Theo Todman's Bridge Page

(Text as at 02/07/2017 10:36:29)



*** THIS IS NOT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS NOTE ***


(For the live version and other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)

Status Report1 Consolidated Results Local Clubs Convention Cards
Useful Links Defensive Play My Bridge Books Bidding Practice
Butler IMP & Cross-IMP Counting the Hands Search ECBA Website Generator Documentation
Bridge Computing Partnership Checklist Teams & Pairs Tactics Why Play Bridge?2


I returned to bridge in December 2007 after a long lay-off (effectively from my Cambridge days, then 30 years ago). I have been playing with some enthusiasm but rather mixed results at a number of the clubs in the table below, and have been exploring the weekend tournament scene. I took most of 2015 off, but have returned to some serious play in 2016. Follow this link for a bit more background3.

Bridge Computer Resources

The mini-table below is just a set of links for my own convenience (and for pointing others to). The first link is to the “Computers and Bridge” section on the Bridge Guys website. It is a huge set of links, with descriptions, but no appraisal. The second is to a paper put out by a bridge club at MIT; it’s a bit out of date (May 2013) but still useful. The other two links are to the best free Bridge Playing and Double-dummy programs.

Computers and Bridge (Computers and Bridge)Bridge Software Review (Bridge Software Review (Defunct))WBridge5 (WBridge5)Deep Finesse (Deep Finesse)


Counting the Hands

Someone said that one "really arrives" as a bridge-player when one fully counts the hand. That is, keeps track of the points and distribution in all 4 hands, both by making inferences from the bidding and play, as well as keeping track of what's gone on in the play of the hand thus far. I find counting difficult - particularly distribution. I'd like to find an on-line application to help me practice this skill. There are a couple featuring Mike Lawrence, which look promising. Links to some material I've found on-line appear in the table below – on-line originals and / or consolidated pdfs I created lest the originals get lost.

The Subtle Joy of Counting (Robert Frick) (Robert Frick - The Subtle Joy of Counting) – pdf Counting Distribution (Howard Schutzman) (Howard Schutzman - Counting Distribution) – pdf Developing Counting Skills (Karen Walker) (Karen Walker - Developing Counting Skills) – pdf
Count, Count, Count (Tom Kniest) (Tom Kniest - Count, Count, Count) – pdf The One That Got Away (Bill Doroshow) (Bill Doroshow - The One That Got Away) – pdf CD - Counting at Bridge (Mike Lawrence) (Mike Lawrence - Counting at Bridge)
Danny’s Musings and the Joy of Counting in Bridge (Danny’s Musings and the Joy of Counting in Bridge) – pdf Memory Systems at Bridge (pdf) Bridge Winners Counting Games (Bridge Winners Counting Games)
 

LOCAL DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUBS

Below is a table of Bridge clubs in the neighbourhood of Billericay, Essex with ready access to recent results. The left-hand column provides links to small - and currently unofficial - websites that I have created using my own routines, which contain the results files (usually for the last 2-3 years) and Individual and Partnership ladders for the same period. The next column links to the official websites for these clubs, where they have one. The "latest results" column provides links directly to the latest results, and indicates when the clubs meet, and the right-hand column gives my opinionated assessment of the standard of the clubs, which errs on the side of not over-egging and frightening inexperienced or otherwise non-expert players away.

Club + Data Repository Official Website Latest Results Standard
Monday Club Adopted Monday Afternoon (Monday Afternoon (Defunct)) Intermediate.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Monday Evening (First Class Bridge) Introductory - Intermediate.
Pilgrim Bridge Club Pilgrim Bridge Club (Pilgrim Bridge Club (Defunct)) Monday Evening (Link (Defunct)) Introductory.
Hutton Hutton Bridge Club (Hutton Bridge Club (Defunct)) Monday Evening (Hutton Bridge Club (Defunct)) Intermediate.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Tuesday Afternoon (First Class Bridge) Elementary. No Fear.
Ann Owen Bridge Club None Tuesday Afternoon (Tuesday Afternoon (Defunct)) Introductory.
Mayflower Bridge Club Adopted Tuesday Evening (Tuesday Evening (Defunct)) Intermediate.
Apple Adopted Wednesday Morning Introductory.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Wednesday Afternoon (First Class Bridge) Introductory - Intermediate.
St. Edith's St. Edith's (Hutton) (Hutton Bridge Club (Defunct)) Wednesday Evening (Hutton Bridge Club (Defunct)) Intermediate.
Jubilee Club Adopted Wednesday Evening (Wednesday Evening (Defunct)) Introductory.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Thursday Morning (First Class Bridge) Elementary. No Fear.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Thursday Evening (First Class Bridge) Elementary.
Mountnessing (Archive) Mountnessing (Mountnessing Bridge Club (Defunct)) Thursday Evening (Mountnessing Bridge Club (Defunct)) Intermediate - Strong.
Hutton Union Adopted Friday Afternoon (Friday Afternoon (Defunct)) Intermediate.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Friday Evening (First Class Bridge) Intermediate - Strong.
First Class Bridge Academy First Class Bridge Academy (First Class Bridge) Saturday Morning (First Class Bridge) Elementary. No Fear.

Follow this Link (Essex Bridge Results) for a stand-alone page with the above table.

CONVENTION CARDS

Partners and I have drawn up various Benjaminised Acol convention cards, of varying degrees of sophistication. They appear in both MS Word and PDF formats. Follow the links below.

CS (MSW) AK (MSW)TF (MSW)LF (MSW) AS (MSW) DaTu (MSW) KS (MSW) DV (MSW) LW (MSW) MR (MSW) MH (MSW)
CS (PDF) AK (PDF)TF (PDF)LF (PDF) AS (PDF) DaTu (PDF) KS (PDF) DV (PDF) LW (PDF) MR (PDF) MH (PDF)


I also play an artificial Strong Diamond system with one partner:-


SD CC (MS Word) SD CC (PDF)


I also play a 5-card Majors / Strong NT system with two partners:-


MH CC (MS Word) RC CC (MS Word)
MH CC (PDF) RC CC (PDF)

Finally, I play a very basic Standard Acol system on rare occasions with one partner:-

RB (MS Word) RB (PDF)

USEFUL LINKS

Bridge Base Online (Bridge Base Online) OK Bridge (OK Bridge) Bridge Club Live (Bridge Club Live)
Essex Contract Bridge Association (Essex Contract Bridge Association) English Bridge Union (English Bridge Union) London Bridge Centre (Bridge Magazine) (Bridge Shop (Defunct))
Maureen's Essex Results Site (Maureen's Essex Results Site (Defunct)) Young Chelsea Bridge Club (Young Chelsea Bridge Club) Great Bridge Links (Great Bridge Links)
Bridge Great Britain (Bridge Great Britain) Bridge Conventions (Bridge Conventions) ECATS Bridge (ECATS Bridge)
Bridge Winners (Bridge Winners) New In Bridge (New In Bridge (Defunct)) BridgeGuys (Bridge Guys)

Butler IMP & Cross-IMP Scored Results

I've written a suite of programs to calculate Partnership results in Teams tournaments, using either Butler IMPs (Butler IMPs) or Cross-IMPs (Cross-IMPs) (the latter as advised by the EBU to be used for the NGS). It currently extracts data (via screen-scraping) from Bridgewebs (Bridgewebs), and (in two instances) Butler Pairs (Jeff Smith (Jeff Smith (Defunct)) format). It has now been overtaken by the deliverances of Bridgewebs, with which it reconciles exactly, apart from for 60-40% adjustments, which I ignore.




Ray Cornell (Helliar Trophy) Feb 2014 Essex Mixed Teams May 2014 Kent GP Swiss Teams May 2014
Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams July 2014 Essex Fletcher Sept 2014 Essex Club Trophy Sept 2014
Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams Sept 2014 Felixstowe GP Swiss Teams Oct 2014 Mountnessing Butler Pairs Oct 2014
Essex Tony Kelvin Teams Nov 2014 Mountnessing Butler Pairs Dec 2014 Chelmsford Autumn Teams December 2014
Woodham Ferrers Swiss Teams January 2015 Ray Cornell (Helliar Trophy) Feb 2015 Essex Mixed Teams May 2015
Collier Row Open Teams May 2015 Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams July 2015 Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams September 2015
George Curtis BP Swiss Teams Oct 2015 Felixstowe GP Swiss Teams Oct 2015 Essex Fletcher Oct 2015
Essex Club Trophy Oct 2015 Bernie Butler Pairs Oct 2015 Bernie Butler Pairs Nov 2015
Essex Tony Kelvin Teams Nov 2015 Woodham Ferrers Swiss Teams January 2016 Ray Cornell Trophy February 2016
Collier Row Open Teams May 2016 Essex Mixed Teams 2016 George Curtis BP Teams 2016
Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams July 2016 Collier Row Random Teams July 2016 Essex/Herts GP Swiss Teams September 2016
Felixstowe GP Swiss Teams October 2016 Essex Fletcher Oct 2016 Essex Club Trophy Oct 2016
Sue Taylor Memorial Teams Nov 2016 ECL C&H July 2016 Ray Cornell Trophy February 2017
Collier Row Random Teams June 2017 George Curtis Teams June 2017  


Live Version of this Archived Note

Date Length Title
10/11/2025 13:26:24 9335 Theo Todman's Bridge Page

Table of the 5 Earlier Versions of this Note

Date Length Title
14/01/2017 20:18:14 20619 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
14/10/2016 22:14:53 20117 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
05/04/2016 23:19:41 18615 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
18/11/2015 22:04:48 16723 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
18/11/2015 14:47:02 16768 Theo Todman's Bridge Page

Table of the 9 Later Versions of this Note

Date Length Title
01/01/2025 18:15:50 9121 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
20/12/2024 20:06:43 8863 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
06/05/2022 12:50:24 23243 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
03/07/2020 22:09:07 23612 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
10/10/2019 23:58:34 23612 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
06/07/2018 18:56:10 23411 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
05/04/2018 10:48:00 23169 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
05/01/2018 00:11:31 24526 Theo Todman's Bridge Page
09/10/2017 23:25:26 21376 Theo Todman's Bridge Page


This version updated Reference for this Topic Parent Topic
02/07/2017 10:36:29 1146 (Theo Todman's Bridge Page) None


Summary of Notes Links from this Page

Status: Bridge (2017 - March) Theo Todman's Bridge Background Why Play Bridge?    

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).



Summary of Note Links to this Page

Status: Bridge (2017 - June) Theo Todman's Personal Page      

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).



Text Colour Conventions

  1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026



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