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As I mentioned in an earlier epistle from JAFA land, neither Biritch the Russian Blue nor I have been much in evidence in the local scene of recent weeks. I have been wrestling with sifting through 25 years of accumulated stuff (I have no better word for it for fear of upsetting the two more dominant characters of the household) as preparation to moving house, and Biritch, well, he is just being Biritch. I have thus been somewhat reliant on others for amusing  and/or instructive incidents (thank you Richard!). Lots of results to report, however.

Congratulations to the winners

The two Auckland Thursday tournaments, ever popular with us Super Gold card holders, went to Peer Bach and Setsuko Lichtnecker (the Hedgerow-sponsored tournament in May) and Neil Stuckey and Mike Curry in June (the Lesley Porter Trophy).

The trials to determine our representatives in the Interprovincial Championships in Wellington in November proved a happy hunting ground for our women internationals. In the Open division, Susan Humphries and Steph Jacob were dominant, with Jeter Liu and John Wang joining them in the team; the Women’s team will be Andi Boughey and Carol Richardson together with Linda Cartner and Glenis Palmer; Bev and Allan Morris with Jo Clark and Russell Watt make up the Seniors; and the Intermediate winners were Sue Cohen and Karen Smith from Prem Soundranayagam and Hafizur Khan. Congratulations to all, and best wishes for Wellington. Hafizur paired up with Norrie Norwood to win the East Coast Bays Junior Tournament, and Prem with See-Lin Lee the Intermediate at Papatoetoe, where Steve and Andi Boughey won the Open event.

Winning with.....not much!

At this period’s major tournament, the Queen’s Birthday Congress at the Auckland Club, internationals Michael Ware and GeO Tislevoll won the 10A Pairs, Wayne Benefield and Alma Kwan the 3A Monday Walk-in, and Warren Cardno and Jill Patterson the Intermediate Pairs. My spy, aka Your Editor, tells me that the Teams event was pretty tense until the last round. The entire event probably swung on a moment of sheer inspiration by Michael Courtney on the following hand.

Michael’s partner Jan Cormack (North) opened 1 NT (15-17) , and East made a natural overcall of 2. With his impressive collection, Michael (South) had no hesitation in volunteering a take out double  – well, wouldn’t you? And after West bid the obvious 4, Jan of course bid 4. This was doubled for a routine -1, a fine save against the making 4 at the other table. Game, set and championship to Michael, Jan and Sam and Jo Simpson.  

WHO STOLE THE SHOW?                                                                                    

                                                      For the second year running, Auckland's Queens' Birthday Congress received superb sponsorship from the Tai Shan Building Group, courtesy of the family of top Auckland player, Jeter Liu. Above are the Open Teams winners, Sam and Jo Simpson and Jan Cormack and Michael Courtney (rear) along with Jeter, his daughter Qiao and Jeter's granddaughter, Chelsea. Although there were several speeches from the winners, including Pairs winner Michael Ware, even he was upstaged by a charming short speech by none other than Chelsea.                                  

Michael also combined with regular partner Rosie Don to win the Howick Open 3A. Finally, at Waitemata, John Craig and William Wang won the Intermediate and Ken Dixon and Dennis Watkinson the Junior event.

Inter - Club Competitions

There are two interclub events to report. A three-tier interclub team championship was held at the Auckland Club in late May. The overall winners were Mt Albert, who resoundingly won the Junior section, and were placed 3^rd and 6^th in the Open and Intermediate. And a progress report on the year-long interclub team event, also held at Auckland. The Open series is resolving into a 3-horse race, with Auckland Palmer narrowly leading from Akarana and Auckland Watt. In the other two sections there is a rather squaloid theme (check it out!), with the Waiheke Sharks leading Royle Epsom I in the Intermediates, and the Waiheke Orcas just heading off Auckland. (The what, one may ask?). A long way to go yet. (in case you did ask,”shark-like” would be a quick description.)

The reward of Teaching Beginners

My major involvement with the game in the past few months has been in the teaching of beginners, both at the Auckland Club and the North Shore Club. This has been almost as much a learning experience for me as for members of the classes, as I have been obliged to articulate for others things that are second nature to experienced players. Having said that, I absolutely love that moment when a learning player suddenly clicks. Take a look at the following hand, where East is asked to make 3 NT (no bidding at this stage!)

 

This is taken from a session on playing no trump contracts, and you have tried to convey all the basics:

setting up your long suit first.

don’t cash winners in short suits first.

cash top cards in the hand that is shorter in a long suit first.

look for finesse possibilities, etc.

South will presumably lead a spade (though leads come in a later lesson), and East dutifully counts her top tricks – two spades, one heart, hopefully five clubs, and one diamond after driving out the ace. But look carefully at the club suit: if you play the ace and then the two to the king, the suit is blocked; and since you then have to play other suits entirely from hand, the contract will fail. So you point out that you must lead the 8 or 9  to the K or Q, and drop the other high card under the other honour, leaving the 2 as East’s last club. When I went through this hand using the wonderful teaching facilities offered by Bridge Base Online (and I strongly recommend this to anyone involved in teaching), one lady in one class exclaimed “Oh, that’s beautiful!” And that’s what makes teaching our beautiful game so rewarding.

 

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