Summer Festival of Bridge begins
The nation’s largest summer bridge event got underway yesterday at the Canberra Rex Hotel with players from across Australia participating in a range of events until the festival’s close on 19th January.
Winners have already been announced for the under 20 masterpoints, under 100 masterpoints and red masterpoints events, including Margaret Cusack and Rhonda Kong from Ballina Bridge Club (pictured on the homepage).
Today is the second of three competitive days for the highly anticipated national Seniors’ team, Women’s team and Life Masters team trials.
Other highlights of this year’s festival include a four-day under 20 masterpoints development and play program, a club development day, and the prestigious National Open Teams event.
The popular and highly competitive TBIB Open Swiss Pairs Championship starts Monday 13th January, while the three-day South West Pacific Open Teams event kicks off Friday 17th January. There are also pairs and teams events for under 300, 500, 750 and 1,000 masterpoints.
If you’re tempted to join in the fun, most events accept entrants up until the day before the event. You can join on the My ABF platform.
You can also review results as they happen on the Bridge Australia website.
Bridge expert to provide weekly OPL analysis
In a major coup for players in the Summer season of the Online Pairs League, prolific bridge author and expert, Derrick Browne, will share his weekly thoughts on play for the full eight weeks, helping players to advance their bridge skills.
The OPL Summer 2025 season runs from 20 January to 17 March on Monday nights from 7:30pm. Derrick will provide an analysis of interesting play every Tuesday, which will be published on the Bridge NSW website and the Bridge NSW Facebook page.
Learn from a master
A renowned mentor of bridge players and owner of the Trumps Bridge Centre, Derrick will offer expert analysis players in the OPL can learn from.
OPL is a great way for developing players to compete against people of a similar skill level and boost their playing confidence.
Players are allotted into divisions where they play online using the RealBridge platform, which is very similar to face to face (F2F) play. The platform records players’ hands so players can review them in the days following with Derrick’s input in mind.
Or perhaps a local and experienced club mentor might partner with you in the OPL or offer to review your hands after each Monday? A great way to learn from those with more knowledge.
Absent one week or need a partner?
It is only one game per week, and players should finish by 9pm. But if you cannot make it, OPL allows you to call in a substitute player for up to three of the eight games.
Ideally, the substitute player should be of a similar or lower skill level, but the organisers are flexible. If you don’t have a partner, we can attempt to find one for you. Email us in advance and we will do our best.
Discounts on offer
The entry fee is $50, $40 for players with 100-300 masterpoints, and $25 for players with less than 100 masterpoints and youth players (under 25 years).
You can get 50% off your entry fee if you refer someone who hasn’t played OPL before or hasn’t played for at least one year. Just tell us in advance who your friend is.
Register now
Register before 17th January to join the OPL Summer league. You can register on the My ABF platform.
NSW sweeps Aus mixed team playoffs
Four NSW players swept the Australian Mixed Teams playoffs in Canberra this week and will go on to represent Australia in 2025.
Liz Sylvester, Peter Gill, Arlene Dalley and Michael Courtney – all New South Wales players – came from behind in the eighth and final stanza to beat the Lazer team by 4.9 IMPs.
On paper the Lazer team, which included all time greats of the game Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby – were most likely to take out the trophy. Other team members included Giselle Mundell and Andrew Peake – who are both having breakout performances in 2024 with national rankings of 22nd and 26th for the year – as well as Christy Geromboux (163rd for 2024) and Sebastian Yuen.
However, the Slyvester team triumphed with its own superstars of the game, with Peter Gill an Emerald Grand ranked 3rd on the all time list just behind Warren Lazer, and Michael Courtney and Arlene Dalley both chalking up serious masterpoints in 2024 to reach rankings of 11th and 43rd respectively.
The four NSW-based Sylvester players have booked their seats at the 2025 World National Teams Championship in Herning, Denmark on 20-31 August.
We wish them the best of luck! We will report on their efforts here on the Bridge NSW website and on our Facebook page.
State Youth Champs won by 15 year olds
The second annual State Youth Champs Team event took place in Sydney over the weekend, with participants ranging in age from 10 to 29.
The teams event on the Sunday saw the wining team reach 69 VPs with an average age of 15. Seven newcomers joined the teams day, bringing the total newcomers across the weekend to fifteen.
A pairs event was held on the Saturday with five new players joining and two of them achieving a remarkable second place. You can view the full results here.
Bridge NSW Executive Officer, David Havyatt, slotted in last minute as director and was effortlessly reliable, as always.
All participants who didn’t secure a win were awarded book vouchers or a handcrafted crochet item made by one of the players’ mothers.
The NSW State Youth Champs were held at the Sydney Bridge Centre in Surry Hills. The SBC will be the location for next year’s championships in December.
State Novice and Restricted Teams Championship
Eighteen teams contested the State Novice and Restricted Teams hosted by the Illawarra Bridge Association on 9-10 November. Wth an odd number of entries in each field it was played as one round robin of 17 six board matches. One benefit of having the event played as one field is that a Novice Team can win the Restricted Championship.
The team of Ngaire Meehan, Bevan Clouston, Cath Gregory and Lucy Cowen (pictured with organiser Jillian MacRae) from Illawarra did just that. Bevan and Cath came to the club’s beginner class early this year. We hope to hear more from this team in future events.
State Mixed Pairs Championships
State Mixed Pairs Winners – Sherlock Shao and Catherine Zhang
State Mixed Pairs Best Country Pair – Alan Bustany and Di Coats
State Mixed Pairs Runners Up – Jeanette Reitzer and Terry Brown
State Mixed Pairs 3rd – Michael Courtney and Joan Butts
Autumn Swiss Pairs Winners – George Fleischer and Lorna Ichilcik
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2024 ANC Seniors Team
2024 Seniors ITS Winners – Peter Buchen, Bruce Neill, Joan Butts, Pauline Gumby, Michael Courtney and Warren Lazer
Subject to ratification the team to represent NSW at the ANC Seniors Teams in Orange in July will be:
Joan Butts – Michael Courtney
Peter Buchen – Bruce Neill
Pauline Gumby – Warren Lazer
2024 ANC Women’s Team
2024 Women’s ITS Winners – Marcia Scudder, Judy Mott, Sybil Hurwitz, Monica Ginsberg, Ella Jacob and Louise Leibowitz
Subject to ratification the team to represent NSW at the ANC Women’s Teams in Orange in July will be:
Sybil Hurwitz, Monica Ginsberg
Marcia Scudder – Judy Mott
Louise Leibowitz – Ella Jacob
2024 ANC Youth Team
2024 Youth ITS Team – Sherry Wang, Shannon Ooi, Yiwei Qi, Adrian Le, Duncan Lai and Aadhi Hariharan
Subject to ratification the team to represent NSW at the ANC Youth Teams in Orange in July will be:
Yiwei Qi – Adrian Le
Sherry Wang – Shannon Ooi
Duncan Lai – Aadhi Hariharan
2024 ANC Open Team
2024 Open ITS Winners – (L to R) Liam Milne, Dagmar Neumann, Maurits van der Vlugt, Tony Nunn, James Coutts and Paul Dalley
Subject to ratification, the team to represent NSW at the ANC Teams in Orange in July will be:
Dagmar Neumann – Maurits van der Vlugt
Tony Nunn – Paul Dalley
Liam Milne – James Coutts
