| Dates for your diary |
Bank holiday - bridge as usual
Bank holiday - bridge as usual
Bank holiday - bridge as usual
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| A Master Class in Hand Evaluation with Abbey Smith |
Abbey has opened her Master Class in Hand Evaluation to players from clubs other than her own (ASBC), taking place on Saturday 28th March 2026 and the same session on Wednesday 8th April 2026. The seminar will be held at Drayton Parslow Sports and Social Club. Abbey will provide an entertaining and informative mix of teaching, practical advice and exemplar hands. All levels of experience are welcome, you don't need to be partnered. The usual facilities will be available to you - tea, coffee and biscuits, and, of course, the bar will be open at the end so you can chat to each other and to Abbey. £20pp for ASBC-members and £25pp for non-ASBC-members. Abbey regularly plays for England and her style of teaching is relaxed, and fun. Follow this link for more details and to book a place.
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| Hand of the Week 23rd March |
Show Detail |
The penalty double is a two-edged sword. Wielded at the wrong time, it can come back to bite you on the bum, but get it right and the rewards are handsome. We see both edges in today’s hand, Board 7. One EW pair chose to double 3NT. Now, I know I am fond of repeating the saying “if your opponents never make a doubled contract, you’re not doubling often enough”. Sadly, EW took this too far and were soon watching NS wrap up 3 overtricks for the unusual score of 1350. Dub/Vul overtricks are quite expensive! The other edge of the sword cut cleanly for the NS pair who caught East in a speculative 2S overcall. It’s not easy these days to make a low-level penalty double and I can’t immediately see how this came about. I wonder if NS play strong NT, in which case we might have 1NT-2C-(2S from East)-P-X. Weak NT players will open 1H and I can’t then see a route to 2SX. Anyway, we will gloss over the misfortunes of 3NTX+3 and say well done to Lewis and Ann for their well-deserved 800 penalty.
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| FREE ONLINE INFORMAL TEAMS |
 
Wednesday 1st April Please email David for seats
Someone asked about Undos. These are allowed in bidding if requested quickly. In play, undos are not allowed for defenders as this would give unauthorised information. Declarer may request an undo if done quickly (there are no penalty cards for declarer/dummy in normal bridge) but opponents are under no obligation to grant undos.
Log in to BBO by 7:10pm and wait in the Lobby
Please do not wander off into other areas as you may become invisible to the organiser.
Please check and accept the invitation to play as soon as possible. Multiple invitations may be issued if someone does not accept in time.
Play will usually start around 7:15pm, but may be earlier if everyone is ready.
Explaining bids
If you do not understand an opponent's bid, or want further explanation, simply click on the bid. They will receive a pop-up box, where they can explain what their bid means. This is not visible to their partner, only to you and your partner (so no additional information is passed between them).
If you are asked to explain your bid, please do so promptly using the pop-up box, not in the table chat (as the chat can be seen by all players).
Online play with BBO uses Self-alerting
Before you bid, if your bid is not a natural bid, enter the meaning of your bid in the message box, and click the alert button.
This is not visible to your partner (who should already know what your bid means), only the opponents.
Using Undos
During bidding, if you genuinely mis-click a bid, you can immediately request an undo, which should normally be granted by your opponents.
Undos are not normally allowed during card play, so be careful when playing.
 Chris has started an automated email notification service for updates to this section - the service runs from 7am to 10:55pm - if you would like to subscribe, please email Chris
If you would like general information about our weekly online Teams events, please email David Barker
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| CHILDREN IN NEED - 10th November |
 This year, our BBC Children in Need charity event was held on the evening of Monday 10 th November.
Thank you all for the donations collected on the night. We will be sending £500 to Children in Need.
Here is a link to the commentary on last night's hands
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| Latest Newsletter |
The latest newsletter is available of the News Page here
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| ALERTING AND ANNOUNCING RULES |
EBU Announcing Rules can be found under the EBU Information menu item
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