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Congratulations to Clair Miao and Wayne Burrows who came south to win the National 15A Pairs in Dunedin. There is a separate report on this event on the NZ Bridge website. Meanwhile, several Otago- Southland players are preparing for the big trip north to the National Congress. Among them wil be Anne Cosgrove and Marilyn Jackson who will represent their region in the National Rubber Bridge Championships. 

This time, we focus on Intermediate and Junior players and feature a report by Judith Lawton on the recent Southland Real Estate Intermediate and Junior Pairs. Over to Judith:

"The Southland Real Estate Intermediate and Junior Pairs tournaments were held recently at the Invercargill Bridge club. Entries came from Alexandra, Cromwell, Dunedin, Gore, Invercargill, Queenstown, Te Anau and Winton contributing to six and a half tables in the Junior division and eleven and a half in the Intermediate. A tasty, two course meal was provided by Inner Wheel  between sessions and  scrumptious snacks before and after play reflected southern hospitality at its best.

The boards were duplicated so that both divisions played the boards simultaneously. Board 7 in the second session was played in hearts by EW but mostly West in both divisions and every declarer made 11 tricks. Board 9 on the other hand, was played in 1NT by nine Easts in the intermediates and  all but one went light; in the Junior section four Easts bid and made 1NT.  The lesson is that leads and defence are equally as important as card play… and can be the difference between a contract made and a contract lost.

Play begins at the Southland Real Estate Intermediate and Junior Pairs at the Invercargill Bridge club

The director for the day, Craig Rodgers,  kept play going at a steady pace in both divisions with few hiccoughs. There were some issues regarding three of the laws of bridge which were revised in 2017. Law 7 states that the board should remain, correctly orientated, in the centre of the table throughout play. Law 41 D states that dummy’s hand should be place in front of him and Law 45 B states that in the Play of Card from Dummy, declarer should name the card to be played.

The Invercargill Tournament Secretary recently summed up these points succinctly:

We learnt at a time when you put the Board out of the way when the hand was being played and asked dummy to put the cards down as close to you as possible so you could play the cards yourself. 

We have moved on and at a tournament, it is not ok to refuse to follow the Laws and have the defenders feel uncomfortable by your refusal to do so. This then creates a perception of the player's club which is, no doubt, unwarranted.

It is difficult for some more experienced players to accept change but these are not suggestions, they are Laws. 

We want all people to feel comfortable continuing to play in tournaments, not only those who struggle with these three laws but also those who follow the current 2017 Law Book.

I would like to respectfully ask, that this be brought to the attention of your teacher, Directors and committee so a plan can be put in place if you believe that not all of your members are currently up to speed with the new Laws.

After a friendly and fun day of bridge tournament results were:

Intermediate:

1.       Grant Milne and Yvonne Hughes	Invercargill
2.       Sue Whelan and Margi Christiansen	Invercargill
3.       Alan and Susan McRae	Winton
Junior:

1.       Betsy Gray and Jo Smith	Invercargill
2.       Colin Laughton and Tom Wallis	Winton
3.       Russell Preston and Susannah Pinckney	Winton

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