Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

The Citizens Advice Bureau will receive a nice donation thanks to the generosity of the visitors and locals who supported the raffle and “White Elephant” auction on Benefit Night.

Unfortunately the set up for scoring didn't quite go to plan so competitive bridge became social bridge and winning a prize depended entirely on luck. Many thanks must go to the visitors from Morrinsville, Putaruru and TeAroha who took the situation in good humour and enjoyed the delicious supper and willingly supported the auction.

The Waihou Shield is the coveted trophy for the interclub teams competition between Matamata and Putaruru. Putaruru have dominated the competition in the past but this year Matamata were convincing winners. Four junior/intermediate teams from each club competes in this afternoon of bridge which has become an annual event.

The Putaruru pairing of Eileen Barker and Ann Berben were the top pair on the day but the more consistent scoring by the Matamata teams gave them enough points to take the trophy.

The highest scoring team for Matamata were June Thomson, Jim Anelay, Tony Pearson and Stella Macilquham.

Waihou Trophy victors: Stella proudly displays the Waihou Shield in front of some of the Matamata contingent.

Congratulations to June Zhu and Malcolm Kirkby who came out joint winners at the first in the Mini Moos series hosted in Morrinsville today. June kindly donated her prize to a beginner from lessons this year. Both Malcolm and June scored 100 IMPS in the 12 board relaxed social session. Many congratulations to them both. 43 beginners or players new to the game without a Certificate of Proficiency took part. They came from all around the Waikato region.

Congratulations to the Chinese destroyers (oh and Richard Solomon) who came and conquered at the Te Aroha Spa Town Teams. Team Solomon (Richard, Gary Chen, William Liu & George Sun) were up against their nemesis and eventual runners-up Team Jones (Barry Jones, Jenny Millington, Patrick Carter and Kenneth Yule) and managed a sizeable win over in their last set giving them an eventual 5VP win.

The day ended with a bit of confusion due to adjustments required due to two misdealt boards which caused a delay in the final placings and unfortunately the announced placings were deemed incorrect after some further analysis.

Third place eventually went to team Harris (Mike Barton, Karen Harris, John and Rona Driscoll).

The intermediate section was won by our emergency team from Putaruru: Eileen Barker, Anne Berben, Maria Leach & Ross Provan.

Intermediate winners: Intermediate Section winners from Putaruru

Thanks to everybody from the club who had a hand in helping out with the raffles and organisation on the day. Also thanks to all the people who played on the day. We are in awe of the calibre of bridge players who come down to Te Aroha to support our Spa Town Tournament.

Results are available on the Xclub site available here..

Spa Town teams: play

After a few last minute dropouts due to frosty conditions, an eventual turnout of 12 tables competed at the Matamata 5A Open in the weekend. The field was a mix of veteran locals and enthusiastic intermediates who mixed it with some of the best in the region which included NZ representatives and NZ's newest Grandmaster in Yuzhong Chen.

The director was Rona Driscoll and she wisely decided against going for three sessions opting for a 28 board Mitchell in the morning and splitting the field into two Howell sections playing 33 boards in the afternoon.

Top of the billing at the lunch break was Yuzhong Chen and Herman Yuan who sat East West and Kate McFadyen and Gwynn Lobb who took NS honours.

The afternoon's play had Karen Harris and Ian Clayton top of Section A howell and locals Lesley Quilty and Heather Kneebone taking honours at the other side of the room.

Once weightings had been added to take into account the differing number of boards played in each session; the overall victors were Karen Harris and Ian Clayton from Hamilton, Christine and Jenna Gibbons came in second and the best locals Heather Kneebone and Lesley Quilty finished in third place.

Apologies for the lack of photo's of the day and those who finished on the podium ... The lure of the roast dinner and a glass of wine at the RSA following play took precedence over the need to record events for prosperity!

Results available via the results tab: http://www.piako.bridge-club.org/resultmam

Just when I thought some of the newish players are coming to grips with sacrifice bids, I stumble across the following summary of the contract played on Tuesday Night at Te Aroha bridge club. 4600 points - in case anybody was wondering what 8 light redoubled and vulnerable was worth:)

sacrifice bid?

At the very least, I admire their gumption although I do wonder what the partner was thinking!

Just click on the X Club tab to the left of this screen under Results for details of today's WAP heat at Morrinsville. The commentary and photos can be found under the WAPS tab at the top of this page.

A huge turn out of 20 tables competed at the Morrinsville Open 8B tournament this weekend.

Heather Kneebone and Lesley Quilty topped the field with an impressive average of 64 against strong opposition. A great result:)

The other notable performance from locals was a fine 7th from Tim Rigter and Victor Kooter. Victor was the only junior featuring in the top half of the field and they were the top non-open pairs.

Attached are the final placings.

We received sad news that Allan Barclay of Thames died on Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. Allan was instrumental in organising and running the Thames summer festival of bridge, was a recent NZ Bridge board member and also proactive in organising interclub events with Te Aroha which is where most of our new members will remember him from.

Richard Solomon from NZ Bridge has written a very fine obituary on the NZCBA website and can be accessed via the following link here.

The funeral will be held at 11am on Monday 15th June at St Francis Catholic Church in Thames.

Enjoy the results and photos from today's play by clicking on the X-Clubs Results tab to the left (7th of June in Week 23) or view the current standings by clicking here. The commentary supplied by Nick Whitten is now available to enjoy. Click on the WAP 2015 tab above. Select the Results and Commentaries option from the drop down list and enjoy his analysis of his pick of the boards today.