Locals feature in the end of year rankings
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.
Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year
Remember that Matamata is hosting a New Year's Eve Bridge party on 31st December.
It will kick off at 7.30pm and open to anybody and you don't need a partner BUT you need to let Hermanna know whether you are attending so she can sort a suitable festive movement.
No cost but bring something to share (drink and eat).
Contact Hermanna on 07 8873 781 if you intend to play.
Social Bridge starts again in the New Year in Matamata on Wednesdays afternoons from the 4th January at 1pm- 3pm with partners drawn on arrival. It will be back to normal picnic bridge from 10.30am from the 18th January.
The first Thursday night will be the 19th January and the first two weeks will be partners not required and drawn on arrival.
The first Monday Night is Jan 30th
And Te Aroha will start earlier than usual from Tuesday 10th at 7.15pm and Friday Day sessions will start February (will advise date closer to the time).
Have a safe and happy holidays as we want to see you back at the table in 2017!
Xmas Party 2016
A great end to the Matamata Thursday night bridge calendar with lots of people entering the spirit of things.
Xmas Party
Top scratch pairs were Kathy and Ken Yule and Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond whilst once the handicaps had been applied top of the ladder were Michelle Smith and Jill Ireland along with Joe and Barbara Keys.
A great night was had by all who attended.
Recent Competition Winners and what's happening in December
Two major competitions concluded this week at the Matamata Bridge Club.
The Dora Hammond Tray which is a handicap competition held over 7 weeks and played with all different partners concluded on Wednesday. Beth Vosper outplayed a big field of enthusiasts with an average score of 57.29. Elaine Saywell was the runner up. The Thursday night Handicap Championships has been keenly contested and our Secretary Joan Darby-Smith and Stella Macilquham managed to stave off all the challenges to win by a small margin from Judith Howard and Ross McIntrye. Joan & Stella recorded 407.47 points over the seven sessions with an average of 58.21%. Ross and Judith pulled out all stops on the final night to win that round with 64.77 % but could not catch the leaders and finally recorded 57.07%. Michele Smith and Jill Ireland were third.
End of year Program
Monday Night Nov. 28th Final night of Championships. Committee Shout.
Wednesday Nov. 30th. Round 1 of Christmas two day match. BYO Lunch as usual.
Thursday Dec 1st Final Night-Christmas Celebration.
A small plate for shared supper. 1 Plate per pair. No table money . $50 Raffle.
Wear an outrageous tie or gaudy beads & ear rings. This applies to men or women.
Christmas spirit to be available. Prizes both handicap and gross.
Wednesday Dec 7th. Picnic Bridge Christmas Party. Red Letter Day. Wear something red. Christmas spirit to be available.
No table money, but optional 5.00 gift. Prize Giving for Wednesday competitions. A plate for shared lunch. Prizes both handicap and gross.
Thursday 8th December at 7.30pm.
Your Bridge Club’s A.G.M. and Prize Giving.
Be there to support your club.
New Friday session at Te Aroha now next year
Friday bridge sessions will resume next year ... too many people unavailable in the run up to Christmas/New Year.
Will advise in the New Year when Tuesday evening holiday bridge and Friday day bridge resumes.
Congratulations Jacob
Well done Jacob Kalma; named as non travelling reserve in the NZ Youth Team to play Australia in January 2017 along with his Auckland playing partner Jeremy Fraser-Hoskin.
Jacob
Recent tournament success
Well done to our our newest Matamata members; Kathy and Ken Yule who combined with Michael Ware and David Skipper to take out the 10A teams event at the Hamilton congress in the weekend against a strong field.
Kathy and Ken's Team
In other events at Congress, Sonia and Lesley finished up in the top third of the field of the Swiss Pairs on the Monday coming in 9th out of 30. However, other Piako members failed to fire!
Gilligan-Barclay Trophy decided
Last night was the final night of the four week competition between the Te Aroha and Thames clubs vying for the Gillgan Barclay Trophy.
Jena and Joe: Jena Robinson and Joe Silcock receive the Gilligan Barclay Trophy from Carol Crowfoot - Thames President
This year it was won by Jena Robinson and Joe Silcock who averaged 62% over the four nights with Tim Rigter and Anna Kalma from Te Aroha coming second.
It is a great event with each club vying to out compete each other with food and wine (think it was a tie this year!). Great to see full rooms at both venues and if the rumour of Waihi joining us next year is correct - we hope that the event will get bigger and better in 2017.
Full room at Te Aroha
October Newsletter
Click on the link below for the latest Matamata Bridge Club newsletter. Includes information on the latest tournament, new members to the club, stayman and transfer lessons as well as the programme for the much anticipated Melbourne Cup Day ...
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:
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T86
J4
98
KQJ632
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:
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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.