Cambridge enjoys a full room for NZ wide Babich pairs

The evening started early in Cambridge with many of the 30 pairs entered opting to enjoy a slice or two of pizza with a glass of wine first. By 7.30 the room was set and the players were stuck in to the first round of the 2017 NZ wide pairs.

The results in Cambridge show why this competition is a bit different! More later on this.

Firstly huge congratulations to Eunice Eccles and Calum MacLean who - both as Juniors - were Top of the Pops in the NS field with 65.5% surpassing Open players including Judy Butler and Lesley Chubb who came second with 64.2%.  What an achievement for them! Eunice is our new Regional Bridge Mate for the Waikato Bays region and while bridge prowess is not a prerequisite for this role, having some kudos at the bridge table won't come amiss. Fabulous result you two! And proves my point that anyone can win at this game regardless of grade.  The key is having a good partnership understanding.

In the EW field, it was tight at the top but Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond took the A point with 63.6%. Congratulations to them! Coming second were Kate McFadyen and Gwyn Lobb with 62.9% narrowly beating Kevin Whyte and partner with 62.2%.

So now on to the NZ wide result. This is comparing your result with others across the country.  To see this, go to results and click on the X-Clubs link and find 3 Nov and scroll down to the 2017 Babich overall ladder.  It is still compiling the list as I write this.  At this stage the EW pairing Kate and Gwyn are the top of the Cambridge pairings sitting at 22nd place ahead of Kevin and Clare at 35th and Lynette and Ian at 57th. NS Eunice and Calum remained the top pair finishing 54th.   So in summary our NZ wide winners in Cambridge were Kate and Gwyn. Well done them!

Unfortunately there were not quite enough booklets that explain the bidding and play of each hand to go round so please do let Mike know if you haven't already if you still need one.