The journey of 2017 has just begun

Happy New Year! May your 2017 be filled with fun, laughter and success!

Let us start the journey of 2017 with exciting news – Congratulations to the NSW Congress Players of the Year 2016. Courtesy of NSWBA, each Division Winner wins a $30 voucher towards a 2017 congress of their choice in New South Wales.
Open Division
David Weston
NSWBA (trades as Sydney Bridge Centre)
Intermediate Division (<750 MPs)
Sophie Ashton
NSWBA (trades as Sydney Bridge Centre)
Restricted Division
(<300 MPs)
Yumin Li
North Shore Bridge Club
Novice Division
(<100 MPs)
Rachel Rich
ABF Youth Club
Congratulations also to Sartaj Hans, the winner of the McCutcheon for 2016. We wish him a prosperous year ahead. For all McCutcheon lists please visit the National Masterpoint Reports.
Winner of McCutcheon 2016
Sartaj Hans
NSWBA (trades as Sydney Bridge Centre)
The final results for the UHMP (Under Hundred Master Points) Championships are now available. Congratulations to Edward Gao and Morgan Gao from Great Lakes Bridge Club, who won over 223 pairs. Check all the results HERE.

There was a variety of congresses organized by local clubs in the last few months, please find their feature reports here:

Bathurst & District Bridge Club
Central West Novice Pairs & Teams
– a great event for novice players to shine!

Goulburn Bridge Club Congress
– a tournament for Teams and also Novice & Restricted Pairs.

Results and photos of all congresses can be found HERE.
Congratulations to the winners in Bathurst & District Bridge Club Central West Novice Tournament: (Left) The Overall Winner in Pairs (also winners in Division 10-30 MPs) – Morgan Gao and Edward Gao with John Shield and Karin Le Roux, the convenor. (Right) Team Colendrander came first in the Novice Teams – Heidi Colenbrander, Ray Hurst, Marietta Borthwick and Sarah Young from Peninsula.
Applause to the winners in the Goulburn Bridge Club Congress 2016: (Left) Bob Sebesfi, Julian Foster, David Weston and Richard Douglas came first in Teams with Annemarie Athea (President) and Helen Crisp (Convenor). (Right) Annemarie Athea (President) and Helen Crisp (Convenor) congratulated the Restricted Pairs Winners Clare Filmer Ramsay and Cassandra Mitchell.
Entertainment between plays
Courtesy to our sponsors StudioCanal and Twentieth Century Fox, as gratitude to all of your enthusiastic participation to the congresses, we are pleased to offer our members chances to claim THREE movie tickets. Please click in the following web banners for details.



Upcoming Events
Events highlights from 7th January to 5th February. Click HERE to view congresses in the full year.

Congresses In NSW Local Clubs
Jan 8 (Sun) Double Bay Bridge Centre
New Year Swiss Pairs
Event Details > 

Jan 29 (Sun) NSWBA January Swiss Pairs Congress
Event Details > 

Feb 5 (Sun) NSWBA WITS Swiss Pairs Congress
A side event to the WITS, open to all players
Event Details > 


State Events
Jan 23 (Mon) NSWBA Trivia Night
Non-bridge players welcome! Bring a friend!
Event Details >

Jan 30 – Feb 13 (over 3 Mon nights) NSWBA Open ITS Stage I
Event Details > 

Feb 4 – 5 (Sat – Sun) NSWBA Women's ITS
Event Details > 

National (ABF) Events
Jan 7 – 13 (Sat – Fri) ABF Australian Youth Championships
Event Details > 

Jan 10 – 22 (Tue – Sun) ABF Summer Festival of Bridge
Event Details > 

Feb 18 – 25 (Sat – Sat) QBA Gold Coast Congress
Event Details > 

Holidays
Jan 31 – Feb 3 (Tue – Fri) Trumps Bridge Centre Leura Bridge Holiday
Event Details > 

World
Feb 7 – 12 (Tue – Sun) Japan Contract Bridge League NEC Bridge Festival
Event Details > 



Featured Articles
There may not be a definite answer to some of the bridge hands. Overcall? Double? Which will be a better decision in a competitive auction? Rakesh Kumar approaches this question with interesting statistics in his article "Will you overcall or double?"
 Read the full article >
Congress Player
of the Year
Congratulations to the Congress Players of 2016, keep up your good play! The competition for the Congress Player of 2017 has just started, good luck to you all. There will be four categories:

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

Click HERE for our current "interim" list, as at 31st December 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.
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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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