All News

Hello from a very wet and chilly Auckland. Many of our bridge players have taken refuge from the incessant rain by playing in the warmth and comfort of our very welcoming clubs over this period. Down in Papatoetoe in June, Gary Chen and Blair... read more here

BEATING OR NOT BEATING THE PART-SCORE Sorry, no great end-play to make an impossible slam this week. This is routine every day what went right or in this case wrong defending a part-score. The first question is after an illuminating sequence of:... read more here

Andrew and Trevor The North Island Pairs Trevor Robb and Andrew Janisz, members of this year’s New Zealand Seniors team which is soon to leave for the Olympiad events in Poland, were victorious in last weekend’s North Island Pairs at... read more here

“Twice in one night” Can lightning strike twice in one night? With our weather at present, the answer must certainly be “yes”. Yet, we are talking about more pleasant matters like “opening leads”. You can get... read more here

AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS Now, I am not calling you an elephant, at least not in public! I do, though, want you to justify my faith in you by getting two problems right. One is a little easier than the other. Both are on the same theme. In each... read more here

  Calling all readers but especially those on Stewart Island. Welcome to Rhondda and Jeff Bergman. It's OK. We know our geography and that our southern island is not really that close to Nelson or Picton! Read on: Tournament News Maurice... read more here

The last morning of July saw the annual Auckland-Northland Teams Bridge competition take place at the Howick Bridge Club. Four schools were represented by 11 teams in what was a four round Swiss competition. After winning the trophy for the first... read more here

Well done, Whakatane. I am going to cheat a little this month and give my typing finger a rest(it’s the most well- worn finger in New Zealand!)and give the floor to one of our smaller bridge clubs which has something important to say. For... read more here

Janice Jones, Orewa This feature started in June with the award to Rona Driscoll, who is known nationally as well for the huge amount of time given to her own club. As we stated, a volunteer can help a club in many ways and to be our... read more here

“Good Prediction, Owen” When the opposition have done well against you and say words like “obvious defence” or “everyone will do that”, you have a little hope that your world has not caved in. Last night, it... read more here

The first comment below and the picture above should tell you which region is reporting its news this week. Is there really something more important than bridge? Gee these regional round-ups sneak up on you quickly, right in the middle of calving... read more here

Grant Jarvis Auckland Provincial Pairs and Teams A Win, a “Draw” and a Loss The weekend of July 22nd/23rd saw a good weekend of bridge at the Auckland Bridge Club. Here is a slightly quirky look at a little of what happened in the... read more here

“The other side of the coin”: A Piece of Good Fortune? A new award is born.     Do you ever moan about your bad luck? Like maybe when your brilliantly bid small slam on a combined 21 hcp goes down when a side suit... read more here

THE BIDDING TO THE RESCUE How do you feel about the following two hands? A combined 22 hcp and you are playing in 1NT with every chance of at least one hold in every suit. It sounds quite straightforward to make your contract. They even led a... read more here

What Every Aspiring Golfer Needs….. If you hit those golf balls regularly down the fairway onto the green and then with minimum shots into the hole, there are some basic things you need….rub of the green, a good swing, a reasonable... read more here

The image. What image? It’s not an image. It’s a cold hard fact, a black fact, set in concrete. Well, you need a spade or two to “set concrete”. The image…the fact…is that if you hold more spades, you are... read more here

The “slow” or the “fast” lane? A night of fairly routine games and part-scores was brought to life at some tables by a deal where no pair could bid the better of the available slams but where there was much interest in... read more here

We have the next installment of teaching material now this website.  This is the Powerpoint presentations for Improver classes.  A big thank you to the Teaching committee and Amanda Smith for their hard work in providing the... read more here

September in Hamilton Our National Congress is less than three months away. We hope many of you are not just thinking of coming to Hamilton for all or part of the week but have started planning to do so. Some have already registered and paid. For... read more here

LEADING AGAINST SLAMS There are those who think leading against slams is a pretty random occupation. Actually, “leading” against any contract is pretty random. By the time they have key carded or cue-bid their way to slam, you may... read more here

The Wellington Regional Committee has thanked and farewelled Dinnie Hall, our chair over the last 6 years. She was still smiling as we broke up, which is a tribute to the enervating effect of bridge administration. Or maybe it's just the way... read more here

This is a new award, to be made monthly, to someone in our bridge community who “gives”, a true volunteer. So many people volunteer to help make our game so enjoyable. New Zealand Bridge wants to highlight, say “thank you”... read more here

Here’s an opportunity for you to tell an interesting,perhaps funny story about some recent bridge happening. Maybe your partner or an opponent did something pretty smart. (You are far too modest to own up to your own brilliancies, I hope!).... read more here

  Junior/Intermediate Teams winners at the Hawke's Bay Congress, Susan Brown, Karen Eriksen, Jolene Zink and Judith Lucas There’s only one place to begin, at this year’s, the 24th, Hawke’s Bay Congress. It was held as... read more here

 A "Recipe for Success" by Karen Martelletti The Tauranga club decided to take a leaf out of the book of the Hamilton club and run a novice session alongside their Intermediate and Junior tournaments (all held on the same day). The novices... read more here

    You wish, don’t you that the line you take for any contract is the right line, the play that ensures your contract is “cold”. You do not want always to have easy contracts, at least not if you want to do well,... read more here

Congratulations to the Royle Epsom Bridge Club and especially to the club owner, Angela Royle, who organized a 24 hour Bridge Marathon on Friday/ Saturday 11th/12th June in the clubrooms. The event raised $7245 for children with severe burns... read more here

The Art of Diving Two boards offered East-West the chance of diving at perhaps uncomfortable levels but few achieved the optimum results on the two boards. Certainly, one required North-South to take mildly aggressive action before the... read more here