Earn the honour to represent your state

We hope you had a great Easter, and that it breathes new life into more congresses and events for the remainder of the year! Coming soon there are the INTERSTATE TEAMS SELECTION events for WOMEN, YOUTH and SENIORS in April and May. We would love to have you participating with the goal of representing NSW at the Australian National Championships in Brisbane in July. There are also open Swiss Pairs games being held along side the finals. Our next state championship event for NOVICE & RESTRICTED PAIRS is also in April, enter now!

The NSWBA continues to bring new innovations to our clubs and bridge players. Expert speakers are invited to deliver a 30 – 45 minutes talk on different topics before some of the Monday Night Championship bridge sessions, it's a free event open to all (even if you are not playing in the event). The notes of a recent talk by Matthew Thompson was published on our website. Follow us on Facebook and you will be notified of all these new activities.

Here are some feature reports from congresses in March:

Batemans Bay Bridge Club's Bridge at the Bay
– To encourage youth players, the NSWBA and BFACT jointly provide funding for the weekend

Wellington Bridge Club's 2016 Congress
– A congress in true country style attracts players from all parts of NSW

Trumps Good Friday Pairs
– 64 pairs hunting for egg-cellency at Trumps Good Friday Pairs
(Left) Congratulations to the winners of the Batemans Bay Bridge Club Teams Congress on March 6th – Helena Dawson, Alex Phillips, Julian Foster and You Hu! Our youth players were pleased to get support from the NSWBA councillors. (Right) The best performing youth pair Johnno Newman and Charles McMahon.
(Left) Winners of the Armidale Congress Kellie Potts and Nigel McIvor. (Middle) Ken Wilks and Rosalie Broughton won the 2nd place. (Right) Brian Glover and Eric Baker came 3rd.
(Left) Winners of the Restricted Division, Armidale Congress: David Bonsey and Arun Tiwari. (Right) Caitlin Holman and Elsie Baker were thrilled to won the 2nd place!
Congratulations to all the winners of the Wellington Bridge Club's 2016 Congress: (Left) Winners of the Open Pairs from Orange – Manda Labuschagne and Dariusz Drozd. (Middle) Winners of the Restricted Pairs from Mudgee – Anne Johnstone and Jane Scott. (Right) Winners of the Super Novice Section (both players with less than 20 MPs) – Verona Armstrong and Mary Taylor from Dubbo.
(Left) Congratulations to the Trumps Autumn Teams winners: Jane Dawson, Andrew Peake, Liz Adams and Tony Nunn. (Right) 2nd place went to Johnno Newman, David Weston, Matthew Smith and Julian Foster.

Behind the scene:
As the last round was being scored and their photo was taken, the Dawson team said: “are you taking a picture of the team who threw it all in the last round?” Then, when it was confirmed that they had hung on to their lead despite the last round loss, they were asked to supply an interesting hand for this newsletter, on condition it did not show anyone in a bad light. “Under the circumstances, that would be impossible!” replied Jane Dawson.
(Left) Also cheers to the Trumps Autumn Teams 3rd place winners: Kinga Moses, Neville Moses, Inez Glanger and Marcia Scudder. (Right) Well done the winners in Restricted Division: Wing Roberts, Judith Parson, John Rogers and John Russell.

Behind the scene:
With less than 100 MPs in the whole team, of course the Rogers team was happy to find themselves won in the Restricted Division. The question is: how many restricted teams were there Mmmm... no wonder we won...
Trumps Bridge Club's egg-citing Easter events produced winners in Pairs and Teams. (Left) Winners of the Good Friday Pairs – Terry Brown and Bob Birch. (Middle) Winners of the Easter Sunday Teams – Adam Edgtton, Johnno Newman, Pual Gosney and Sophie Ashton (absent from picture). Martin Bloom, Tony Nunn, Peter Gill and Peter Livesey won 2nd place. (Right) The 3rd place went to Ranjit Limaye, Michael Draper, Cevat Emul and Bijan Assaee.
Upcoming Events
Events highlights from 2nd April to 1st May. Click HERE to view congresses in the full year.

Congresses In NSW Local Clubs
Apr 1 – 3 (Fri – Sun) Central Coast Bridge Club Super Congress
Pairs, Swiss Pairs and Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 2 – 3 (Sat – Sun) Tamworth Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 9 – 10 (Sat – Sun) Hawkesbury Bridge Club
Pairs and Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 10 (Sun) Tilligerry Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs
Event Details > 

Apr 10 (Sun) Tweed Bridge Club
Autumn Swiss Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 16 – 17 (Sat – Sun) Inverell Delvyn Bridge Club 
Pairs
Event Details > 

Apr 17 (Sun) NSWBA WITS Swiss Pairs
A side event of WITS open to all
Event Details >

Apr 24 (Sun) Peninsula Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 24 (Sun) Taree Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs
Event Details > 

Apr 30 – May 1 (Sat – Sun) Bathurst and District Bridge Club Congress 
Swiss Pairs and Teams
Event Details > 

Apr 30 – May 1 (Sat – Sun) Yamba Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs
Event Details > 

May 1 (Sun) Maitland Bridge Club
Teams
Event Details > 


NSWBA Events
Apr 9 – 10 (Sat – Sun) Open ITS Final
Event Details > 

Apr 11 – 18 (Mons) NSWBA State Mixed Pairs Qualifying
Event Details > 

Apr 16 – 17 (Sat – Sun) NSWBA Women's ITS
Qualifying and Final
Event Details >


National (ABF) Events
Apr 28 – May 2 (Thu – Mon) SABF Autumn Nationals
Event Details > 

Apr 29 – May 2 (Fri – Mon) QBA Barrier Reef Congress
Event Details > 


Featured Articles
Bridge is a strategic game, so what is the difference in approaching a pairs competition and a teams tournament? Rakesh Kumar shares his experience in recent Pairs and Teams tournaments with you in "Difficult decisions at Pairs".
 Read the full article >

Bridge is all about judgement. Have we investigated enough before we decide it is true when we were told so and so? Matthew McManus shatters the myth with his "Just Because" series in the two issues.
 Read Part I of the series >
Congress Player of the Year
Your Association is pleased to acknowledge this 2016 Award. There will be four categories.

• Open
• Intermediate < 750 MPs
• Restricted < 300 MPs
• Novice < 100 MPs

Click HERE for our current "interim" list, as at 29th February 2016.

This award is based on masterpoints earned at NSW Congresses held under the auspices of NSWBA during the year.

So how are masterpoints updated? Why haven't they been processed yet? Julian Foster, the Chairman of NSWBA, answers players' common question "Why haven't I got my masterpoints yet?"
Read the full article >
Congress Psyche Register
The NSWBA has decided to establish a central psyche register for all congresses held in NSW.

The laws permit players to deviate from their systemic agreements so long as the partner of the player who does so has no greater reason to be aware of this deviation than the opponents. Once your partnership has a history of deviating from its agreements in a certain situation you are required to inform your opponents of this tendency.

If you feel that your opponents have psyched against you, please email details of the hand to the psyche register – no action will be taken against players who are reported to the psyche register but once a pair has multiple entries in the psyche register, congress directors will be informed so that they are aware of this history when making their rulings.

A form which can be used for submissions is available HERE.
About the eCongress
The eCongress is a monthly newsletter published by the NSW Bridge Association. It updates you with the latest congresses in the month, interesting hands and analysis from events, and tips regarding the bridge laws.
 Subscribe Now >

NSW Bridge Association
+61 2 9264 8111
office@nswba.com.au
www.nswba.com.au
1/F, 162 Goulburn Street,
East Sydney 2010
Send us your stories
Do you have a story to tell or a photo to share after playing in a congress? Let us know, we will be pleased to publish them.
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