Days 6 and 7: The Agony of Matchpoints

NZ National Congress – NZ Open Pairs qualifying and the Congress Open Matchpoint Swiss Pairs

After a week of IMPs, George and I switched to matchpoints, and were reminded why matchpoint pairs is the most agonising form of the game.

At teams, a partscore that goes one off costs a few IMPs. At pairs, every board is a separate contest against the whole field, and an overtrick, a part score or a 50 can be the difference between a top and a bottom. You can play a board perfectly well and still score 10%, because the rest of the room did something different. There is nowhere to hide.

Day 6: NZ Open Pairs qualifying

The NZ Open Pairs drew 116 pairs, playing two qualifying sessions of 26 boards on Thursday. We sat North-South in both sessions.

We finished 76th of 116 and did not make the semi-finals.

Matchpoints gave us both ends of the scale. In the second session we scored 96% when the opponents went four down in 2♦, and 7% when our 3NT went three down. In the first session the opponents' 3♦ made with an overtrick and we scored 4%. On two boards in that session the opponents made 3NT against us: one was worth 86% to us, the other 62%.

The good news came from our team. Brad Johnston and Samuel Coutts topped the qualifying with 68.47% and 63.56%, a total of 132.03, ten clear of the next pair. Jack James, partnering Blair Fisher, was 34th. From the Joel team that beat us in the teams final, James Coutts and Shane Harrison were 10th.

The NZ Open Pairs after the semi-final

After two semi-final sessions on Friday, with carry-forward from the qualifying, the leaders are:

The top 26 pairs go through to Saturday's final, and the rest to the plate. Brad and Samuel are in the hunt in 3rd, 65 matchpoints behind the leaders. Jack James and Blair Fisher are through in 13th, and James Coutts and Shane Harrison in 16th.

Day 7: Congress Open Matchpoint Swiss Pairs

For those of us not in the semi-finals there was the Matchpoint Swiss Pairs: six matches of eight boards against a new pair each time, with each match scored in matchpoints and converted to VPs.

We finished 27th with 64.78 VPs: a good start, a sag in the middle and a strong finish.

The agony was on show again. In match 5 the opponents went five down doubled in 5♠: +1100 and a clean top. In the same match their 3NT made with two overtricks and we scored 14%. In match 6 their 3NT made with three overtricks, and that was worth just 3% to us.

Hand of the day: the surrounding play

Match 6, board 21. Dealer North, North-South vulnerable.

              ♠ Q 10 9 7 4
              ♥ K 8 4
              ♦ K J 2
              ♣ K 9
♠ A K                     ♠ 2
♥ J 3 2                   ♥ A 9 6 5
♦ 10 7 3                  ♦ Q 6 5 4
♣ A Q J 3 2               ♣ 10 7 6 5
              ♠ J 8 6 5 3
              ♥ Q 10 7
              ♦ A 9 8
              ♣ 8 4

West     North    East     South
         Hugh              George
–        1♠       Pass     3♠*
Dbl      Pass     4♥       All pass

*Mixed raise

George led the ♠3 to dummy. Declarer played a heart to the nine, and George won the ten. He continued with the ♠J, and declarer threw a diamond. Declarer then cashed the ♣A and led the ♣Q, which I won with the king.

Now came the key play: the ♦J. Declarer covered with the queen and George won the ace. With my ♦K 2 and George's ♦9 8 against dummy's ♦10 7, we took three diamond tricks: the ace, the king and the nine. 4♥ went three down: +150 and 93%.

If I had led a low diamond instead, declarer would have played low, forcing George's ace, and the queen sitting over my king would have scored a trick for declarer. Notice that I needed partner to hold the A98 for this to work. For once George cooperated!

The lesson: when you hold K J 9, dummy on your right has 10 x x, and partner may hold the A, lead the jack, not a low card. The jack and the nine "surround" dummy's ten, and declarer's queen can no longer take a trick. Here I needed to hope that partner had more than just the A! Not one that you see in the textbooks too often.

Tomorrow

The NZ Open Pairs final is on Saturday. Good luck to Brad and Samuel, and to Jack and Blair! For the rest of us, the last event of the Congress is the Swiss IMP Pairs. Back to IMPs: at least an overtrick won't break our hearts.

Hugh

The TBA Committee met on November 10th from 2.45pm. Present were Julie Rhodes (P), John Grosvenor (VP), Leigh Blizzard (T), Trish Colles (Sec), Fran Healy, Paul Fredheim, Robin Barnes and Malcolm Sherlock. Jo Beck and Maggie Crawford also came to present their proposal for the 2028 TFoB. The following matters were discussed:

Good Luck to our GNOT teams !

Our TWO teams in the GNOT finals, Tasmania (Hugh Grosvenor, Tania Lloyd, John Grosvenor and Mardi Grosvenor) and Tasmania South (Meryl Derby, David Marshall, Maria Gibbs, Bal Krishan, Julia Corr and Jo Beck), are about to travel to Brisbane to compete at the end of November and we wish them all the best.

Coming Events

There are some great upcoming events in the run-up to Christmas.

TBA Board A Match Teams – Sat December 5th

This event will commence at 9.30 with lunch provided by the TBA. Please bring a plate to share for morning/afternoon tea. There will NO regular Saturday bridge, so this is an opportunity for regular Saturday players to come along and try this new and exciting format. Feel free to ask for help if you need team mates. Enter via My ABF.

Board-A-Match scoring is probably the most straight forward method of scoring. The document here provides a brief overview of the format.

Tassie Swiss Pairs – November 21st and 22nd

This is our premiere pairs event. It commences at 10.30 on Saturday and 9.30 on the Sunday to facilitate entry from Northern players. Enter via My ABF. This is an important event for anyone thinking about nominating for a Tasmanian team in next year’s ANC.

TBA Teams of Three – Sunday November 29th 1.15 pm.

This is a one session event in which experienced players (Team Captains) play with a “team of 3” less experienced players. The captain plays a match with each of the three team members and there is an opportunity to discuss the hands afterwards. This event is limited to players with fewer than 50 Masterpoints.

Enter on My ABF as an individual, pair or threesome, and we will organise teams and captains.

2028 TFoB

From 2028, we plan to extend the Tasmanian Festival of Bridge to six days, incorporating the very first Australian Board-A-Match Teams Championship (subject to ABF approval). This is due to player demand for a teams event, and to make our event longer. The usual events will bookend the BAM Teams.

In the meantime, get your entries in for the 2027 TFoB as the early bird rate will disappear in a couple of months.

Eating and Cards

Every week, hundreds of boards are dealt by our erstwhile team of volunteer dealers and we would like to make things easier for them rather than more difficult. Something which is always difficult is when cards get stuck in the dealing machine for any reason, but often it is because a tiny piece of food is stuck to one of them. It is TBA policy to avoid eating at the playing tables for this reason, and I know it is difficult at the moment as there are limited eating areas available. However, please be aware that eating at the table then handling the cards causes problems for our dealing team (as well as the TBA as may have to prematurely replace the affected cards)

Suggestion Box

There were several suggestions from Members this month and we are responding to each of them :

Saving power on lighting by installing proximity lighting in the toilets. We won’t be doing this as it is too dangerous if the lights suddenly go off. However, in Summer it is often bright enough that we don’t need extra lighting in the toilets. Please feel free to turn off the lights in the ladies or gents toilets if you think it is bright enough.

Restricted Pairs competing in a restricted event are disadvantaged if they have to compete against experienced pairs, as for example in the TBA session of the recent Australia Wide Restricted Pairs event. The committee agrees that this is a valid concern and will refer the matter to the Tournament Committee.

Membership Renewal

We are approaching the start of the annual membership renewal process. Personalised renewal notices will be sent out by email to impacted members in early December. Membership fees for the 2027 year are due by 1 January 2027. The various methods of paying will be detailed on your renewal notice. Please note that the TBA is not able to accept payment via Amex cards.

The easiest way to pay your membership fee is via My ABF Bridge Credits. This is the most reliable method of processing membership payments and minimises the work required by the Directors, Treasurer and other volunteers involved in the process. Please consider using this method for paying your 2027 membership fee.

More details of the renewal process are available here on the TBA website.

Christmas-New Year Schedule

Our normal schedule will apply until Thursday morning 9.30 am session on December 24th.

The following sessions will then be held across the Christmas - New Year peiod:

• Monday Supervised, 10.30 am December 28th
• Tuesday Daytime, 10.30 am December 29th
• Wednesday Morning, 10.00am December 30th
• Thursday Morning, 9.30am on December 31st.

Our regular schedule will then recommence on Saturday January 2nd. This schedule can also be found on the online TBA Calendar.

New Members

We welcome the following new and reactivated members to our club and wish them all the best on their bridge journey :

Anita Carlin, Sofia Pashev, Kristin Riley, Susan Riley, Michele Klok, Brigid Ritchie, Mark Gillard, Imogen Blackie and Hannah Jenkins.

Promotions

Congratulations to the following club members on their promotion to a new playing rank :

• Terry Mitchell: Promoted to Graduate Master
• Maria Rolls: Promoted to Club Master
• Doug Bridge: Promoted to Bronze Local Master
• Anne McEntee: Promoted to Silver Local Master
• Anne Parrott: Promoted to Bronze National Master
• Malcolm Sherlock: Promoted to Life Master

Save the Date - Bring your Grandchild to Bridge – Friday Jan 29th 2027

If you have a young person in your life that would like to learn bridge, please bring them along to the club on Friday January 29th at 10.00am. We will be starting from the absolute basics, and those who are keen to continue after that will be able to join our Youth program in 2027.

Bridge Tip – The increasing importance of MyABF

As the ABF invests more and more to increase the functionality of MyABF, it will become increasingly important to the all bridge players. If you have not yet set up your MyABF account, or you don’t feel confident using it, please ask Hugh or John to help you. Once you have used it a couple of times, you will find it quite easy to use, and it will make all aspects of your bridge playing life easier.

Julie Rhodes
President

Day 2 of the The New Zealand Bridge Congress Restricted Teams saw the final 4 matches of the event. Starting the day in third place, team Edler suffered two substantial losses in the morning, before rallying to win our final two matches to finish in 14th place. Today was a tough draw, playing team 20 (the eventual winners), along with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seeds!

Here is one hand amongst the gloom of the morning that stood out. Sometimes a bit of assistance from the opponents is all you need.

Our teammates bid to a quiet 2H NS, making for +110. Double dummy it can be defeated, but it requires EW to get a club ruff by W with their singleton heart.
I sat East at our table where the auction went:

Jane’s 2S bid can be fairly wide ranging, so I closed my eyes and bid 3NT. Things weren’t as good as I hoped when dummy came down, but at least the opponents had led a heart, giving me a fifth trick, still well short of nine. Winning HJ, I now led D10, which both opponents ducked (six tricks now). I next played D8, South now decided to rise DK, crashing his partner’s DA. North now just returned a heart (now I suddenly have 9 tricks, 3 Hearts, 4 Diamonds and 2 Clubs). Winning with HA, I now ran dummy’s diamonds, and both North and South pitched clubs, so the club 7 became my 10th trick. +630 to go with +110 from the other table for a 12 imp gain!

Pam and Barbara bid board 23 in our final match well to play in 7S when the opponents at our table stopped in 6S for a 13 imp gain.

NZ Restricted Teams Final Results are here.

Good luck to team Coutts in the NZ Open Teams Quarter finals on day 3. Pam and Barbara will be playing in the NZ Restricted swiss pairs over the next two days. Jane and Simon are having two days off. We’ll be back together for a one day teams event on Wednesday.

Tuesday 3 November 2026 saw the 166th running of the Melbourne Cup, and the continuation of the TBA's tradition of Melbourne Cup Day sessions. 23 pairs played in the daytime session. The session incuded sweeps, lunch, drinks, prizes for best headwear and outfit, and the race on the big screen after bridge.

Congratulations to Annette Keen for the best headwear, and Noela Foxcroft for best outfit.

Thanks to all who brought a plate to contribute to the impressive spread at lunch. Thanks to Julie Rhodes for being on kitchen duty throughout the day, and Hugh Grosvenor for directing and organising the informative Melbourne Cup slide show.

The finals of the 2026 Tassie Matchpoint Pairs was held at the Tamar Bridge Club on Sunday 13 September. Players qualified for the finals of this State event through qualifying sessions held at each club. Members of the 2026 Tasmanian Representative teams were given automatic qualification.

The finals were held over two sessions with 18 pairs competing. There was good representation from Launceston and Devonport, but disappointingly little representation from the south.

The winners were Margaret Roberton and Vere Van Ingen. Anne Fyfe and Floyd Suban came second. Ian Farmer and Haj Skilton came third. Full results are here.

Thanks to Hugh Grosvenor for directing the finals.