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Read on to see the bridge connection...well, maybe!

Greetings once more from the Winterless North.

It seems like forever ago I did my last round up and, checking in, it was indeed way back in 2020. So, we have a fair bit of catching up to do.

We had the Northland Region End of Year Prize giving. Of note were the winners of the Top Open, Top Intermediate and Top Junior players of the year. Congratulations Sulochna Humphrey, Isobel Thom and Helen Brodie who took away these titles.  These awards are based on cumulative points awarded for placing in the top ten of Open tournaments held in the Northland region throughout the year - no easy feat!  And great work to Jane Stearns who has been dealing with the Whangarei Leader and managed to get the two Whangarei players’ achievements into the local paper. Getting the game out into the public has been a task Jane has taken on and we are certainly seeing the results.

                
Top Open player, Sulochna Humphrey    Isobel Thom and Helen Brodie
 with Sue Brown representing                  as depicted in the Whangarei Leader
 the Northland Region

The start of the year, as per usual, was with the Holiday Swiss Pairs and the Holiday Pairs over the 9^th and 10^th of January in Kerikeri. I didn’t attend this tournament as was on a girls “road trip” at the time (some of you may have seen me in the recent “Girls Road Trip” Coke adds on the tele. (Autographs and photos are available). Craigs Investments have sponsored this event for several years and we are thrilled they sponsored this again with the winners of the Swiss being Len Dent and Glennis Bilton. Kim Thomas and Laura Maton took out the Intermediates on the Sunday and Andrew Liu and John McIntosh the Open Pairs event. Yay the Leader for more Bridge advertising.

    Neat advertising in the Whangarei Leader

Tania Brown (centre right) advertising coca cola. Yes, you heard it right "coca cola"! You never
  see her drinking anything else, do you?

The Pak N Save Pairs in February were won by myself and Neil Ruddell with Janice Johnson and Helen Brodie coming second. Given Helen is a Junior player (as above),I can see her being a strong contender for the 2021 Top Junior trophy as well. Top Intermediate Pair were Judith Byrne and Laura Maton.

             
Janice Johnson and Helen Brodie      Laura Matonand Judith Byrne

Also in February was the Dargaville Swiss Pairs. As per usual, this even attracted a few Auckland entries, although not as many as usual. It’s always lovely to see visitors to the Northland clubs and the constant lock downs have meant a drought on that happening. Auckland, or in fact any Bridge players from anywhere, are always welcome.  Winners of this event were Bill and Sulochna Humphrey with Stuart Love and Laura Maton (There’s that name again) winning Top Intermediate Pair and in fact came 4^th on the day.

         
Bill and Sulochna Humphrey           Laura Maton and Stuart Love

Fashion to the Fore

March 6 saw the Kerikeri Pairs. This even saw me grumpy from the outset as it was my wedding anniversary and hubby and I were supposed to be on a cruise. Gazing at the dryer door and imagining it to be a porthole didn’t help.

 
Tania is of course posing rather than gazing
 at portholes! And we suspect strongly that the
glass in her left hand does not contain coca cola.

 This event was run as two separate tournaments with an Open event and an Intermediate/Junior event meaning poor Olive (Director extraordinaire) certainly had her work cut out.

The Open part of this event was won by Roger Toplis and Peter Hirzel while the winners of the Intermediate section were Kevin Grundy and Kim Thomas. Top Junior pair were Jayne Broome and Laurie Brockliss. Jayne was looking particularly stunning on the day and after many comments on her outfit, it was discovered she had won the Fashion in The Field Classic Lady Category at the Boxing Day races at Ellerslie. This win entitled her to a styling session with Joseph Ribkof and 2.5K to spend on any clothing she may choose to order. The clothing is just starting to arrive. Needless to say, we are now have looking at a dress code if you are planning on visiting the North.

Also, check out these scores for the morning session in the Open section. Not often you see that.

        
Roger Topliss and Kerikeri        Laurie Brockliss and Jayne          Kevin Grundy and Kim Thomas             A 4-way tie: coming last but 3rd!
 President, Sue Hunt                 Broome (can you guess which         
                                                  is Jayne?!)

 A nice hand (well, it turned out that way!) after I indulged in a little over-bidding.

 

As South, I decided I liked my hand after my partner's 1 opening and so gave it an extra nudge witha 3 reply. I can imagine, Tania, why your partner would like his hand..but I would not feel that way about the South hand!  Imagine my horror when he started ace asking! Surprise, Surprise!

The reply of no aces and one king got him thinking but he took a punt anyway to 6. Looking at it afterwards, I thought how could he know which king? K or K would be no good to him. So then I thought he could have done this a better way with Key Card. But ONE Key card....was it the A  which is no good to anyone? How would you have bid this with your favourite partner?

Accepting the 1 opening (not my choice) and the optimistic 3, North's best action would be to jump to 5 (Exclusion Key Card Blackwood) where South replies with the number of key cards but excludes the A, the theory being the asker is void in the suit they bid.) If you do not play that convention, then bid 5 which should ask your partner to bid to 6 with good trumps. KJxx would just be good enough whereas Jxxx would not.

Last Friday saw the Tsunami sirens go off and everyone was advised to move to high ground. The CBD was evacuated and everyone was glued to the TV and radio.  I am lucky as I had the day off (said wedding anniversary) and was at home which is away from the water and relatively high up. The amount of people who came into our area that obviously had no place else to go was sad. The McDonalds carpark was full with people in camp chairs with chilly bins/ kids/ animals, waiting for the all clear to return home. Whangarei Bridge Club put out a call on its Facebook page for any members that had a safe place, who were willing to open their homes, to contact them and they would pass it to anyone needing it. Not just a club but a family.

And last, but not least, major excitement in regard to the newly painted, carpeted, curtained Whangarei clubrooms. While lockdown hasn’t been kind to all, obviously the Pub Charity has been reading about our increased presence in the local Whangarei Leader. The Whangarei Bridge Club have been given a very generous amount towards resurfacing their carpark area.

Definitely Gotta Love it Here.

Take care all and hope to see you at a tournament in the near future.

 

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