Matamata Intermediate Tournament

And .... they're off.

Looks like Bathurst didn't put off bridge players coming to Matamata to play in the Intermediate Tournament in the weekend.

A full room of 18 tables turned up. Up for grabs is not only kudos of winning the 5B tournament but also the Intermediate League is still anybody's with just one tournament to go in the event ... and for everybody else there is the lunch and atmosphere to look forward to.

Winners Matamata Intermediate

Well done Pamela Pederson and Bren Birrs from Mt Maunganui after two strong sessions.

Mark and Jeffrey

Second place Jeffrey Chang and Mark Thomson from Hamilton retained top spot on the Intermediate League ladder with one round left to play.

Catherine and Joyce

Catherine Ward and Joyce Reid of Rotorua were in third place.

Graham and John

Graham Saunders and John Little from Waikato 4th.

Cathy Nolen and Karen Thomson
Cathy Nolen and Karen Thomson from Hamilton 5th.

Susan and Ross
Top Juniors Ross and Susan Provan from Putaruru.

Joanne and Judith

Best of the Matamata mob; Joanne Swanwick and Judith Howard who ended up 7th.

Topping the field after session one were Joyce Reid and Catherine Ward from Rotorua with an impressive 68% who were just ahead of Graham Saunders and John Little from Waikato club who were sitting in the same North South direction. Topping East West were Mt Maunganui's Bren Birrs and Pamela Pederson with 64% with Hamilton pair Mark Thompson and Jeffrey Chang coming into second place.

A review of the hand records showed that there wasn't a lot to get excited about in session 1 ... unless you enjoy playing and defending part contracts ... although for East West pairs there was however a bit of excitement which came in the form of a biddable grand slam on board 9; Well done to the three pairs who bid and made 7 diamonds.

Board 9 from the morning session DLR N VUL E-W:

	T86 J4 98 KQJ632
K74 AKQ53 AKT76		A93 T QJ543 AT84
	QJ52 98762 2 975

Full room at the Matamata Intermediate

Lynette Morgan Directs

In the afternoon session there seemed to be a lot more games on offer in both directions - although there was one board that was proving to be problematic for some;

Board 4 from the afternoon session DLR W VUL both:

	T754 7532 95 T63
986 J64 KQT86 42		2 Q8 A742 AKQ985
	AKQJ3 AKT9 J3 J7

South sitting there with 19 points and both majors covered must've been pretty confident in finding game somewhere when they picked up their hand ... whilst East with 15 points but only 5 losers would also be bidding competitively. It turned out to be a lucrative board for many E/W pairs who were doubled in a part score clubs or diamonds.