Back to the Future – Internet Adventure Part 10

With the NABC over and fewer bridge distractions it is time to turn my attention back to bridge on the Internet.  As I have started this time I have received a number of emails from bloggers (thank you, I really do appreciate it) who suggested I have a look at their sites.

The first site today is Bridgevaria, an online bridge magazine from the Netherlands.  (As a bonus you can see the site in Dutch if you want.)  It is produced by Ed Hoogenkamp, Peter van der Linden and Pien Steringa.  To start with this site is very attractively designed.   While it is still early days for this site they are adding material fairly frequently and the material is of very good quality and lots of fun.  I will bookmark this site and visit it again.

The first section are all things for you to do and it is called bridge for play. There is lots to do and it is of good quality but warning, most of it won’t be very challenging for experts.

I start with a look at is a small collection of puzzles presented by Dutch junior international Frank Visser, I did like both the declarer play and defense problems although I didn’t find them very difficult.

The puzzles are rated by star and I decide that the two three star puzzle are probably the toughest so naturally I start with that them.  The first problem doesn’t take me much time.  I look at the one star problem and it turns out to be of the same difficulty and of the same basic type.

Here is the first three star declarer problem for you.  Check the website if you want to see the solution.

♠ A 2

♥ K 8

♦ A 10 8 7 6

♣ K Q J 3

♠ 6

♥ 9 2

♦ K 9 5

♣ A 10 9 8 6 5 2

They have an interesting feature called What Went Wrong.  You are shown the bidding at the table which definitely doesn’t lead to the optimal result and ask to assign the blame and an even cuter feature called 1,2,3 where you have to decide which hand most closely fits partners bidding.  Unfortunately I don’t know what system they are playing.  (Do they have Bridgevaria Standard on the site somewhere?)

I can’t resist the next section” take over from the start.”  Here you are sitting behind a top player and you have to take over from him at “the moment supreme”.  Maybe I shouldn’t try the three star problem but I do.  I get to be Polish star Michal Kwiecien and I am playing against Meckwell in Bermuda at the 2000 Bermuda Bowl.  Sorry guys but I found this problem trivial.  I think you might have to revisit your ratings.  Still I like the idea a lot.

There are too other fine sections as well quizzes and varia (miscellaneous).

The second half of the web site includes bridge to read.  I check out books which is basically a set of ads but I do find one interesting ad for “The Simpson” playing cards which are designed to teach children how to play bridge.  But the sections on great hands and on blunders are fun.  You can also send in questions and they will be answered online by Ed or Peter.

Peter van der Linden

They also have a section on stories but it is blank waiting for you to send them your stories.  I think I might send them some.  You all know I have lots of them.

The next site is very different.  Howard Bigot-Johnson’s Bizarre World of Bridge.  It is a new blog and it seems to be frequently updated with 15 blogs in July.  Is that his real name?  I leave it for you to decide but here is his bio

I’m an unrecognized bridge genius who is forever thwarted by hapless clueless bumble dogs, who despite their bungled attempts to bid and play the cards properly always manage to stick one across me.

(That’s him not me although lately ….)

This site is designed to have fun for both the bloggers and the readers.  You have to decide if this is your sort of fun.  The column for Monday August 3 was a list of bridge books that ought to have made it …  It is a game that Ray and I have tried from time to time.  Here are my entries from his list.

Going For The Risky Overtricks……………………….Shirley Knott

Winning At Bridge Makes Me Laugh…………………..Ben Tubble

Honeymoon Bridge……………………………………….Candice B. Love

It does give me a chuckle.  I liked some blogs better than others but it is definitely worth a visit especially when you have had a bad session.  Check out the August 2 blog, The Perfect Bridge Partner.

You may have noticed that we are carrying a blog feed from Peggy Kaplan on our home page.  Pehht seems to be a fairly frequent blogger.  Her website is Minnesota Bridge.  Besides the blog she has a number of other features and she is a great spokesman.  Her blogs have lots of picture (as you may notice from my blogs I like that).  Here is her picture of the Mini Spingold II winners from MInnesota.   Congratulations guys.

I did also find out that Peggy who holds exactly 11294.39 master points has the most in Minnesota.  But the blog is the thing.

Besides the booster stuff Peggy does write about her own experiences.  I liked her story Giant Killers for a day about her experiences in the Open GNT.  Her story about being selected as opponents by Larry Cohen is very funny.  There they were going against a tough team with one last set to go, leading by 1 imp.  Don’t miss the inspiring story by her teammate “My Apollo Creed” about the last match.  It starts out in the year 2000, really.

Believe it or not I have now reviewed 56 bridge websites.  Most of them worthwhile.

Reviewed: Bridgevaria, Bizarre World of Bridge Peggy Kaplan