Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

Congratulations to Henk and Hermanna Hemmes and Jacob Kalma.

Henk and Hermanna (along with John and Rona Driscoll from Taupo) competed at the week long congress and took home the prize for top team henk and hermanna playing at teamsless than 150 A points.

JAcob competed with the Waikato Youth Team and they came a creditable fourth. As Jacob said, we played pretty good but unfortunately got whupped by the eventual winners Auckland.

Congress is a pretty tough work with at least 60 boards played each day for a week ... The creme of New Zealand (and Australian) bridge compete fiercely. Not for the faint hearted.

Here are some photos from the final night of the teams series. The results were 3rd The Floosies, Hermanna, Jillian, Ross and Alison J, 2nd the Fill Ins - a selection of good sorts filling in to make up the 6th team so we could run the event and the winners, the Fairy Gs featuring Anna, Rochelle, Shirley and Joan. Of course the main event was the BEST DRESSED TEAM. The theme was the letter F. Our independent Judge (Angela) after deliberation declared the winners as THE FLOOSIES. More pix to come from Anna's camera ... but here are Jane's to start you smiling.Fonterra
Footy Players
A Fairy A Foreigner and a Floosie
Work out which one Victor is
A Male Floosie
Male Floosie from rear
Male Floosie interacts with female Floosie
Female Floosie interacts a little too much with Male Floosie
George restores standards
Rad
A Startled Fairy G
Alison
Sue
Miss September Floosie

Our two pairs of Te Aroha Novices taking part in the Novice tournament at Matamata today pulled off amazing scores to produce outstanding results for the club. In the morning Victor and Alison Cradock were on fire. Fresh out of lessons only a couple of months ago, they managed the highest score in the morning, 60.51%, to finish top of the room. They came a very creditable 5th overall in the tournament. Meanwhile, having an excellent morning session with 58.24% eclipsed by a stunning afternoon score of 64.77% were Anna and Rochelle. Combined, these results meant ANNA AND ROCHELLE WON the tournament. CONGRATULATIONS!!
Alison on hot formVictor Top of the RoomRochelle stunning on debutAnna Te Aroha Star

Congratulations to Alison and Shirley on their tremendous performance on debut in the Mini Moos on Sunday. With a rocking 101 IMPS they finished 3rd overall - well played!

Moos Noos, the newsletter for Mini Moos is attached below.

For those of you who missed my seminar this morning, attached are the seminar notes if you are interested. I am happy to field any questions. Nick will be taking the last Monday morning session for learners next week on Monday 23 September before Monday morning finishes for the summer. It is hoped that Monday morning daytime bridge will resume next autumn.

Five tables battled it out at Hamilton Bridge Club this afternoon in Mini Moos 3. The results are below. The hand record and Nick's comments on the boards are attached in pdf format. Dates for your diary: Mini Moos 4 at Te Awamutu Sunday 13 October. Final Mini Moos 5 - Bridge in the Garden at Te Aroha with Pimms and Strawberries Sunday 3 November.

Without even having to play the third round, the results have changed with a new leading team!

Appears that my manual input of scores created some IMP anomalies which once sorted out have seen the Four Fillins (aka Ian MArtindale, Nelson Hodgetts, Betty McLaren and Foster Kalma) rocketing to the lead.

Mind you, this is before handicaps are applied ... once we have figured out a fair handicap for our visiting team, we may see a tighter contest ensuing.

Looking forward to Tuesday night.

Congratulations to GREG SAXON and LESLEY SHEEHAN for their amazing performance in Thames today. They won the Open playing with a Junior section finishing top N/S in the morning with a handsome 60.82% and following it up in the afternoon with a steady 52.68. This was enough to give them third place in the competition overall. Following close on their heels were HERMANNA and ANNA KALMA who were 2nd in the Open with Junior class, and finishing 4th overall with a very good and consistent performance of over 55% in each session.
With Henk and Hermanna's win yesterday this weekend has been an amazing success for Te Aroha. CONGRATULATIONS!

Yes, you read it here first ... HENK and HERMANNA beat the Number 1 Internationals for NZ at Hamilton today. In Round 2 Henk and Hermanna were on fire. Michael Ware (one of the real good guys in bridge) and Geo Tislevoll (how do we pronounce his first name?) always the first pick by NZ for international bridge were no match for Te Aroha's Henk and Hermanna. Board 22 in their set was pivotal. With only 6C available at slam level, the NZ team found their way to 6H. The key lead of a club enabled a further club for a ruff and there it was ... the best players in NZ up the proverbial creek with no paddle. A massive 13IMP swing as Henk and Hermanna eased to a career highlight of 17-13 win against two of the greats in the game. The rest of their day did not go quite so well ... but the day they beat the two top international players of NZ will be talked about for years to come at the Te Aroha Club. WELL PLAYED Henk and Hermanna!

A bit of a late finish ... but awesome work to get through 24 boards tonight. Would have been earlier if we hadn't attempted to play last week's boards first.

Congratulations to Tim Rigter who won the Individual 3 night handicap followed by Greg Saxon and Rochelle van Heuven.

Looking forward to the TEAMS next week. This is a great event where we partner with each member of the team and play directly against an opposing team (rather than play against every other pair in the room like a normal weekly session).

Remember the theme is F ... stands for fantastic, fun and flawless (ha ha) bridge playing.