Sita Monaghan - A Bridge player par excellence

Thank you, Sita, for agreeing to this interview. Sita is known by all for her gracious manners and her smiling welcome at the bridge table. She is always calm and helpful, sending happy opposition on their way, usually having taken a large plus score from them.

I am Sita Monaghan. My Bridge ranking is Open. I love the game of bridge. For me it is a lifesaver.

My bridge beginnings.

I started playing cards as a child at home; Canasta and Last Card. Every weekend we played cards with all the family. My mother loved cards and so do my brothers and sisters. After I met Michael at Otago University, we sailed to England on the Atlantis and a friend of
Michael’s taught us both the basics of bridge. We played every day for four weeks while at sea. Once we arrived in England I started work as a physiotherapist. There was another couple at the practice who also played bridge. So, in the evenings, once a week or so we would play bridge at their place.

A few years later, in 1976 we came back to New Zealand, to Nelson and the first thing I did was look up the bridge club. We both started there but because we didn’t know the etiquette of club bridge, on our first night someone at the table got quite angry and called the director when Michael touched the opponent’s card. That put him off completely and he has never played club bridge again. We played socially for years with friends of ours, the Handiside's who lived in Richmond.

I kept going to the club. I loved the game and I liked the competition. I started on Monday nights with my partner Doug Monks. We didn’t know the rules and it wasn’t until I started playing on Tuesdays that I met my mentor, Tony Hinkley. He taught me the system. He taught me Acol and after that I never looked back.

Why does bridge appeal to me?

It is always a challenge because each hand is so different. No two hands are the same.

Every time we pick up a hand of cards you never know what it is going to end up being. It is a joy to pick up 13 cards, especially when you have a partner who knows your bidding and you can talk to through your system.

Why play bridge?

Bridge is a very social game. You meet so many people and you can play bridge all over the world. I have played in many places and all I need to do when I am overseas is to ring up the bridge club and say that I’d love a game and I haven’t got transport. They will pick me up and drop me home at the end of the evening. That is a great delight. Bridge clubs are very generous.

Bridge Highlights.

A highlight for me was in 2006 when I won the Senior Interprovincial Teams at Congress with Robin Young as my partner and another pair from Christchurch. They gave out trophies then. I was still a Junior and he asked me to play. It was a privilege to play with him. Other highlights were winning the Senior Championship Pairs at Nelson a number of times and becoming a Grandmaster. To become a Grandmaster, you need at least 500 A points and 500 B points. And to get them you need to play and win in a lot of tournaments.

What am I thinking when playing bridge?

It is really important to have a process in your head. If I am declarer the first thing I think about is, what have the opponents bid? That tells me where the points are. Then I look at the lead to see if that helps me. What information can I get from the lead. Then I look at partner’s hand and I think: how many tricks do I need? how many can I get? And, if I haven’t got enough tricks, how can I make those extra tricks? I do it automatically now but you must train yourself to go through those questions. If the opponents have bid, it helps me to work out where I need to finesse and who might have the vital cards I need to find? When they don’t bid, it is much harder to place the cards. It is important to take the time to do this before playing to the first trick.

If I am the defender I always think about the bidding because that tells you where the points are and then I look at partner’s lead and I use the rule of 11. Provided my partner leads 4th highest against NT then subtracting that from eleven tells me how many cards higher than the lead are held in the other three hands. I can work out which card to play.

Bridge Tips for aspiring players.

Play bridge as often as you can. It is like any sport: the more you practice, the better you get.

Try to ask players, better than you for a game at the club.

Make sure you and your partner have a clear system which you discuss

Does playing bridge teach you anything outside the bridge rooms?

Bridge is a numbers game so having to count keeps you active. I have made many friends through bridge. The most fun is to play socially for a small amount of money. The money helped to sharpen our thinking. We would swap partners and talk about the hands and what we could have done. I was very lucky to have Tony as one of my teachers. Thank you, Tony.

Sita Monaghan - A Bridge player par excellence

Thank you, Sita, for agreeing to this interview. Sita is known by all for her gracious manners and her smiling welcome at the bridge table. She is always calm and helpful, sending happy opposition on their way, usually having taken a large plus score from them. ..........

Carol Minchin  - A Bridge Enthusiast
 

Carol Minchin with her husband Roger 
 
I am Carol Minchin. My bridge ranking is Open. I am a Silver Grandmaster and I am number 74 on the All-Time New Zealand Masterpoint Earners list. I have been playing for 59 years.
 
 

My bridge beginnings

My grandmother played many card games with me but not bridge. From quite a young age I had wanted to learn the game but couldn’t find a teacher. I wanted to learn even more when we played 500 in the ski huts and the bridge players always won.
After Roger and I were married we went to live in Invercargill. When we heard about bridge lessons starting at the Invercargill Bridge Club we went along and were hooked. That was in 1964 and we have been playing ever since.
 

My bridge career

It was slow. For many years we had children and work. We played one night a week at the bridge club and a bit socially. Invercargill only had one tournament a year. The highlight was the annual Otago-Invercargill inter-club. Fourteen pairs plus oysters bused to Dunedin. It was a great learning experience because Otago was by far the stronger club but this changed over the years. It was a three-session event and the evening session dress was long dresses and furs for the women and dinner suits for the men. Roger didn’t have a dinner suit but they allowed him to play in a suit and black bow tie. Imagine if this was the stipulation for an evening session these days.
 
NZ Congress started about the mid-eighties. We went a few times but it wasn’t until we both retired that we could go regularly. Going to Congress and learning new conventions and playing against stronger players gave our bridge a real boost.
 
When we started travelling we played bridge as the opportunity arose. We played In France and Switzerland where we used bidding boxes for the first time. The language was never a barrier but at first we were confused with the cards. The king and jack are different to ours. One of the most unusual venues we played in was The Young Chelsea Club in London. It was an old house with the session being played upstairs and downstairs. The tables were at all angles and fitted into nooks and crannies. Sitting north-south just meant staying seated for the session, there were no direction signs. The bar was open all night with mainly large handles being drunk.
 
The International Gold Coast Congress at Broadbeach, Queensland was a regular event for us for a few years. As well as great bridge it was also a very social holiday.  I was always astonished with the number of professionals and clients playing together in the main events. The professionals sometimes could be subtly stinging.
 

Why does bridge appeal to me?

I like it because it is a game of skill and not just luck. I enjoy the challenge of bidding and playing a hand well. I like the fact that there is always something new to learn. I enjoy talking about and analysing unusual hands with other players. I like following major bridge events and how our top players are performing.
 
 

Why play bridge?

The game is challenging and stimulating. It is also very satisfying when one plays a hand well. It is social without the need for small talk. It’s a game where you never stop learning and you can play it lifelong. In NZ we have children to centenarians playing. It can be played anywhere in the world and at almost any time of the day with the development of internet/online bridge.
 
 

Bridge Highlights

I have represented Otago-Southland, Canterbury when Nelson was part of that centre and Top of the South in the Inter provincials. It was a real highlight being part of the Top of the South 2010 Senior Team which gave TOPs their first win at the Inter provincials.

I have been privileged to play in the Nelson Howorth Cup team on several occasions. The most memorable was winning the cup back for Nelson after a seventeen-year drought. We were all so proud of ourselves but brought back to earth by an overheard comment from one of our long-standing members “they are all foreigners”.

My highest achievement was winning the NZ Pairs in 1983 with Roger.

Roger and I also won the NZ Senior Pairs in 1999.
 

What am I thinking when playing bridge?

I don’t play to the first trick too quickly; I plan my play. As declarer I think about the information from the bidding and the opening lead. When playing in NT I count my winners and then decide where I will look for extra tricks. When playing in a suit I count my losers and think about how to get rid of them. When defending I count dummy’s high card points, add them to mine and an estimate of declarers points. With this information, I have a good idea about my partner’s hand.
 

Bridge Tips for aspiring players

• Don’t just rely on lessons. Buy a good bridge book. There are many on sale for all levels.  Read, read and read and practise some of the hands every day.  A little bit often will help the information sink in.
• Play with and against better players when you have the opportunity.
• Play in tournaments and go to Congress. There are sections for all levels.

• Never give up. Progress can be fast or slow and there are always plateaus.

Does playing bridge teach you anything outside the bridge rooms?

One learns to work with a partner, bridge is a partnership game. A bridge player must be able to concentrate for long periods, be tolerant, have confidence in one’s ability and be able to do the best with the cards they are dealt. Players must obey the bridge rules and regulations and keep to a code of ethics.
 

Carol Minchin  - A Bridge Enthusiast
 

Carol Minchin with her husband Roger 
 
I am Carol Minchin. My bridge ranking is Open. I am a Silver Grandmaster and I am number 74 on the All-Time New Zealand Masterpoint Earners list. ..........