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Go Far and Rise High

How far has bridge taken you? 

Early in June we heard that there was a record breaking entries total of 105 tables in the Victor Champion Cup (VCC) in Melbourne! We hope you enjoyed the scale of the competition if you were there! We are proud to have NSWBA members in the top four in every events. Congratulations to NSW players who achieved these top results. Please click on the results page below, and view them in full.
Bridge took the Australia Women's Team to the 2019 Asia Pacific Bridge Federation Championships in Singapore! The team is represented by Helena Dawson, Lorna Ichilcik, Helene Pitt, Avril Zets, Giselle Mundell and Rena Kaplan from New South Wales. Helene Pitt and Lorna Ichilcik are going to represent NSW in the Australia National Championship (ANC) in July as well. The 10-days competition starts from 11 June, there are live broadcast on Bridge Base Online (BBO) Vugraph, so you can watch the match closely. 
 
The Australia National Championship (ANC) will be held in Melbourne in July this year. The four NSW Teams are all ready and set to compete with the selection for the NSW Youth and Seniors Teams completed in mid-May:

Open Team
Lynn Kalmin - Lorna Ichilcik
Julian Foster - David Weston
Matthew Thomson - Peter Buchen
John McIlrath (NPC)

Seniors Team
George Bilski - Nicki Strasser
Warren Lazer - Pauline Gumby
Andrew Markovics - Peter Jeffery
Hugh Grosvenor (NPC)

Women's Team
Judy Mott - Cathryn Herden
Ruth Tobin - Helene Pitt
Susan Humphries - Sophie Ashton
Marcia Scudder (NPC)

Youth Team
John McMahon - Matt Smith
Ailsa Peacock - Alex Phillips
Lara Topper - Jacob Rose
Charles McMahon (NPC)

The ANC Team has its own Facebook Group, follow their news by joining the group!

Some of the ANC events are open to public. It is always a good way to learn when you can play the same hands as the top players and compare your results to theirs. Details of the ANC can be found HERE.
The four teams representing NSW to compete in the Australia National Championship (ANC) in Melbourne in July. (Top left) The Seniors' Team - George Bilski, Nicki Strasser, Warren Lazer, Pauline Gumby, Andrew Markovics and Peter Jeffery. Non-playing captain (NPC) is Hugh Grosvenor. (Top right) The Youth Team - John McMahon, Alex Phillips, Ailsa Peacock, Matt Smith, Lara Topper and Jacob Rose. Charles McMahon is the NPC. (Bottom left) The Open Team - Lynn Kalmin, Julian Foster, David Weston, Matthew Thomson and Peter Buchen. With Lorna Ichilcik (insert). John McIlrath is the NPC. (Bottom right) The Women's Team - Judy Mott, Cathryn Herden, Ruth Tobin, Helene Pitt, Susan Humphries, Sophie Ashton. Marcia Scudder will be NPC.
68 pairs (48 qualified from 19 club qualifying events in different metro and country clubs, 20 were direct entries) travelled to Sydney and competed in the State & Country Mixed Pairs Championship on 25-26 May. Congratulations to the winners:

2019 State Mixed Pairs winners -
1st Shirley Arnold and Barry Dalsto (Pennant Hill Bridge Club)
2nd Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby
3rd Freddie Zulfiqar and Annette Marshall

2019 Country Mixed Pairs winners -
1st Jim and Ellie Fitz-Gerlad (Maitland Bridge Club)
2nd Terry Bodycote and Jenny Michael
3rd Bob Morris and Gwen White (Brisbane Water Bridge Club Woy Woy)

There was a side event as a one-day congress Autumn Swiss Pairs on the Sunday. 56 pairs were playing the same hands as the 28 pairs who qualified to the State & Country Mixed Pairs Final. Obviously players enjoyed the weekend, as we had the funniest photos of the winners:

Autumn Swiss Pairs winners - 
1st Peter Jeffery and Yumin Li
2nd Johnno Newman and Nico Ranson
3rd Witold Chylewski and Ruth Tobin

The State & Country Mixed Pairs Championship went smoothly by end of May. The winners were Shirley Arnold and Barry Dalsto from the Pennant Hills BC.The State Country Mixed Pairs was won by Jim and Ellie Fitz-Gerald from the Maitland BC. Peter Jeffery and Yumin Li won the Autumn Swiss Pairs Congress.
The first Country Teams Regional Final was also held in busy May. The Tablelands - Illawarrawa Regional Final (Eastern Zone) was hosted by the Bowral Golf Club on 6 May. More regional finals have been / will be held. In June - Central Coast and Hunter (both belong to the Outer Metropolitan Zone), Mid-North Coast (Far North Zone) and Far South Coast (Eastern Zone); four more regional finals will be held in all four zones later on. The winning teams will progress to the Zonal Finals and the best team will be sent to the John Arkinstall State Teams Final (the official name of the State Open Teams) at NSWBA in November. 

Team Lavings (Paul Lavings, Helen Lavings, Jeff Carberry and Walt Davis) won the Tablelands-Illawarrawa Regional Final.

Chris Hannan, John Duncan, Jan Davis and Lorraine Lindsay from Brisbane Water Woy Woy led in the Central Coast Regional Final. 

Ann Kynaston, Carmel Pike, Henry Hudson and Bronwyn Boehm won the Far North Coast Country Teams Regional Final hosted by Port Macquarie.

Full results can be found HERE.
2019 Teams of Three winners - (Open) Peter Bendelstein, Peter Marshall, Warren Lazer(C) and Peter Lipthay. (Restricted) Tomer Libman(C), Maeve Doyle, Stuart Schon and Sylvia Halloran. (Novice) Leonie Grunfeld, Natalie Topper, 
Marcia Scudder(C) and Ann Baker.

While country players were competing in Country Teams regional finals, the NSWBA hosted the Teams of Three event in the city. 41 tables (with three separate fields for Open, Restricted and Novice) filled up the venue. Thank you to all the Captains who generously donated their time simply to pass their knowledge on, participants commented that the event was the "best learning experience" by partnering with a high level player (who has represented a State or higher). 

Local congresses are always a good starting point for bridge travelling. The Peninsula Bridge Club ran a successful Teams event by getting more entries comparing to last year. Read their congress story HERE.
Congratulations to the winners in the Peninsula Teams - (Open) Colin Baker, Sartaj Hans, Helena Dawson and Fraser Rew. (Restricted) Martin Brown, Barry Feyder, Gail McKenzie and Anthony Smuts.
Applause to the winners of the Yamba Congress - (Left) Championship winners Jamie McCall and Frances Gaunt from Coffs Harbour. (Middle) Plate winners Fran and Geoff Bhatt from Grafton with our President Peter McGruer. (Right) The Best pair under 100 MPs Caitlin Holman from Nambucca Valley and Rachel Price from Lockyer Queensland.

Upcoming Events

Events highlights from 22 June - 22 July. Click HERE to view all congresses in the whole year.

CONGRESSES IN NSW LOCAL CLUBS
Jun 22-23 (Sat-Sun) Illawarra Bridge Association
Chris Diment Memorial Congress Pairs and Teams
Event Details >

Jun 22-23 (Sat-Sun) NSBC@Lindfield Restricted & Novice Festival
Two Men & A Truck Teams and Swiss Pairs
Event Details >

Jun 27-30 (Thu-Sun) North Shore Bridge Club Bridge Festival
Swiss Matchpoint Pairs, Teams, Swiss Pairs and TBIB Teams
Event Details >

Jul 6-7 (Sat-Sun) Brisbane Water Bridge Club (Woy Woy) Super Congress
Swiss Pairs (Open, Restricted/Novice) and Teams
Event Details >



NSWBA EVENTS
Jun 17-Jul 8 (over 4 Mondays) NSWBA Schaufelberger Teams
A special talk on "How to make your opponents defend worse" by Liam Milne is arranged on 1 July 6.40pm. The talk is open to public. 
Event Details >

Jul 15-22 (over 2 Mondays) NSWBA State Open Pairs Qualifying
Pairs finishing in the top 6th of the field will receive FREE entry into the State Open Pairs Championship Final on the weekend of 23 and 24 November 2019. All other participating pairs may enter the Finals for half price - $60 per pair rather than $120. Seems like either way you're winning!
Event Details >



STATE EVENTS
Jul 26-29 (Fri-Sun) State Veterans Pairs
Celebrating Christmas in July at Bowral as well!
Event Details >



NATIONAL (ABF) EVENTS
Jul 13-25 (Sat-Thu) Australian National Championships
Melbourne
Event Details >


Aug 10-11 (Sat-Sun) Swan River Open Swiss Pairs
Perth
Event Details >



BRIDGE HOLIDAYS
Jun 23-28 (Sun-Fri) Trumps Bridge Centre Gilbraltar Hotel Bowral
Holiday Details >

Jul 27-Aug 18 (Sat-Sun) Finesse Vive La France
Holiday Details >
FEATURED ARTICLES
New to Congress?
The guideline to first time congress player.

The ambience and setup of club bridge can be different from congress competition. Some players feel like they are not given enough preparation for it. We have taken reference to some materials from Gold Coast and developed the Guideline to New Congress Players. We hope this will give you more confidence to enjoy playing in congresses.

Click on the image for a full guideline:
Understanding Scoring
Matchpoint Vs IMPs
Matchpoint scoring is used in most of the club duplicates and IMPs scoring are more common in congresses. Do you know the difference? Have you applied different strategies when you play in a club duplicates and in a congress? To understand their difference, please click on the following link:

Pairs Vs IMPs
by Mick McAuliffe and Warren Lazer
 Book Review 
Sleeping On The Couch
by David Caprera


The author plays almost exclusively with his spouse and more often than not ends up "sleeping on the couch". Paul Lavings recommended it as a most enjoyable and humorous read. Note that all profits from the sale of the book are donated to the junior bridge program.


Click on the image for a full book review by Paul Lavings:
 Congress Stories by Rakesh Kumar 
Rakesh is going on holiday soon so there will be no congress story reported by him this issue. Have a review on his past stories HERE.
Ask a Director
by John McIlrath

This Q&A column is designed for you to ask questions. No question is silly, please feel free to write to us about your uncertainty about a situation at the table, we will help you to find the answer.

To understand situations better where a director is called, Matthew McManus has explained them in detail and the reasons behind the rulings in his articles. They are written from the angle of players. Review his columns to be a better congress player. Review his columns here >
CONGRESS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Your Association is pleased to acknowledge this 2019 Award. There will be four categories:
  • Open
  • Intermediate <750 MPs
  • Restricted <300 MPs
  • Novice <100 MPs
Click HERE for our current "interim" list, as at 31 May 2019. This award is based on masterpoints earned at NSW Congresses held under the auspices of NSWBA during the year.
CONGRESS PSYCHE REGISTER
The NSWBA has decided to establish a central psyche register for all congresses held in NSW.

The laws permit players to deviate from their systemic agreements so long as the partner of the player who does so has no greater reason to be aware of this deviation than the opponents. Once your partnership has a history of deviating from its agreements in a certain situation you are required to inform your opponents of this tendency.


If you feel that your opponents have psyched against you, please email details of the hand to the psyche register – no action will be taken against players who are reported to the psyche register but once a pair has multiple entries in the psyche register, congress directors will be informed so that they are aware of this history when making their rulings.

A form which can be used for submissions is available HERE.
ABOUT eCONGRESS
The eCongress is a monthly newsletter published by the NSW Bridge Association. It updates you with the latest congresses in the month, interesting hands and analysis from events, and tips regarding bridge laws.

Subscribe now >
NSW Bridge Association
+61 2 9264 8111
office@nswba.com.au
www.nswba.com.au
Level 1, 162 Goulburn Street,
East Sydney 2010
SEND US YOUR STORIES
Do you have a story to tell or a photo to share after playing in a congress? Let us know, we will be pleased to publish it. 
Submit your stories / photos>

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