Anna Kalma's blog

The team of Michael Courtney, Rose Don, Anisia Shami and Owen Camp won the North Island Teams at Tauranga over the weekend of March 14th-15th. Michael, from Sydney, recently won a place in the Australian Open team and has been to a number of New Zealand tournaments in recent years. Rose is from Hamilton and has in the past represented New Zealand in Women’s events. Anisia and Owen are from Auckland. This certainly is their biggest achievement so far at the bridge table.

This team won the six round qualifying Swiss and won all three matches in the final to win by 7.06vps ahead of the two teams vying for places in the New Zealand Open Team. Indeed, they won 8 of the 9 matches they played. We will in a future report show some hands from the winners.

In the meantime, here are two hands from the final stages which demonstrate that opening light with both majors is often a winning tactic. The first one also shows that a hand with 19 high card points cannot always defeat a 5 level contract. Indeed, anyone who thought they could would find they conceded a doubled overtrick! Dealer North, Nil Vul.

	T83 QT 875 87652
542 AJ74 AJ9643		AKQ97 98652 T T3
	J6 K3 KQ2 AKQJ94

South	West	North	East
-	-	Pass	1
X	2	Pass	2
3	4	5	Pass
Pass	5

In theory, Owen and Anisia did well to push their opponents to the 5 level though despite having only 19 high card points, 12 tricks East-West were easy. While on a non A lead, 5 doubled goes four light, it was not obvious for East-West to defend at the 5 level. Only three of the eight tables played in a major game by East-West, most of the rest playing in a low level minor contract, indicating that the bidding did not go anything like the above.
The opening bid on the second hand should have been made on a 10 count though the opening side were to have an ugly decision to make later in the bidding (Dealer South and EW Vulnerable):

	QJ83 A985 3 KQ52
754 KJ76 KJ987 7		KT AQT6542 JT94
	A962 QT432 A863

7 of the 8 auctions reached the 5 level though five of them ground to a halt at 5doubled by East after an auction like:

South	West	North	East
1	Pass	2NT	3
4	5	X

2NT = game force, heart agreement

Should South stand the double? If they do, they had better make an inspired lead. A heart (declarer inserts the jack from dummy) or any spade or A just will not do…-750. Three tried a heart and one the A. The fifth lead is rather mysteriously described as K though the declarer was East! So, maybe South did find a miracle low lead.

Respecting one’s vulnerable opponents might have decent hands would have been a good idea but alas the one table in 5 failed to make the 11 tricks while the pair in 6, and doubled for their trouble, conceded 500. As you can see, not all those at the top get such distributional deals right. However, it does seem a good idea for South to get the ball rolling first in hand.

Did you see the best contract North – South? There is one making slam…6played by North. The club loser disappears on the fifth heart. Bidding and making that would give any bridge player a real buzz!

This appeared in the latest Hamilton Bridge club newsletter ... thanks to Jan for sharing.

Bidding

Results of the one session Restricted Tournament at Morrinsville on Friday Night follow. Also Nick said there was an Ozzie Hat and prescription sunglasses left behind. To get these back ring Nick on 07 889 7831 or via morrbridge@xtra.co.nz.

(1) Janice Bell Jenny Shaw 212.0/352 60.23 1 40

(15) Peter Daffurn Hermanna Hemmes 206.0/352 58.52 2 33

(10) Jol Glyde Ed Roggeveen 203.0/352 57.67 3= 24

(4) Diane Emms Jenny Oxley 203.0/352 57.67 3= 24

(18) Liz Clayton Clare Coles 199.0/352 56.53 5 13

(16) Jacob Kalma Adrian Wisse 193.0/352 54.83 6 7

(17) Rob Power Val Waite 190.0/352 53.98 7 0

(7) Catherine Cameron Melinda Wang 185.0/352 52.56 8 0

(5) Nelson Hodgetts Stella Macilquham 184.0/352 52.27 9 0

(2) Rex Gatenby Laurie Torr 179.0/352 50.85 10 0

(6) Judy Fitness Anne Manning 168.0/352 47.73 11 0

(14) Mary Allen Nicola Slade 167.0/352 47.44 12 0

(9) Henk Hemmes Jacquie Lonie 166.0/352 47.16 13 0

(8) Karen Nelson Jane Stearns 165.0/352 46.88 14 0

(12) Gerry Maguire Shirley Power 159.0/352 45.17 15 0

(11) Pamela Clydesdale June Zhu 154.0/352 43.75 16 0

(13) Ruentong Neave Richard Wagstaff 124.0/352 35.23 17 0

(3) Jean Burgess Lorna Youngman 111.0/352 31.53 18 0

Wow -what an opener to the Waikato Area Pairs in Matamata this weekend. An awesome turn out of 20 tables which included 19 non open pairs...

Waikato Area Pairs kicks off on Sunday

As the people kept on coming we quickly realised that 15 tables weren't enough and for the first time in many years, we nearly ran out of chairs, bridgemates and room. A good problem to have.

Winners on the day were Michael Neels and Herman Yuan who had 66.5% average across both sessions ... unlucky in second was Yuzhong and Gary who also scored in the mid 65% which on any ordinary day would have been good enough to take the cake.

Waikato Area Pairs: Herman Yuan and Michael Neels

Results are available under the Matamata Tab ... Return for Ed's Commentary of the day which should be available shortly.

Bridge Lessons kick off in Te Aroha on Wednesday the 25th February at 7pm.

New and existing members are welcome to attend - including those who are already playing who may wish to brush up on certain areas of their play.

bridge lessons

For more information contact Anna on 0275 183 133 or via email on tearohabridge@gmail.com

The Matamata quartet of Lesley Quilty, Sonia Crawford, Ian Bond and Lynette Morgan enjoyed a stellar day out at Thames last weekend.

Team Quilty

Competing in the 5A John Eldridge Teams event ... one of the first major Bridge events on the calendar in 2015. The Matamata team enjoyed 4 wins out of 5 matches in the qualifying ... including an emphatic win against the team Fisher in the fifth round - a team which was fair bursting with international players to make it through to the evening final with the top four teams from the day.

With the crème de la crème of NZ bridge playing, they did well to achieve a third place in the final. The winners were team Solomon from Auckland/Christchurch with the Carter team (Auckland/Hamilton) coming second by only a couple of IMPS with Matamata team achieving a win over Hartanger in the third/fourth playoff.

Great work Lesley, Sonia, Lynette and Ian.

Jan Wills
Not just content with just winning the Dora Hammond Trophy this year, Jan Wills also featured on the New Years Honours List gaining an OMNZ or becoming an Officer of the Order of New Zealand for services to the Beef Industry.

Her administrative work with the Hereford Association has spanned over 20 years which included holding the role of president of the NZ Hereford Association and two terms as the secretary general of the World Hereford Council - both times being the first female to hold these positions.

There is a nice story online which covers her achievements through the following link:
https://agrihq.co.nz/article/years-of-dedication-rewarded?p=12

When asked whether we will need to treat her differently at the bridge table, Jan suggested that it wouldn't hurt to hold up your aces when playing against her ... but she doesn't expect anybody to curtsey more than once on entering the room!

Congratulations Jan - we are very proud of you!

The 2015 programme started with Holiday Bridge kicking off in Matamata with 6 tables turning up keen to play on Wednesday. For the record Rita and Beth triumphed N/S and Joe and Barbara Keys won E/W on handicap.

Grab a partner and turn up by 10.20am if you are wishing to play on Wednesdays.

Reminder that Monday night starts on 2 February and Thursday on 29th January.

Te Aroha is expected to be underway on Tuesday 3 February.

Matamata members should have received their programmes in the post by now ... if not get in touch with Nelson.

There was a good turnout to celebrate the year that has been at the Matamata Bridge Club this week.

The president Lawrence Teaz, gave a run down of the years' achievements ... the Matamata Jubilee, the group of new learners, Benefit night, sponsorship of tournaments, initiation of Tuesday 'house bridge' and a consolidation of the club under his first year at the helm and we also remembered some of the members that we lost this year and will be sorely missed - namely Robyn Hancock and Pat Madill.

Matamata Prizegiving

Prizegiving followed and the photomontage shows some of the happy winners who were present to collect their trophies... Congratulations to all of the competition winners and we look forward to 2015 with anticipation!

Te Aroha Bridge Club had their Christmas Party and Prizegiving last night with guests from Matamata, Thames, Waihi and Morrinsville attending.

However, the special guest was Anne Cummins who was honoured with a Life Membership of the Club through her years of service. In fact it was the first time in 22 years that she hadn't had to organise the Xmas dinner (although she was consulted several times during the week to ensure we got it right!) The break from the bridge table also hadn't dulled her skill with her and Henk second on the night.

Prizegiving saw the main prizewinners from the year including Coral Daisley and Elaine Saywell take away the Championships, George Sherrell won the Jim Shine (first time it had been played since 2008) and Greg Saxon won the Auckland Cup.

Xmas Party

Great food, cheer followed by some rowdy bridge...