Many top bridge players are also keen poker fans, and when a poker star infiltrates their backyard there is a definite ripple of excitement. So it was at the hugely prestigious Euro Cavendish, held last week in Monaco, when Poker Champion Gus (the Great Dane) Hansen turned up to play. No one was more excited
Unlike poker, there’s not much money to be made from bridge tournaments (consider yourself lucky if you win £40 in vouchers). There is one event, however, where big bucks — actually, euros — are at stake. The invitation-only Cavendish Pairs attracts top players from all over the world; they are auctioned off (they can buy
One person who lets out a whoop of delight when I am on holiday is my saintly partner, Artur Malinowski. He gets a holiday too — from me and my daft mistakes — and can play proper bridge with some of the greats who are dying to partner him. This time it was the turn
I was talking to the brilliant 27-year old Israeli player Alon Birman at the recent Brighton Congress, when suddenly there was a loud crash: a pane of glass had fallen to the floor. No one was hurt, and as everyone carried on chatting, Alon quipped: ‘It’s obvious none of you live in Israel.’ Alon is
It’s August — that time of year again — and I am in France, as usual, on my annual holiday. Hot sun, delicious food and drink, yet still the bitter shadow of envy casting its pall. I am missing Brighton and the two-week congress that everyone I know is playing. Many congratulations to my teammate,
Some bridge hands are so sad that they make you want to cry. At least, that’s how my friend Lou Hobhouse put it when she phoned to tell me about her disastrous duplicate game the previous evening. I should explain that Lou is a bridge teacher in Somerset; she’s hugely popular with her students and
Two very exciting tournaments drew to a close last week. The first was the Spingold, the main teams event in the Las Vegas Summer National, the final of which saw two top Norwegian pairs opposing each other. In the end the slight underdogs, Richard Schwartz’s team, prevailed over mighty Monaco. Closer to home, there’s no
The brilliant American bridge writer and former world champion Eddie Kantar once overheard two wives in his bridge class arguing about which of their husbands was the worse player. The first wife said, ‘Look, there’s no contest. Last night, my husband was in 7NT with 11 top tricks, and dummy had the ♥AQ with the
Richard Selway was one of the first friends I made in the bridge world. Long-standing ‘host’ at TGR’s, he was hilariously funny, irreverent, kind, a sensational natural player, and totally bonkers. I loved him. Sadly he died last week, on his own terms, having a fag in the care home where he had been looked
The recent Open European Championship was won by Israel — but right up to the end, Monaco and England were snapping at their heels (they won silver and bronze respectively). I suspect Monaco’s Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes are still having nightmares about the hand-of-horror that cost them gold (though it cheered me up no
The European Team Championships drew to a close last week and the most successful country overall was …England! The doughty Seniors took Gold, the Women took Silver and the Open Team took Bronze. I hardly went out in the ten days of the tournament, so glued was I to BBO and the fortunes of everyone
Our Golden Oldies have brought home the Gold! Many congratulations to the England players who have won the Seniors Teams European Championships in Croatia. I’m particularly pleased for my friend Simon Cochemé, their non-playing captain. Simon is relatively new to captaincy, but has long been one of the funniest bridge journalists around. I’ve hugely enjoyed
I’m not trying to pretend it will make up for the drubbing England took in the World Cup, but if you want to feel a bit better about our sportsmen and women I suggest you log on to BBO to watch the 52nd European Team Championships in Opatija, Croatia. All three of our teams, Open,
It takes a lot for me to give up on a ‘double-dummy’ bridge problem — i.e. one in which you are shown all four hands and told game or slam is possible but have to work out how. I tell myself to imagine that I’m locked in a cell and won’t be released until I
The final match in the second division of Young Chelsea’s London Super League was as exciting as it gets. Two teams (out of ten) were going to be promoted, and four teams were within a gnat’s whisker of each other. We were narrowly leading and were playing McGuire, lying second. We needed to secure a
Have you ever been told by an expert that a bid you’ve made is foolish, badly judged or plain wrong? And although you may not agree, you tell yourself that you really ought to submit to their superior judgment? Before you do, my advice is: get a second opinion, and maybe even a third. When
It is always exciting when a strong new team’s tournament enters the calendar, and the inaugural Balaton Invitational, held outside Budapest at Lake Balaton, looks set to become an annual event. Two members of my team, Thor-Erik Hoftaniska (Hoffa) and Thomas Charlsen (Charley), played for the Norwegian Open Team (and won the event) and I
There’s no point in soft-soaping it: however long you’ve been playing bridge, however well you think you play, if you’ve never had regular lessons, or played with experts, sorry, but you probably aren’t much good. Bridge is an endlessly complex, multi-layered game, and there’s no way of improving without enlisting help. That’s not to say
The Schapiro Spring Foursomes, held in early May in Stratford-upon-Avon, is one of the great tournaments and this time it attracted more international world stars than ever before. The legendary Lavazza team came for the first time, as did World Champions Tor Helness from Norway and Peter Berteau and Johan Upmark from Sweden, charming everyone
The more I watch top-class players bid their hands, the more I abide by the philosophy: points, schmoints! Obviously, we all evaluate our hands to a certain extent — indeed, a large extent — according to how many points we hold. From our very earliest days as players we are taught this rule of thumb:
