Bridge Club News

Around October 2018 Sandy Carter and I decided to move from the green to the red section to improve our bridge.

Initially this was quite daunting as many players have been in the red section for quite some time. We arrived early but still seemed to have to start a new table in the next row as everyone had “their” spot.

However, it turned out it really didn’t matter what time we got there as we always were able to find a table and play in the red section - so it was an unfounded fear.

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A regular problem for Directors during play is the appearance of hands with 12 or 14 cards in them, while a less common problem is the switching of cards from the correct hand to another hand resulting in a fouled board (as happened recently).

Both problems often stem from the ritual some players have of spreading out their cards at the end of play for a session of ‘why didn’t you?’ or some similar post-mortem on the hand.

Might discouragement of the ritual of going through a hand after play be a suitable topic of a newsletter article (Ed. Yes - right here!) or an announcement prior to play? I know this will not eliminate the problem, but it might make those witnessing it at the table a bit more assertive about asking those engaging in it to desist.

The Rookies Individual Comp, first contested last year, held on the first Wednesday of each month between March and November, proved again to be a popular event. Over 80 players took part, 5 playing in all nine events and 20 achieving the qualifying level of seven of the nine and another 9 players completing six events.

Consistently strong performances by Susan Eason and Sandy Carter, playing together, including five results above 60% led to their achieving joint first place with Savitri Newman not too far behind. A little way back Detlef Volkmer led the pack with Terry Herfort, a late starter, in hot pursuit.

The Padman, contested at eleven evening sessions on the first Tuesday of each month between February and December, has again proved to be a popular event. A total of thirty pairs took part of which five competed at all eleven events. A further five achieved at least nine results and four more, at least seven.

The lead changed several times during the year but, in the end, David Farmer and Catherine Whiddon finished strongly and (helped by a couple of good results when Lyn Smith substituted for Cath) came through to take the Trophy from Jan Mclennan and Linda Addenbroek with Alan Davies and Vivien Eldridge not far away in third.

The Sloman Cup completed in December with congratulations going to Jocelyn Bertram and Chris Duggin ahead of Ray Hurst and Hans van Weeren who were just ahead of Ray Bragge and Tom Wykoff.

The best eight scores from the ten sessions were aggregated, with up to three different substitutes allowed. Eleven pairs managed to meet these tight conditions.

Peninsula hosted one of the locations where the NSWBA Under 100MP Championsip was played (on Fri 30 Nov). 18 pairs, including some from Central Coast and North Shore Bridge Clubs, competed at our club in this event scored across the state.

After some technical issues at the state-wide scoring portal, the scoring is largely complete - you can check the currently recorded state scores.

Congratulations to our most successful pair, Maggie Gibbs and Paddy Purves, who were placed 29th across the state. The placings by the four sub-categories are not yet tabulated.

This is a placeholder waiting for the official report, but unofficially 144 of us enjoyed a great day of bridge, food and fun. If you weren't there, you might wonder just what Sue Evershed is doing...

Check the Christmas Party photos, mostly be Len Evershed - thanks Len!

The many of our members who also spend hours each week on the golf course will be interested to hear of member Allison Kingscote's recent success.

On 29 October on the 5th hole (135m) at Warringah Golf Course, Allison sunk a hole-in-one. Not really being a golfer I understand this is somewhat rarer than bidding and making 7NT. A trophy is being presented shortly.