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East Pier Hotel, Napier, the new Hawke's Bay Congress venue.

Yes, plenty of all three this past weekend with major bridge congresses in Napier and Auckland along with two major tournaments at the Otago Bridge Club.

A teaser though to whet the appetite.

 Part A. How many tricks do you think a pair made in their chosen, freely bid 3NT contract when one hand held  AKQ to seven but no other high cards and their partner held AQ53,Q843 and Q4 in the other three suits, along with 3 clubs?

Part B is "was the declaring side happy"?

There was some fine weather for most of us this week-end. Not that the throngs at the three bridge venues may have noticed, except perhaps Napier. There was plenty of bridge to play.  Let’s start off with a look at Auckland, the scene where the title to this feature was very true. Thanks to well-known local bridge player, Jeter Liu, and his family business, Taishan Building Group, the week-end saw $10,000 available in prizes spread over all the competitions.

While the Monday West End Salver might not be the main event of the week-end, it certainly provided the biggest round of applause when it was won by Jeter and his regular partner, Dong Huang. Models of consistency, they scored two rounds of just over 67% to win comfortably.

1. Jeter Liu – Dong Huang                                                                          135.30
2. Wayne Burrows – Murat Genc                                                                127.05
3. Jerry Chen – James Yang                                                                       119.21  

 Jeter Liu and his family: from left, his wife Jenny, son in law Ken with granddaughter Chelsea, his daughter Qiao and Jeter

Macleans College students and Howick Bridge Club members, William Han and Eddy Tan were delighted to be top Junior Pair in the West End Pairs, finishing half way in a field full of strong Open Pairs. William would be happy with the contents of the envelope, too!

It was very close in the Open Pairs. William Liu and George Sun had a handy 9% advantage going into the third round but an outstanding round of 67.15% by Michael Cornell and Ashley Bach proved vital.

1. Ashley Bach – Michael Cornell                                                               185.55
2. William Liu – George Sun                                                                       185.14
3. Grant Jarvis – Jonathan Westoby                                                           171.85

67%’s were the story of the week-end with 67.14% by James Thompson and Marlene Young in session one cementing their victory in the Intermediate Pairs.

1. James Thompson – Marlene Young                                                        120.51
2. Jan Brown – Glynis McNicholl                                                                  117.02
3. Fiona Moon – Carol Joseph                                                                      116.25

However, the event which had the main drama was the Open Teams. Of the 32 entrants, 10 qualified for the continuation of the Swiss on Day 2 for 4 more rounds. Prior to the last round, 6 of those teams were within 11 vps of each other, all with a chance of winning.  In the Cornell v Courtney match, both teams were on a slow play warning meaning if there was a further board not played, they would incur a 1 VP fine each.

That did indeed happen. The loss of 1 VP was not significant to Courtney who finished a very creditable 5^th on 109.99 but was significant in deciding the overall result as can be seen:

1. Grant Jarvis- Jonathan Westoby, David Dolbel- Denis Humphries       115.94
2. Richard Solomon – Gary Chen, Steve Boughey – Andrew Tarbutt      115.64
3. Michael Cornell – Ashley Bach, Matthew Brown – Michael Whibley     115.59

Had 4^th placed Susan Humphries - Liam Milne, Michael Ware - GeO Tislevoll scored 20 in their last match, they would have won by 0.02 of a VP but 18.71 did not quite get the job done. They finished with 114.67 VPs.

First by a whisker. That's Jonathan Westoby, Denis Humphries and Grant Jarvis (missing: David Dolbel)

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Otago

The Provincial Pairs and Teams were played over the week-end with the following enjoying more than the usual excellent southern hospitality.

Provincial Pairs

1. Michael Johnstone – Paula Gregory                                                      178.11
2. Chris Ackerley – Douglas Russell                                                          173.70
3. Frances Sheehy – Donna Ruwhiu                                                         171.02

Provincial Teams

1. James Coutts – Ellena Moskovsky, Jeff Miller – Graeme Stout                76.84
2. Margaret Perley – Paul Freeland, Chris Ackley- Douglas Russell           69.12
3. Dean Eidler- Sam Coutts, Glenn Coutts – Vicki Bouton                           60.41

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 Hawke’s Bay Congress

This event moved to a new venue, Napier’s East Pier Hotel, a lovely modern water-side hotel. The weather was fine for the occasion (as one would expect in “The Bay”) with players being able to socialize in the outdoor area between sessions. Good numbers meant that a second hotel, the Crown Hotel, had to be used for some of the events.

A new venue also saw a new format for the Open Pairs, which was run Swiss style with 8 board sets against an opposing pair though scored match-point style. Otherwise, it was “business as usual” for this popular well-run Congress.

Here, then, are those who were successful during the week-end.

Matchpoint Swiss Pairs                                                                                                  %

1. John Patterson – Kate Davies                                                                                 59.7
2. Bob Hurley – Scott Smith                                                                                         58.1
3. Liz and Blair Fisher                                                                                                 56.9

Intermediate – Junior Pairs

1. Mark O’Dowd – Chris Hagen                                                                                 129.61
2. Megan Wackrow – Chris Andrews                                                                         120.62
3. Joanne and Russell Farmery                                                                                117.25

 Intermediate- Junior Teams                                                                                         vps.

1. Jolene Zink – Susan Brown, Karen Eriksen- Judith Lucas                                    93.45
2. Jane O’Brien – Jennie Turbitt, Sylvia Brown – Jenny Peters                                     88.31
3. Murray Wiggins - Bridget Willcox, Megan Eddy- Robyn Andersen                             81.62

Open Swiss Pairs

1. Pat D’Arcy – David Macdonald                                                                                89.04
2. Lorraine and Tony Sutich                                                                                        85.21
3. Alison Beer – Marie Milsum                                                                                     80.94

Open Teams

1. Matthew and Mairi Bristow, George Masters – Russell Wilson                                 77.70
2. Bob and Evelyn Hurley, Debs and Scott Smith, Kathryn Boardman                         66.36
3. Lynda Rigler – Peter Delahunty, Ray Gruschow – Graeme Norman                        60.62

The Teams Plate was won by Tony Lenart - Alister Stuck and Lorraine Stachurski – Mindy Wu.

Top placings in the Welcome Pairs were:

N/S  Robert Poulgrain – Peter Ramsey                                                                          60.5%

E/W Eileen Gray – Pat Knight                                                                                        58.6%

Finally, the Novice Pairs was won with an excellent 62.5% by Sandy and Bob Maidens.

Are You Still There?

Remember the two questions we posed right at the start? How many tricks were made in 3NT and was the declarer happy?

The answers were “Zero” and “not really but there was hope”.

Oh, you want to see the four hands?

                                                                Auckland Queens Birthday Teams

 

There are many things about this deal which I do not understand though North’s opening is not one of them. Somehow, when I pre-empt with a four card spade suit on the side, partner always seems to have that suit…as indeed here. Having said that, I would prefer to play the above deal in clubs rather than spades if I were North - South.

After the opening bid, East, South and North’s actions seem reasonable. 3NT might seem pushy but South could well have expected a lead round to their AQ after which taking 9 tricks in no trumps would not have been too taxing!

What, though, of West? I cannot remember the last time I held a decent 7-6 but I do know that I did not defend 3NT …or anything fairly low! Unkindly for declarer, West led a diamond (in the fortunate position of not being able to make a bad lead!) and it looks like either South discarded a heart or in desperation played the Q too soon. -900.

Are they there for you?

We all know teammates have one role in life, to save you from the occasional disaster which occurs. So, a nice non vul small slam in diamonds would yield 940 or +1 imp. In hearts, there would even be a +80 or 2 imp positive swing. If they did bid and make the grand, then we would buy them the first three rounds of drinks afterwards.

Alas, they played in part-score. Oh bother! 

There was every kind of contract played, all four suits with more than one pair in no-trumps. Did anyone bid a slam? On the next deal, East opened 3 with West having nothing to add. You do not get such 7-6 hands every session.Back to the real world!

Our “real world” of bridge over the week-end was splendid.

Richard Solomon 

 

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