Congress wrap......

The 30th National Bridge Congress took place at Hamilton’s Kingsgate Hotel from 28 September to 3 October and many local players took part – many of them regulars, while for others it was a new experience.
The two “main events” of Congress are the New Zealand Pairs and the New Zealand Teams, with both events being 25A status. The Pairs was first up. 141 pairs competed with the top 78 qualifying after two rounds. In 5th place were Yuzhong Chen playing with Cambridge’s Herman Yuan. In 7th was Cynthia Clayton playing with Tauranga’s Judy McLeod. Michael Neels qualified in 11th with Rotorua’s Heini Lux while Brett Glass and Gary Foidl were 17th. Just missing out by one position was Ian Clayton. A number of other notable Hamilton players did not get through this year. To be fair it can be a bit of a lottery and no doubt they’ll be back and doing their best to get in the mix next year.

CONGRATULATIONS ALAN AND RICHARD!

Richard FletcherRichard Fletcher
Alan Parkes and Graham SternAlan Parkes and Graham Stern
Huge success for Hamilton's Richard Fletcher and Alan Parkes at National Congress. Three sessions of three rounds of Swiss Pairs saw them take out the National Congress Title. In the mix with 116 pairs Richard and Alan emerged victorious with Brett Glass, playing with Cambridge's He Yuan taking the runner up prize. Alan also enjoyed success with partner Graham Stern in the Open Teams, emerging as part of the winning team with less than 250 combined A points.

Our People - Malcolm Smith

Ed Roggeveen has written another in his series on members of the Hamilton Club.

This time the subject is long time member Malcolm Smith - Ed's piece can be found by clicking on the link below or by following the 'Our People' link on the left hand side bar of this page.

Click here - http://www.hamilton.bridge-club.org/MalcolmSmith

Seating Times

How many times have you queried the reason for a late start to play on your night of bridge – “what is the Director doing,” somebody asks. Well, 95% of the time the answer to that question is “changing the playing settings on the computer to accommodate latecomers”

Seating instructions in our Bridge book for every session requests that players are seated 5 minutes before the start of play. This allows the Director to set the computer for the number of tables at that time. If another pair then arrives, the Director needs to reset the computer. Sometimes this can occur 2 – 3 times in one session, delaying the start of play as no Director likes to inform players that “no, you cannot play because you are too late” or worse, inflict a percentage penalty against your score for the night

So a plea to all players – please be seated 5 minutes before playing time and make our Directors happy

from your match committee

IAN AND JEFFREY ROUT THE OPPOSITION IN ROTORUA

Many Congratulations to Ian Clayton and Jeffrey Chang. They competed in the Rotorua Restricted tournament on Sunday (having served their duty for club on the Saturday at Interclub). Clearly Saturday's warm up stood them in good stead as they won the Open/Junior section and were the winners overall. GREAT WORK GUYS!

HAMILTON PLAYERS SHINE IN INTER-PROVINCIAL TRIALS

After two days of battle over in Tauranga the teams to go forward for the InterProvincial competition to be held in Christchurch in November were decided. The players in the hunt for the Open, Senior and Women's Teams all Swissed their way through 9 rounds of 12 boards. Congratulations to Yuzhong Chen with partner Hank Ping (1st overall) and Barry Jones and Jenny Millington (3rd overall) who will represent Waikato Bays in the Open Section. Congratulations to Malcolm Smith and Ian Clayton (2nd overall) who make up one half of the Seniors Team. Their teammates will be Tom Winiata and Tom Henwood. The Women's Team will be Amanda Smith and Judy McLeod and Jenna and Christine Gibbons.

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