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November 2015

Yes, November! The years end is within reach. The majority of the 'serious' Bridge playing events are finished for the year, and the remainder of the regional calendar is dominated with restricted or party tournaments and events.

This November edition brings you:

Upcoming Club Events

Upcoming Regional Events

Octobers Interesting Hand- how did Julie and Patrick score 2040 points?

October Achievements - Club, Regional, and National

Vacancy- Bridge Teacher

Ron Klinger Workshops

Upcoming Club Events

The Club Annual General Meeting is this weekend on Sunday the 8th at 11am.

This is the time for the committee to present their annual reports to us, the membership, and the election of the 2016 committee. In order for the AGM business to be conducted, there must be a significant percentage of membership to attend, which is why we follow with an afternoon of Bridge. If you are unable to attend, please put in your apologies on the paper provided on the West wall noticeboard outside Patrick's office.

Remuera Rise 8B Pairs is on Thursday November 12th and is the final Thursday Tournament for this year. 

The annual Club Restricted Christmas Cheer Tournament will be held on December 5th. This tournament is for Club members only. We have one of the largest clubs in the country, and this tournament is aimed to encourage people who have never played together to pair up and meet others they may not otherwise meet. No two Open players may play as a partnership. If you are interested in playing, please put your name on the A3 sized sheets provided on the East wall Noticeboard, so you can be partnered up on the day.

Upcoming Regional Events

On November 6th Auckland Bridge Club is one of the hosts of the New Zealand Wide pairs. Clubs around the country play the same hands simultaneously, and the results are culminated from every participating club to determine the over all winners. Each club also has their individual session winners, and there are regional winners too.

In addition to being able to see how you compare to every other participating pair in the country, the event also produces booklets which contain each hand, with an analysis of possible bidding and play, according to the editor of the booklet. Last years booklet is pictured on the right.

To ensure there are enough booklets for participants, please pre-enter using the club Pairs Entry form.

Interesting Hand

How did Patrick and Julie acquire a whopping 2040 on this hand?

Patrick explains:

In the last round there was board 2 where our auction went 1D-1S-3C-3D.

1D is a catch all opening showing an unbalanced hand of 9-14 points.

1S is a game forcing relay telling me to describe my hand.

3C said I had 4 clubs, and 5+ diamonds and my spades were shorter than my hearts.

3D was another relay looking for more information.

All of those bids were alerted. (editor's emphasis)

At  that point East doubled with her AJxxx of diamonds without asking what the bidding meant. 

I redoubled to show good diamonds and Julie passed.

After a spade lead I ran the 10 of diamonds from dummy and then played a diamond to the 9. I crossed to one of dummy's top hearts and just led spades until East ruffed and I could overruff. Now they were down to just AJ bare of diamonds and I could lead the King from KQ to force out the Ace. So all they made was just their Ace of Trumps.

The score for 3D redoubled making 3 overtricks was 2040.

Achievements - Club Level

Congratulations to the following players who won the series and one-off events that finished in, or occurred over October:

Monday Morning Congress Pairs: Brett Hart/Juliet Rowe

Tuesday evening (one section) Congress Pairs: Nigel Hewitson/Robyn Chalmers

Wednesday Morning Congress Pairs Section 1: Elaine Fisher/Bruce Fisher

Wednesday Morning Congress Pairs Section 2: Peta Woodward/Vivienne Redding

Wednesday Evening Congress Pairs: Robin Topham/Jessica Morris

Thursday Evening Congress Pairs: Wayne Oakley/John O'Connor

Friday Morning Congress Pairs Section 1: Brenda Shenken/Patricia McCallig

Friday Morning Congress Pairs Section 2: Vera Woollerton/Ann Wilson

Friday Morning Indian Salver (pictured) Section 1: Peer Bach/Setsuko Lichtnecker

Friday Morning Indian Salver Section 2: Sue Sundberg/Linda Gray

Friday Afternoon Helen Blyth Salver Pairs: Janet Barnard/Penny McRobie

Achievements - Regional Level

Mt Albert Club hosted a well attended Restricted Tournament on October 17th

Congratulations to Patrick Carter(Open) and Dave Garrett(Intermediate) who placed second in the open/intermediate and second overall.

Peer Bach and Wendy McTaggart were the top placed Open/Junior pair, with Anthony Hopkins and Lee McGovern second in the same field

Kaye Wilson and Lee Moselen were the second highest placed Junior/Junior pair

Auckland Bridge Club hosted the Thursday Remuera Rise Teams Tournament on October 22nd. Congratulations to Peer Bach/Peter McTaggart and team mates on winning the tournament and Stanley Abrahams/Christine Wilson and Bob Gibbons/Peter Hensman placing 2nd

Orewa Club hosted their Intermediate 5B and Open 3A on October 24th.

Congratulations to Angie and Chris Fitzgerald who won the Intermediate, and Anna Powell and Joy Watkinson who placed 4th

Alice Young and partner finished third in the open with Bev Guilford/Sue Spencer placing 4th and Russell Watt/Nola Clark 5th

Auckland Bridge Club hosted the Wess Dodd on October 31st

Congratulations to Ann Barrowclough/Deborah Tangney on placing top of the Directors Cut and 4th overall, Johanna Perfect and partner placing 5th overall, and Alice Young and partner placing 6th overall as well as second in the Director's Cut.

While Auckland ran the Wes Dodd, Northshore Bridge Club ran an Intermediate 5B and a Junior 3B. Congratulations to Anna Powell and Joy Watkinson who finished 3= in the Intermediate. A good number of our Junior members participated in the 3B, with Robert Mewa/Raoul Daroux placing 2nd, Susan Nunweek and partner 3rd, Bruce Wright/Peter Thomson 5th, Mandy Kelly and partner 6th. Wonderful to see so many of our junior players participating and doing well.

If you would like to play at tournaments around our region, and the top of the Waikato bays region, then check out our "Tournament" notice board, located above the water cooler at the North end of the room, or check out the PDF file at NZ Bridge with every pre-scheduled tournament and event around the country.

Achievements - National Level

Hamilton hosted their Labour Weekend Mini-Congress

Congratulations to Douglas Russell and team mates placing 2nd in the Teams Event, and Kathrin Boardman and team mates for placing 4th.

Congratulations to Patrick Carter and Julie Atkinson who placed 6th in the Swiss Pairs

Congratulations to Glennis Plamers/Linda Cartner for their selection for consideration to the 2016 Women's national representative Squad and the Senior Squad as their alternate.

Barry Palmer/Neil Stuckey and Douglass Russell and partner for their selection for consideration to the senior squad of the national representative 2016 team.

Bridge Teacher Vacancy

Our esteemed Christine Wilson, after many years of introducing our beloved game to new players, is retiring from the position.

The Auckland Bridge Club Inc aims to provide the best tuition in Contract Bridge in the Auckland/Northland region. Following the retirement of Christine Wilson, we require an experienced enthusiastic bridge teacher to deliver our flagship course of up to 20 sessions of 2 1/2 hours of our beginners' classes on Monday evenings and/or Thursday afternoons, starting February/March 2016.

Person requirements for this position include:

  • demonstrated skills at teaching adults in a fun and relaxed manner
  • a passion for the game of bridge
  • a sympathetic and encouraging approach, as you are dealing with beginners
  • familiarity with modern teaching technologies such as PowerPoint
  • substantial bridge playing experience
  • undertake to use the New Zealand Bridge teaching materials to guide the courses
  • a willingness to assist in the development of standard teaching packages for future use by the Club
  • a commitment to assist in the further development of graduates from the beginners' course
  • the right to work in New Zealand
  • live within easy reach of the Auckland Bridge Club in Remuera
  • arrive on the premises at least 30 minutes before the start of any lesson to ensure the necessary equipment is available, and answer questions from the students

Please apply in writing by email to the Club Office by 12th November attaching your resume and a short covering letter.

The successful applicant will be on term contract for the provision of the course. The Auckland Bridge Club is a charity and was founded in 1931, and hopes to expand it's teaching programme for all levels of bridge.

Building Improvements

Under the guidance of Owen Hayward to upgrade some of the building facilities with minimal disruption to members, the women's bathroom has recently had sensor taps installed to minimise water usage and subsequent water costs, as well as new mirrors and sinks. 

 

Ron Klinger Workshops

Auckland Bridge Club were able to host two days of workshops run by renowned Australian Bridge player, author and teacher Ron Klinger on October 31st and November 1st.

The workshops were well attended with Bridge players coming from around the region. Participants spoke with enthusiasm over the content and delivery of these workshops, and even those who were initially a little disgruntled at the loss of their playing session on Monday and came, were positive about the experience.

Your Newsletter

This is your club Newsletter. Your contributions are not only welcome, they promote our club and members within our membership. If you would like to see the newsletter expand, and help towards that, here are some ideas in ways that you could help:

Have an amusing Bridge anecdote? 

Did you play a particularly challenging hand you'd like to share?

Did you experience an example of good sportsmanship?

Want to make a semi-regular contribution to the newsletter?

It has been suggested that a regular feature introducing one of our longstanding and/or active members, would be an excellent means of introducing these people to those new to our club - would you be interested in writing one to introduce yourself, your bridge partner or mentor?

Please contact babsmerel@gmail.com

Deadline for the December edition is November 29th

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