The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (27th April), starting at the normal time of 9.30am. As usual, please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 16 and that has been working very well recently. We have been experimenting with groups of 8 playing the hands as team matches.

There is no seminar tomorrow, as I have to go to an important business meeting in London, but I continue with the recording of a video summarising all the hands from the most recent seminar, which described the hands I played in a recent online pairs event at Oxford Bridge Club. Watching a video has the advantage of allowing you to stop and start at your own convenience when following the hands. More details as soon as there are details to give.

This was an exciting hand from a teams event I played in last week. These are the four hands.

At my table the bidding went as follows:

The challenge playing in 6H (doubled but not vulnerable) was how to play the heart suit after a low spade lead. You can trump that and lead a heart towards the AQ, knowing that if it works you can later discard all but one of your losers on the clubs in dummy, making 12 tricks. But when East follows with the 9, should you finesse or play the Ace hoping for the King to be singleton?

There were a lot of points and imps riding on the outcome. Other things being equal the odds marginally favour playing for the King to be singleton (52% vs 48%, but when the bidding is as competitive as this other factors come into play. Do you think for example East West would be more or less inclined to bid on to 6S if one of them had a void in hearts? What would you have done?

There is no simple answer to this question but what I can say is that my team got it wrong at both tables, making 6Hx at one table, and failing to defeat it at the other (a diamond lead gives declarer no chance whatever the situation is in hearts), resulting in a loss of 17 imps. Fortunately we were ahead by a large margin on the other hands, so still won, but this one hand took the shine off what would otherwise have been a massive victory…..Such is bridge!

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (20th April), starting at the normal time of 9.30am. As usual, please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently.

There is no seminar tomorrow, but I will be recording a video summarising all the hands from last week’s seminar, which described the hands I played in a recent online pairs event at Oxford Bridge Club. At last week’s seminar the hands attracted so much interest from some very keen participants that we only got through five of the 18 hands in two hours……so there is plenty more to talk about. By recording a video it should allow you to stop and start at your own convenience when following the hands. More details on this shortly.

All the group coaching sessions continue as normal this week and the improvement I mentioned last week is much in evidence. I am glad that most of you are getting comfortable with negative doubles and the unassuming cue bid, two invaluable tools for the improving player. Keep up the good work!

Jonathan

I am proposing to do another seminar on Monday morning (April 12th, 9.30 to 11.30) which again will focus on the art of playing duplicate pairs – how to maximise your score in this exciting and different version of the game. This one will be based on a recent pairs event in which I played and I will take you through all the hands, commenting on the bidding and play of each one. You can sign up from this email or from the sidebar of most pages of the website.

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will probably be running as normal again this week (13th April 2021), but starting this week only at 10.15am, because of another unavoidable commitment, and running until 12.45. As this is a change in the normal arrangements, it may be that there is insufficient numbers to make it happen, in which case I will issue refunds to anyone who has signed up. Please therefore let me know as early as possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening.

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (6th April), starting at 9.30am. As usual, please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening. A couple of regulars are away this week, so we may need to do some juggling. Hope you all had a good Easter and are looking forward to the next phase of easing the restrictions.

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (30th March), starting at 9.30am. As usual, please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently. This week I know that we have one regular missing but two others ready to join if needed, so with luck the numbers will work out fine.

Jonathan

Apologies for sending out the weekly email later than usual. The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (23rd March), starting at 9.30am. As usual, please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently.

There is no seminar tomorrow, I am sorry to say. All the group coaching sessions continue as normal and the improvement I mentioned last week is much in evidence. I am glad that most of you are getting comfortable with negative doubles and the unassuming cue bid, two invaluable tools for the improving player. Keep up the good work!

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (16th March), starting at 9.30am. I look forward to seeing you all. Please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently, with some lively hands and keenly contested match ups.

There is no seminar tomorrow, I am sorry to say, but normal service should be restored the following week. All the group coaching sessions continue as normal, with one temporary exception. I am genuinely impressed by how improved so many of you are, bidding more accurately, landing more slams and playing with more confidence. If only I could stop some of you underleading an Ace against a trump contract (slams excluded)…….it seems to be hardwired into the human genetic code!

Jonathan

Footnote

For Monday’s seminar (March 8th) I am offering a back to basics session that perhaps I should have offered before – one that involves going through a whole range of card combinations and explaining what is the best way to play them, starting with the simplest and moving on to more complicated examples. For example, are you sure that you know the best play to play A43 opposite Q102 or QJ52 opposite A63? How about A10632 opposite J4? Does it make a difference if one of the hands has a 9 instead of a small card?

I will also be looking at combinations such as AJ43 opposite K952 where the answer will depend on how many tricks you need to win to make your contract. Are there safety plays available? Which card combinations are ones that you are happy for the opponents to lead but should avoid leading yourself if possible? All these topics will be covered in the seminar. If you do join this session please bring a pack of cards (remember what they look like?) with you – in my experience the best way to practise handling suits is by playing them through with real cards.

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (9th March), starting at 9.30am. I look forward to seeing you all. Please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently, with some lively hands and keenly contested match ups.

All the group coaching sessions continue as normal this week.

All the best

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (2nd March), starting at 9.30am. I look forward to seeing you all. Please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. Apologies for the late delay in sending out the invitation this week (some website issues). The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently, with some lively hands and keenly contested match ups.

After publication of the Government’s roadmap for exiting from lockdown and social distancing, it is possible for the first time to think about the possibility of resuming face to face bridge in some form later this year. I do not want to raise hopes only to dash them later, but assuming the vaccination programme is completed and no new vaccine- immune strains appear, it is certainly possible to envisage one or more regular face to face sessions of supervised play for those willing to come, given suitable social distancing arrangements, which may or may not still in place.

The club I belong to in London for example is hoping to reopen for a limited number of participants within the next couple of months. I would welcome any thoughts that you have about your willingness to participate in such sessions, as and when circumstances permit. So as to think through the best way to organise all this, I wonder how many of you might wish to combine face to face play and still continue with a regular online coaching session? I certainly hope to offer minimum of two play sessions a week, one in Wytham and one in Charlbury (where my son and his family are moving at the end of this month), and am happy to continue all the coaching sessions for those who want them.

Jonathan

Footnote

For those of you who’ve an interest in investment, I am running a series of podcasts and weekly updates on the Money Makers website (https://money-makers.co).

There is no seminar on Monday (22nd February) I am afraid because of a competing commitment. After last week’s session, I have noted that a number of you are interested in learning more about duplicate pairs tactics and I am considering whether to offer a series of lessons around that theme. If you would be interested in a few sessions of that kind, please let me know so I can gauge the level of interest. The seminar series will resume as normal on Monday week.

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will be running as normal again this week (23rd February), starting at 9.30am. I look forward to seeing you all. Please let me know as early possible that you intend to join, ideally by early Monday evening as it makes it so much easier to arrange the tables and reduce the risk of having to turn one of you away. The maximum number we can currently handle is 20 and that has been working very well recently, with some lively hands and keenly contested match ups.

The group coaching sessions continue as normal this week. I continue to juggle the timing and makeup of a couple of groups to align those of a similar standard. As I noted last week, if you and/or a partner are interested in joining one of these please let me know. I only have a limited amount of spare capacity but always keen to ft in newcomers if at all possible.

Jonathan

Footnote

For those of you who’ve an interest in investment, I am running a series of podcasts and weekly updates on the Money Makers website (https://money-makers.co).