Bridge AGM Notice

BENONI NORTHERNS BRIDGE CLUB

NOTICE OF

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TO BE HELD ON 30 JANUARY 2020 AT 12:00 pm

AGENDA

1. Welcome
2. Apologies
3. Attendance Register
4. Minutes of previous AGM
5. Chairman’s Report
6. Treasurer’s Report
7. Tournament Director’s Report
8. Changes to the Constitution from last years’ AGM to be
   ratified

BNSC managing BNBC accounts

BNBC representative on BNSC committee

Election of Office Bearers for 2020
10.Items placed on the Agenda by Members
(please submit these to the secretary by 24 January.

Caroline.franks@pamgolding.co.za

SABF Control of conventions June 2019

See 2019 SABF control of conventions below which I suggest you peruse. Those of you who are familiar with these regulations will find that there are quite a few changes, especially as to point count. Enjoy!

Bridge Result 2 Jul 2019

Results

Hand Records

(not yet available)

Bridge Performance Ladded Jan – Mar 2019

Performance ladder

Results published on Saturday 30 March 19 at 10:nn a46/p46

Bridge GBU Bulletin Jan 2019

GBU BULLETIN 01.2019

Bridge Ladder 15 Jan 2019

Ladder

Individuals

Bridge AGM 2019

Please note that we will be conducting our 2019 AGM at 1200 on the 31st January, as per the agenda on our noticeboard, which will be displayed at every session from now until the 31st.
Nomination slips are available for anyone who would like to nominate a member onto the committee.
Please make every effort to attend, after which we will be playing bridge as normal. Those of you who are not yet members are welcome to attend, but will not of course be able to participate in the proceedings.

R.A.Hayward
Chairman

BNBC AGM Notice 2019

Untitled

Thanks once again to Jacks Club for allowing us to join them this afternoon, and a very pleasant afternoon it was. They had two powerful fans going at maximum speed, thereby making it possible to play bridge in a tolerable temperature, with five tables of dedicated bridge players beavering away!

Ian and I had some good luck along the way, some finesses were favourable, some leads fed themselves into our tenaces and some even distribution also helped, but there you are, we managed to pull it off again, followed by Mike and Liz Potgieter, then Pete and Rose Powers in third.

There was one unfortunate occurrence this afternoon, affecting board 11. As you will see on the attachment, at the first three tables NS played the contracts of 3NT, followed by the last two tables where the NT contracts were played by EW. After investigation by the TD, it was decided to give the last two tables an average because they weren’t responsible, but in the case of pairs 2 and 6, they were responsible for misboarding the hands, so they were penalised by a half a top each.

Thanks again to the guys and girls at Jack’s Club for their hospitality. Obviously an open invitation is always extended to their members to come and join us at Benoni Northerns at any of our sessions.

It’s raining now at Country View, accompanied by lightning and thunder, hopefully the kind of rain that will settle in and pour down in buckets.

That’s all for this year all you nice people out there. It has been a pleasure to meet with you through the ether like this and I look forward to the new year with great anticipation.

Happy New Year to all of you and yours,

From myself and the committee of Benoni Northerns Bridge Club.

Roy

Results

Hand records

jackshand records27Dec

Bridge NGBU Goodwill 2018

Please note attached. It is a red point event, catering provided, all day event on December 2nd. Take a trip North and enjoy a day’s bridge with the NGBU.
Roy

NGBU-Goodwill-20181202

Bridge Club Championship 17 Nov 2018

After everything was over last night, I arrived home and sat down with a cup of coffee, watched our Springboks beat Scotland, fell asleep in the chair, resurfaced, watched Ireland beat New Zealand, Yes, Yes!, fell asleep again, resurfaced later and just couldn’t fall asleep again. The Adrenalin from yesterday’s events was still coursing through my 70 something veins, the thoughts, the rehashing of certain bids, the little differences here and there that would have made such a difference.

I also couldn’t stop thinking about the wonderful people that I am privileged to be able to share a few hours with, every week, every year, some for the past 30 to 40 years! When I said thank you to some of these yesterday, I mentioned the committee, Lisa, assistance with the movements from Sid and Peter Bircher. There are also numerous unsung heroes who assist every week, putting out all the paraphernalia that is required to make our sessions tick and I am particularly grateful to them.

The 2018 Champions

And now to yesterday. The pair of Bill Wilkie and Clyde Mallinson came in first with 63,07%. They also won the East/West section in the morning and the afternoon session. Hans and Albert were second and Ian and Roy were third overall. The full results are attached for your quiet perusal and contemplation.
The incoming committee in 2019 will of course be running this event again next year, but if I have anything to do with it, we will also be running a mid-year event on a Saturday as well.

That’s it from loquacious me,
Thank you for your friendship and your competitive spirit,
I enjoy every minute I get to spend with you.

Roy

Morning

North / South

East / West

Afternoon

Championship

Hand Records

Herewith hand records for Saturday 17th.
What a wonderful day of bridge it was, though I must admit to being very tired afterwards. A three hour nap on Sunday afternoon seems to have put me right again.
Bring on the next tournament!

Yours in diamonds,

Lisa

Pairs 1 2018

Pairs 2 2018

Bridge Pairs ladder Sep 2017 to Sep 2018

For all of your interest, attached is a self explanatory ladder of pairs results for the 12 month period Sept to Sept. Well played, consistently, to Paul and Bridie for topping the averages, followed by Sid and Ros, then Ian and myself.

Ladder

Bridge 4 Sep 2018

Yes indeed, a beautiful day, a foretaste of many more such days to come.

Attached are the full results of tonight’s session. Congratulations to Trish and Lisa for a good win, followed by Di and Barbara, then 1 point behind was Diana and Anne,

Roy

Results

Hand Records

69 sept 4

Judys bridge drive

Scan

Bridge Teams Championship 2018

The Championship has now ended, with the final results as follows, the complete breakdown, match by match, as per the attached Excel spreadsheet. A feature of the whole 7 month competition was the complete dominance of one team, that of Bridie, Paul, Bill and Clyde, who rolled over most of the other teams, recording a final total of 109 VPs, or an average of 18,16 per match,viz; an average score of 18,16 to 1,84 per match.
The above statistic from these sessions is somewhat troubling to me, because it relates to the depth of playing strength in the rest of the club. This is why I am always trying to goad our members into doing something about it.I get comments from people from time to time, concerning the fact that some pairs “win all the time”. This kind of comment gets me going, because it is so crass, said without thinking it through. Your personal results and level of play from week to week are in your hands. If you’re not improving, just sitting there and playing the same exact system you played 30 years ago, having never read a book, analysed your results, practiced on BBO, endeavoured in some way to improve, then you have no reason to complain about someone else who has taken the trouble to improve.
Having said what I did above, let me now congratulate them on their dominance of 2018 Teams, and they will therefore be representing our club later this year in the Interclub Teams.
The final results are as follows:
VPs
1. Bridie, Paul, Bill and Clyde 109
2. Diana, Anne, Vaun and Guylaine 89
3 Roy, Ian, Mary and Jan 74
4. Di, Barbara, Cathy and Tor. 72
5. Caroline, Marianne, Heather and Karin 39
5 Deirdre,Helen, Margaret and Hanneke 39
7 Bram, Tico, Geoff and Jerome 6

Handicapped results
1 Diana 89
2 Bridie 88
3 Roy 70
4 Di 64
5 Caroline 51
6 Deirdre 37
7 Bram 21

The full spreadsheet with all the results is attached.
My thanks go to those other members who filled in while people were away and to everyone who brought eats.

Roy

Results

TEAMS 2018 Results Final (Excel)

South Coast Open Pairs 2018

For information visit: http://www.automatexcel.co.za/SCO/sco.htm

flyer1

flyer2

Bridge Team Results 31 Jul 2018

Tuesday night was the 6th round of our annual Teams championship, and results went largely according to handicaps.

Results

Bridge ladder averages Jan-Jul 2018

Attached are two files with Ladder averages from January to July this year. The first is limited to those pairs who have played at least 12 times, while the second is a little wider, with a minimum of 6 played. The results are interesting and show who the most consistent pairs are this year.

I trust you find these interesting.

Roy

Further to my previous mail, here is another ladder for Thursday players, for those of you that played at least 10 times, with your best 15 scores.

For Tuesday players, attached file is for pairs.

My purpose in sending these out is just to give you an indication of the most consistent pairs, but you will realise that the parameters that are set, when the system is interrogated for averages, are the determining factors. For instance, the number of times played, the number of best scores selected, the number of worst scores deleted, the consistency of partnership, all have a huge effect on the end results.

You can, however, see that the most consistent partnership year to date is that of Paul and Bridie, with Bill and Ros also featuring strongly on Thursdays.

The figures therefore tell us what is obvious to see from week to week, but it is also interesting to see how you are doing, as regular partnerships.

Roy

Bridge Team Results 26 Jun 2018

So there it is!

The 5th round of one of our major events of the year.

What drama! The first hand that Bernie and I picked up, board number 1, was a slam in hearts, duly bid, duly made. There was a hand with 9 hearts to the ten, there were also some mundane boards, there was some strange distribution, we had just about everything.

The match between Teams 1 and 3, that was Bridie’s against Di’s, had Team 3 leading at the halfway mark, but a second half recovery resulted in a 15/5 win for Team 1. In our encounter with Caroline and her ladies, we won 20/0, but they definitely could have done better. It must be said, especially to those of you who are new to teams events, that this is the most accurate and fairest form of bridge. In saying that, a team gets more severely punished for bidding lapses and casual mistakes made, with a single board’s results often determining the whole outcome of the contest.

I wasn’t privy to the contest between Deirdre’s and Diana’s teams, but the result went to Diana’s foursome by a margin of 15/5.

So, the current standings are as per the attached Excel spreadsheet. After 5 rounds, the standings are as follows:

1. Roy and his henchmen (and lady)
2. Bridie and her men
3. Diana and her team.
4. Di, Barbara, Tor and Cathy
5. Deirdre and her girls
6. Caroline and her girls
7. Bram and his team.

The above standings will of course change dramatically after the July event, because our team will have a bye, with, therefore, no points. Let’s see what happens then, followed by the final in August.

See you all tomorrow.

Roy

Results

2018-06-26 TEAMS 2018 Results

Hand Records

49 June 26

Bridge – It’s in the Cards!

by Brenda Stone

Aging is inevitable, but, as Dylan Thomas said, that does not mean you must “go gentle into that good night.” Recent research has shown that brain cells don’t necessarily die off as you age. In fact, your brain can actually form new cells, as well as make new connections among existing cells, given the right environment. And The Second Half provides that right environment in many ways through its various study groups, but one way that has received a lot of attention from researchers lately may surprise you – it is playing the game of bridge. You may be doing it for fun, but the brain exercise you get is special.

Two components of bridge promote healthy aging and therefore make it an ideal game for senior citizens. Bridge provides (1) a cognitive workout and (2) an opportunity for social interaction. The combination of these two key components sets bridge apart from many other leisure-time activities as an ideal environment for fostering an active, healthy brain.

How will playing bridge help your mental acuity? Several cognitive skills are required to play bridge effectively:

Concentrating on the game before you without getting distracted is essential so that you can give your full attention to the bidding process, to the cards in your hand, and to the cards that are being played.
Organizing and sequencing the cards in your hand are necessary before you begin the bidding process.
Having a reliable short term/working memory is very important when playing bridge. Remembering what was said during the bidding phase of the game and what cards have been played are assets as you attempt to win your contract or set your opponents.
Reasoning and problem solving skills are needed to overcome sticky situations when playing bridge. For example, you need to take 10 tricks to make your contract, but you see only nine winners. What do you do?
And bridge helps you improve your processing speed, as well as your patience. When playing a hand of bridge, you need to quickly identify and locate the correct card to play. But perhaps others at the table need more time to assess their hands and play a card; and that’s when patience is needed.

The results of a 2014 study, which was cited in the March 2015 AARP Bulletin, found that playing card and board games can help older people retain their mental sharpness. Another study, particularly relevant to bridge, concluded that older adults who play bridge score higher on working memory and reasoning measures than those who do not play bridge. Now, aren’t those great reasons to play the game of bridge?

But there’s an added component that makes bridge an even more compelling leisure activity, and that’s the opportunity for social interaction.  In a 2009 article in The New York Times, neurologist Dr. Claudia Kawas reported that although it’s very important to keep challenging your mind, there is some evidence that a social component may be a crucial factor in healthy brain aging. Research studies indicate that senior citizens with higher social activity live longer and have less cognitive decline than those with less social interaction.

Although playing chess and working crossword and Sudoku puzzles are cognitively stimulating, they are solitary activities and don’t involve the social interaction inherent in the game of bridge. When playing bridge, four people sit down at a card table and interact with one another. This interaction ranges from introductions and small talk to discussing the complexities of a particularly challenging hand. Throughout the game, you and your partner work together to achieve a common goal, which can be either making your contract or stopping your opponents from making their contract. The bottom line is that playing bridge provides the opportunity for social interaction, and individuals who interact socially not only live longer than those who become isolated but also have improved immune systems.7

So, instead of going “gentle into that good night”. . .

“rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

You have the opportunity to make physical changes in your brain by learning a new skill. Why not make that new skill bridge?

Editor’s note: The Second Half offers Beginner, Intermediate, and Slightly More Advanced Bridge, all within friendly, supportive environments. Please consider joining one of the three bridge study groups in the fall of 2015.

Brenda Stone holds a Ph. D. in psychology and has career experience both as a teacher and as a school psychologist. She is teaching beginner and intermediate bridge next fall. Catherine Williams will be assisting her in Intermediate Bridge. Al Humphrey is teaching Slightly More Advanced Bridge. Brenda and Al are certified by the American Contract Bridge League as accredited bridge teachers.

Team results May 2018

I don’t know if I’m only speaking for myself when I say this, but I’m always disappointed when our monthly Teams event finishes just after ten on the last Tuesday of every month. It’s anticlimactic to me, because it is just so enjoyable. But hey, that’s me and I’m rambling again.

How about last night? We sat N/S the whole night, as the home team, and apart from a rather sparse smattering of about 6 hands, the majority of biddable hands went to E/W. No complaints from our side about that, because in Teams it all evens out, so we competed, our opposition did a little better, that’s life!

Board number 23 was remarkable, wasn’t it? For those members who didn’t participate last night, and there are many of you, here it is, in all it’s glory.
North Dlr: South
S 82 Vul. Both
H QT93
D T5
C QT872
West East
S A S KJ9753
H A2 H K854
D AQJ96432 D 8
C A3 C K9
South
S QT64
H J76
D K7
C J654

The possible contracts that can be made are 7D, 5S, and 7NT. There were some swings on this hand, some minor, some major, different contracts, varying from 5D to 6S to 6NT. What a hand! What drama!

The Teams standings are as per the attached sheet, but to summarise, they are as follows;

VPs
1. Bridie, Paul, Bill, Clyde 55
2. Roy, Ian, Mary, Jan 53
3. Diana, Ann, Vaun, Guylaine 46
4. Di, Barbara, Tor, Cathy 40
5. Deirdre,Helen Margaret, Hanneke 26
6. Caroline, Marianne, Heather, Karin 17
7. Bram, Tico, Geoff, Jerome 3

After handicaps are applied, standings are as follows:

1. Diana and team 55
2. Roy and team 48
3. Bridie and team 42
4. Di and team 33
5. Caroline and team 24
6. Deirdre and team 23
7. Bram and team 15
Please peruse the Excel spreadsheet for all the details, and the hand records attached as well.

It’s now tea time in the Hayward household, complete with homemade cookies and “No, Troy, with your Arthritis, chocolate chip cookies are no good for you!”

See most of you tomorrow.

Roy

Results

TEAMS 2018 Results

Hand Records

41 May 29

Bridge Congress 2018

Congress has come and gone for 2018, and we were fortunate that the event took place in Johannesburg this year, making it all that easier to attend.

For those of you that are new members, the Championship falls into two categories, which are firstly, Pairs, then Teams. In the pairs Championship, our late chairman’s son, Robert Stephens and his partner, Jude Apteker finished 8th in the Championship , which is the top section, after qualifying rounds.

In the next section, which is Congress, Bill Wilkie and Ian Lowdon finished in 12th position, with Paul van der Wal and Bridie Bullen-Smith in 16th position. Our congratulations to these two pairs for a very high finish overall.

Our next participants were in the Vice President section, where Vaun and Guylaine finished 18th, with Helen and Deirdre 19th and Neels and Vanessa 21st.

The Teams category was contested this week, where we had a great interest in the Championship section, and the South African Teams Champions for 2018 are The Team of Robert Stephens, Hennie Fick, Bernard Donde and Noah Apteker. Robert is a Benoni High Old Boy, has been playing for South Africa for a number of years now, is a Grandmaster and we are very proud of him.

Finally, we had two teams in the President section, where Clyde, Torquil, Paul, Bridie, Bill and Jan finished second, followed by Deirdre, Helen,Barbara and Di in third place.

A huge congratulation to all our members who participated and represented our club with distinction.

Well, well done !

Roy

Bridge Team Championship 24 Apr 2018

The April teams event went off sharply at 1900, the hands were strange, difficult to assess, distribution right off the charts, etc, etc. All the usual moans and groans from all the usual suspects.
But, to be honest, they were difficult, no easy tricks, no easy contracts, which is probably the way it should be, isn’t that so?

Ah well, the results are as per the attached Excel spreadsheet, but to summarise, the following is what happened tonight.

Roy’s gang 18   Deirdre’s 2
Di’s team   18    Bram’s  2
Diana’s girls 18  Caroline’s 2

That’s right folks, we all played the same boards, got to different contracts sometimes, made differing numbers of tricks, made different leads, but ended up 18 to 2 VP’s in each of tonight’s contests! The handicapped results changed the picture a little, but still ended up as wins for each of the above.

The contest is hotting up, people.

Watch this space.

Roy

Teams Championship

TEAMS 2018 Results Apr

Bridge Team Championship 27 Mar 2018

The second round took place last night, with six teams battling it out, and Di’s team having a bye this month. The match between Bridie and Bram’s team went according to seeding, with Team 1 scoring 96 IMPS against 12 of team 7.

In the second match, between Roy and Diana’s team, the result was much closer, with Diana’s team winning 55 to 47 IMPS, the end result hinging on just one board, where there was a swing of 950, or 14 IMPS. Well done to Diana and her ladies.

In match 3, Caroline and her girls came out on top against Deirdre’s team, by 63 to 41 IMPS, which was against the ‘ form books’ but very well done to them.

After handicaps are applied, the results are as follows;

Bridie 17- Bram 3
Roy 6 – Diana 14
Caroline 17 – Deirdre 3

The full results and cumulative standings are in the attachment.

Well played everyone and we’ll see you at next month’s third round.

It’s tea time now in the Hayward household, with homemade chocolate chip biscuits.

See most of you tomorrow. Troy also just brought his ball to me, wanting me to throw it for him to pursue. I notice it’s got a distinct bias through the air, almost like reverse swing on a cricket ball. Hmm! Maybe he’s been licking one side of the ball?

Enough, enough!

Naughty Roy

Hand Records

27 March 27

Results

TEAMS 2018 Results (1)

Team Championship Mar 2018

I’m actually not a Luddite, nor am I technologically challenged, I’m not even slow-witted. You see, when I set out to create an Excel worksheet on Tuesday night (or was it Wednesday morning?) I realised that our new laptop didn’t have Excel installed on it, so I then did it on my Desktop computer. After I created it, I then thought hard and long about what to do in order to get it to you. Obviously, if there was no Excel program on the laptop, I could still send the file to our gmail address, but I wouldn’t be able to check the format it had arrived in, etc,etc.
Are you all still following me?

Enough, enough!

Excel has been installed now and all is again well.

Attached is the status of affairs in the Teams Championship after one month, with another 6 to go.

For the uninitiated, both teams 1 and 2 are in the lead with 20 Victory Points, and after handicap adjustments, the leaders are team 2, followed by teams 1,5,3,6 and 7.Team 4 had a bye in the first round.

Thanks for bearing with me during my long-winded opening paragraph, now I’m going to get back to my Abacus and go through my finances for the month.

Roy

Team Championship

2018-03-teams-results

Team Championships Feb 2018

Attached are two documents, the rules of the Championship and the playing schedule. The handicaps have been set, in conjunction with past results from our own records, last year’s competition and discussion with Robert Stevens. These are as follows:

Handicap

1 Paul, Bridie, Bill and Clyde                   0
2 Roy, Ian, Jan and Mary                        18
3 Di, Barbara, Cathy and Tor                   18
4 Deirdre, Helen Margaret and Hanneke   28
5 Diana, Ann, Vaun and Guylaine            30
6 Caroline, Marianne, Cathy P and Karin  42
7 Bram, Tico, Geoff and Jerome               50

I will provide each of your team captains with full copies of the schedule and a master copy of the 7 month result sheet for your team to keep track of cumulative results.

Good luck and see you

Remember that there will only be teams that night and the following 6 months, all on the last Tuesday of each month.

Roy

Rules

Teams

Bridge Teams Competitions

I promised you that we would be trying to organise Teams competitions this year, not to be confused with the existing club Teams Championship.

Well, this is it!

We are able to use the ladies bar on a Monday afternoon, as Lisa already has the use of it for her beginner’s classes. There is ample room for us to fit another 4,6 or even 8 tables in, should the interest be big enough.

What is required, firstly, is that you email me at this address if you are interested. If you are able to organise a team, even better. Please get your replies back to me, by return of email, as soon as possible.I want to get something going within the next few weeks, so let’s hear from you.

We have also had discussions with Jack’s Club, who are keen to play at least a once-monthly game against us.

Let’s get the ball rolling!

Roy
PS. If you want to know more details about teams events, just have a chat to any of us in the committee, or any of the experienced players and we will be glad to assist.

Club Championship 14 Oct 2017

I did not have a good day today! I was guilty of some pretty poor bridge, put it down to whatever excuse one might think of, including misinterpreting my partner’s 3C Bergen response to my 1S opening as a club bid! Say no more! Then there was the little problem of me producing an Ace of Spades, only to have my left hand opponent also produce the Ace of Spades. It so happened that she was still playing with her first board’s cards! And none of us noticed that she was putting her red cards down, while the other three of us were putting blue cards down!!! Damn, that was a difficult hand!

And then, during the morning session, the server mysteriously stopped sending the results through just before tea time, but I was able to retrieve the remaining results by closing down, then retrieving them. This afternoon, the same thing happened, only I wasn’t able to retrieve for some technical reason, resulting in Lisa and Paul helping me to manually capture 130 odd results. We finally finished close to seven o’clock, and here we go!

Your club champions for 2017 are Di and Barbara again.  That’s right, folks, they did it again, displaying just how steady these two ladies are. A wonderful display of great bridge and great concentration over 48 challenging boards. The runners up for the day were Bill and Clyde, only a few points behind, with Roz and Cathy third. The morning round went to Barbara and Di, while Bill and Clyde won this afternoon.

I’m finished, folks, now I’m going to sit down and open a book and read about something called Bergen Raises. Apparently my partner uses it.

I’ll see you all next week.

Roy the computer genius. What?

Saturday AM

club-championship-2017-07-20-am

Saturday PM

club-championship-2017-07-20-pm

Combined Sessions

Bridge Ladder 17 Jul 2017

Attached is the year to date July 17th individual average performance for all of us.

The averages are calculated by the Scorebridge program with the following parameters;

The top 10% and bottom 10% of scores are excised in order to remove anomalies, which makes the resulting averages more realistic.
Players need to have played at least 10 times.
Non members are included.
Some new members do not appear due to above parameters, but will reflect by year end.

Well done to the leading players

Roy

Ladder