Congratulations

Well done to Hamilton's pair of Annette Downey & Aini Su for winning the Matamata Junior Pairs last weekend. With a reasonable result in session 1 followed with a great result in session 2 they won with a small margin in a field of 26 pairs.

The Matamata Junior Pairs was the third of 6 events in I/J Leagues organised by Waikato Bays. After 3 rounds Annette and Aini hold a comfortable place at the top of the J League.

Details of the of the the Matamata result can be found here while the details of Junior League overall placings are here

( click on the photo for a larger view )

Waikato Bays has added five Swiss Pairs events to the annual I-J Leagues programme.
These run as Restricted Open 3A Swiss events commencing with the Te Awamutu event in May and finish with the 5th in October at Matamata. Three of these events replace existing Restricted 8B events, the Waitomo event is new to the Waikato Bays Region programme with the last event being a change in grading to the Matamata 5A Swiss Pairs event.
There has been confusion regarding the Restricted 3A title - it is NOT equivalent to the 8B Restricted where any open players may partner with non-open players BUT is limited specifically to players up to the Open National Master grade level only. The NZ Bridge 3A point category is designed for players who are between high-level intermediates and lower-ranked open grade participants hence players will no longer encounter higher-ranked open players such as grand masters. This however does not stop less experienced players competing.

These events have generous sponsorship: the first four from WB Committee member Judith Howard with the last from Nulook Waikato - Matamata

Read the Waikato Bays announcement - click here

Hamilton 2026 Restricted Pairs

Sunday 19th April the Club hosted our 2026 Restricted Pairs Tournament. A pleasant sized field of 36 pairs enjoyed a good days bridge with a field mostly from Waikato / Bay of Plenty or Auckland with a smattering from as far New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Wellington. Open - Intermediate and Intermediate - Intermediate combinations as expected dominated - it would be nice to have a few more juniors competing in the future

Thank you to all for coming and making a great day of bridge.....

The winners were -
( click any of the photos for a larger view )

2026 Hamilton Restricted Pairs - 1st Place Alex Meyer and Jack James Akarana / Palmerston North

2026 Hamilton Restricted Pairs - 2nd Place Bill Leach and Aaron Starr Mount Albert / Mount Albert

2025 Hamilton Restricted Pairs - 3rd Place Cynthia Clayton and Duncan White Hamilton / Hamilton