Anna Kalma's blog

Please note that Kathy is on holiday and will take a fortnight off and her next Thursday night Bridge Tips will be at 6.45pm on 23rd March. She will be covering card play technique; leads and signals, declarer play, defence, blocking and unblocking plays and how to execute a simple throw in and a simple squeeze over the last 4 weeks.

Checkback For the times when your partner has rebid 1NT and you want to tell them you actually have 5 of a major ... or another 4 card major. Because as we know finding your major fit should take priority...

Kathy covers the use of 2 club checkback. A great tool for unearthing the 3 card major support when stopping in 1NT might not be the best contract ...

Attached are the notes from tonight's lesson.

Bidding with your partner, not sure whether you have got a fit or what to bid next ... plus you have enough points to be looking for game? Fourth Suit forcing is what you need to learn ...

Attached are the notes from the third in Kathy's series

lessons

Lessons will start in Te Aroha on Wednesday 8th March from 7-9pm at the Te Aroha Bridge Club (opposite the Domain i-Site at 105 Whitaker Street) and will run every Wednesday evening until end of May.

The first evening is a free introduction to bridge and for those keen to carry on, the remaining lessons will cost a total of $20 which includes tuition, suppers and materials. We will also welcome those who have completed lessons in previous years but would like to brush up on certain aspects of bidding or play.

If you want to be kept informed on what is being covered each week - email Anna to be put on the communication list. For further information or to book a place in the lessons contact Anna on tearohabridge@gmail.com.

For those interested in Matamata lessons; Lessons will be kicking off on 11th April at 7pm. For those interested in booking a space for Matamata Lessons please send an email to matamatabridge@gmail.com

Oh the splinter ... something that occasionally got me in trouble in my fledging partnerships ... but with some practice and solid partnership agreements it is an excellent way of describing your hand on the way to game (and maybe slam) in the agreed suit.

Attached are the notes from Kathy's Tips for Better Bridge #2 for those who couldn't make it tonight (Thursday 16th February).

The Rule of 11 is a canny but deceptively simple bridge rule that relates to leads and helps defenders (and declarers) understand the distribution of cards according to the 4th highest opening card led from defender.

Attached is the handout explaining the rule of 11 for any of those who missed the first of Kathy's Thursday Night Lesson (the first one being Thursday 9th February).

These lessons will be held every Thursday Night from 6.45pm - 7.15pm just before Thursday Night play begins.

On Thursday nights from 6.45pm, Kathy Yule will take a 30 minute instructional for anybody who wishes to attend. The topics may be (but not limited to) things like;

Rule of 11
Rule of 15
Count and attitude
Discarding
7 diamonds ... The Beer Card (ha ha I added that one in!)
2C checkback

Kathy will take a couple of boards from the previous week's play and use this to demonstrate correct play or a new convention.

In a short break in play - Kathy demonstrated her ability to pass on knowledge in a short space of time ... ever heard of a Smith Peter convention?

This is a way of signalling attitude in defence to a No Trump contract.

It is a way of saying to your partner that you love (or hate) their lead (which is often the suit that they are trying to set up in defence as their longest suit).

	32 A8 J87 AQ93
KJ4 QJ6 T954 T82		976 KT742 K3 K74
	AQT8 93 AQ62 J65

For example in this hand, Defending against 3NT - East leads the 4 hearts, partner plays the Jack of hearts which is taken on the first round by the A of hearts. Declarer then leads the Jack of diamonds from hand which wins. West discards their 10 of diamonds showing they loved the heart lead and indicating to partner to carry on hearts when they get a chance.

If West didn't want another heart lead (didn't hold the King or Queen of hearts) they would throw a small diamond to indicate they didn't like partners initial suit lead.

That is what is called a Smith Peter convention.

Day Bridge kicks off in Te Aroha on Friday afternoons from 3rd February.

12.30pm start at the clubrooms on 105 Whitaker Street, Te Aroha (please be seated 12.15pm)

Table money is $3 and everybody (non members also) welcome.

Look forward to seeing you there. If you are coming and might be running late give me a call on 0275 183 133.

Anna

Full room at Te Aroha

Cambridge is kicking off a series of Improver Lessons from 8th February - each Thursday night from 7-9pm for the next two months.

They are making these available to any Waikato Bays members - they have just requested a gold coin donation from non Cambridge members.

These are being pitched at relatively new players and attached is a poster showing what topics will be covered and some more information.

For more information or to let them know you may attend; contact Clare Coles on pccoles@clear.net.nz

Barry Jones and Jenny Millington will be running a series of monthly sessions on Friday Nights in Hamilton for those who want to improve their bidding and playing skills and have opened these up for outside club members. The first three sessions will be at 7pm on Friday 10th Feb, 10th March and 7 April.

The first session (10th February) is primarily aimed at those who have been through beginners courses in the last couple of years. It will start with a short refresher on what you've already been taught. They will talk about bidding with points and without them and follow it up with playing some boards and discussion.

Turn up on the night with $5 and bring your own drinks if you wish for a social session/discussion afterwards.

thames winners: Noel Griggs, Grant Jarvis & Ken Yule

A great result for Matamata trio - Noel, Kathy and Ken who teamed up with Grant Jarvis from Auckland to win the prestigious John Eldridge Teams event at the first major tournament of 2017 in Thames.

Unfortunately Kathy was absent from the photos and my efforts to photoshop her into the photo above were less than convincing ... probably best to just refer to her photo in the following blog for reference.

Well done you three - great to have Matamata on the podium...It was also encouraging to see around 12 other members from Te Aroha and Matamata taking part in the tournament which attracts around 140 players from the greater North Island. This included juniors taking part in the 8B multigrade teams as well as others in the open teams and walk in pairs.

The end of year rank reports and Baden Wilson awards have been issued by NZ Bridge and are available on the NZBridge website

Kathy

Great to see some local names; Kathy Yule features on the Baden Wilson list (those earning the highest number of A points within NZ in the past year) and also ranked 7th highest female silver Grand Master in the country with regards to Masterpoints earned in the past year.

Noel Grigg was 2nd highest in the Life Master ranking which is the rank below Grand Master ... great result considering Noel has only recently returned to playing bridge in NZ.

Malcolm Kirkby also featured in the Club Master rankings at 9th equal of the males - also impressive considering Malcolm has only been seriously playing for a couple of years.

You can also check your own rankings, ratings and Master points here.

To understand what ranking, grades and Masterpoints mean and how they are calculated - there is an excellent article under snippets to the left hand side of this website.