Disabled Access Project

As of Thursday 31st July the new disabled access ramp has been completed.

Some finishing work remains to be done (including reconnection of the water toby).

Thanks are due to our contractor, Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd, and to Derek Snelling for his (ongoing) leadership of the project.

Podcast - "The Bridge Zone"

The Bridge Zone radio show is now the second most downloaded podcast on the Hamilton Radio Station Free FM with over 3,000 downloads in August.

The Bridge Zone is a radio show and podcast encouraging fellow Bridge players to share the passion that enthusiasts have in playing this challenging game.

Click here to listen to the The Bridge Zone, or tune in to the The Bridge Zone on Coast Access Radio - 104.7 FM - Mondays at 1.30 pm (Kapiti)

If you would like to sample the show, the most recent podcast is available here.

Recent Results

KHAP Round 5

Lorraine Gaffaney and Vicky Young were 1st overall with 62.91%, and Naciye Bagci and Anthea Black were 3rd with 58.93%.

Selected results from Sunday 20th July:

Rae Lutman and Ady Dale were 1st N/S in the afternoon session of the Karori Intermediate Pairs.

Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci placed 5th overall in the Levin OpenPairs.

Jim Gordon and Laura Kelly placed 2nd overall in the Paraparaumu Junior Pairs. In the afternoon session, Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson were 2nd N/S and Gillian van Raalte and Hugh Wolfensohn were 2nd E/W.

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.

Please be alert for temporary health and safety hazards when using the existing access to the front door of the building, and take extra care.

Your patience and understanding during this period will be appreciated.

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31 July update - handrails installed and construction complete.

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.

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.

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.