23-Nov-24 GNOT Teams Final 16 (2 days)
24-Nov-24 Club Novice Pairs
27-Nov-24 Online Realbridge Red MP Pairs
1-Dec-24 Devonport Congress
2-Dec-24 Jackpot Pairs
Links: Results | Documents | Members | Jackpot | Learning and Improving
Pianola | Masterpoints | myABF | Role & Venue Hire | Admin
Dear Members
You may have noticed recent earthworks near our club. This is an ongoing Sewer Transformation project, which will impact us with more trucks using our road and possible occasional noise (hopefully no more extended electrical outages).
Congratulations to Gek Low who came 3rd in the Novice section at the Canberra In Bloom and Hugh & Tania, who have been highly placed in New Zealand and Sydney Spring Nationals recently.
Walk in players are encouraged at all club sessions, principally to help players find new partners and to have a game when your regular partner is away. When the director plays, it means they have to stay later to complete administrative tasks and we are appreciative of that, so if you are walking in please arrive early and notify the director. If seeking a regular partner for a session, talk to Hugh or Pam, who will endeavour to assist.
The suggestion box continues to be well used - one recently received was to start and finish Tuesday sessions earlier. Perhaps this should be discussed among Tuesday regulars before it goes to committee. Another suggestion is to create a TBA Cookbook with recipes provided by members. If you are interested in being involved with this, please speak to Laura Bauermeister or Sue. The suggestion box is not intended for anonymous complaints; any complaints should be addressed by sending an email/ letter to the committee.
The committee are working on several policy documents at present in order to update and create a central file base. Examples are Code of Conduct and Prize money for special events, such as our Congress.
Speaking of special events, please think about our Festival of Bridge next March. Next year there are events for everyone plus a well priced dinner on Saturday night - entries are open now on MyABF. We are offering lifts to and from My State Arena with pickup and drop-off in the CBD. Please let a committee member know if you can assist. It’s a great way to meet interstate guests.
Please don’t forget our 90th Birthday party on Saturday night November 9th - players, partners and friends welcome for a crazy Whist Night - see Sue for further info.
Congratulations to the following members for recent promotions:
Happy Bridging everyone
Pam
Our open team lost their match in the quarter finals. Only just beaten by Beaumont bridge club from South Australia, containing Kate McCallum a multiple world championship player for America as well as an incredibly high standard team. In the lead up qualifying matches over the first 3 months John and Mardi Grosvenor finished 14th out of 50 pair’s competing and Hugh and Tania Lloyd 5th!
In the U750 our team had a big win over Toowong and will play in the November semi final against Waverley. Our players Maruta Boyd and Barbara Holland finished 11th in the pair rankings after the first 3 month’s qualifying matches and Daryl Smith and David Brooks 13th.
The U300, U100 and U50 teams all played 4 months of qualifying matches.
Our U300 team is through to the semi final and will play StepBridge in November. Erica McCoull and Jeremy Reid with Katherine Marsden and Gek Low.
Our U100 team is also through to their semi-final and will play Ballina. Paul Fredheim and Wayne Seabrook with Leonie Atkins and Keong Chen.
Our U50 team has been knocked out but we can now field a team for the next 2 months where players compete in a big one field Swiss pairs competing for gold points in each match.
The lower 3 handicap divisions played as one group in the qualifying matches. Erica and Jeremy finished 1st in the pair rankings out of 32. Leonie and Keong 14th. Gek and Katherine 22nd. Paul and Wayne 37th.
Our U50 players may feel they struggled but they managed 6 wins out of 19 matches. Many of the players that contributed playing online for the first time ever. Thank you to Christina Buell, Laura Best, Lynn Barlow, Sharlene Campbell, Anne McEntee, Laura Bauermeister and Catherine Catt.
Good luck for November 12th to all our teams and thank you for making us proud of our Tasmanian club members!
Full results are here.
The TBA club rooms were packed on Sunday 29 September for the 2024 Spring Pairs, renamed this year to the Ron Spencer Spring Pairs in honour of long time TBA member and benefactor. Forty pairs played in the two session Swiss Pairs event. They were then joined by other TBA members for drinks, nibbles and classical music in celebration of Ron's life. As part of this celebration Julie Rhodes announced Ron's generous bequest to the TBA. In acknowledgement a perpetual trophy will be established in his name, to be awarded to the top placed Tasmanian pair in the Restricted Swiss Pairs at the Tasmanian Festival of Bridge each year.
First place went to Bal Krishan and Maria Gibbs. Wynne Webber and Hilton Francis came second. David Robinson and Phil Beck came third. The full results are here.
Thanks to Sue Falkingham for directing, and to Julie Rhodes for organising lunch and the celebration.
The Grand National Open Teams (GNOT) Online 64 team knockout phase was played from Friday 20th September to Sunday 22nd September on the Realbridge platform. In fact there were only 63 teams so one team had a bye in the first round.
Tasmania was represented by three teams:
Our three GNOT teams did Tasmania proud, competing for three days on-line winning several matches each. They report positive experiences.
The top 4 teams and the next 8 regional teams proceed to the final phase of the event which will be held face-to-face over a weekend in Sydney (23rd and 24th November).
Full results are here.
The Tassie Board A Match Teams was held on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September at the Launceston Bridge Club with 6 teams participating. The winners were the Richman team consisting of Andrew and Sandra Richman, Jane Routley and Pam Lidl. Second place went to the Grosvenor team - John and Mardi Grosvenor, Julie Rhodes and Leigh Blizzard.
Full results are available here.
Thanks to the LBC for their hospitality and to Hugh Grosvenor for directing.
Another way you may like to choose to improve your game is with the TBA's 3 week mentor program. The program offers you the opportunity to play with a more experienced player who will guide your strategies.
Contact:
for more details if you're interested in being mentored. If you can offer your services as a mentor, please also contact one of the above.
The 2024 Eastcoaster Swiss Pairs was held at the Eastcoaster Resort in Orford on the weekend of 24-25 August. This year the event attracted 36 pairs from all over the state. Many people stayed overnight at the Eastcoaster and there was an event dinner on the Saturday night at the Eastcoaster's restaurant.
The field covered the full range of experience, with some people playing in their first Swiss Pairs competition. The field played nine matches of nine boards across three sessions, two on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. Prizes were awarded for the overall field and for novice and restricted categories (less than 50 and 150 masterpoints respectively). Pleasingly all players earned some red masterpoints for their weekend's efforts.
The winners overall were Tania Lloyd and Hugh Grosvenor, Andrew and Sandra Richman were second with Julie Rhodes and Leigh Blizzard finishing Third.
Winners of the restricted category (and 7th overall) were Rose Rowell and Marleen Lynch. Second in the restricted category were Julia Johnson and Sharn Davies. Winners in the novice category (and 9th overall) were Helen Hebblethwaite and Debbie Martyn. Second in the novice category were Dennis and Wendy Butler.
Full results for the event are available here.
Many thanks to the Eastcoaster for their generous support of the event, and for all of their efforts in making the weekend a success. The Eastcoaster donated a free accommodation package as a lucky door prize, which was won by Trish Colles and provided the venue free of charge.
Thank you to Julie Rhodes for her work as event convenor. Thanks to Annette Keen and Jegs Nuttall for stepping in at the last minute to replace a pair who had to withdraw. Thanks also to Simon Edler for directing and acting as caddy when sickness disrupted our plans. And, of course, thank you to everybody who played ...
Thanks to Maria Gibbs for the dinner photos
The Australian National Championships is the oldest national event on the Australian bridge calendar. This year was the 80th ANC and was held in Orange NSW. This was the first time that the ANC has been played in a regional city. The organisation and hospitality of the NSWBA and the Orange bridge community was outstanding.
Tasmania was represented in the Open, Seniors and Womens competitions.
The Open Team was Hugh Grosvenor (Captain), Tania Lloyd, Andrew and Sandra Richman, Ann Paton and Lakshmi Sunderasan. They finished 5th out of 8 teams and were still in contention for the finals with two rounds to go.
The Seniors Team was Margaret Gibbs (Captain), Margaret Robertson, Julie Rhodes, Leigh Blizzard, Felicity Wivell and Roger Swain. They finished 7th out of 8 teams winning 4 matches.
The Womens Team was Sue Falkingham (Captain), Maggie Crawford, Pam Murphy, Julia Corr, Alaine MacMorran and Fiona Hickey. They finished 7th out of 8 teams winning 5 matches and drawing one. This included a good win against WA where Sue and Maggie bid and made 4 slams in a 16 board match!
The Interstate Pairs Championship saw Tania and Hugh win the overall competiion and the Open category and Julie and Leigh came third overall and were second in the Seniors category.
After 6 days of the Interstate championships the Butler Pairs Championship started! The Open Butler Pairs had a field of 74 pairs that played for 2 days to reduce to 20 pairs. These 20 pairs then played for another 2 days to reduce to 10 pairs. The last 10 pairs then played another two days to determine the final positions. Tania and Hugh managed to make the last 10 pairs and finished 6th.
Sandra and Andrew Richman played in the Mixed Butler and made it to the 10 pair final stage. They finished in an excellent 4th position in a strong field.
Liam Milne is a professional bridge player and teacher. He is originally from New Zealand but now lives in Sydney. He ran a very successful training weekend for the Tasmanian State teams for this year's ANC.
One of the interesting suggestions that he made for improving partnership bidding system and understanding was to try using an app called Cuebids. This is available for both Apple and Android devices.
The app allows you to bid sets of hands with your partner against robot opponents. You do not play the hands at all but the app determines various scores for the contracts reached. It rates the contract out of three stars. It gives you an Expected Value (EV) for the contract - this is what you might expect to score on average. It also gives you a percentage which is a measure of how well you have done compared with other pairs who have bid this hand on the app.
The basic functionality can be accessed for free. There are various subscription levels that give you access to more advanced features.
Several of the pairs in the teams have used the app and have generally found it to be very useful. Tania and Hugh have bid over 3,000 hands on it since the training weekend!
If you want any more information about Cuebids talk to Hugh or just download it and give it a try!
The final of the 2024 Tassie Matchpoint Pairs was held on Sunday June 1st at Tamar Bridge Club. The field consisted of 20 pairs who had either qualified through their clubs or who are representing Tasmania in the upcoming Australian National Championships in Orange, NSW.
The winners were Andrew and Sandra Richman from Tamar Bridge Club, second overall and first Womens Pair were Felicity Wivell and Susan Bezette also from the TBC, third were Julie Rhodes and Leigh Blizzard from the TBA.
Full results are available here.
Thanks to Simon Edler for directing and Tamar Bridge Club for the use of their venue and their hospitality.
The Southern Open and Handicap Teams was held on Sunday May 26th with 9 teams participating. Clear winners were the Grosvenor team consisting of Mardi and John Grosvenor, Julie Rhodes and Leigh Blizzard. They won all their matches and also won the Handicap event. Second place went to the Murphy team - Pam Murphy, Julia Corr, Fiona Hickey and Alaine MacMorran. A special mention to the Bauermeister team - Laura Bauermeister, Christina Buell, Erica McCoull and Sharlene Campbell, who came second in the Handicap event.
Full results are available here.
Thanks to Sue Falkingham for directing.
The TBA's largest club event of the year, the TBA Congress, was held on the weekend of 6-7 April 2024. Swiss IMP Pairs were played on Saturday with categories for Open, Restricted and Novice. Sunday was a Swiss Teams event, with Open and Restricted categories.
The Open Swiss Pairs was played over 6x9 board matches and was won by Sandra and Andrew Richman. Second place was taken out by Mardi and John Grosvenor. Erica McCoull and Jeremy Reid came third. Full results are available here.
The Restricted Category of the Swiss Pairs was won by Erica McCoull and Jeremy Reid with Catherine Catt and Sharlene Campbell second.
The Rookie Category of the Swiss Pairs was won by Nola and Rex Calvert.
The Swiss Teams on Sunday was played across 6 rounds of 9 board matches. All entrants played in a single field, but prizes were awarded for Open and Restricted categories. Full results are available here. The Open competition was won by Ann Paton, Wynne Webber, Guray Sunamak and Gulum Kocak-Sunamak. Hugh Grosvenor, Tania Lloyd, Sandra and Andrew Richman came second.
The Restricted category of the Swiss Teams was won by Judy and Roger Hooley playing with Rosemary and Brian Giles.
Thanks to everybody who played particularly those who brought food to share! Thanks to Simon Edler for directing, Claire Moult for her excellent caddying, Sarah Howard, Annie Bartlett, Janette Targett and Joy Stoddart for their tireless work in the kitchen and to Pam Murphy for her organisation and energy.
The TBA Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 23 March 2024 at the clubrooms. The AGM was followed by lunch, and a Red Masterpoint session. Congratulations to Ann & Edward Gee, Bob Patterson & David Robinson, and Bal Krishnan & Phil Timmins for placing first in their directions. Full results are available here
Part of the AGM is the election of office holders and Committee members. This year there are seven nominees for the five Committee positions so a ballot was held. The following committee members were elected (in alphabetical order):
There were single nominations for the remaining offices so the nominees were declared elected at the AGM. They are President: Pam Murphy, Vice President: Julie Rhodes, Secretary: Katherine Marsden and Treasurer: Leigh Blizzard.
See the Members page for photos of the new committee.
The 2024 Tasmanian Festival of Bridge was held from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 of March 2024. This was the second time that the event has been held at the MyState Bank Arena in Hobart on the banks of the Derwent river.
320 entrants, including some of Australia's top players competed across five events. Approximately Half of the entrants were from interstate or overseas. About 50 Australian clubs were represented, with a small contingent of New Zealand players also joining us.
Thursday and Friday saw the TFoB Restricted Swiss Pairs, the Roger Penny Senior Swiss Pairs and the Australian Mixed Swiss Pairs. The TBIB Australian Swiss Pairs was run on Saturday and Sunday. The TFoB Rookie Swiss Pairs was held on Sunday.
The TBIB Australian Swiss Pairs had a field of 90 pairs. The winners were Pele Rankin and George Kozakos. Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby came second (no photo available). Avinash Kanetkar and Ron Klinger came third. The Warren Walker Memorial trophy for the highest placed Tasmanian pair was won by Andrew and Sandra Richman. Full results are here.
The Australian Mixed Swiss Pairs was won by Pele Rankin and George Kozakos in a field of 24 pairs. Jeanette Reitzer and Matt Smith came second. Ella Jacob and Joshua Tomlin came third. Full results are here.
38 pairs played in the Roger Penny Senior Swiss Pairs which was won by Vicky and Ian Lisle. Meg Sharp and Helen Clayton came second. George Bilski and Martin Bloom came third. Full results are here.
The TFoB Restricted Swiss Pairs saw 60 pairs with fewer than 300 masterpoints competing. It was won by Jeremy Reid & Seb Wright. Anka and Peter Saundry came second. Geraldine Carey and Engelina Poulton came third. Full results are here.
This was the second running of the TFoB Rookie Swiss Pairs with 24 pairs with fewer than 25 masterpoints competing. It was won by Starlette Beaumont and Margaret Cusack. Laura Best and Catherine Catt came second. Nola and Rex Calvert came third. Full results are here.
Thanks to TBIB for their continuing sponsorship. Thanks to all the officials, organisers and volunteers who were involved in making this a successful event, including the convenor (Katherine Marsden), the directors (Simon Edler, Hugh Grosvenor and Ronnie Ng), the scorer (Chris Carolan), the caddies, and all of the TBA volunteers. Thanks also to all of the players of all levels who made this an exciting event.
The Tasmanian Festival of Bridge is supported by the Tasmanian Government through Events Tasmania
The 2025 Tasmanian Festival of Bridge will be from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 March 2025. It will be held at the MyState Bank Arena again, and there is plenty of room for more tables. It is a lovely time of year to visit Tasmania. Save the date, and we hope to see you in 2025!
TFoB 2019 | TGSP 2021 | TFoB 2022 | TFoB 2023 | Top
The first state-wide event of the year was held on the weekend of 2-3 March. The 2024 Tassie Butler Pairs saw 16 pairs playing 15 matches across the two days. 'Butler' refers to the scoring system which is IMPs calculated against a datum. This was a round-robin event with each pair playing a match against every other pair in the field. This event included both open and women's championships.
The open winners were Tania Lloyd and Hugh Grosvenor. Andrew and Sandra Richman came second. Third were David Robinson and Phil Beck. The winners in the women's were Alaine Macmorran and Fiona Hickey.
Full results are available here. Thanks to Simon Edler for organising and directing the event.
The first TBA event of the year was held on Sunday 28 January. The 2024 Vera Houdek Summer Pairs had 22 pairs playing in a matchpointed Swiss Pairs competition over 6 matches.
The overall winners were Leigh Blizzard and Julie Rhodes. Duncan Abercromby and Phil Timmins came second (with Phil doing his normal quick escape before the photos). Third were Phil Beck and David Robinson. The top placed pair in the restricted category were Engelina Poulton and Geraldine Carey.
Full results are available here. Thanks to Simon Edler for organising and directing the day. Thanks also to all members who brought a plate.
The McCutcheon's are rankings maintained by the ABF based on the number of masterpoints players earn in the calendar year. The McCutcheon rankings are updated at the end of each month, and have now been finalsied for the end of 2023.
There is an overall ranking that covers all players. There are also rankings by level which track the players who start the year at each rank. For example, if you are a Club master at the end of 2022, you will be part of the Club master McCutcheons for the year, even if you are promoted during the year.
Rankings are available for the entire country and filtered for each state and club. All this information and more is available on the ABF Masterpoint Centre website.
The overall 2023 McCutcheon winner was Liam Milne with 438.37 Masterpoints. Many TBA members will remember Liam from when he ran the State Coaching Weekend at the TBA in June 2023.
The following table lists the Tasmanian players who made it into the top 20 lists for the 2024 National McCutcheons:
| All Ranks | 11th | Mardi Grosvenor (TBA) |
| Bronze Life | 1st | Mardi Grosvenor (TBA) |
| Life | 14th | Felicity Wivell (Tamar) |
| Silver National | 1st | John Grosvenor (TBA) |
| 7th | Barbara Giizel (TBA) | |
| Silver Local | 4th | Jeremy Reid (TBA) |
| Bronze Local | 5th | Gek Low (TBA) |
| 11th | Paul Fredheim (TBA) | |
| Club | 16th | Erica McCoull (TBA) |
Six Tasmanians came in the top 200 All Ranks nationally - Mardi Grosvenor (11th), Sandra Richman (63rd), Andrew Richman (71st), Hugh Grosvenor (91st), Tania Lloyd (120th) and John Grosvenor (136th). The McCutcheon Rank for any player can be found on their Masterpoint Awards page, just look-up the player by name or ABF Number.
The following table lists the top three players in each of the Tasmanian McCutcheon rankings:
| All Ranks | Mardi Grosvenor, Sandra Richman, Andrew Richman |
| Silver Grand & Above | Sandra Richman, Andrew Richman, Hugh Grosvenor |
| Grand | Tania Lloyd, Margaret Gibbs, David Robinson |
| Gold Life | Pam Lidl, Maria Gibbs, Richard Cooke |
| Silver Life | Phil Timmins, Roger Swain, Jane Routley |
| Bronze Life | Mardi Grosvenor, Pam Murphy, Shirley McCulloch |
| Life | Felicity Wivell, Frank Milford, Sue Falkingham |
| Silver National | John Grosvenor, Barbara Giizel, Sarah Howard |
| Bronze National | Bob Ranson, Mardi Hogarth, David Marshall |
| National | Annie Bartlett, Jane Edler, Louise Cowan |
| Bronze State | Geoff Green, Marg Enright, Susan Bezette |
| State | Graeme Denmead, Janette Targett, Engelina Poulton |
| Bronze Regional | Kitty Ranson, Suzanne Clark, Herman Rockefeller |
| Regional | Jegs Nuttall, Ian Fraser, Sandra Miedecke |
| Silver Local | Jeremy Reid, Ian Bailey, Robin Barnes |
| Bronze Local | Gek Low, Paul Fredheim, Judy Hooley |
| Local | Trish Colles, Jane Hall, Gwen Lawrence |
| Club | Erica McCoull, Anne O'Rourke, Laura Best |
| Graduate | Rita Mawson, Billie Watson, Hellen Smart |
| Nil | Debbie Maree Martyn, Jed Dolwin, Barbara Meyer |
The TBA Club McCutcheons are available on the ABF Masterpoint Centre website. There is also a wealth of other information, such as promotions, most improved players and top masterpoint winners of all time.
Congratulations to the TBA Open team for winning the finals!
The ABF's Australia-Wide Club Knockout Teams competition has just finished for the year. This is the second year that the event has been held. Teams representing clubs from around the country competed in four divisions with sessions held on RealBridge once a month. The first three sessions were a round robin qualification stage with the top eight teams in each category going into the knockout stage (consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals).
The TBA had 25 members representing the club across four teams. This is the second year that the TBA has been represented in all categories. All teams acquitted themselves well, with every TBA player earning Gold masterpoints and the TBA receiving prize money for the win in the Open division. The under 750 MP team had a strong result in the Consolation Swiss Teams event, coming fouth.
The TBA teams were:
Full results and details are available here. Congratulations to everybody who played. Thanks to Sue Falkinhgam for coordinating the TBA teams. Sue also had a role in organising this event nationally.
This event is a great opportunity to represent the club and play against players of your level from around Australia. The RealBridge platform is easy to use and makes exciting events like this possible. Please consider putting your name forward for a team in next year's competition.
The 2023 Tasmanian Swiss Pairs was held at Tamar Bridge Club on the weekend of 19-20 November. This was the last of the island-wide events for the year. An impressive field of 30 pairs played eight matches over the two days.
The winners, undefeated in all eight matches, were Julie Rhodes and Leigh Blizzard. Second were Christine and Bob Harkness. Anne Fyfe and Jill Archer came third. The full results are here.
Thanks to Simon Edler for directing. Thanks also to the Tamar Bridge Club for hosting the event, and organising players to fill a half table and act as subs.
The TBA Spring Pairs was held on Sunday 1 October 2023. This was a Swiss Pairs event with 22 pairs playing 9 board matches over 6 rounds. The winners were Leigh Blizzard and Julie Rhodes. Margaret Robertson and Margaret Gibbs were place second. Hilton Frances and John Bailey came third.
Thanks to Sue Falkingham for directing.
The Role of the TBA
The TBA is is the largest bridge club in the state with over 400 members and is the administrative body for the game of bridge in Tasmania. The TBA is responsible for running national and state events including the Australian Swiss Pairs championships and the Roger Penny Senior Swiss Pairs competition. The TBA also administers the Masterpoints system for the ABF and endeavours to promote the growth and teaching of bridge throughout Tasmania via its affiliated clubs.
The TBA's purpose-designed Centre at 5 Marine Esplanade, New Town Bay serves as both our local Clubrooms and the headquarters for bridge in the state. The TBA premises are available for hire by community groups for suitable activities by arrangement with the TBA Committee. Please complete a booking request form (available here) and email it to the TBA at tba@tasbridge.com.au.
| North-West | North | South |
|---|---|---|
| Burnie Bridge Club | Launceston Bridge Club | Hobart City Bridge Club |
| Devonport Bridge Club | Tamar Bridge Club | Eastern Shore Bridge Club |
| Kingborough Bridge Club |
Contact us:
Phone: 0400 492 327
Email: tba@tasbridge.com.au
Post: 5 Marine Esplanade, New Town, 7008
Bank Account Details for direct debit: BSB: 067-102 A/C #: 2801 2004 A/C Name: Tasmanian Bridge Association
ABN: 66 028 130 967
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