With the SBU using pairs trials for the Home Internationals and team trials for the Europeans, it is probable that the Selection Committee regard 'team chemistry' as important in the longer events.
Many would and do disagree. There are certainly instances in Scottish history where partners did not speak to each other except at the table, let alone team mates. Personally I think it is important so I thought I'd point out that Brad Moss agrees with me. His article is on bridgewinners.com - worth a read.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
Silver Plate
Anne, Sheila, Alex and I continued our good run in the Silver Plate as we beat Simon Cochemé's London team comfortably to reach the final.
Alex and I gifted a few imps to them at the start and we were down 3-24 imps after nine boards, but then a very solid performance by the team restricted them to just eight imps over the next 23 hands and we won, going away, by 86-32 imps.
Unusually there were a lot of imps flying about due to cardplay. Most of the big swings featured declarers in the same contract and, mostly, our lines were either sharper or the defence was more testing. But, naturally, there were some bidding problems and we scored a slam swing on this hand:
Alex made a good decision at the start of the auction to ignore his spades (at least initially) and show a game-forcing balanced hand. When I showed 5-5 and extras, bidding the slam was trivial.
At the other table, after one heart - one spade West made the reasonable decision to rebid two clubs. Clearly on this hand rebidding three clubs works well but it is a borderline game force given what everyone responds on nowadays. After fourth-suit (game) forcing both hands were maximum for their actions but they struggled to find a way to show this and finished in three notrump - nine imps for us.
Holding a good lead going into the final set you want nice boring hands. Second up for me was:
It is Love All. What is your opening call?
The final will be against Mike Best's team from Cardiff.
Alex and I gifted a few imps to them at the start and we were down 3-24 imps after nine boards, but then a very solid performance by the team restricted them to just eight imps over the next 23 hands and we won, going away, by 86-32 imps.
Unusually there were a lot of imps flying about due to cardplay. Most of the big swings featured declarers in the same contract and, mostly, our lines were either sharper or the defence was more testing. But, naturally, there were some bidding problems and we scored a slam swing on this hand:
Alex made a good decision at the start of the auction to ignore his spades (at least initially) and show a game-forcing balanced hand. When I showed 5-5 and extras, bidding the slam was trivial.
At the other table, after one heart - one spade West made the reasonable decision to rebid two clubs. Clearly on this hand rebidding three clubs works well but it is a borderline game force given what everyone responds on nowadays. After fourth-suit (game) forcing both hands were maximum for their actions but they struggled to find a way to show this and finished in three notrump - nine imps for us.
Holding a good lead going into the final set you want nice boring hands. Second up for me was:
It is Love All. What is your opening call?
The final will be against Mike Best's team from Cardiff.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Mixed performance
It was the 'Bobby Allan' last night at the club, the SBU Simultaneous Mixed Pairs. As holders we were striving for another 70+% session to give us a chance of retaining the trophy but we missed a few opportunities and the opponents did some good things, so lightning was never striking again.
We scored 62% at the club but I'd scored it as 53%, so I guess we'll be somewhere in between. Our cause was not helped when Reg pushed to a notrump slam holding a balanced eleven points opposite (a known) nineteen points. Perhaps last year this would have proved to be a foolish action and we'd score a top, but this time there were thirteen (!) tricks available and we'll score very poorly for this.
Some pairs were more generous as we scored two +800s and a +300 on a part-score hand, but we lost out on a number of hands where our opponents were ultra-cautious and the cards rewarded this. We were sitting against the cards, playing only eight of the twenty-four hands, and you just cannot win with such a low percentage (of course the opponents played three hands that should have been ours, but to win you need to be playing considerably more than your opponents). Even worse, I only played two hands all evening - although LotG is a good card player I am more likely to gain the odd trick either through skill or by creating problems for the defence.
We'll see how the score stands up over the next few days, but I think we'll be nearer 55% than 60%.
We scored 62% at the club but I'd scored it as 53%, so I guess we'll be somewhere in between. Our cause was not helped when Reg pushed to a notrump slam holding a balanced eleven points opposite (a known) nineteen points. Perhaps last year this would have proved to be a foolish action and we'd score a top, but this time there were thirteen (!) tricks available and we'll score very poorly for this.
Some pairs were more generous as we scored two +800s and a +300 on a part-score hand, but we lost out on a number of hands where our opponents were ultra-cautious and the cards rewarded this. We were sitting against the cards, playing only eight of the twenty-four hands, and you just cannot win with such a low percentage (of course the opponents played three hands that should have been ours, but to win you need to be playing considerably more than your opponents). Even worse, I only played two hands all evening - although LotG is a good card player I am more likely to gain the odd trick either through skill or by creating problems for the defence.
We'll see how the score stands up over the next few days, but I think we'll be nearer 55% than 60%.
Monday, 23 January 2012
Winter Fours 2012
In my mind the SBU Winter Foursomes is the only weekend of decent bridge in the Scottish calendar. The format of the subsidiary events is a little tiresome, but the double elimination used in the main event is exciting and fair. Although the 32-board matches used in the EBU Spring Fours is even better, the 16-board affairs here give the better team a reasonable chance and the winners of the event will have deserved it.
Twenty-six teams entered, about the same as the last few years but short of the 'perfect' 32 that everyone would prefer. So it was triads and quads on Friday with only one of your two lives at stake. We took on HAY and HAWKINS in our triad and were comfortably leading both matches by 32 imps after eight boards. We piled on more imps against Hawkins but decided to lose 31 imps to Jim's team. No matter as we emerged unbeaten.
Meanwhile Reg and Diana were playing on the GORDON team and narrowly failed to upset the seeds (MCGOWAN) in their triad.
On Saturday morning we played OUTRED (Charles & Vi, Clive Owen and Brian Senior). Tied at the half Senior bid two good slams in the second half and we missed a thin game, so we lost comfortably. Then we lost by three (or four?) imps to HARLEY to lose our second life - we all missed opportunities in this match and it was disappointing to exit the main event so early.
Reg and Diana exited at the same time as us, but they had done incredibly well to win their triad on Saturday morning and only lost narrowly to PIPER.
So now we would play round-robins on Saturday afternoon and evening. The first round-robin is a qualifier for the second and final round-robin, with more qualifiers for the consolation final coming from the 'A' section. We finished second in the first one and won the second one to easily make the consolation final. Reg and Diana finished a creditable fourth in the 'B' section, but with only two qualifiers they were consigned to the Sunday Swiss.
Meanwhile, back in the main event, OUTRED continued to make the pace and finished Saturday unbeaten. This earned them a place in the final and Sunday morning in bed. The other semifinal was a repeat of last year's final except the result was reversed, with PUNCH (Sam, Tim Rees, Alan Goodman, Mike Ash) beating STEEL (Les, John Matheson, Dave Walker, Brian Short) by three or four imps.
In a very tight final OUTRED beat PUNCH by about 16 imps. As is often the case, all the small hands which could have collectively made a difference were lost as there was one slam hand that swung more than the winning margin. The Outreds were the beneficiaries of making a poor slam but overall they fully deserved their victory having not lost in the entire weekend.
Although the round-robin qualifiers on Saturday are tiresome (and seemingly never-ending for some), the nine-team consolation final is a good quality field and it feels a proper competition (a bit like the teams' finals at Brighton). We played pretty solidly throughout and finished on 92/160 VPs. Surprisingly, after a split-tie, this was sufficient for second place and some money. The winners were Bob McKinnon, Ian Patrick, Maida Grant and Sheila Macdonald.
Finally Reg and Diana finished seventh in the Swiss Teams with 59/100 VPs.
Twenty-six teams entered, about the same as the last few years but short of the 'perfect' 32 that everyone would prefer. So it was triads and quads on Friday with only one of your two lives at stake. We took on HAY and HAWKINS in our triad and were comfortably leading both matches by 32 imps after eight boards. We piled on more imps against Hawkins but decided to lose 31 imps to Jim's team. No matter as we emerged unbeaten.
Meanwhile Reg and Diana were playing on the GORDON team and narrowly failed to upset the seeds (MCGOWAN) in their triad.
On Saturday morning we played OUTRED (Charles & Vi, Clive Owen and Brian Senior). Tied at the half Senior bid two good slams in the second half and we missed a thin game, so we lost comfortably. Then we lost by three (or four?) imps to HARLEY to lose our second life - we all missed opportunities in this match and it was disappointing to exit the main event so early.
Reg and Diana exited at the same time as us, but they had done incredibly well to win their triad on Saturday morning and only lost narrowly to PIPER.
So now we would play round-robins on Saturday afternoon and evening. The first round-robin is a qualifier for the second and final round-robin, with more qualifiers for the consolation final coming from the 'A' section. We finished second in the first one and won the second one to easily make the consolation final. Reg and Diana finished a creditable fourth in the 'B' section, but with only two qualifiers they were consigned to the Sunday Swiss.
Meanwhile, back in the main event, OUTRED continued to make the pace and finished Saturday unbeaten. This earned them a place in the final and Sunday morning in bed. The other semifinal was a repeat of last year's final except the result was reversed, with PUNCH (Sam, Tim Rees, Alan Goodman, Mike Ash) beating STEEL (Les, John Matheson, Dave Walker, Brian Short) by three or four imps.
In a very tight final OUTRED beat PUNCH by about 16 imps. As is often the case, all the small hands which could have collectively made a difference were lost as there was one slam hand that swung more than the winning margin. The Outreds were the beneficiaries of making a poor slam but overall they fully deserved their victory having not lost in the entire weekend.
Although the round-robin qualifiers on Saturday are tiresome (and seemingly never-ending for some), the nine-team consolation final is a good quality field and it feels a proper competition (a bit like the teams' finals at Brighton). We played pretty solidly throughout and finished on 92/160 VPs. Surprisingly, after a split-tie, this was sufficient for second place and some money. The winners were Bob McKinnon, Ian Patrick, Maida Grant and Sheila Macdonald.
Finally Reg and Diana finished seventh in the Swiss Teams with 59/100 VPs.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Matchpoints at the club
A 62% session but we did not make ground on the overall leaders as Brian and George scored the same. First a bidding problem - what do you open at unfavourable vulnerability?
Matchpoints can be a tough game and a single trick makes all the difference. The eleventh trick on this hand was worth half a top, or almost 2% of your final score.
West leads the five of diamonds and the jack wins the trick. With no minor losers now thoughts should turn to how you can restrict the major losers and you should be thinking endplay or throw-in. If hearts are 3-1 then you cannot do it, as you need to ruff a club to establish the endplay, so then there is the problem of diamonds 6-2. If you try to cash the diamonds to pitch a club, then they may be able to ruff.
So I think the best line is to cash the ace of hearts and lead another. The hearts break two-two and you can win the club return, cash two diamonds pitching a club, ruff a club and then play ace of spades and another.
You will make eleven tricks if EITHER (1) East has the king of spades (2) West has the king of spades singleton or doubleton (3) East has the jack and ten of spades. On the actual hand West had the king and jack of spades doubleton and had to concede a ruff and discard after winning the spade, allowing me to pitch my spade loser.
A fairly easy hand where three other declarers also made eleven tricks, but seven only made ten. As the club finesse also worked the lead was not really an issue.
Matchpoints can be a tough game and a single trick makes all the difference. The eleventh trick on this hand was worth half a top, or almost 2% of your final score.
West leads the five of diamonds and the jack wins the trick. With no minor losers now thoughts should turn to how you can restrict the major losers and you should be thinking endplay or throw-in. If hearts are 3-1 then you cannot do it, as you need to ruff a club to establish the endplay, so then there is the problem of diamonds 6-2. If you try to cash the diamonds to pitch a club, then they may be able to ruff.
So I think the best line is to cash the ace of hearts and lead another. The hearts break two-two and you can win the club return, cash two diamonds pitching a club, ruff a club and then play ace of spades and another.
You will make eleven tricks if EITHER (1) East has the king of spades (2) West has the king of spades singleton or doubleton (3) East has the jack and ten of spades. On the actual hand West had the king and jack of spades doubleton and had to concede a ruff and discard after winning the spade, allowing me to pitch my spade loser.
A fairly easy hand where three other declarers also made eleven tricks, but seven only made ten. As the club finesse also worked the lead was not really an issue.
Monday, 16 January 2012
A weekend of cup action
Two cup matches over the weekend.
First up was the Scottish Cup match against McMenemy (McIntyre, Kane, Kane). Danny and Helen have returned to regular bridge after a few years away and narrowly missed Camrose selection in the final trial. Jim and Ian are also trialists, less steady but full of flair and a dangerous pair.
Over thirty-two boards I did regard us as warm favourites, even though Fiona was substituting for Alex. However, despite computer-dealt hands, there were 23 flat boards effectively reducing the match to 9 boards. We made a couple of mistakes, they made a couple of mistakes, ours cost, theirs did not and we lost the match by 33-41 imps.
Alex was able to fly up for Sunday's Gold Cup match against Dee Harley's team (Harley, Nolf, Male, McGinley, Copley, Peden). Of course this match put two of my Camrose pairs in competition so, unsurprisingly, the match was played in good spirit. The first set was not as wild as the score of 47-40 imps suggests, but these eight boards caused more imps to swing than the entire match on the previous day. There was quite a lot of poor slam bidding throughout the match, disappointedly almost all of it in non-competitive auctions.
We established a comfortable lead by winning the second set by 39-0 imps although promptly gave some of it back just before the break, losing the third set 1-25 imps after a couple of misplayed hands. Alex and I also failed to break the following game:
So what do you try and do next?
In the fourth set we lost 7-18 imps with the main swing due to the notrump range and a decision about whether to double a weak notrump with a balanced 15 points and a long suit of 109xx. When the contract goes down four you know double was the winning decision.
With sixteen boards to play our lead was down to eleven imps, but if we could stop giving them fifteen imps a set then we should win easily. So it proved as we held them to six imps in the final two sets while scoring forty-nine ourselves, so a comfortable win by 54 imps.
A slightly bitter-sweet win. Our team of four, with one Camrose pair, did not play very well. Their team of six, with one Camrose pair and the reserves for the Senior Camrose, were significantly worse. Again I thought we were warm favourites for the match but I think we'd all have preferred a higher quality match.
But, at the end of the day, a win is a win.
First up was the Scottish Cup match against McMenemy (McIntyre, Kane, Kane). Danny and Helen have returned to regular bridge after a few years away and narrowly missed Camrose selection in the final trial. Jim and Ian are also trialists, less steady but full of flair and a dangerous pair.
Over thirty-two boards I did regard us as warm favourites, even though Fiona was substituting for Alex. However, despite computer-dealt hands, there were 23 flat boards effectively reducing the match to 9 boards. We made a couple of mistakes, they made a couple of mistakes, ours cost, theirs did not and we lost the match by 33-41 imps.
Alex was able to fly up for Sunday's Gold Cup match against Dee Harley's team (Harley, Nolf, Male, McGinley, Copley, Peden). Of course this match put two of my Camrose pairs in competition so, unsurprisingly, the match was played in good spirit. The first set was not as wild as the score of 47-40 imps suggests, but these eight boards caused more imps to swing than the entire match on the previous day. There was quite a lot of poor slam bidding throughout the match, disappointedly almost all of it in non-competitive auctions.
We established a comfortable lead by winning the second set by 39-0 imps although promptly gave some of it back just before the break, losing the third set 1-25 imps after a couple of misplayed hands. Alex and I also failed to break the following game:
So what do you try and do next?
In the fourth set we lost 7-18 imps with the main swing due to the notrump range and a decision about whether to double a weak notrump with a balanced 15 points and a long suit of 109xx. When the contract goes down four you know double was the winning decision.
With sixteen boards to play our lead was down to eleven imps, but if we could stop giving them fifteen imps a set then we should win easily. So it proved as we held them to six imps in the final two sets while scoring forty-nine ourselves, so a comfortable win by 54 imps.
A slightly bitter-sweet win. Our team of four, with one Camrose pair, did not play very well. Their team of six, with one Camrose pair and the reserves for the Senior Camrose, were significantly worse. Again I thought we were warm favourites for the match but I think we'd all have preferred a higher quality match.
But, at the end of the day, a win is a win.
Thursday, 12 January 2012
"Garlic bread, it's the future, I've tasted it"
I was reminded of Peter Kay's iconic line from Phoenix Nights watching the Camrose on Saturday afternoon, when LOTG just typed "Strong Twos!!!" in the BBO chat to me. Regular readers will know that LOTG is a big fan of Acol Strong Twos and refuses to switch: the following hand has not helped my argument.
It does not look too difficult, but let's see how the teams fared. Names have been deleted to avoid embarrassment but you know who you are!
SBU v Ireland
England v Scotland
Northern Ireland v Wales
Congratulations to Ciara Burns and John Murchan, Northern Ireland, for being the only pair in the solid grand slam. But strong twos would have made this hand simple. They are the future!
It does not look too difficult, but let's see how the teams fared. Names have been deleted to avoid embarrassment but you know who you are!
SBU v Ireland
England v Scotland
Northern Ireland v Wales
Congratulations to Ciara Burns and John Murchan, Northern Ireland, for being the only pair in the solid grand slam. But strong twos would have made this hand simple. They are the future!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
It's up to us
I'm pleased to say that the Selection Committee has made no changes to the SBU team for the second Camrose weekend in East Kilbride in March. The Scotland team is also unchanged.
This gives both teams the opportunity to finish the job they've started and to build on good performances in Oxford. With all the local support I'm sure the teams will do well.
This gives both teams the opportunity to finish the job they've started and to build on good performances in Oxford. With all the local support I'm sure the teams will do well.
 |
| The SBU Team, Camrose Trophy 2012 |
Monday, 9 January 2012
Delivery
Sunday morning and it was the leaders, Wales, to be faced. The first half was the quietest set of the weekend and solid play at both tables left us three imps down at the half. Wales, with their eye on the weekend decider in the afternoon, rested Denning and Shields although their replacements, Salisbury and Tedd, proved one of the strongest pairs of the weekend. Again the team played very well and a game swing on the last board gave us a 16 imps win, 17-13 VP.
I thought all the pairs played well in this match and we deserved to win. The final match was against Northern Ireland who were currently in bottom position, so my only job was to keep the team's thoughts on winning the match, not thinking it would be easy and reminding them that it was not the last match but the end of the first half of the Camrose Trophy - they did not really need much reminding though and a couple of late swings left us with a 22 imps lead at the half. In the final stanza of the weekend there was some tiredness shown and we failed to take all the chances offered, but we finished the match winning by 24 imps and a 19-11 win.
Overall we won three matches and lost two, one of which we were winning with five boards to go - a pretty impressive performance from a team with three débutants who are only the second Scotland team. I thought all the pairs played significantly better than I'd seen in the trials and improved as the weekend went on. Experience counts for a lot at this level, a lot more than club and tournament players probably appreciate, and all three pairs will have benefited from this weekend.
Table after the first weekend:
I thought all the pairs played well in this match and we deserved to win. The final match was against Northern Ireland who were currently in bottom position, so my only job was to keep the team's thoughts on winning the match, not thinking it would be easy and reminding them that it was not the last match but the end of the first half of the Camrose Trophy - they did not really need much reminding though and a couple of late swings left us with a 22 imps lead at the half. In the final stanza of the weekend there was some tiredness shown and we failed to take all the chances offered, but we finished the match winning by 24 imps and a 19-11 win.
Overall we won three matches and lost two, one of which we were winning with five boards to go - a pretty impressive performance from a team with three débutants who are only the second Scotland team. I thought all the pairs played significantly better than I'd seen in the trials and improved as the weekend went on. Experience counts for a lot at this level, a lot more than club and tournament players probably appreciate, and all three pairs will have benefited from this weekend.
Table after the first weekend:
| 1 | ENGLAND | 99 |
| 2 | SCOTLAND | 82 |
| 3 | WALES | 78 |
| 4 | SBU Irving Gordon,William Whyte,Steve Male,Mike McGinley, Sheila Adamson,Anne Symons | 71 |
| 5 | IRELAND | 63 |
| 6 | NORTHERN IRELAND | 56 |
 |
| The SBU team |
Saturday, 7 January 2012
A long day
It's only 64 boards in the day but I think the fire alarm meant that it seemed quite tiring for most of us, especially all the NPCs and supporters who were unable to do anything except watch: much easier for the players of course :)
Our first match was against England and we started like a train, being 32-0 imps up after the first three boards! It was the start of an exciting stanza and 117 imps were shared over 16 boards and, when the music stopped, we were 11 imps down. The second set has its exciting moments too, including an Englishman going down -1100 when he had the chance to make five hearts doubled (technically we believe he made the correct play, but unsuccessful on this occasion). However England did very little wrong elsewhere and we lost the match by 43 imps, 8-22 VP.
I did think the scoreline was harsh, as the team played very well against a strong English team. The BBO commentators often said that the SBU team had done well in the other room, but then the English would match them.
In the second match of the day we played the Republic of Ireland. For a change my team put on a load of imps in the last five boards and we had a useful lead at the half. We gave some of the imps back in the second stanza but emerged with a 16 imps win, 17-13 VP. On the board!
This morning we have a match against the leaders, Wales. The team is well rested, everyone else has been wishing us good luck (perhaps because Wales have a good lead), and hopefully we'll have a good game.
Our first match was against England and we started like a train, being 32-0 imps up after the first three boards! It was the start of an exciting stanza and 117 imps were shared over 16 boards and, when the music stopped, we were 11 imps down. The second set has its exciting moments too, including an Englishman going down -1100 when he had the chance to make five hearts doubled (technically we believe he made the correct play, but unsuccessful on this occasion). However England did very little wrong elsewhere and we lost the match by 43 imps, 8-22 VP.
I did think the scoreline was harsh, as the team played very well against a strong English team. The BBO commentators often said that the SBU team had done well in the other room, but then the English would match them.
In the second match of the day we played the Republic of Ireland. For a change my team put on a load of imps in the last five boards and we had a useful lead at the half. We gave some of the imps back in the second stanza but emerged with a 16 imps win, 17-13 VP. On the board!
This morning we have a match against the leaders, Wales. The team is well rested, everyone else has been wishing us good luck (perhaps because Wales have a good lead), and hopefully we'll have a good game.
Fire break
With a few boards to play we were leading in the match against Scotland, but they got all their swings late and we lost by 29 imps, 10-20 VP.
All my pairs have now played at least sixteen boards and they should be feeling relaxed at the table. Well they would be if the fire alarm had not gone off at 4.15am and everyone spent an hour in the hotel car park waiting for the all clear. At least Anne saved her phone but I'm not sure what Andrew thought of an hour's worth of photographs of firemen.
So this morning might be a war of attrition for many pairs with the (early) 10am start but the real effects may only be seen later in the day. Team selection may well be determined by those who are awake.
This morning we are playing England, who were the favourites before they had a losing draw against Northern Ireland last night. This afternoon we play Ireland, who lost 8-22 VP to Wales.
All my pairs have now played at least sixteen boards and they should be feeling relaxed at the table. Well they would be if the fire alarm had not gone off at 4.15am and everyone spent an hour in the hotel car park waiting for the all clear. At least Anne saved her phone but I'm not sure what Andrew thought of an hour's worth of photographs of firemen.
So this morning might be a war of attrition for many pairs with the (early) 10am start but the real effects may only be seen later in the day. Team selection may well be determined by those who are awake.
This morning we are playing England, who were the favourites before they had a losing draw against Northern Ireland last night. This afternoon we play Ireland, who lost 8-22 VP to Wales.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Before the gun
I've arrived in Oxford. Four of the team arrived yesterday and texted me that they were here, providing a degree of assurance that at least we'd have a team - the following text said that they were already in the bar.
I'm not saying it is warm here, but some were seen on the open-top bus tour of Oxford this morning. I doubt they needed the sun-cream that was necessary in Toronto but they did not look frozen either. Will the SBU provide something similar for East Kilbride in March?
Being NPC means that there were lots of bits of paper waiting for me. The important ones, naturally, being the food choices for evening meals.
Now off to ensure that they are relaxing - play starts at 7pm (20:00 Paris, 19:00 Berwick-upon-Tweed, 14:00 New York) and everything should be shown on BBO. This evening's match is against Scotland, so a chance for the team to show that the trials do not necessarily determine the better team :)
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
My Camrose team
I forgot to get a team photo so you'll have to make do with the short biogs that will appear in the event's brochure. This is the SBU team for the Camrose Trophy in Oxford starting this Friday: you can follow all the action live (and free) on Bridge Base Online, just check the schedule in your local time zone.
Anne Symons
Anne is making her second Camrose appearance with Sheila, the only women's pair to have played for the open team. She is a regular with Sheila on the Scottish women's team, playing in several Lady Milnes, Europeans and Olympiads over the last decade. Anne is a full-time pharmacist who still finds time to go to the gym and has recently been part of a dance DVD which is being sold to raise funds for a local Hospice. If re-incarnated, wants to come back as Gregg Wallace, “that jammy git who gets paid to eat lovely food”!
Sheila Adamson
Sheila and Anne started playing together in 2003. Since then they have played in two Olympiads (Istanbul and Bejing), three European Championships (Warsaw, Pau and Ostend) and six Lady Milnes. They were members of the victorious Scottish team in 2007 and 2009. They also have one Camrose cap, in 2009, when they became the first all-female partnership to represent Scotland in that event.
Sheila works at Queen Margaret University where she specialises in the management of overseas collaborations. Between this and bridge she has collected a fair few stamps on her passport. Sheila also recently published a book on Scottish local history.
Irving Gordon
Perhaps best known during his partnership with Boris Schapiro, Irving's list of achievements includes winning the World Senior Pairs, several Gold Cups and Spring Foursomes, a Silver medal in the Sunday Times plus other titles in the UK and abroad. Although he represented England in the Camrose in the 1980s this will be his Scottish début for the Open Camrose team, despite representing Great Britain and, more recently, Scotland at the European Championships at both Open and Senior levels. He won his latest gold medal with the Scotland team in the Commonwealth Nation Championships 2010 held in India.
Irving credits Boris with “teaching me to bid” and regards surviving his temper and razor-sharp tongue for 18 years as his finest achievement – those who knew Boris might understand what he means!
William Whyte
Brought up in the days of trams in Glasgow, prior to entering Glasgow University Bill read a SJ Simon bridge book and that was the end of a promising academic career as a nuclear physicist.
Lectures were no competition, but exams were unavoidable (and difficult) so eventually Bill was forced to go out and work to support his bridge ‘habit’. John McLaren took pity on him and on his coat-tails Bill gained his first Camrose cap in 1964, making him the youngest Scottish cap at that time. He left Glasgow and the rain by venturing abroad to Liverpool, then to more exotic (and drier) locations hopping around the Middle East for a number of years before settling in Paris. This enabled him to play bridge everywhere but it is the sober continental style of bidding he absorbed in Paris that is still retained today.
Now back in the Camrose milieu after forty-eight year’s absence, is this another record? Bill splits his time between France and Edinburgh (thus a Weegie who has shifted camp to the East as they may have trams soon) and his next record attempt will be for the oldest Scottish Camrose cap, somewhat challenging in view of some illustrious fore-runners, including his partner Irving Gordon who is older and comes from Aberdeen where they breed them tough – but, as Bill says, “I have more hair than he has to keep me warm”.
Stephen Male
Steve was taught to play at Scarborough Boys High School, too many years ago, by a far-sighted Maths master, then did not play again until early 70's in Southport, where the game at the golf club re-awoke his interest. Then moved with work to the West Riding where he played in the Dewsbury team of Brian Senior. He then gave up the game when his two girls were born and did not start playing again until he moved to Scotland some seventeen years ago. He teamed up with Mike two years ago and since then has had a fruitful partnership.
Mike McGinley
Mike is currently working as an accountant for the Apple pharmacy chain in Glasgow and this is his first cap. He took up bridge at school and played Junior Camrose back in the ‘70s. His team reached the last eight of the Gold Cup in 2008, losing to the eventual winners. Last season his team (including Steve Male) won the Scottish Cup Plate. He whimsically wonders if he will ever see a 4-card ending with dummy having the same card in each suit ...
Paul Gipson (NPC)
This is Paul's first Camrose Trophy but he expects it to be a breeze compared to captaining the Scottish Women (including Anne and Sheila) at the European Championships. As a prematurely retired IT specialist he is woefully underprepared for the task of being the captain, coach, sports psychologist and bag carrier but will be able to help them score up.
His efforts to help the team even went to the lengths of playing in the English trials this year. But he is mastering the key NPC skills, namely the ability to understand obscure line-up regulations, getting players to the right table at the right time and the stoical acceptance of “interesting” results.
Anne Symons
Anne is making her second Camrose appearance with Sheila, the only women's pair to have played for the open team. She is a regular with Sheila on the Scottish women's team, playing in several Lady Milnes, Europeans and Olympiads over the last decade. Anne is a full-time pharmacist who still finds time to go to the gym and has recently been part of a dance DVD which is being sold to raise funds for a local Hospice. If re-incarnated, wants to come back as Gregg Wallace, “that jammy git who gets paid to eat lovely food”!
Sheila Adamson
Sheila and Anne started playing together in 2003. Since then they have played in two Olympiads (Istanbul and Bejing), three European Championships (Warsaw, Pau and Ostend) and six Lady Milnes. They were members of the victorious Scottish team in 2007 and 2009. They also have one Camrose cap, in 2009, when they became the first all-female partnership to represent Scotland in that event.
Sheila works at Queen Margaret University where she specialises in the management of overseas collaborations. Between this and bridge she has collected a fair few stamps on her passport. Sheila also recently published a book on Scottish local history.
Irving Gordon
Perhaps best known during his partnership with Boris Schapiro, Irving's list of achievements includes winning the World Senior Pairs, several Gold Cups and Spring Foursomes, a Silver medal in the Sunday Times plus other titles in the UK and abroad. Although he represented England in the Camrose in the 1980s this will be his Scottish début for the Open Camrose team, despite representing Great Britain and, more recently, Scotland at the European Championships at both Open and Senior levels. He won his latest gold medal with the Scotland team in the Commonwealth Nation Championships 2010 held in India.
Irving credits Boris with “teaching me to bid” and regards surviving his temper and razor-sharp tongue for 18 years as his finest achievement – those who knew Boris might understand what he means!
William Whyte
Brought up in the days of trams in Glasgow, prior to entering Glasgow University Bill read a SJ Simon bridge book and that was the end of a promising academic career as a nuclear physicist.
Lectures were no competition, but exams were unavoidable (and difficult) so eventually Bill was forced to go out and work to support his bridge ‘habit’. John McLaren took pity on him and on his coat-tails Bill gained his first Camrose cap in 1964, making him the youngest Scottish cap at that time. He left Glasgow and the rain by venturing abroad to Liverpool, then to more exotic (and drier) locations hopping around the Middle East for a number of years before settling in Paris. This enabled him to play bridge everywhere but it is the sober continental style of bidding he absorbed in Paris that is still retained today.
Now back in the Camrose milieu after forty-eight year’s absence, is this another record? Bill splits his time between France and Edinburgh (thus a Weegie who has shifted camp to the East as they may have trams soon) and his next record attempt will be for the oldest Scottish Camrose cap, somewhat challenging in view of some illustrious fore-runners, including his partner Irving Gordon who is older and comes from Aberdeen where they breed them tough – but, as Bill says, “I have more hair than he has to keep me warm”.
Stephen Male
Steve was taught to play at Scarborough Boys High School, too many years ago, by a far-sighted Maths master, then did not play again until early 70's in Southport, where the game at the golf club re-awoke his interest. Then moved with work to the West Riding where he played in the Dewsbury team of Brian Senior. He then gave up the game when his two girls were born and did not start playing again until he moved to Scotland some seventeen years ago. He teamed up with Mike two years ago and since then has had a fruitful partnership.
Mike McGinley
Mike is currently working as an accountant for the Apple pharmacy chain in Glasgow and this is his first cap. He took up bridge at school and played Junior Camrose back in the ‘70s. His team reached the last eight of the Gold Cup in 2008, losing to the eventual winners. Last season his team (including Steve Male) won the Scottish Cup Plate. He whimsically wonders if he will ever see a 4-card ending with dummy having the same card in each suit ...
Paul Gipson (NPC)
This is Paul's first Camrose Trophy but he expects it to be a breeze compared to captaining the Scottish Women (including Anne and Sheila) at the European Championships. As a prematurely retired IT specialist he is woefully underprepared for the task of being the captain, coach, sports psychologist and bag carrier but will be able to help them score up.
His efforts to help the team even went to the lengths of playing in the English trials this year. But he is mastering the key NPC skills, namely the ability to understand obscure line-up regulations, getting players to the right table at the right time and the stoical acceptance of “interesting” results.
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