Latest News

Last week on StepBridge, Annegrete and I had this interesting hand which highlighted several bidding issues when possibly searching for slam. 

Annegrete opened 2D (multi), I followed with 2NT (strong enquiry), then 3D from Annegrete (8-10 pts with 6 Spades). This was followed by a lead directing double from the opponents which worried me as I had 3 quick diamond losers in my hand.

At this stage I bailed into 4S knowing there was a good chance we should be higher but that we had no agreement in place about which further bids would show agreement of suit and be showing controls rather than be natural.

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Recent results:  

Congratulations this week to Bronwyn Neal and Lynne Talmont for placing 1st E/W and 2nd overall (from 56 pairs) in Sunday’s ABF Novice Pairs event. Well done!

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There was a huge turnout including a few PBC pairs.

Noleen Cregan and Suzanne Cole did very well to come third in the Restricted section.

I played with Patrick Starck (who is stranded in New Caledonia) and we did not do very well in the Open section.

In the first round we played a pair who were designated as ‘world class’. In the second round we played a pair designated as ‘expert’. We were completely annihilated in the second round and Kim Morrison kindly remarked that it was ‘good practice’ for us.

I spent a while wondering if I could make 4H on this board (after going 1 off). 

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Grace's daughter, Robyn Berry, sent us the following: "I hope this message gets to you okay. Mum had lots of friends at the bridge club and it would be nice if you could put it in the newsletter that she turned 100 today as I am sure they would love to know . She still lives in her own unit in Bayview Gardens and keeps okay."

Member and neighbour, Linda Westphal, reported: "She wasn't 100% and waved to us from her window. She was meant to take a ride through part of the Village where she lives but about twenty of us and staff waved to her from across the street. We had great fun waving to her and singing Happy Birthday. The staff had dressed in very bright tutus making it a colourful event."

Following ABF negotiations with BBO, we are now able to host our own online bridge sessions for Peninsula members and their friends. Hosting these events will allow us to avoid the recent trial game incidents of members being blocked and strangers joining our games.

Our club hosted tournaments will also earn masterpoints, even if only 12 boards long.

To make this happen and to sustain the club there will be a table money cost payable on BBO, with this shared between BBO and Peninsula. BBO allows you to establish a credit balance of BB$ and use this for tournaments like ours. For a standard 18 board match the table money would be BB$2.50 (or slightly less than $4), cheaper than most club tournaments on BBO. 

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What are Bridge Base Dollars?

Bridge Base Dollars (BB$) are like pre-paid entry fees for use on BBO (BridgeBase.com). 

They are added to your account primarily when you purchase BB$. They are deducted from your account when you purchase entry to tournaments, as well as when you rent a robot, and so on.

Note - BB$ are not cash. They are not refundable, nor can they be withdrawn as cash. BB$ purchased on the site expire three years after your username becomes inactive (no logins to BBO). 

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If you are looking for online bridge in the same format as a regular club session, with rounds with different opponents, then StepBridge is an excellent platform. I am happy to help any member get started on StepBridge - contact me on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone.

If we can get a number of Peninsula players booking in to the same StepBridge session it might almost seem like a Peninsula game online.

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Please welcome new member Pat O’Connor.

We currently have 610 members.  481 have PBC as their home club and the rest are alternates.   Cassandra Mitchell and Robin Ho have done a lot of work to get people to renew and contacting and checking with non-renewing people.  They have just sent to the ABF a list of 113 former members who have not renewed, to update their records.  Only 24 of these were members last year.