Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages
Status Reports
Status: Bridge (2013 - September)
(Text as at 16/10/2013 20:08:10)
*** 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)
Rationale for this Project
- I showed some natural talent for bridge in my youth, and want to see how far I can get with a bit of application (but – given the breadth my other interests – without fanaticism).
- However, this project has to be kept rigorously in hand, something that has never been the case since I returned to the game.
- Basically, it’s fun – and I do reasonably well, but not well enough.
Summary of Progress during July – September 2013
- Overview: 3Q13 was a somewhat “up and down” quarter, though performance continues to improve on average from recent lows. I spent almost double the amount of time on bridge that I’d intended. One occasional partner (Angie) has departed the scene and another (Ray) has formed a trial partnership.
- Effort Expenditure: During 3Q13 I expended 246 hours on this project (934 hours YTD, where for “YTD” – Year to Date – I mean the (academic) year – recently completed – commencing in October 2012). That’s 187% of the planned effort, 143% YTD. So, still a lot more than intended. Overall, 36% of my Project effort in the Quarter was directed towards Bridge (making 39% YTD).
- The Highlights: of the quarter were:-
- Saturday 20th July: Essex / Herts Swiss Pairs, Ware, with David. Pretty useful – we came 19 / 90, winning 5 matches and losing 2. 1.25 GPs gained.
- Friday 9th – Sunday 11th August: EBU Summer Swiss Pairs, Brighton, with Dave. This was a huge disappointment, and it doesn’t look like Dave and I will be playing again in the near future. We got off to a good start, and had difficult opposition thereafter. In the end we won 6 matches and lost 8, coming 245 / 316, 2.52 GPs gained.
- Saturday 8th September: Essex “C”, Metropolitan Cup, with Linda. Did well. Our team of 8 came 5 / 10 – and Linda and I more than kept our end up, coming 5 / 20 (+26) by Butler IMPs in our section.
- Statistics: by partner and club-category can be obtained by following these links – for the last quarter and to date.
- Recent Results: There’s no point repeating these here. Follow this link. Further information can be found from my Bridge Page.
- Local Points: 20,515 bagged to date, including 346 Blue Points, 63.66 Green Points and 1.52 Gold Points. That promotes me at Premier Regional Master level. My next aim is to achieve National Master status (30,000 LPs, including 75 GPs) – so getting there as far as GPs are concerned, but still a way to go for local points. I think I had about 5,000 LPs from my student days, but never registered any, more’s the pity.
- EBU Grading: The new scheme was introduced in March 2012, and my initial grading – at the end of a purple patch – of “Ace of Diamonds” – about 260th in the country and in the top 10 in Essex, was somewhat flattering. Subsequently, things have declined a lot, and I meandered down from an “Ace of Clubs” to an “8”, though now am back to a “Q”. Not that it’s at all accurate, and is somewhat volatile. See EBU: NGS for full details of the scheme.
- Summary of Progress to Date: I’ve hived off the history to a separate document1, recently updated.
- Further Details: of time expenditure against task are given below, extracted from the relevant version of my Summary Task List2 (which is regularly updated between Quarterly Status Reports).
Bridge (Total Hours = 246)
- Bridge - Reading / Writing (Total Hours = 18)
- Bridge - Admin (Total Hours = 14)
- 2Q13 Status Reports (1.25 hours)
- Bridge - Brighton Congress Investigations and Organisation (0.75 hours)
- Bridge - Convention-Card update (Linda) (1 hour)
- Bridge - Discussions with Dave Turner (0.5 hours)
- Bridge - Email to Angie (0.25 hours)
- Bridge - Email to Dave Turner (0.5 hours)
- Bridge - Email to David (0.5 hours)
- Bridge - Email to Russell (0.25 hours)
- Bridge - Hutton SIMS Organisation (2.75 hours)
- Bridge - Seniors Investigation (0.25 hours)
- Bridge - Strong Diamond Convention-Card update (1.25 hours)
- Bridge - Website Update (1.5 hours)
- Bridge - Year Planning, Investigations and Organisation (3.25 hours)
... See "Admin - Bridge - Admin"
- Bridge - Play (Total Hours = 123.5)
- Bridge - Bernie's (David Tennet) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - Brighton Swiss Pairs (Dave Turner) (16 hours)
- Bridge - Essex/Herts Swiss Pairs (David Tennet) (7 hours)
- Bridge - Hutton (Angie) (3.5 hours)
- Bridge - Hutton (David Tennet) (13 hours)
- Bridge - Mayflower (David Tennet) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - Mayflower (Ray) (3.5 hours)
- Bridge - Metropolitan Cup (Linda) (6 hours)
- Bridge - Mountnessing (Dave Turner) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - Mountnessing (David Tennet) (32.5 hours)
- Bridge - Mountnessing (Linda) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - St. Edith's (Angie) (9.5 hours)
- Bridge - St. Edith's (Dave Turner) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - St. Edith's (Linda) (9.25 hours)
- Bridge - St. Edith's (Linda) - Cancelled (0.25 hours)
- Bridge - St. Edith's (Mike) (6.75 hours)
... See "Admin - Bridge - Playing"
- Bridge - Study (Total Hours = 90.5)
- Bridge - Email to Margaret (0.25 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (Angie) (2 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (Dave Turner) (13.25 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (David Tennet) (23.5 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (Linda) (6.5 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (Mike) (2.25 hours)
- Bridge - Session Reviews (Ray) (1.25 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Angie) (2.5 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Dave Turner) (11.25 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Linda) (6 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Mike) (1.5 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Ray) (3.25 hours)
- Bridge - Systems Review (Strong Diamond) (17 hours)
... See "Admin - Bridge - Study"
Plans for the Near Future:
- Read a bunch of books and papers recently acquired on the topic of counting the hand, namely:-
… "Bourke (Tim) & Smith (Marc), Bird (David) - Countdown to Winning Bridge"
… "Kelsey (Hugh) & Glauert (Michael) - Bridge Odds for Practical Players"
… "Lawrence (Mike) - How to read your opponents' cards: The bridge expert's way to locate missing high cards"
… "Baston (Jim) - Memory Systems at Bridge"
… "Doroshow (Bill) - The One That Got Away"
… "Frick (Robert) - The Subtle Joy of Counting (at Bridge)"
… "Kniest (Tom) - Count, count, count (at Bridge)"
… "Schamehorn (Danny) - Danny’s Musings and the Joy of Counting in Bridge"
… "Schutzman (Howard) - Counting Distribution (at Bridge)"
… "Walker (Karen) - Developing Counting Skills (at Bridge)"
- Study books by Victor Mollo in order to improve my declarer play and defence, especially:-
… "Mollo (Victor) - Case for the Defence".
- Read (or complete) a few books recommended by Dave:-
… "Lawrence (Mike) - The Complete Book on Overcalls at Contract Bridge".,
… "Kelsey (Hugh) - Deceptive Plays in Bridge", and
… "Lawrence (Mike) - How to Play Card Combinations".
- Play in local clubs
… Weekly with David,
… Weekly with Ray (if available),
… Monthly with Linda and Mike, as available,
- Play in tournaments, with David, as below.
Future competitions in 4Q13
There are 6 likely possibilities:-
- Saturday 5th October: Felixstowe Pairs, with David.
- Tuesday 22nd October: 1st Round NICKO, with David (and Mike + Catriona).
- Sunday 27th October: Kent Swiss Teams, with David (and Sandy & Robert).
- Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd November: EBU Seniors3 Congress, Daventry, with David.
- Sunday 10th November: Essex “C” versus Norfolk, Barleylands, with David.
- Friday 27th – Monday 30th December: EBU Year-End Congress. Partner(s) TBA.
In-Page Footnotes
Footnote 3: My first year eligible for “Seniors” events.
Live Version of this Archived Note
Table of 12 Earlier Versions of this Note (of 45)
Table of 12 Later Versions of this Note (of 47)
| This version updated |
Reference for this Topic |
Parent Topic |
| 16/10/2013 20:08:10 |
784 (Status: Bridge (2013 - September)) |
Status: Summary (2026 - June) |
Summary of Notes Links from this Page
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Summary of Note Links to this Page
To access information, click on one of the links in the table above (if any).
Text Colour Conventions
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026