Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

Good food, fine wine and some bridge: Ari and Peter look like they enjoyed it

Saxon Team winners: Winners of the inaugural Saxon Teams event - Matamata consisting of Ian Bond, Lesley Quilty, Sonia Crawford and Lynette Morgan

Laurie and Pamela: Laurie and Pamela winning Mokena Championship with Laurie also taking out the Auckland Cup

Malcolm wins some trophies: New kid on the block, Malcolm Kirkby won most promising and the Te Aroha handicap cup.

Commemorating Greg and Francie Saxon: Anna introduces Anne Pouwels (nee Saxon) who presented the Saxon cup in memory of her family's long association with the Te Aroha bridge club.

Christmas Dinner: The clubrooms were rocking last Tuesday night:)

sorry everybody - it looks like I went over my 1 Gig data allowance and didn't post the results online BUT they were posted on xclub ....

Hopefully you all had a good night:) Congrats Judith & Anne .. and Lesley and Sonia the burglars from Matamata that taught us all a lesson in playing good bridge.

Cheers
Anna

It is great to see several players recently received their Certificate of Proficiency.

cert of proficiency: Shirley

Congratulations to Shirley Townsend who was on hand to receive her certificate last week, but also good to see Mark Kooter and Foster Kalma have also reached the first rank on the NZ Bridge rungs.

The ranks relate to the amount of A or B points earned in either club play or tournaments. A full explanation about what the ranks mean and how to achieve them can be accessed via the NZ Bridge website: http://www.nzcba.co.nz/master-points-explained.html

Cambridge are hosting another round of Jane Stearn's nesting pairs programme starting 6th March and running fortnightly on a Sunday evening until the end of May.

nesting pairs
The programme is designed for a pair at good junior/intermediate level to take their partnership to the next level.

The programme will be run from the Cambridge club, costs $30 for the entire course and Jane invites anybody keen to contact her to discuss suitability on janelawrence50@hotmail.com.

Further details on the programme are in the attached flyer or on the Cambridge website (www.cambridge.bridge-club.org).

Congratulations to Austin and Barb who won the 4th round of the Mini Moos series of relaxed Sunday afternoon tournaments held in Putaruru on 8 November.
Mini Moos Winners
They finished first well clear of the chasing pack with 85 IMPs, their nearest rivals on just 70. More photos from the event are on the Putaruru Bridge Club website under the Mini Moos tab, Results. http://www.south-waikato.bridge-club.org/

The Morrinsville Club are hosting a heat of the Babich NZ Wide Pairs at their clubrooms on Friday November 6th starting at 7.30pm. Cost is $10 and will include a delicious supper.

The event is unique in that there are approximately 55 clubs from around NZ that take part and players can win A points on a local, regional and NZ basis once their scores are collated.

Another great feature is a booklet that is provided regarding the hands following the event.

Full details are in the attached poster. Note you should register directly with Morrinsville on morrbridge@xtra.co.nz.

Matamata Bridge Club is holding a Melbourne Cup afternoon on Tuesday 3rd November.

Start time 12.30pm

Play Bridge 1.15 - 4.30pm

4.30 nibbles and wine

$5 table money

Best hat competition

$2 sweep stakes

Attached is the flyer ... EVERYONE WELCOME!!

A stellar first session at the Hamilton Congress intermediate tournament in Hamilton saw Laurie Belfield and Beth Vosper take a comfortable win after both sessions with fellow local Anna Kalma coming in second with Hamilton-based partner Mark Thompson.

The Hamilton Congress included a three-day competition for open players and on the Monday, Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond finished an excellent third in the Swiss Pairs against a strong field.

Following on from the Matamata Intermediate tournament where the director, Ed Roggeveen, was queried by a player regarding their opponents deviating from their system card. Ed has written a fine account on when deviants are allowed ... and when it isn't kosher at the bridge table.

The article can be accessed via the following link http://www.teawamutu.bridge-club.org/blogs/ed15oct

Well done Malcolm Kirkby and Peter Daffurn the only locals [well sort of] on show at the Waikato Bays Novice Tournament in Matamata.

They pulled off two consistent sessions to win by 2% average overall from Putaruru Pair of Rodney Vercoe & Dexter Morgan with Cariss Oliver and Karen Harper rounding off the podium.

Novice winners

The tournament was ably controlled by Rona Driscoll. And it got off to a great start with the ability to watch the World Cup rugby match between All Black's versus France. The timing was perfect - 15 minutes after the whistle (in the rugby) we were able to kick off the bridge:)