"In Brief"

Artwork

The artwork currently on display in the club room is by Mariliza Larkins, whose contact details are shown below:

She would be delighted to hear from you if you're interested in either buying one of the canvases on display or commissioning a painting from her.

Dealers

Today's dealing team hard at work
(Photo: Rae Lutman)

A big thank you to all the dealing teams: your efforts are very much appreciated.

Waikanae/Paraparaumu Interclub

Shield updated (thanks to Chris Farrow).

XG Handicapping

The following email was sent to all members on Sunday 23rd November:

"At the 18 November Committee meeting, after careful consideration and robust discussion, the Committee accepted the recommendation of the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG) to adopt the XG system for handicapping.

This will be implemented on 1 January 2026.

Information on the new system will be available in the next newsletter, on the website and on the noticeboard.

Additionally, Hugh Wolfensohn will be joined by Pryor Rowland (the author of the BAG report) and Maureen Pratchett at the Monday sessions on 1st and 8th December to discuss the system and to answer members' questions."

Resources:

A summary version of the BAG report is available here.

A previous post regarding XG handicapping may be found here.

This is the slide I used at the presentation on Monday 1st December to outline the Committee's views on the advantages of the XG system:

The Malcolm Hyland Trophy

(Photo courtesy of Margaret Hyland)

On the first anniversary of his passing I'm pleased to be able to tell you that at its meeting on Monday the Committee agreed that the "Malcolm Hyland Trophy" for the Intermediate Player of the Year will be awarded annually commencing in 2026.  

I have written to Margaret Hyland to thank her on behalf of the Club for her generous offer to commemorate Malcolm in this way.

Intermediate Tournament 2025

Our annual Intermediate tournament took place on Sunday 28th September, and was a resounding success, with 19 tables and players ranging in grade from senior intermediate to novice.

I would like to thank everybody who contributed to a great day, but in particular:

• Anne Ricketts for her splendid organisation
• Isobel Ross for her patient and skilled directing
• Maureen Pratchett for scoring
• Roz King for the catering
• Derek Snelling for setting up and running the bar

together with a host of helpers involved in setting up before, and cleaning up afterwards, dealing, running the raffle (organised by Steve Ricketts and won by Lorraine Gaffaney) and especially in the kitchen (Mehegan Goodman, Shelley Ross , Di Andrews, Chris Carlyon and several others), and behind the bar (Richie Rama).

The event was won by the Paraparaumu pairing of Jane Bradbury and Dale Wills.  Julian Kissock and Maxine Keay from Palmerston North were second, and our own Eileen Queree and Lorraine Gaffaney placed third.  

Additional session prizes went to Brian O'Sullivan and Janet Dobbie (Wellington) for the morning, and Linda Couch and Lyn Dash (Paraparaumu) for the afternoon.

Many congratulations to all.

Disabled Carparks

With thanks to Kapiti Coast District Council - and to Viv Gray for her organisational skills - we now have two new carparks for persons with disabilities adjacent to the new access ramp.  

Spaces for the Director, Duty Officer and Committee will be moved to the North end of the building.

XG Handicapping Trial

As previously advised, at its meeting on 12th May the Committee agreed a proposal to trial a change to the Club's handicapping system. 

Based on advice from the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG), a three-month trial of the Compass XG Rating system was introduced on 1st July. The system has been used for Monday sessions and in the recent Parkwood Teams event.

The trial is due to complete on 30th September and, as agreed, will be reviewed by BAG in October.  BAG in turn will make recommendations to the Committee before any decision is made on whether to revert to the previous system or to adopt the XG Rating system on a permanent basis. 

To assist BAG in its review, the Committee is now inviting all Club members to provide feedback on the XG Rating system.  

BAG has asked that feedback should indicate your preference for handicapping as follows:

1. I prefer the XG method (used from July to September)
2. I prefer the previous method
3. I have no preference

Further comments may be added if you wish.

Feedback is requested in writing by Wednesday 1st October - email responses are preferred and should be addressed to Pryor Rowland (pryorrowland@gmail.com), copy to the Club Secretary (waikanaebridge@gmail.com).

While the review process is undertaken, the previous handicapping system will be reinstated with effect 1st October.

XG Ratings

The following explanatory note on XG ratings has kindly been provided by Maureen Pratchett:

The purpose of applying handicaps on Monday is to level the playing field, not to punish the good players as some might think.

There are many ways we could calculate handicaps – average scores (which has been used previously) and NZ Bridge rating points to name two ways. We are trialling a different way on Mondays for 3 months as it appears to be fairer than both of these and is easily applied. It is called the XG system. An awful name, but that is what Compass calls it.

Each week Compass calculates an XG rating (a percent score) for every player which is based on all of their previous playing history. Average players will have an XG of around 50. Very good players will have a rating in the high 50s. Novice players who have no previous playing history are given a default value of 40. A player’s XG rating will therefore adjust from week to week.

The XG handicap is dynamically-calculated for each session based on a pair’s average XG rating and the average XG rating of all their opponents during that session.

For example, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 40 and the average of your opponents is 48, you will get a handicap of +8 for that session – to level the field. Similarly, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 54 and your opponents have an average rating of 46, you will get a handicap of -8 for that session.

For any (say) NS pair, the opponents they play against may be different from other NS pairs. For example, if there are fewer rounds being played than there are tables, the players who NS1 do not meet will be different than the players who NS3 do not meet. Therefore, even if NS1 and NS3 have the same average XG rating, the average of their opponents may be different, thus resulting in different handicaps.

Any member can go to website https://mycompasss.com (note 3s’s) to see their playing history and their current XG rating. Go to NGS in the top menu, then XG listings. Then you can put your surname in the Search box. You can log in as a guest or create your own login ID for the website.

If you wish to check your own rating (or that of any other member) at any time go to https://mycompasss.com/xg/xg.php and enter the relevant search query.

Paraparaumu Bridge Club Fundraiser

Following Bob Jennings' visit to the club on Monday afternoon I have attached both a "flyer" for the Paraparaumu Bridge Club's gin fundraising initiative and also an order form. If you or anyone you  know would like to purchase a bottle from Imagination you can complete the form and make an online payment as per the details on the form. 

The key points are to specify the delivery address as "Waikanae Bridge Club", and to email a copy of the completed form to Imagination. They have an email address on the form but it is a very small font. It is "orders@imaginationgin.nz ".

Handicapping

At its meeting on 12 May, the Committee agreed to a proposal (endorsed by the Bridge Advisory Group [BAG]) to trial the use of a new handicapping system on Mondays from 1 July and at other designated handicapped events including the "Judith and Blair" event this coming Saturday. 

The new system calculates handicaps on a dynamic basis, using our existing Compass scoring system to calculate what's known as an "XG Rating" for every player.  This rating in turn enables a handicap to be applied to any sessions that use the XG method.

New XG Ratings are re-calculated automatically by the system for each player after every session.  For “average” players the XG Rating will be around 50%, while for more experienced players the XG rating will be higher.  

The use of XG handicaps will be reviewed by BAG in early October to determine whether or not the new system should be adopted for Mondays on a permanent basis.

Event Calendar

A calendar showing this year's major events is now online here.

Rubber Bridge

If you're interested in participating in this year's rubber bridge competition please see the information sheet below:

Important Note: Entries close on 31 March