Malcolm Smith
Grand Master, Life Member, Club Stalwart, and Waikato Legend Malcolm Smith began his bridge life in 1982. Like so many bridge players Malcolm was a card player as a youngster, with 500 being the main game. At age 9 he started going to 500 competitions in Hawke’s Bay with his mother. His grandmother was also an enthusiastic and dedicated player (not letting things like a broken arm stopping her from playing in competitions) so cards are in the genes. While studying for his degree at university, much study time was spent playing 500. It’s just as well he didn’t learn bridge until after this, says Malcolm, because then he never would have graduated!
Having had a good grounding in 500, Malcolm soon found success at the bridge table. That’s not to say he found the game easy. The game was, and continues to be, a challenge. You never know what you are going to get when you open your hand and that’s the great part about the game (In case you don’t know there are 635,013,559,600 possible bridge hands and 53,644,737,765,488,792,839,237,440,000 possible bridge deals). So in 1984 he and his first partner Allison (coincidentally also his wife) represented Waikato Bays as part of the Intermediate team. In 1993 he won the NZ Intermediate Pairs with Dean Sole (also now a Grand Master). He also remembers winning the Tokoroa Open with fellow Hamilton club member Rua Freeborn, but is unsure of exactly which year. Most recently he and Ian Clayton teamed up to win a place in the Waikato Bays Seniors Team which will play in the Inter-Provincial Teams Championships in Christchurch at the end of November.
Malcolm achieved the rank of Grand Master in 2015 by gaining his 500th A point (during the North Island teams in Tauranga in March if my calculations are correct). Malcolm admits that his progress to this rank has not been rapid, consistently earning between 20 and 50 A points a year for the last 12 years. But, as his father used to say, if a monkey jumped up and down on a typewriter long enough it would type the Bible. A question though - what’s a typewriter Malcolm?
Malcolm was a member of the Hamilton Club Committee and has served two terms as Club President. He has also organised the Hamilton Labour Weekend event for about 25 years. This has sometimes coincided with his birthday and Malcolm reckons this is a great way to celebrate the day. He has also directed for many years, and is currently the Director for the Tuesday and Friday daytime sessions. He plays these sessions also, often with his wife Allison or friend Ian Clayton, and is happy to continue playing and directing these days as long as he is needed and able to do so. You will also see Malcolm playing on Wednesday nights and he has been known to appear at other evening sessions too. Recently he has been playing a bit with rising star Jeffrey Chang and they did very well in the recently completed Waikato Area Pairs competition, finishing 6th of 25 eligible pairs with a session average of 55.45.
In addition to his work for Hamilton Club, Malcolm was asked to be the “Recorder” for Waikato Bays in 2010 and he is now also the Chief Recorder for NZ Bridge.
Malcolm was honoured for his efforts in 2010 by being made a Life Member of the Hamilton Club. Malcolm has poured a lot of blood, sweat,and tears (mostly Allison’s) into the game and the club and it was fitting he receive this honour. He is very proud to be a life member and appreciates the recognition but, as he says, you do these things for the love of the game.
There are a number of successful bridge playing married couples at the Hamilton Club. Malcolm enjoys playing bridge with Allison, but he admits that she does get frustrated when he “strays” from the system (surely not Malcolm!) or “takes another view”. A “yes dear” often works to smooth the situation, depending on the size of the error! Dropping your partner in 4C is close to divorce material though. Above all, says Malcolm, it is important to keep your sense of humour and he and Allison will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in February 2016. Malcolm thinks he should be able to make it!
So what advice for newer players from this veteran of the game? The key thing, he says, is to remember that bridge is a partnership between two people. He advises trying to set up an established partnership and to sit down and fill out a NZ Bridge system card. These are compulsory at tournaments, but that is not the main reason to fill one out – it is so that you and your partner are actually on the same wavelength! A properly filled out system card that you have learned means that you should know what your partner is saying with their bid, and be confident that your partner will know what you mean by yours! If you want to do this Malcolm will be happy to sit down and help you.
So any future plans? Malcolm still loves the game and the challenges it brings. He plans to continue to play three or more times a week plus tournaments for as long as he can see the cards!
Ed Roggeveen
P.S. By the way a Recorder is an experienced player who is available for informal advice; this could be about an issue of play, bidding or etiquette. Any bridge player may contact the recorder to help them decide whether to take an incident to formal appeal, or just to report a concern about another bridge player’s behaviour (at or away from the table).
