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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

ANZAC from Wellington

or from your own homes as this year’s Wellington ANZAC Congress had to be on-line for obvious reasons. There were good numbers wanting to play too especially on ANZAC Day with 114 pairs taking part in the Swiss Pairs.

Firstly, a lead to dwell on….

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

What’s your lead to 7NT with the following?

 

Q 9 6

Q J 8 6 5

J 10 8 7 6

 

West

North

East

South

1 ♣

Pass

1 

Pass

1 NT

Pass

4 NT

Pass

6 NT

Pass

7 NT

All pass

 

4NT looks like it is quantitative …. or at least West seems to have thought so! Maybe not East!

Back though to the Open Provincial Pairs on Saturday with 48 pairs and the top five being:

 

1

Liz

Fisher

 

Blair

Fisher

60.14

2

Matt

Brown

 

Leon

Meier

56.91

3

Alan

Grant

 

Anthony

Ker

55.25

4

Matt

Blakeley

Paul

Freeland

55.11

5

Graeme

Tuffnell

 

Ian

Berrington

54.58

 

 

Another great result for Liz and Blair who are in fine form, winning by a huge margin. 

 

Meanwhile, there were 26 pairs in the Intermediate competition with these the most successful:

           

%

1

Kevin

Birch

 

Takayo

Yangisawa

59.25

2

Julie

Bunnell

 

Laura

Griffin

58.92

3

Ken

Dixon

 

David

Scarborough

56.58

4

Vivienne

Turner

 

Megan

Turner

56.42

5

Adrienne

Reid

 

Ilona

West

56.08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           
             

 

The 4 team Intermediate Teams was won by 14 vps by Andrew Hudson, Lee McDonald, Sandie Lepper and Lee Miller.

Fast forward to Monday and the Swiss Pairs….with that huge field, here are the top 10:

             

vps

1

Malcolm

Mayer

 

Michael

Ware

 

91.36

2

Alan

Grant

 

Anthony

Ker

 

87.01

3

John

Wang

 

Gary

Chen

 

85.25

4

Russell

Dive

 

Russell

Wilson

 

80.73

5

Blair

Fisher

 

Liz

Fisher

 

77.01

6

Morgan

Booker

 

Zheng

Zhang

 

76.08

7

Kinga

Hajmasi

Candice

Smith

 

76.03

8

Dennis

Apperley

Brian

Cleaver

 

75.72

9

Fuxia

Wen

 

Ian

Berrington

74.69

10

Matt

Blakeley

Paul

Freeland

74.10

 

42 teams contested the 2 day Provincial Teams but only 4 qualified for the round-robin final on Day 2. The winners were the most consistent team there with three wins:

                       

vps

1

Brad

Johnston

Glenn

Coutts

 

Jeff

Miller

 

Graeme

Stout

45.59

2

Michael

Whibley

Moss

Wylie

 

Leon

Meier

 

Matt

Brown

37.96

3

Pam

Livingston

Jan

Alabaster

 

Tina

McVeigh

Graeme

Tuffnell

23.25

4

Lynda

Rigler

 

Peter

Delahunty

 

Pat

D'Arcy

 

Graeme

Norman

19.71

                         

 

 

Lots of l

Lots of bridge with the following perhaps being the most extraordinary board:

 

Board 40
West Deals
None Vul

Q 9 6

Q J 8 6 5

J 10 8 7 6

K 5

6 4 2

K 9 4

A K Q 9 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A 10 4

A K Q J 10 9 8 7 5

2

 

J 8 7 3 2

3

A 10 7 3

5 4 3

This was at a significant stage being in the last round of the qualifying Swiss in the Open Teams event.

The majority settled in 6Heart-small especially in an auction where North managed a 1Diamond-small overcall. Ace ask would reveal one is missing and those who as East got to bid hearts first were wise not to gamble on which one it was.

However, after a strong no trump opening, one East did not ask any questions:

                        West                          East
                      
Carson                     Humphrey 
                       1NT                            7Heart-small
                       Pass

South soon put Bill Humphrey out of his misery. Bill would have done better to transfer as South would never double 2Diamond-small, though maybe South could double 7Heart-small,Lightner style, for dummy’s first bid suit to be led, albeit an artificial suit.

The Lightner double did not help the top qualifiers as had Pam Livingston, South, doubled, that would surely have asked for a heart lead:

                        West                          East

                        Yuzhong                    Karen
                       Chen                          Harris
                        
1Club-small                             1Heart-small
                         1NT                          4NT
                         6NT                         7NT
                         Pass

So, Pam had to pass and hope her partner was inspired…but with nothing much to go on, Jan Alabaster chose what seemed like a very safe Club-smallJ. Safe but – 1520 was the result.

The overall winners came to grief when the “bid one more after Key Card” proved unsuccessful:

                        West                          East

                        Jeff Miller                Graeme Stout
                       
1NT                            3Heart-small    (slam try)
                       4NT                            5Club-small     (0 or 3 key cards)
                       5Diamond-small                             5Spade-small     HQ
                       6NT                            7Heart-small
                       Pass  
The “executioner” was Murray McMillan.

Jeff Miller Graeme Stout.png 
One unlucky board for Jeff and Graeme 
but overall a great performance

However, the stakes were highest when Jacky Lo and Gina Hsu held the East-West cards: 
                      West                           East

                        Lo                                Hsu 
                       
1Club-small                               1Heart-small
                       1NT                             4Club-small    aces
                       4Heart-small                               5Club-small    kings 
                       5NT                            7NT
South doubled and Jacky had not much to lose by redoubling. Their opponents may or may not have been playing Lightner doubles but North opted for the same safe Club-smallJ lead. There could have been an overtrick had the rules allowed but +2280 was a pretty decent score to take back to one’s teammates!

A nice weekend for all, very ably directed and scored by Caroline Wiggins and Kevin Walker. 

                    "Everybody’s Talking”

          and we’ve got the goods….a rather nice hand. 

     

North Deals
Both Vul

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A K 9 8

K Q 10

A Q 6 3

J 3

 

West

North

East

South

 

1 

Dbl

1 NT

2 

2 

?

 

         What to bid?

Richard Solomon

 

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