Bridge on YouTube - Wow. Did you know there's a whole lot of content on YouTube regarding bridge? Funny stuff (Bridge is Dangerous), instructive stuff (Introduction to Bridge) and just plain stuff stuff (Bill Gates plays bridge). You can see clips from Andrew Robson's latest release (Click here) or you can watch young people introduce and teach bridge concepts (Bridge Union). All I can say is, I like it! You can use the Youtube search bar and find more for yourself.

USA Recaptures Bermuda Bowl in 2009 - The team captained by Nick Nickell stormed back from a 57-1 shellacking in the second set against Italy, built a big lead then turned back every challenge by their opponents to win the most coveted prize in bridge the Bermuda Bowl. The final score was 285.33-249.
Even after winning the penultimate set 54-26, Italy needed a big showing over the final 16 deals to take back the title they have won so many times over the years. Italy made some gains against the Americans, but the set ended virtually even, 28-24 to Italy.
The victorious USA2 squad includes two first-time winners: Zia Mahmood and Ralph Katz. Nick Nickell, Bob Hamman, Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell all have multiple wins in the event, including four times as teammates.
The silver medallists are Alfredo Versace, Lorenzo Lauria, Fulvio Fantoni, Claudio Nunes, Antonio Sementa and Giorgio Duboin.

Gold for China and England - Two teams taking different routes to their respective championships became gold medal winners on Friday as China Long Zhu captured the Venice Cup and England won the D’Orsi Seniors Bowl.
The first Venice Cup victory for China they have two seconds and two thirds came in a dominating 220-148 victory against a strong American team USA2. China won five of the six sets, losing only the last 19-18 when the issue was just about settled.
  With the victory, four members of the Chinese team became World Grand Masters, the highest rank in the World Bridge Federation. They are Liu Yi Qian, Sun Ming, Wang Hongli and Wang Wenfei. Another Chinese player, Zhong Fu, also achieved World Grand Master rank in Sao Paulo.
  In contrast to China’s win, England had to come back from a serious deficit against their Seniors Bowl opponents from Poland. After falling behind 59-1 in the first set (62.67 including carryover), England knuckled down and played tough the rest of the way, particularly on Friday, when they surrendered only 47 IMPs over 48 boards to emerge with a 187-163.67 decision.
England’s win was the first in the event for a non-USA squad. The Seniors Bowl was inaugurated in 2001.

Rona Elected President of the WBF - Gianarrigo Rona, president of the European Bridge League and first vice president of the World Bridge Federation, has been elected president of the WBF. He will succeed José Damiani, WBF president for a decade and a half, at the end of 2010.
“I am honoured,” Rona said. “It is not an easy task to follow the four giants before me,” he added, referring to Damiani, WBF President Emeritus Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, Ernesto d’Orsi and Bobby Wolff, both former presidents.
Rona is a retired attorney who lives in Milan, Italy. He has a long record of service in bridge administration, starting with his election to the board of the Italian Bridge Federation in 1978. He was president of the IBF from 1986 until earlier this year. He has been EBL president since 1999.

2010 World Bridge Series goes to Philadelphia
The World Bridge series, the world’s biggest and most complex bridge competition, held bi-en-ni-al-ly, will be organized next year in Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 1-16 – the first such event to be held in the United States since 1994. Up to 100 nations are expected to participate in the world series, represented by thousands of the world’s best players competing for world titles in many categories. Read more

Bridge as a Learning Tool for Students: The principal at W.S. Guy Middle School in Liberty, Kansas has realized that bridge is the perfect game for students who want to improve math and reasoning skills. Once a week, a member of the American Contract Bridge League comes to the school to teach students the basic bridge strategies. Since bridge and other competitive card games involve a lot of counting, memorizing cards and co-operation, this is a great opportunity for kids to learn how math affects their every-day life. Instead of just writing answers in a book, the bridge class allows them to get instant feedback on their decisions. Read more here

Grand Slam : Weekly Email Publication for 2009
by Matthew and Pamela Granovetter. Find out more at bridgetoday.com

Mastering Bridge. A new website from the Master Point Press group. www.masteringbridge.com is an instructional site for teachers and students to meet.

Bridge Hand Pro. The world's first publically available Bridge Hand Database. Created by James Heneghan, you need to register but after that process is complete, you'll be able to search hands played by the world’s top bridge experts by entering their names and bids. A mammoth work no doubt!

Karen's Bridge Library. A favourite and one of the oldest bridge links site has changed its url to kwbridge.com - lots to discover and love about this site.

 

 

---