Anna Kalma's blog

Cyclone Cook has forced cancellation of bridge at Matamata tonight.

The President's Trophy competition will now be played over 5 nights of competition with the final result being based on the best 4 scores out of 5.

Stay safe and keep rugged up at home.

Due to Easter, bridge at Te Aroha on Friday afternoon is also cancelled.

Each quarter, NZ Bridge puts out a ranking report which looks at the top A & B point earners across each rank (From Gold Grand Master down to Novice).

Pleasing to see many Matamata and Te Aroha players featuring on this list ... including:

Noel Grigg: 4th ranked Life Master (male)

Anna Kalma: 5th ranked Local Master (female)

Jacob Kalma: 6th ranked Local Master (male)

Charlotte Jager: 7th equal Club Master (female)

Malcolm Kirkby: 2nd Club Master (male)

Hanna Frischknect: 10th ranked Certificate of Proficiency (female)

Well done everybody!

After playing some canny players I sometimes leave their table often with a vague feeling of being conned without understanding just quite how they pulled a fast one... or is that just me??

The best cons are those that are delivered without fanfare and only discovered once you return home and have a chance to study the hand records ...

Check out Kathy's Tips for this week around mastering declarer play which are attached!

Sonia's birthday party carries on with another celebration at the Matamata bridge club.

Sonia's Birthday at the Bridge Club: Sonia is toasted at the Matamata Bridge Club and presented with a bouquet by President, Jan Wills.

The Wednesday bridge players toasted Sonia's 90th birthday and Jan paid tribute to her long association with club and its members.

It is too early to say whether her opponents allowed her to win at the bridge table today!

addendum ... a review of todays play shows that most opponents appeared kind but a few notables weren't offering any favours to Sonia and her partner Anne Muir. They finished with a 54% scratch score and a relatively well played 3rd North South.

Malcolm Kirkby and Laurie Belfield had two very strong sessions to come third place overall at the Hamilton Restricted Tournament and top Open-Junior combination.

Laurie and Malcolm

The top three positions were very tight with less than 0.5% separating these positions. Tim Healy and Sam Armstrong from Hamilton were the eventual winners.

Also doing well were locals Anna Kalma and Charlotte Jager who were 4th and second in the Open-Junior category - just behind Malcolm and Laurie.

It was a huge field - 58 pairs which meant that the Hamilton Bridge club was being utilised to its maximum - first time in years that both rooms of the bridge club had been filled according to President Nigel Gresson

Congratulations to our local bridge doyenne, Sonia Crawford, who turned 90 last Wednesday. She celebrated at home with a steady stream of wellwishers including her family, friends, neighbours and bridge players.

Sonia Crawford

The cake was pretty amazing too! Made by her grand daughter it featured all things special about Sonia - knitting, garden, her famous shortbread and of course bridge. Sonia was particularly taken by the cake figurine overheard saying "I love how she has given me the big boobs!"

Sonia's Cake

Just like you do in attack, defensive players should take the time when dummy goes down to look at their likely tricks and make a plan of attack to get that 'setting trick' to take the contract down.

Kathy looks at defence tonight - a solid defence is the difference between a bottom board and an average one at these top tournaments (or so she keeps reminding me!!).

Her handout sheet is attached.

Look forward to seeing you tonight at 6.45pm.

Great to see Kathy back with us ready to tackle the next in her topics ... showing attitude and count.

Attitude

Unlike what the pic depicts (courtesy of one of Cynthia Clayton's hand made cards) ... attitude can be a good thing to show in bridge. It tells your partner that you love love love their lead (or loathe it) ... or lets your partner know the lie of the hands by giving count.

Attached are the notes from tonight's (Thursday 23rd March) tips for better bridge.

Two Matamata pairs did well at the weekend heat of the Waikato Area Pairs which took place in Te Awamutu.

Lesley Quilty and Sonia Crawford were top North South in the afternoon with 62.5% whilst seated East West in the same section - Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond were top with 62.15%.

Combined with their morning scores - Lynette and Ian just pipped Sonia and Lesley on the overall placing being 5th and 6th respectively on the day. Although after two heats of the competition - it is still Lesley and Sonia who are sitting 3rd on the overall ladder - just ahead of Ian and Lynette on 4th. Still four rounds to play though!

Further information and commentary about the event is on the Waikato Bays website under the WAP tab: http://www.waikatobays.bridge-club.org/wap_comment

A few people have been querying how Malcolm qualified for the Novice Tournament considering how many rating points he has ... the rules around qualifying for the novice are that they have yet to receive a Certificate of Proficiency ranking (ie 5B points) OR they have learnt bridge in the past two years . Malcolm learnt his bridge in 2015 which made him eligible.

A late flurry of entries perhaps due to the expected rain saw 7 full tables of newish players come together at the Waikato Bays Novice held in Matamata - a car load from Taupo joined other players from Te Aroha, Waihi, Putaruru,Hamilton, Morrinsville, Huntly and Waikato clubs as well as the host club Matamata.

Congratulations to Hanna Frischknecht and Malcolm Kirkby from Te Aroha club who took home the victory chocolate (and entry to the Novice event at Hamilton Congress)

Winners Malcolm and Hanna

They beat out Barbara Andrews and Lynne Boyack from Huntly and Hamilton who were second.

Second place getters Lynn and Barbara

Some pics of the players mid tournament play follow;

Waikato Bays Novice

Waikato Bays Novice

Waikato Bays Novice

Waikato Bays Novice

Waikato Bays Novice

Waikato Bays Novice