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Taupo’s tops in the Loveblock.

The annual New Zealand Wide Pairs, sponsored by Loveblock Wines,  took place last Friday with there being 54 heats taking place at 53 clubs from Kerikeri down to Invercargill. While not a record for the event, the total number of pairs taking part, 915, was comfortably up on the 2023 total of 856.

Last year, there were 51 heats with 54 this year including two at Westport. We appreciate the efforts of all clubs, large and small, whether with 15/16 tables or just 4 or 5. It is wonderful to see some clubs which really struggle for numbers rise to the occasion with heats, clubs like Huntly whose heat had 5 and a half tables. Golden Bay and Gore had 5 each and Otaki and Te Anau 4 each.

Those with the largest heats were:

                                                    tables

Westport			16    over 2 sections
Franklin			15 and a half
Mt Albert			14
Tauranga			14
Waikanae			13
Upper Hutt			12
Wellington			12
Christchurch			11 and a half
Rotorua			11 and a half
Kairangi			11
Kerikeri			11
Otago			11
Richmond			11
Taihape			11
Palmerston North			10 and a half
Cambridge			10
Oamaru			10
Royle Epsom			10
Wanaka			10

We hope no matter how well/ less well you scored that you all enjoyed the evening and perhaps took the booklet to bed with you afterwards! Also, please remember that the event is a fund-raising event for Youth Bridge, a focus area for the New Zealand Bridge Foundation. We expect the event will net around $13,000 for the Foundation.

Thanks to all those at clubs involved in its organisation, scorers, dealers, directors, and those in the social side of the evening. Thanks to our amazing X Club Scoring Team of Bob Fearn, Anna Kalma, Michael Neels and Jan Spaans who had all 54 heats scored by midnight Friday, for the first time. There were a few scoring adjustments to be made on the Saturday morning but what a wonderfully quick effort. Also to Andy Braithwaite, Catherine Cameron and Dave Edson  for their contributions in producing the players’ booklets.

Thanks also to NZ Bridge Foundation, and to the event sponsors, Loveblock Wines.

Here then are this year’s prize winners:

Overall

%

%

Direction

overall

at club

1st

Rona

Driscoll

John

Driscoll

Taupo

74.72

75.00

N/S

2nd

Brad

Johnston

Sam

Coutts

Otago

71.31

72.69

N/S

3RD

Pryor

Rowland

John

Donbavand

Waikanae

70.70

61.38

N/S

4th

Jeanne

Wardill

Graham

Cheater

Waikanae

70.44

61.70

N/S

5th

Wayne

Burrows

Charles

Ker

Palmerston North

69.71

70.83

N/S

Top East -West pair were 6th placed  Diana and Hugh McAlister followed by Alison and Malcolm Mckenzie

who finished 11th. It seems N/S was the place to be with 8 of the top 10 sitting in that direction, one pair

in a Howell and just one pair East-West.

Top Restricted Open Pairs

(Restricted or lower)

8th

Angela

Jacobson

Paul

Jacobson

Alexandra

68.63

71.43

N/S

11th

Alison

Mackenzie

Malcolm Mackenzie

Te Awamutu

68.20

63.39

E/W

Top Intermediate Pairs

(Intermediate or lower)

14th

Cathryn

Bridge

Sushila

Kumar

Kairangi

67.57

66.25

N/S

18th

Nik

Barr

Maureen

Morris

Kaikoura

66.70

66.67

E/W

Top Junior Pairs

34th

Megan

Boyd

Sue

Green

Greymouth

64.67

63.75

Howell

65th

Hamish

Gunn

Molly

Meek

Greymouth

61.63

60.42

Howell

Top Novice Pairs

128th

Jess

Bradley

Dennis

van Maanen

Rotorua

58.31

60.91

E/W

387th

Jude

Lipanovic

Suzette

White

Rotorua

51.56

49.17

N/S

Nearest 50%

460th

Warren

Keith

Mike

Howell

Motueka

50.00

52.13

E/W

 

         No pair can win more than one prize. 

Prize winners each receive  a 2 bottle pack of Loveblock wines. Those who won regional A Points are listed here  https://www.compassmate.bridge-centre.org/results/weekly .  One A also goes to the winner of each heat in each direction based on the across the field scores.

Special congratulations to the overall winners, Rona and John Driscoll who played at their local club in Taupo. Since Covid, they restrict themselves to playing bridge on-line, this being a very rare live appearance.

 

 
Rona and John

As predicted, Board 4 caused a great amount of interest especially for those who held the North hand. What is your approach after your right-hand opponent starts with a 12-14 1NT and you hold:

 

Most would have a way of showing both major suits after an opposition 1NT opening, either 2 or 2 but dare they risk that bid fearing that their partner with minimal major cards and a long suit in the minor bid decides to pass!

The textbook solution is 2NT, superficially showing both minor suits but not the case when partner’s minor preference is overruled with a major suit (hearts) bid by North.

The problem with that is that it would be so hard to convince your partner how good one’s hand really is that one might not reach the best spot.

Many, like Rona, opted to show both majors and cross their fingers. She tried 2 and saw what looked like a Lebensohl sequence from her opponents:

 

Naturally, her partner had nothing to say. So, Rona simply bid what she hoped she could make and hoped for some length in hearts from her partner. John did not produce many trumps but he did lay down a rather useful jack:

 

There was nothing to the play and Rona and John were soon recording + 1430 and across the country a handy 92% board, beaten only by pairs doubled in the slam or redoubled in 5 or 6. A small but significant group of North players sold out somewhat pessimistically to the making 5 contract, East/West.

Such deals as this occur so rarely that it was no surprise that no East-West pair found the 7 sacrifice, cheaper than a making major suit game. After all, East-West do hold 3 aces amongst their 25 high card points. It is just that when a vulnerable opponent leaps to the 6-level, as Rona did, they simply must have extreme shape. East is surely aware of that after their partner’s opening bid.

Other boards were a little flatter than this one though in their own way, were just as interesting. We will look at another tomorrow.

Richard Solomon

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