First up, HNY to one and all and especially my regular reader (no, not you mummy) John Hinde, who wrote me a charming email very politely pointing out the absurdity of one of my columns. I am so with you John — it was ridiculous — but it happened! Secondly, congrats to my good friend
Autumn 2013 has been the single worst season of my bridge career. Actually, do I have a bridge career? Doesn’t a career suggest some kind of financial gain and status, rather than a substanstial loss and rapid downward spiral? My Autumnus horribilis kicked off with the first of three Premier League weekends, from which we
‘Yikes! I’ve been Grosvenored!’ This is a wail you will hear from time to time when a Declarer has been ‘had’ by the dreaded Grosvenor Gambit. It is explained in The Official Encyclopaedia of Bridge as follows: ‘A humorous psychological ploy described by Frederick Turner of Los Angeles in The Bridge World 1973. A defender
My plan this week was to write wittily, but modestly, about our rise from the bowels of relegation after the first two disastrous weekends of the Premier League. I was going to tell you how important it is not to give up, to have faith in yourself and your team-mates and to keep on fighting
I love Bernard Teltscher. In fact, I proposed to him recently, but he politely declined, saying I was too old for him! He is 92 so I could be forgiven for thinking I was in with a chance. Bernard has sponsored the Lederer Memorial Trophy, England’s premier Invitational Teams’ Tournament, for as long as anyone
The season got off to a very bad start for my team — and continues in much the same vein. The Premier League, which has become the trials for the Camrose, is played over three weekends, this year starting in Manchester. Our first match was against David Mossop’s strong squad and we did rather well!
I defy anyone, even Tolstoy were he still alive and were he to abandon War and Peace for a bridge column, to avoid a shed load of clichés when describing the final of the Venice Cup in Bali, between the magnificent English Ladies and their American counterparts. Let me make do with heart-stopping. With seven
If you are allergic to wasp stings, may I give you a word of advice? Keep away from them! Don’t hang around. Don’t flap your arms. Just leave the vicinity quickly and quietly. I wish I had shared these words of wisdom with Artur, my partner in Patrick Jourdain’s highly enjoyable Welsh Invitational Pairs last
Holiday over – and I hopped on the plane home dribbling with excitement. I was going straight to Young Chelsea to play the Friday night IMPs duplicate with my Polish friend, whose unpronounceable name has metamorphosed into Saucepan. It was heaven to be back, even though we did not exactly shine — unlike Tim Gauld.
Two weeks of watching the 2nd World Mind Sports have come to an end and I feel rather like I did after the last episode of The Killing. Bereft. The English Ladies proved that, with the help of a drop of lavender oil, they are the undisputed Queens of the World, taking both European and
If jealousy is measured in twinges my twinge-o-meter has gone viral. On my self-imposed sabbatical, otherwise known as a holiday, I was painfully aware, day after day, that I was missing the Brighton Bridgefest. Ten days of pairs, teams and midnight speedballs while I ‘relax’. Ouch. Twingeing again. The last event is the hugely popular
We all need time off from our addictions and August is my annual holiday and break from bridge. One of the best tournaments I have had to give up is the Chairman’s Cup in Sweden. Of course I watch on BBO but it only makes it harder to be out of the action. This year’s
Friday 19 July saw Young Chelsea’s last duplicate at the old premises in Barkston Gardens. And what a swell party it was! Sold out with two weeks to go, 30 pairs took part in a quiz, the famous Friday night IMPs duplicate, and a midnight speedball. Everyone who is anyone has played at YC on
Tor Helness, the Norwegian-born superstar who now plays for Monaco, partnering his wife Gunn in the European Mixed Teams, had a total meltdown and stormed out when she let through 3NT. As you would. When he stormed back in she informed him that he would be playing the rest of the tournament with their (female)
What a week! Ostend by the sea was host to this year’s European Championships which kicked off with two mixed events (pairs and teams). I arrived on Friday and went straight to the playing area. Who was the first person I ran into? My favourite column buddy, Susanna! For the next week we hung out
Last week I was glued to BBO, watching the US trials to select the two teams who will represent America in the Bermuda Bowl in Bali later this year. All the best players were competing and it was fascinating to see the extraordinary events unfold. USA 1, and outright winners, is the relatively unknown Kranyak
Another long weekend, another bridge tournament. This time in Bournemouth where the groupetto and I decided to go for the Monday teams event. We all piled excitedly into the car, buckets and spades at the ready, and hurtled down the M3 full of optimism and bonhomie. Needless to say that didn’t last long. The arguments
If you are a regular reader of this column — do I have a regular reader who did not actually give birth to me? — you may remember that a couple of weeks ago no one could have felt sorrier for themselves than moi. We had been knocked out of every competition you could think
Bridge. What a heartbreaker. Just when you think all is well with the world you come spectacularly unstuck. OK, maybe a tad dramatic, but it doesn’t feel like it. First we played the Crockford’s semi-final — and lost. Then we played round 3 of the Gold Cup — and lost again. Since then nothing has
How do you stand on reunions? I always thought nothing on earth would get me to one but you live and learn. School reunions were the biggest no-no — who wants to see what they’d look like if they hadn’t spent a freaking fortune on themselves and deprived themselves of food most of their life?
