Tasmanian Festival of Bridge 2025

Thanks to everyone - players, organisers, directors, caddies, volunteers and sponsors - who made the 2025 Tasmanian Festival of Bridge a successful and exciting event. The Festival was held from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 of March 2025. This was the third time that the event has been held at the MyState Bank Arena in Hobart on the banks of the Derwent river.

400 entrants, including some of Australia's top players competed across 6 events. This is an impressive 25% increase over last year. Half of the entrants were from interstate or overseas. About 75 Australian clubs were represented, with a growing contingent of New Zealand players joining us.

Thursday and Friday saw the TFoB Restricted Swiss Pairs, the Roger Penny Senior Swiss Pairs and the Fixed Income Solutions Australian Mixed Swiss Pairs. The TBIB Australian Swiss Pairs was run on Saturday and Sunday. The TFoB Rookie Swiss Pairs was held on Sunday. The inaugural Jenny Penny Novice Swiss Pairs was also added to the schedule, running on Saturday.

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The TBIB Australian Swiss Pairs had a field of 114 pairs, an increase of 25% over last year. Start of play was preceeded by a few words from Ron Klinger and a minutes silence in memory of Avinash Kanetkar. The winners of the event were Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby. Ashley Bach and Arlene Dalley came second. Maurits Van Der Vlugt and David Beauchamp came third. The Warren Walker Memorial trophy for the highest placed Tasmanian pair was won by Guray Sunamak and Darryl Smith. Full results are here.

The Fixed Income Solutions Australian Mixed Swiss Pairs also saw a signifcant increase over last year's field with 42 pairs playing. The event was won by Ashley Back and Arlene Dalley. Hugh McGann and Candice Smith came second. Andrew Peake and Giselle Mundell came third. Full results are here.

50 pairs played in the Roger Penny Senior Swiss Pairs which was won by Nigel Rosendorff and Peter Reynolds. Ian Robinson and Neil Ewart came second. Phillip Fent and Dee Harley came third. Full results are here.

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The TFoB Restricted Swiss Pairs saw 66 pairs with fewer than 300 masterpoints competing. It was won by Louise Cowan and Susan Bezette from the Tamar Bridge Club. They also won the inaugural Ron Spencer Memorial Prize for the highest placed Tasmanian pair. This prize is in memory of Ron Spencer, a member and generous beneficator of the TBA. Margaret Cusack and Rhonda Khong came second. Joann Theriault and Eamonn McCabe came third. Full results are here.

The inaugural Jenny Penny Novice Swiss Pairs was played on Saturday with 22 pairs with fewer than 100 masterpoints competing. The event is named in memory of Jenny Penny, a much loved bridge teacher and director who introduced many Tasmanians to the game over a very long career. The winners were Jan Van Riel and Margaret Grant. Second placed were Nat Wright and Jo Wright. Robyn Russell and Anne Donnelly came third. Full results are here.

This was the third running of the TFoB Rookie Swiss Pairs with 22 pairs with fewer than 25 masterpoints competing. It was won by Nat Wright and Jo Wright. Ann Burnett and Anne McEntee came second. Helen Hebblethwaite and Chris Arnott came third. Full results are here.

Thanks to TBIB for their continuing sponsorship.

Thanks to Fixed Income Solutions for becoming a major sponsorship.

Thanks to Fella Hamilton for their sponsorship. Two $100 Fella Hamilton gift vouchers were awarded to the top place women's pair in the Restricted, Senior and Open events.

The Tasmanian Festival of Bridge is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania

The 2026 Tasmanian Festival of Bridge will be from Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 March 2026 at the MyState Bank Arena. There is plenty of room for more tables and it is a lovely time of year to visit Tasmania. Save the date, and we hope to see you in 2026