julian Pottage & Tony Ratcliff
Simon Richards & Jon Richards
Peter Kaufmann & Alan Stephenson
Kevin Maddox & Tony Haworth
Paddy Murphy & Mark Roderick
B Jones & B Pitts
Fil & Di Kurbalija
Adrian Thomas & Tony Disley
Jones & A Dunn
Sue Ingham & Gwynn Davis
M Jones & J Dunn
Gilly Clench & David Birt
Simon Gottschalk & Chris Rochelle

There is still time for more entries so please email simon@welshbridgeunion.org to register your interest.

The entry fee is £60 per pair and you will need to submit WBF system cards.

FULL ENTRY AND PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE ADVERTISED LATER THIS MONTH.

PADDY MURPHY HAS BEEN APPOINTED NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN FOR THE SENIORS CAMROSE/TELTSCHER TEAM

TONY DISLEY HAS BEEN APPOINTED NON-PLAYING CAPTAIN FOR THE LADY MILNE TEAM

ALL PARTNERSHIPS MUST SUPPLY A COMPETED CONVENTION CARD IN WBF FORMAT TO THEIR TEAM CAPTAINS BY OCTOBER 10th

THE CLOSING DATE FOR TEAMS TO BE ENTERED IS OCTOBER 17th AND WE WOULD LIKE TO BE IN A POSITION TO MAKE THE FORMAL ENTRY AS SOON AFTER OCTOBER 10th AS POSSIBLE BUT NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 16th.

WHILST THE FINAL ONLINE PLATFORM FOR THESE EVENTS IS YET TO BE DECIDED WE SUGGEST THAT TEAM MEMBERS TRY TO PLAY A “TEST” MATCH ON THE REAL BRIDGE PLATFORM. TO DO THIS CONTACT YOUR TEAM CAPTAIN OR simon@welshbridgeunion.org

THE CAMROSE TRIAL IS STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE. WE HAVE HAD 12 PAIRS REGISTER THEIR INTEREST IN TAKING PART.

THE COST OF ENTRY INTO THE TRIAl WILL BE £30 per player / £60 per pair.

THE TRIAL WILL BE PLAYED OVER THE WEEKEND of 7 & 8th NOVEMBER. SESSION TIMES TO BE CONFIRMED LATER.

THE NUMBER OF BOARDS TO BE PLAYED OVER THE 2 DAYS WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ENTRIES RECEIVED AND IS ANTICIPATED TO AROUND 96 BOARDS.

THE CLOSING DATES FOR ENTRIES WILL BE 12:00hrs on 31st OCTOBER 2020. NO ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THAT DATE. ALL ENTRIES MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A FULLY COMPLETED WBF FORMATTED SYSTEM CARD. FURTHER DETAILS ON MAKING A FORMAL ENTRY INTO THIS TRIAL WILL BE PUBLISHED IN EARLY OCTOBER. FOR THE MOMENT EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST IN PLAYING SENT TO simon@welshbridgeunion.org WOULD BE HELPFUL.

THIS EVENT IS A TRIAL AND AS SUCH THE SELECTORS WILL PICK TWO TEAMS PLUS RESERVE PAIRS FROM THE TRIAL ON THE FOLLOWING BASIS:-

THE PAIR WITH THE HIGHEST X-IMPS SCORE WILL BE GUARANTEED ONE WEEKEND IN A CAMROSE TEAM.

THE SELECTORS (who are not triallists) WILL DETERMINE A “nominal” PAR SCORE ON EACH BOARD.

THEN PAIRS WILL BE SELECTED BASED ON PERFORMANCE AGAINST A “nominal” PAR SCORE.
THE SELECTORS DECISION WILL BE FINAL.

There will no masterpoints or green points awarded of playing in this online trial. There will also be no prize fund.

The online platform to be used will be either Bridgebase Online OR Real Bridge. A decision on this will be made in early October.

Sarah Amos will be the Tournament Director for the Trial.

Due to the latest COVID rules, triallists will have to play in their homes (or offices).

Please make sure you have suitable computer equipment to play in long sessions covering two days play.

Any questions or further expressions of interest to simon@welshbridgeunion.org

Lady Milne Team Confirmation 30/31 October & 1st November 2020

Gilly Clench & Maggie Pierce

Ceri Pierce & Mia Deschepper

Sarah Amos & Andrea Knox

NPC: Tony Disley

Teltscher Trophy/Seniors Camrose Team Confirmation 30/31 October & 1st November 2020

Alan Stephenson & Paul Denning

Fil & Di Kurbalija

Barry Jones & Bob Pitts

These two events will be played online. There is a possibility that the new REAL BRIDGE platform may be used. To prepare for this we hope that team members get some practice on REAL BRIDGE. To fix up practice matches please contact simon@welshbridgeunion.org.

(Also please note that detailed convention cards will need to be submitted well in advance of the event taking place).