The New Zealand Bridge Congress began today with a two day teams event. The team of Pam Murphy, Barbara Giizel, Jane Edler and myself are playing in the NZ Restricted Teams. In NZ, the Restricted category is the equivalent of Australia’s intermediate category (fewer than 750 masterpoints).

The format is 4 x 14 matches on each of the two days, with a swiss draw. The random first round draw saw us pitted against team 36 (Askew). We managed 3 double digit pickups on 3 of the 14 boards. Board 3 saw us play 5D by Jane as W, making 12 tricks. Slightly concerned we had missed bidding a slam, we found at our teammates table the board had been passed in for a 12 imp gain!

Board 7 can make 3NT NS on careful play, our opponents went down one while our teammates made the vulnerable game for another 12 imps.

Board 9 was another 11 imps when our opponents played in 3NT making 12 tricks and our teammates bid the NT slam making. Well done Pam & Barabara!

Match 1 was a 46 imp win and first place. Off to a good start.

Match 2 was against team 27 (Chen). There were 4 double digit results, 3 in our favour and one against.

Board 19 sitting East, I held a very distributional hand, a 0571 shape, ending up in 5D making 12 tricks. At the other table, the opposition bid our cards one level too high to 7D going one down for a 12 imp gain.

The very next board we defeated 4S at our table whilst our teammates made the contract for a 12 imp gain.

Board 25 I managed to bring home a vulnerable 3NT contract on some poor discarding from our opponents. Our teammates stole the contract in 3Sx down one for an eleven imp pickup.

Board 26 was our disaster hand. 3NT is a reasonable contract EW, however it’s not makeable and Jane unfortunately left two winners in the breeze going down 4 vulnerable. Our teammates again played 3SX going one down for a 12 imp loss.

Overall, a 48 imp win for a rollicking start to the tournament.

Match 3 felt like a loss at our table. Board 1 we went down in a very makeable 4H contract and board 14 we went down 5 in a 5D contract, fortunately not vulnerable. This match showed you should never give up, as our teammates had a good set to offset the 19 imps we lost on those two hands to record a 10 imp win against team 7 (Tattersfield) and hold on to first place.

Match 4 was a tight affair against team 6 (Cullen). On board 21, we picked up 13 imps, then gave 11 back on the very next hand, eventually losing by 2 imps. In Australia, this would be a draw according to masterpoint regulations but in NZ it’s a loss. So we slipped to third at day’s end but still very much in contention just 0.73 VPs behind first place with 4 more matches tomorrow.

NZ Restricted Teams Results are here.