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Auckland Bridge Club
The Club holds hundreds of activities each year and has about 750 members.We offer a range of lessons, tournaments, general bridge sessions and a social atmosphere to suit all levels from beginner to international players. You can view or download the annual events programme from the Calendar page, and see the general programme of activities on the Sessions page.
VisitorsVisitors are always welcome. Call or email the Club Office (details on Contact page) to make sure you are coming along to the right kind of session for you, and perhaps to find a bridge partner if you are missing one. Potential members may play up to five club sessions and pay the regular table money fee: a higher fee is payable for the sixth and subsequent visit within any 12 month period. This does not apply to 'genuine' temporary and overseas visitors. Bank detailsIf paying online to ANZ Remuera 01 0258 0010388 00, remember to put your name as a transfer reference. Club Office hours are Mon to Fri 9:30 - 12:00. Emails and newslettersYou can Join mailing list to keep informed: the Club sends out about six bi-monthly newsletters each year and it includes reminders to upcoming events and activities. LessonsThe Club is committed to helping non-members and members learn, enjoy and improve their game. You can also Join mailing list so you can see when the next lessons are coming up. Please click on Learn Bridge for more details. WirelessThere is a public wireless network available and the password is displayed in the Club Office window. It has limited capacity and offered for short sharp internet access: it is not designed for movie downloads and alike. The facility will be withdrawn if there are difficulties, so please use it wisely and sensibly. Standby partners or looking for a partnerYou have two options: either contact Ann Weatherson, Membership Manager by email, or fill in a structured form Find a bridge partner form which is also sent to Ann but has the advantage of giving her some basic information about your requirement. Ann will then do her best to match players. A game is usually available to any member who arrives without a partner and reports to the Director at least 30 minutes before play at Club sessions as below:-
The Director will call on volunteers who are Standby players. The Club wishes to thank those who generously give their time. And if you'd like to volunteer as a Standby, please contact Peter Hensman who will make sure you are properly looked after (incidentally, Standby's do not pay Table money).
At all times members and visitors are expected to dress to a reasonable standard, and be polite and courteous. Subscriptions and table moneyCash ticket sales at the table are $9 per Club session or a prepaid tickets which cost $80 for ten. Please order tickets from the Bulk Tickets page. Visitor’s table money remains $9 for up to six attendances a year. Prices include GST. Youth table money is $1. Please see the Sessions page for a Club session list. Trophies and winnersThe Club award about sixty Trophies a year, recongising the achievements of players at all levels. Pictures of each trophy and lists of winners over the years are on Trophies. Road-test your partnership understandingThere are not any right or wrong answers, just partnership understandings and styles. Partnership_agreements_1.pdf Partnership agreements #4 in Word format (mostly around competitive bidding) There are about 170 bidding and general questions. For the best results print two copies, give one to your partner and complete your answers separately. Then compare and contrast! Our thanks to New Zealand Bridge for many of the materials. Hire the Club RoomsIf you are interested in hiring our Club Rooms, please see the Rental page: all kinds of groups use the premises. And private parties and weddings. The rooms have audio visual equipment installed: click on the link AV instructions to see how to use the equipment. MembershipsTo get further information on becoming a member, click Join the Club.The main categories of membership are:-
In addition a discounted Associate Membership is available and requires a written application to the Club Manager and may be granted in special circumstances. Auckland Northland Regional Bridge (ANRC)Keep up to date with the latest news from Auckland Northland Regional Bridge and NZ Bridge websites. Receive the latest Regional news by email by clicking on Free ANRC email list. What is the NZ Bridge levy?NZ Bridge makes two charges to affiliated clubs: an annual $23 per person levy, and about 35 cents per member per session played. So if you play once a month the Club passes about $27 a year to NZB on your behalf. NZB runs the Masterpoints system and promotes Bridge throughout the country. In addition the NZ Bridge Levy the Club also pays NZ Bridge against the following approximate scale:
InterClubA fabulous way to meet lots of players from around the region in friendly competitive environment. Played on Friday evenings, Teams format with separate sections for Junior, Intermediate and Open players, ten sessions through the year, about 15 Auckland clubs represented. Bar open after play. About 170 people participate each year and multiple substitutions over the year are allowed. We are keen to see more clubs and more people participating. Complimentary light snack offered by the Club in the break between the two sessions. A great way to learn Teams play in a social environment. Join or start your own team of four in January, see Club notice boards for details. Hosted by Auckland Bridge Club. To enroll a team in Interclub in Dec/Jan click Teams Entry --- depending upon your preferences you might want to register a five or six person team for the year. Click here for the InterClub schedule. For those wanting a beginners guide to team playing strategies, scoring and tactics, click on Teams strategies for novices. And just because it fits well here, some ideas on Goulash bidding! New Zealand National Bridge CongressThis event runs in September/October each year in Hamilton and provides challenging Team and Pairs contests at Junior, Intermediate and Open levels with 650 attendees over the week, many from overseas. The Club usually has 70 representatives and thus the Club operates a reduced programme during that period. Dan Gifford Rubber bridgeThis event finals take place at the National Congress with qualifiers run at club and regional level from about April each year. For those wanting a guide to rubber playing strategies,scoring and tactics, click on Rubber bridge strategies for novices (our thanks to Waikato Bays Bridge Club for their notes). And just because it fits well here, some ideas on Goulash bidding! Newsletters and notice boardsThe Club publishes six newsletters a year and members are encouraged to keep their email addresses up-to-date at the Club Office in order to receive their copies in a timely manner. In addition members may pick up a paper copy at the Club. While care has been taken to ensure that the contents of this website are comprehensive and accurate, please watch the Club notice boards for any changes and the announcement of new events. KitchenAvailable Mon AM, Wed AM, Fri AM, InterClub , the kitchen offers sandwiches, tea and coffee. Please pre-order sandwiches before play starts. Click here for the Kitchen snack menu. Licenced barAvailable Tue EVE, Wed EVE, Thu EVE, Fri PM and at Competition and Tournament days. The bar offers soft drinks, wine and beer. Click here for the Kitchen and bar menu. Special events
The Club encourages members and their guests to all events. HistoryThe Auckland Bridge Club was first registered on 21stNovember 1931 and is one of the largest and oldest clubs in New Zealand. The original clubrooms were rented in the NZI Building on Queen Street, later in His Majesty’s Arcade and then in the Pacific Building. In 1959 the Club built its own premises in Airedale Street, and in September 1971 built the current premises in Remuera. The Auckland Bridge Club Incorporated is a NZ charity registration number CC38616, and is also an Incorporated Society number 459147. Readers are encouraged to click on the delightfulful Diamond Jubilee 1931-1991,a short history compiled and written by member Marie Rice. And see the history and winners for our events at Trophies. SecurityThe grounds are patrolled regularly by a security firm. Nevertheless the Club asks members to protect their property and vehicles as the Club is not responsible for any loss or damage that may occur to members' property while members are at the Club. Valuables can be left with Club Office if required. Conduct and etiquetteThe Club operates a zero tolerance policy towards rudeness. Turn off mobile telephones during play.Section 10 of the Club's Constitution.pdf covers discipline and/or suspension of members. At all times members are expected to dress to a reasonable standard, and be polite and courteous. A player should maintain a courteous attitude at all times and carefully avoid any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game. A player should conform to correct procedure in calling and playing. A player should refrain from:
There may be a natural reluctance to complain about fellow players. Should it become necessary to call the Director simply state ‘my opponent is interfering with my enjoyment of the game’. Strongly discouraged
Players are reminded that the opening lead should not be recorded at the start of play and that the appropriate time to record information is after play of the hand is complete. To record the opening lead sooner is seen as an aid to memory (not permitted), delays plays and may unnecessarily irritate others. Furthermore play should not be delayed by players completing their own personal score sheets, ever. Partnership agreementsWhen explaining the significance of partner call or play in reply to an opponent’s inquiry, a player must disclose all special information conveyed through partnership agreement or partnership experience, but need not disclose inferences drawn from general knowledge and experience. PsychesA difficult area for a Director is the evaluation and arbitration in breaches of etiquette, especially around psyches. Persistent psyching is not permitted. Directors would regard MORE THAN TWO deliberate gross mis-descriptions by a partnership in any one session as evidence of persistent psyching. The key words are deliberate and gross. If your partner opens 1NT and you respond 2♥ on a singleton because you had forgotten that with this partner you don’t use transfers then that is a mistake, not a psyche. Likewise if you choose to open 1♠ holding five spades and 9 points then that is not a psyche as it is not a gross misstatement of honour strength. A psyche is typically used when you strongly suspect that it is the opponent’s contract and you are trying to disrupt their bidding. For instance, opening third in hand with only 4 points or perhaps bidding 1♠ after your partner has opened 1♥, when holding few and poor spades and lots of hearts to hamper the opponents competing in spades. Responding to partner’s opening in your weakest suit to discourage the opponents from leading that suit is also a psyche when you eventually bid 3NT is also psyche, even if you have plenty of points. Psyching is legal and adds an extra element to the game, but excessive psyching can cause problems, particularly when partner begins to half-expect them and field them in certain situations, thus creating implicit partnership agreements. Psyches are strongly discouraged at Monday AM, Monday EVE and Thursday AM sessions. Because they are within the laws of bridge psyches cannot be prohibited but the Director might want a discussion with you about your psyches. It is prohibited to psyche a Multi 2♦ or a strong game force opening such as 2♣ if your cards do not merit the bid. It is also prohibited to psyche an artificial game force of game try in response to partner’s opening. A common example is a 2NT game try in response to a weak 2♥ or 2♠ opening. Rules for events at Auckland Bridge ClubThe Club welcomes visitors and guests of members. All visitors are to abide by the Clubs rules. Members and guests are expected to dress to a reasonable standard, and be polite and courteous at all times. Club Points are awarded up to and inclusive of the second to last session of the year. The scale of points awarded is dependent on the section played and the type of event. Cups are awarded to the highest point scorer of every session at the end of the year. Appeals of a Director’s decision must be lodged by the end of the session. If the Appeal is without merit then the appellant’s score may be decreased at the discretion of the Appeal Committee. Only ABC members are eligible for the award of prizes at Club events. To be eligible to qualify a player must be a financial member by the start of the final session of the event. Restrictions apply to eligibility for Monday and Wednesday pm session cups and trophies. Unless a Director indicates otherwise, results from Club sessions can be amended up to two working days after a session. The time period for adjustments for events eligible for A or B Masterpoints may be as short as 30 minutes from the end of the final session of that event, and is also determined by the Director of the event. If prizes have already been awarded at an event they will not be taken back and given to other entrants, should a scoring adjustment alter final placings. However any scoring adjustment will be recognised for Masterpoint purposes so long as the adjustments are made within the correct time periods. Pairs substitutesAny substitute must be advised before the start of play and only one substitute is usually allowed in a Pairs event. The Director must approve any substitute for the final session of an event. The Director may choose to deny a substitution which substantially improves a partnership. For five session or longer events any one session may be missed, in which case all scores count. If all sessions are played the worst score is discarded. The Director has discretion to allow a substitution that might otherwise be rejected. A substitution at the start of the event may later be altered to accommodate a change to the pair. For example B and C intend to play an event but because C is unavailable B plays with X as a substitute on the first week. If B then becomes unavailable for the rest of the event then X might be treated as a substitute for C (if B-X is the new partnership) or the substitution might be cancelled and C-X might play the whole event together. No player may substitute for a player who is playing with another partner in the same session. Teams substitutesTeams may consist of 4, 5 or 6 players. There are no limits on the number of substitutions. Someone who is a member of one team may only substitute for another team in special circumstances. Permission must be obtained from the Director in time for a different substitute to be found if the Director declines the original substitution. No player may substitute for a player who is playing with another partner in the same session. Swiss substitutesFor Swiss, two substitutes are allowed, either as individuals at different sessions, or as a substitute pair for one session. The Director must be contacted in advance to approve the substitutions. No player may substitute for a player who is playing with another partner in the same session. The Club operates a zero tolerance policy towards rudeness. Turn off mobile telephones during play.Bridge movementsWhile playing at the Club you may find yourself taking strange and twisty routes around the tables. The attached Movements for Bridge.pdf document gives the instructions for Extended, Hesitation, Pivot, Bowman Ewing, Rover, Web, Continuous, Mitchell and Tournament movements. Editor: this is a heavily used document by people all over the world and was prepared by Patrick Carter and Juie Atkinson! Life MembersIn recognition of their support of the Club, Life members have full use of the Club and are not liable for any Club subscription. They are elected at the AGM following nomination by a Committee Member and 75% voting support. Click Life members for the list of names since 1934. PresidentsThe Club’s Officers and Committee members are elected at the AGM. Readers are encouraged to click on the delightfulful Diamond Jubilee 1931-1991, a short history compiled and written by member Marie Rice. Click Presidents for a list of the names since 1932. The Auckland Bridge Club Inc disclaims warranties of reasonableness and accuracy, and all warranties with regard to the information on this site, including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose. In no event shall the Auckland Bridge Club Inc be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of the use of this site or attendance at Club events. |
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