Bridge Fever Grips NZ!!

.. and it's really gripping!! Check out the NZB report on the record-writing Bridge Blacks' fantastic performance at the Bermuda Bowl overnight 21-Aug NZT. Never before had a New Zealand team made it to the quarterfinals and now our lads have advanced to the semis after defeating the Netherlands in Lyon, France. Plenty of excited chat on the NZB Facebook page too. Seems heaps of people are staying up all night to watch the matches live on BBO.

In other news around the Region: The WAPs (Waikato Area Pairs) came to an end with the sixth and last event at Morrinsville on Sunday. Results in full detail for the whole series may be seen by clicking here. The winners of the 2017 WAPs were Kevin Whyte and Clare Coles of Cambridge which is also the home club of third placed Di Emms and Jane Stearns. Runners-up were Ian Bond and Lynette Morgan of Matamata. It was also the event which pushed Lynette over the line to make Grandmaster - see the article on the Piako site. On the same topic, Kate Terry of Tauranga also achieved that honour at Tauranga's Ladies Day last Wednesday. See the write up.

This coming Sunday the Grade Teams Final takes place at Cambridge. Teams from Tauranga, Matamata, Waikato and Whakatane will compete for the Junior cup, Tauranga, Hamilton, Waikato and Rotorua battle it out in the Intermediates, while Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Matmata sort out who's going to take the Open trophy home this year.

There is a nice article on the Hamilton site concerning Cynthia Clayton being awarded NZB's Volunteer of the Month. As many players will know, Cynthia has an impressive oeuvre of greeting cards which sells at the Hamilton club and at various tournaments. The proceeds are always donated to some worthy bridge cause.

Ross Provan continues his worthy series of exposes on the Laws of Bridge on the South Waikato site. Seems an excellent way to absorb said laws .. digesting each one slowly as you read them one at a time. Sort of like when you used to get comic books every week as a kid - "What'll they get up to this week?"