Disabled Access Project

The construction of our new ramp at the front of the building is expected to begin on Monday 21st July.  This will unavoidably cause some disruption, particularly in the carpark, and there may also be some noise during our daytime playing sessions on Monday and Thursday.  

Our contractor is Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd.

When the project is complete we expect to have three carparks for persons with disabilities along the front of the building immediately adjacent to the new ramp, with the existing parking spaces at the front moved to the end of the building.

Your patience and understanding during this period will be appreciated.

Online Intermediate Lessons - August

The NZBridge Teaching and Learning Committee has organised online Intermediate lessons – suitable for those who have played for a few years.

Cost: $20 for a set of 3 lessons or $8 for a single lesson

Where: Register and pay through HelloClub and you will receive the RealBridge link...

https://nzbridge.helloclub.com/public/event/6876f6bb705af2ca59a20c50/intermediate-lessons

Time: Lessons are 4-6pm Sundays, repeated 7-9pm the following Tuesdays. Log on at least 15 minutes early, check your camera and microphone, as you will be playing the practice hands.

Schedule:

Sunday 10th & Tuesday 12th August - Escaping 1NT Doubled
Sunday 17th & Tuesday 19th August - Interference over our 1NT
Sunday 24th & Tuesday 26th August - Competing over their 1NT

Further lessons in September/October will be notified soon.

(Thanks to Helen Walker for spotting this)

Wellington Regional Club Championships

As previously advised, the Wellington Regional Club Championships took place on 12th July.

I'm delighted to report that the Waikanae team placed 2nd, equal on points with Otaki, and only 2 points behind the winners, Wellington.

In the Open grade John Donbavand and Pryor Rowland were 4th with 52.04%.  In the Restricted grade Angela Gattsche and Helen Walker came 2nd with 54.26%.  In the Intermediate grade Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young were 9th, while in the Junior grade Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson placed 3rd with 55.09%.

Pride of place goes to Laura Kelly and Jim Gordon, who won the Novice competition with a score of 61.48%.

Congratulations to all on an excellent result - and thanks also to Kevin Walker, who was both Director and Scorer for the event.

"In Brief"

NZ Bridge AGM

The draft Minutes of the NZ Bridge AGM held on 14th June 2025 are available here.

NZ Bridge Chairperson's Newsletter

A second recent newsletter from the Chair of NZ Bridge is available here.

Waikanae/Paraparaumu Charity Tournament

A big thank you to all who supported Sunday afternoon's very enjoyable tournament in support of the Life Flight Trust.  The winners were Vicky Young and Ann Edwards.  Rezea Morgan and Angela Gattsche took 2nd place and Pryor Rowland and Nicky Bradley were 3rd.  

Special thanks to all at Paraparaumu for organising and running the event, which raised in excess of $1,000 for the Trust.

Current National Rankings

The 30 June ranking reports are out and once again some of our players are mentioned.  This report identifies the top 20 players in each grade nationwide:

• In the Life Master grade John Donbavand is ranked 11th
• In the National Master grade Pryor Rowland is ranked 12th 
• In the Master grade Graham Cheater is ranked 9th
• In the Local Master grade Murray Lobb is ranked 20th
• In the Novice grade Jim Gordon is ranked 3rd

Congratulations everyone - not bad for a small club like ours!

Disability Access Project

I'm delighted to be able to report that the Waikanae Community Board has given the Club a grant of $10,000 (exclusive of GST) towards the cost of our disability access project, which will see the construction of a new ramp along the front of the building and the development of new carparks to make access easier for persons with disabilities.

I would like to thank Rae Lutman for her efforts in putting together the application, Derek Snelling for his ongoing leadership of the project, and Paul Brinkman.  Rae, Derek and Paul all attended the Board's meeting on Tuesday, with Derek as the lead presenter on our behalf.

I will keep you updated as the project proceeds.

Wellington Bridge Club lessons

The Wellington Bridge Club is running a series of learning sessions in a  fun social environment every Saturday afternoon until August. Any member of a bridge club can go.  The sessions are from 1:00-4:30, and cost $6:00 which includes tea and scones (my thanks to Judi Vernau and Helen Walker for this item). 

XG Ratings

The following explanatory note on XG ratings has kindly been provided by Maureen Pratchett:

The purpose of applying handicaps on Monday is to level the playing field, not to punish the good players as some might think.

There are many ways we could calculate handicaps – average scores (which has been used previously) and NZ Bridge rating points to name two ways. We are trialling a different way on Mondays for 3 months as it appears to be fairer than both of these and is easily applied. It is called the XG system. An awful name, but that is what Compass calls it.

Each week Compass calculates an XG rating (a percent score) for every player which is based on all of their previous playing history. Average players will have an XG of around 50. Very good players will have a rating in the high 50s. Novice players who have no previous playing history are given a default value of 40. A player’s XG rating will therefore adjust from week to week.

The XG handicap is dynamically-calculated for each session based on a pair’s average XG rating and the average XG rating of all their opponents during that session.

For example, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 40 and the average of your opponents is 48, you will get a handicap of +8 for that session – to level the field. Similarly, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 54 and your opponents have an average rating of 46, you will get a handicap of -8 for that session.

For any (say) NS pair, the opponents they play against may be different from other NS pairs. For example, if there are fewer rounds being played than there are tables, the players who NS1 do not meet will be different than the players who NS3 do not meet. Therefore, even if NS1 and NS3 have the same average XG rating, the average of their opponents may be different, thus resulting in different handicaps.

Any member can go to website https://mycompasss.com (note 3s’s) to see their playing history and their current XG rating. Go to NGS in the top menu, then XG listings. Then you can put your surname in the Search box. You can log in as a guest or create your own login ID for the website.

Current XG Ratings for Waikanae Bridge Club members may be found by scrolling the list below.

   

  

The full spreadsheet is available here.  It will be updated monthly.

If you wish to check your own rating (or that of any other member) at any time go to https://mycompasss.com/xg/xg.php and enter the relevant search query.

Wellington Regional Club Championships

As previously advised, the Wellington Regional Club Championships will take place on 12 July 2025.

I'm pleased to announce the Waikanae team selected by the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG) is as follows:

Open/Open: John Donbavand and Pryor Rowland

Open Restricted: Angela Gattsche and Helen Walker

Intermediate: Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young

Junior: Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson

Novice: Laura Kelly and Jim Gordon

Good luck everyone - play well!

Welcome to the Class of 2025

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It’s Graduation time! Our new learners will shortly be joining Monday sessions for some competitive play!

This year's series of learners lessons has come to an end, and three scheduled evenings of play with the Committee have also been completed.   

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the new group of novice players when they start playing competitive bridge on Monday 7th July.  Given the size of this year's class, there may be as many as 18 new players on that day and in the weeks ahead.

We are trying to achieve as painless a transition for our new members to competitive bridge as possible. Many of these players will be nervous, slow, and needing help with both bidding and card play. In recognition of this, there will be at least one non-playing Director, and some experienced players available to assist.  However, no other special arrangements are being made.

I would like once again to thank Ady Dale and all those established members (too numerous to mention here) who have helped with the lessons - you've done a great job!

Please come along to meet and play with our new members - we'd love to see you!