GDPR Matters

The CBAI itself, the regions, and the affiliated clubs each have a responsibility to ensure that members’ personal data is sought, used, and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You’ll find full details of what the GDPR involves on the Data Protection Commission website; we also have our own FAQ document.

We have prepared a generic GDPR-compliant form, which your club is welcome to use (you’ll need to include the name of your club, and any specific issues or considerations that apply). The CBAI has its own GDPR statement, which members are entitled to view if they wish.

Complaints Procedure

 On occasion, issues may arise within clubs or regions. Practical issues (such as awarding of prizes, eligibility criteria, the calendar) are matters for the relevant club committee, and should be raised with them. Technical issues (such as rulings and appeals) are matters for the Tournament Director, and there is a process for dealing with those. This leaves what might loosely be termed behavioural issues. The CBAI has put in place a procedure to deal with disputes of this kind, which is summarised in this document. It is strongly recommended that clubs make every effort to resolve these kind of issues locally rather than escalating them, but if that can’t be done, then the procedure gives a framework for resolution.

Using Handicaps in Your Club

 In clubs that do not have the luxury of different sections for different grades of player, it may be desirable to run a handicap system to ensure fairness across grades and give all members a chance to feature in the prizes.

There is no single best solution to the issue of how to implement a handicap system; it depends on the dynamic of the club and the grades and standards of the various members. However, for those clubs that are interested, a discussion of the issues raised by handicaps, and a sample system for use within the club, with examples, is set out in this document.

Tournament Directors

 A full list of Tournament Directors recognised by the CBAI is here.

If you are interested in becoming a Tournament Director, please keep an eye on our website for upcoming courses, or contact Bernard Higgins on (087) 9880115 or by email at bernardhiggins@gmail.com.

Tournament Director Courses & Materials

We run Tournament Director courses periodically subject to demand. To register your interest for a course, please contact Bernard Higgins on (087) 9880115 or by email at bernardhiggins@gmail.com. We also run training courses on ScoreBridge and Bridgemates from time to time; if you would be interested in either of these topics, please let Bernard know.

Competition Movements

Victory Point Scales

A calculator to generate the discrete (decimal) Victory Point scales for teams competitions is available here . Simply enter the number of boards you are intending to play and press “Generate”. A summary of the simple (non-decimal) Victory Point scales is here.

The English Bridge Union has prepared a series of flowcharts which outline, via a series of decision-tree modules, how a club TD should deal with some of the most common infractions that occur. These will be very useful to club TDs who do not wish to sign up for more advanced training. You’ll find them here.

Find A Club

These files will give you the key information on the CBAI-affiliated clubs in your area. If you would like to make contact with a club, please call us on (01) 4929666 and we will supply contact details – they are not listed here for data protection reasons. And if any of the information for your club needs to be updated, please let us know.

Carlow          Cavan          Clare          Cork East          Cork North         Cork West

Cork City            Donegal            Co Dublin South            Co Dublin North

Dublin City North       Dublin City South            Dublin West           

Galway City            Co Galway            Kerry            Kildare North

Kildare South            Kilkenny            Laois            Leitrim            Co Limerick

Limerick City            Longford            Louth            Mayo            Meath

Monaghan            Offaly            Roscommon            Sligo            Tipperary

Waterford            Westmeath            Wexford            Wicklow        Online Clubs         

Laws & Ethics

Publications on the laws of bridge are available from the CBAI’s 1STOP Bridge Shop as follows: World Bridge Federation: The Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2017 (price €10), and David Stevenson: Duplicate Bridge Rules Simplified (price €8). Every club and Tournament Director should have a copy of the laws readily available.

A full set of the laws (2017 versions) is available here. In addition, you will find some of the key laws summarised in the annual Irish Bridge Diary.

Finally, the specific rules and regulations that apply to CBAI competitions are set out here. All players are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the laws, and with the ethical standards required of them to meet the CBAI’s policy of active ethics and full disclosure. The CBAI’s rules of conduct are set out in this document.

For trials events, the International Committee has mandated that the Tournament Director should be guided by the EBU White Book on any in respect of their decision on any matter not explicitly covered in the committee’s trials notices.

Play Bridge Electronically

There lots of sites and applications that enable people to play bridge online, or on a computer, smartphone, or tablet, many of them free or very low-cost. In most cases you will be playing with robots.

BridgeBaseOnline (BBO) is the largest and best-known. You need to register, but there is no charge and no marketing. You can play online, with real people as well as robots, practice your bidding with a partner, run a teaching session, and watch top-level tournament bridge via the Vu-Graph facility. There are also a variety of tuition elements and forums. If you have never tried BBO, then you’re missing out on one of the very best bridge resources. And it’s free! Also available as an app for Android and iOS.

RealBridge is a plaform aimed at clubs and tournaments, that uses cameras and microphones to allow players to see and hear each other, to make the experience more like “real bridge”. It can also be used for teaching.

Jack is a world-champion bridge program, available on CD or via download, requiring purchase in both cases, that allows you to play with robots. It also facilitates the input of deals from a variety of other sources. It does not work with either Android or iOS, so not suitable for smartphones or tablets.

WBridge5 is another site featuring a world-champion bridge robot. This one is browser- rather than program-based, and is free though the promoters do encourage players to make a small annual contribution. It offers two 16-board tournaments every day. The site is maintained by a French group, so the website default is in French.

Funbridge is available for Windows or Mac, and as an app for Android and iOS. There is limited free usage; thereafter a subscription is required.

Q-Plus Bridge computer bridge program, available via download or CD, for a charge.

SharkBridge is another site featuring a world-champion bridge robot. Available for Mac, Windows, and as apps for Android and iOS. There is limited free usage; thereafter a subscription is required.

Bridge-Now is another site featuring a bridge robot. This one is browser- rather than program-based.

No Fear Bridge is a site aimed at education, with a variety of online learning activities for beginners and improvers. The UK site uses the Acol bidding system and there is also an American-style version.

Blue Chip Bridge software for bridge tuition and practice. This one is delivered by CD.

Bridge Baron is another site featuring a world-champion bridge robot. Available for Mac, Windows, and as apps for Android and iOS. Purchase required.

Irish Bridge Links

CBAI Regions, Clubs, & Congresses:

Links to the websites of CBAI regions, clubs, and congresses (where known) are included in the relevant sections of this website. If we haven’t included your details, please let us know them and we will do so.

CBAI Tournament Directors Pages:

Fearghal O’Boyle

Diarmuid Reddan

Irish Bridge Bodies:

Irish Bridge Union (IBU)

Irish Youth Bridge Committee (IYBC)

Irish Bridge Teachers:

Thomas MacCormac YouTube Channel variety of entertaining and instructive bridge videos, both analysis and tuition.

World Bridge Bodies

American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) – the ACBL makes its teaching resources available online (but note that these are based on the Standard American system rather than the Acol one used for teaching beginners in Ireland)

Bridge Great Britain (BGB)

English Bridge Union (EBU) – this site has an excellent section on Minibridge, a method of introducing people to the game, widely used with beginners, especially in schools

Australian Bridge Federation (ABF)

Welsh Bridge Union (WBU)

Scottish Bridge Union (SBU)

Northern Ireland Bridge Union (NIBU)

Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF)

New Zealand Bridge (NZB) – this site makes available a good set of teaching materials for beginners using the Acol system

World Bridge Tour  (WBT)

World Bridge Federation (WBF)

European Bridge League (EBL)

Bridge Applications & Publications

Applications & Software:

ScoreBridge widely-used duplicate bridge scoring program for clubs. Small annual licence fee required.

Deep Finesse free interactive double-dummy hand analyser that allows users to find the best line of play or defence on any deal.

Dealmaster Pro online deal generator for teachers, clubs, and players. Can link to Deep Finesse (for analysis) or BridgeBaseOnline (for play). Small one-off purchase fee required.

Suitplay free program that determines the optimal line of play for suit combinations.

Bridge Composer hand editing and commentary program. Small one-off purchase fee required.

Playbridge free computer hand generating program. You can generate hands randomly, or use parameters for points and/or distribution. You can see, print, or save the hands you produce, and can export them to a file for use elsewhere.

Information & Commentary:

Bridgewinners online bridge discussion forum, including a facility to post bidding or lead problems for a user vote. Mainly American in orientation.

Richard Pavlicek website with free articles, quizzes, simulators, bidding practice exercises, and teaching material.

New Tricks Bridge Club online resource dedicated to bringing bridge to the widest possible audience, through in-depth tutorials, teaching programmes aimed at schools, and entertaining gameplay and analysis from some of the world’s greatest players.

Karen Walker website with free articles and teaching material.

Great Bridge Links bridge news site with links to everything that’s happening in the bridge world.

ECats Bridge home of simultaneous pairs events across the world, including our own IBU Sims (November), CBAI Sims (March), and Celtic Nations Sims (May). If your club does not currently participate but would like to, just give us a call on (01) 4929666.

Publications:

Newbridgemag free bridge magazine edited by Mark Horton with contributions from some of the world’s top bridge players and journalists.

Master Point Press Canadian firm which is probably the world’s leading bridge publishing house. Please note that we do not necessarily carry all their stock in the CBAI’s 1STOP Bridge Shop.

The Bridge World the oldest continuously published bridge magazine (founded by Ely Culbertson) and widely regarded as the game’s premier journal. Subscription required; also publishes books.

 

Rules of Conduct & Enjoyment in Bridge

The CBAI has prepared this document which summarises the rules of conduct that apply to our members.

We also have a quick summary of the key things to bear in mind to make sure that you, and your partner and opponents, all enjoy your game of bridge.

Library

The CBAI maintains a small library of bridge books and related material, which is located in our office in Templeogue, and may be consulted by members of the Association, at no charge.  We do not lend out material as a general rule, although exceptions may be made in particular circumstances.  Users are responsible for ensuring that materials are kept in the condition in which they were found.

We also gratefully take bequests and donations of unwanted bridge materials, so if you or a loved one have no further need for a collection, please let us know – bridge-related material only, please.

Our thanks to Dermot O’Brien for having initially catalogued our collection of books, and to Martin Carroll for updating the catalogue subsequently. We also have a large number of pamphlets and other items of historical interest, which will be catalogued when resources permit.

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