Category: Results

Ib Thulin 2018

A very enjoyable day was had by all on Sunday, playing in the Ib Thulin Rotorua handicap tournament, for club members only. The event was won comfortably by our UK imports Chris and Angela Overton, with Neil and Mary Dravitski winning the raw competition. Neil and Mary were second on handicap with Margie Robbie and Marie Milsum coming third. Well done to all placegetters! A huge thanks to James Twist from Craig Investment Partners for their ongoing sponsorship.

winners ib thulin

Winners Chris and Angela Overton with James Twist from Craigs Investment Partners.

Interclub Teams 2018

The BOP Interclub teams, played for the Ib Thulin Shield, took place on Saturday at Rotorua, and was a very enjoyable day. Six clubs from the Bay of Plenty took part – Rotorua, Tauranga, Mt Maunganui, Whakatane, Te Puke and Taupō, each with teams of Open, Intermediate and Junior players, thus giving players of varying experience the chance to represent …

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Big win for Mary Dravitzki in Wellington

Mary’s win in the Intermediate Teams in the Wellington Congress was made all the sweeter because she was not selected for the family team to play in it (Neil just made the cut with the lowest rating points in team), so she asked the organisers to pair her up to play in the intermediate section and they found a very compatible partner.
The flash family team started both competitions well but faded and finished in the top third but no prizes.
However Mary was made captain of her team and even though they had not met each other before they were leading narrowly going into the last round – four teams within four victory points.
Daughter Pam gave her the mantra ABCD (Alert, Bold, Confident & Disciplined) and she made a big contribution to their ultimate win with hand seven (see below).
She decided to upgrade her twenty one count from a natural two no trump to a game forcing two club. A three diamond response from partner showing seven plus points and five diamonds – then four clubs – one ace – five clubs – one king and (every imp counts) – six no trumps. On the lead of the ten of diamonds twelve tricks were cold after forcing out the ace of spades. Of the ten tables – only one other in six no trumps and one in six diamonds – the other seven including the other pair just in game so a 13 imp pick up and they won by just three imps.

Tauranga Congress Results

The Tauranga Bridge Congress was played over the weekend of 28-30 January and Tom Winiata and Tom Henwood’s team qualified for the final of the teams event where they finished second. Pam and Ian Moore’s team qualified for the plate final where they too finished second. These were good results in a very strong field from all around NZ.

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Success in Northland

Marie and Alison


On January 6th and 7th Kerikeri hosted a two day event sponsored by Craigs Investment Partners. Marie Milsum teamed up with her partner of old, ex-Rotorua player Alison Beer to play in this and they won the Bay Of Isands’ Holiday Pairs, held on the Sunday, (as well as being also runners-up in the Swiss Pairs on the Saturday), rounding off the day with a whopping 71.27% !
Many people from all over the country attended this popular event, so well done to Marie and Alison! Obviously distance hasn’t affected their partnership.

Interclub Teams Final

The finals for the Waikato Bays interclub teams were held in Cambridge on Sunday 27th August. The Rotorua Open team (Pam & Ian Moore and Tom Henwood & Tom Winiata) won the Open event winning all their matches. Unfortunately the original Intermediate team who qualified were unable to play in the final, but Rotorua were well represented by Roger Dempster, Leonie Pritchard, Kevin Jensen and Paul Rogers. They only lost one match and came third overall.
Well done everyone!

The victorious Open team with their trophy.

Interclub Bay Teams 2017

The Bay Teams Interclub competition was held at Rotorua on Sunday 30 July with teams from Mt Maunganui, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Te Puke and Whakatane taking part. Each club fielded a team in the Open, Intermediate and Junior grades.
It was a very successful day for the host club with Rotorua taking out the overall prize with 204 Victory Points across all the grades. Tauranga were second with 173 and Whakatane third with 166.
Within each grade, both the Rotorua Open and Intermediate teams won their competition and the Junior team came a very creditable third in theirs. The Open Rotorua team scored 61 VPs and Tauranga were second with 59. The Rotorua Intermediates amassed a whopping 90 VPs, followed by Whakatane on 57. In the Junior section, Whakatane were first with 65 and Tauranga second with 56. The top two teams in each section go through to the Waikato Bays final to be held in Cambridge on 27 August. (Because the Whakatane Intermediate team wasn’t eligible to go through, the third placed Tauranga will take their place.)
It was a very enjoyable day. Many thanks to the Rotorua members who organised the event, helped in the kitchen and provided a wonderful morning and afternoon tea, to Heini for directing, and well done to all the players!

The intermediate team relaxing after a good day’s work at the bridge table – from left Elspeth Goodrick, Joyce Reid, Cathy Ward and Wendy Blackman

Rotorua Open Tournament

Rotorua players did well in the Open Tournament played on Saturday, against an extremely strong field. The winners were Ian Clayton (ex-Rotorua) and Richard Solomon. Second and third places went to the Rotorua pairs of Liz Wilcox and Michael Wilcox, and Paul Cosgrove and Neil Dravitzki, respectively. The next highest local pair were Wendy Blackman and Elspeth Goodrick in eighth …

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Hawkes Bay Congress 2017

The success for Rotorua players continued on Sunday with the team of Gill Nelson, Heini Lux, Marie Milsum and Alison Beer finishing fourth in the Congress Teams. This was in a very high quality field of 46 teams, so it’s a great result, and especially pleasing for Marie and Alison, re-uniting to play together after Alison’s recent move away from Rotorua.

A good contingent of Rotorua players have gone to Napier to take part in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Weekend congress. The intermediate players have started the weekend well, with the pairings of Joyce Reid and Rex Tulloch, and Kevin Jensen and Val Honeyfield coming 6th and 7th respectively in the Intermediate Pairs. Good luck to all the Rotorua players for the rest of the weekend.

Joyce, Rex, Val and Kevin toasting their success in Napier.

Inter-provincial Trials 2017

A good contingent of Rotorua players made the trip to Tauranga for the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Inter-provinicial Trials, which were held over Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 May. A total of seven 16-board matches were played, making it a full weekend of bridge! Tom Winiata and Tom Henwood were chosen to represent the province in the Open section along …

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Intermediate update

catherine-and-joyceFour pairs from Rotorua played at the Matamata Intermediate Tournament on Sunday, in good bridge playing weather, and had some success, all ending up in the top half of the field.
Joyce Reid and Cathy Ward (pictured) took out third place after a great morning and not so good afternoon, and  Wendy Blackman and Elspeth Goodrick finished in eighth place.
Rotorua players are also doing well in the individual Intermediate League, with one of the ten rounds still to play. Joyce is currently in 5th place, not far behind the 3rd equal pair and Wendy and Elspeth are 8th equal. It should make for an interesting final round in Cambridge later this month!