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Babich Wines New Zealand Wide Pairs

Saluting the winners.

The Babich Wines New Zealand Wide Pairs took place on the evening of Friday October 30th at 57 clubs all around New Zealand. That was the same number of clubs as in 2019 though there were 26 fewer tables this year. That was still a decent number, 444 tables.

As in 2019, the largest number of tables were at the Wellington Club (18) followed by Nelson (16.5), Napier (12), Otago (11.5), Auckland, Christchurch, Franklin, Mt Albert and Upper Hutt(11), Rangiora (10.5) and Waikanae and Warkworth (10).

A special thanks to all who turned out and to all those clubs who put on a heat, no matter how small, with net proceeds of in the region of $13,000 going to support the excellent work of the New Zealand Bridge Foundation.

Also, thanks to all those who assisted in the organisation of the heats and to the scoring team of Bob Fearn, Michael Neels, Anna Kalma and Jan Spaans. 53 of the 57 heats were scored before midnight on Friday evening, the remaining four on Saturday morning.

Here then are the top scorers:

Place

 

Heat

%

Direction

1.

Vivienne Sexton and Maureen Ruus

Kerikeri

72.16

E/W

2.

Jody and Barry Whale

Royle Epsom

69.48

Howell

3.

Pryor Rowland and Peter Farley

Waikanae

69.46

E/W

4.

Alan Grant and Nigel Kearney

Wellington

68.80

N/S

5.

Sharon and John Mosley

Hawera

67.19

N/S

6.

Ian Bond and Lynette Morgan

Matamata

66.72

N/S

7.

Teri Sonal and Charmaine Hanbury-Webber

Kaikoura

66.21

E/W

8.

Carolyn Wood and Robin Young

Marlborough

66.06

N/S

9.

Paddy Ward and Neil Catherall

Masterton

66.04

N/S

10.

Clare Martin and Diane Werder

Hawera

65.59

N/S

 

Rumour has it that North-South had the better of the hands though the top North-South pair were only 4th overall. However, only 3 of the top 10 pairs and only 6 out of the top 20 pairs sat East-West throughout.

Last years winners scored a most impressive 75.67% and the top scores were generally a little lower this year, with 10th last year being 67.14%. Nevertheless, 72.14 is a pretty tidy result!

These are the prize-winners (wine prizes):

 

1st

Vivienne Sexton and Maureen Ruus

Kerikeri

2.

Jody and Barry Whale

Royle Epsom

3.

Pryor Rowland and Peter Farley

Waikanae

4.

Alan Grant and Nigel Kearney

Wellington

5.

Sharon and John Mosley

Hawera

 

Top Restricted Open Pairs

1.

Joy Hughes and Jan Ireland

Alexandra

64.15

2.

Jill McLean and Barry E Smith

Timaru

63.28

 

Top Pairs Below Open

1.

Teri Sonal and Charmaine Hanbury-Webber

Kaikoura

66.21

2.

Clare Martin and Diane Werder

Hawera

65.59

 

Top Pairs Below Intermediate

1.

Lauren Lehndorf and Pamela Frank

Taupo

62.44

2.

Oriel Heseltine and Dianne Knight

Warkworth

60.26

     

  Nearest to 50%

1st=

Rachel Baskerville and Ambrose Fok

Wellington

50.01

1st=

Pauline Mulligan and Sharon Stretton

Auckland

49.99

 

Top Youth Scores (non-wine prizes)

1st

Jack James and Jeremy Fraser-Hoskins

Napier

63.56

2nd

Zachary Yan and Kevin Hu

Howick

52.82

 

All who won a heat based on the across-the-field results, North-South and East-West receive one A Point. These are the regional winners, 3A’s for 1st, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd.

Auckland-Northland

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Vivienne Sexton and Maureen Ruus

Kerikeri

72.16

  1

2.

Jody and Barry Whale

Royle Epsom

69.48

  2

3.

Grant Jarvis and Lynne Geursen

Franklin

64.96

13

 

Waikato Bays

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Ian Bond and Lynette Morgan

Matamata

66.72

  6

2.

Kathy and Ken Yule

Matamata

65.40

11

3.

Rona and John Driscoll

Taupo

65.20

12

 

Central Districts

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Sharon and John Mosley

Hawera

67.19

  5

2.

Clare Martin and Diane Werder

Hawera

65.59

10

3.

Jack James and Jeremy Fraser-Hoskins

Napier

63.56

20

 

Wellington

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Pryor Rowland and Peter Farley

Waikanae

69.46

  3

2.

Nigel Kearney and Alan Grant

Wellington

68.80

  4

3.

Paddy Ward and Neil Catherall

Masterton

66.04

  9

 

Top of the South

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Teri Sonal and Charmaine Hanley-Webber

Kaikoura

66.21

  7

2.

Carolyn Wood and Robin Young

Marlborough

66.06

  8

3.

Pamela Dravitzki and Kathryn Brookes

Motueka

64.08

19

 

Canterbury

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

 

1.

Jill McLean and Barry E Smith

Timaru

63.28

22

 

2.

Trish and Peter Downward

Ashburton

61.77

45

 

3.

Greg Buzzard and Harry Shepherd

Timaru

59.27

93

 

 

Otago – Southland

 

 

Heat

%

Overall place

1.

Brian Papps and Dennis Norman

Oamaru

64.17

17

2.

Joy Hughes and Jan Ireland

Alexandra

64.15

18

3.

Lynne Fegan and Geogie Roberts

Wanaka

62.75

29

 

Just one story for now from the event. Hopefully, there will be one or two others when we show you the prize-winners. Have you ever been disgusted when your partner did not lead your suit? That fate was apparently bestowed on one North when they tried a diamond even though their partner had bid hearts before a rather quickly bid slam:

Board 16
West Deals
E-W Vul
9 6 4 3
7 4
Q 10 8 7 3
7 2
K Q J 10 8 2
2
A K Q J 10 4
 
N
W   E
S
 
5
K Q 10 8 5
9 6 5 4
9 5 3
 
A 7
A J 9 6 3 2
A K J
8 6
West North East South
1  Pass 1 NT 2 
6  All pass    

 

South was not at all happy when the opening lead was a diamond before dummy appeared though they felt a little happier when the Diamond-smallK won the first trick with the Spade-smallA always going to score. Had North dutifully led a heart, the defence would have been soon writing down -1370 as the diamond loser would disappear on the Heart-smallQ before South could gain the lead.

There is a moral there, certainly about waiting to see dummy and the end result before any note of disapproval be made. A great lead from North… and I am sure that South would have agreed.

If you have a good story from the event, a good play, an amusing incident, please either email me on richardharoldsolomon@gmail.com or call me on 09 232 8494 and tell me about it.

Richard Solomon

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