All News

The fateful take-out double. Lysandra Zheng and Tim Pan have fast been showing as one of the most promising new pairs in the country with several impressive results. They added to that list with a fine performance in the Open Regional... read more here

Dougal McLean, after whom the prized overall Regional Trophy is named.  Canterbury’s Weekend at the Regional Championships The 2024 Regional Championship winners are Canterbury, victorious in both the Women’s and Intermediate... read more here

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players ... and others. It's Fri   day.  Communication….. One of the keys to successful defence is communication between defenders. So often, a declarer, especially in a no-trump... read more here

The Lost “Master-suit”. Spades is usually the “boss”  or “master”-suit and if you hold that suit, then you are normally in a fine position in most competitive auctions. Yet, even spades can get lost in... read more here

Ducking to Defeat. Opening hands are getting weaker by the day…..or so East might have thought on inspecting dummy as they embarked on defending and hopefully defeating 3NT. Maybe the declarer felt a little short-changed? Nevertheless, it... read more here

Nicely Played. Today’s deal comes from the final round of the Auckland-Northland Inter-Club competition which has been played on-line once a month on Real Bridge. The Waiheke Open Team were in the Plate section and in their final match... read more here

Is it? Unmakeable and Unbeatable.  Does that saying describe many of your contracts? Well, maybe one or two. Let’s see whether you would be put to the test to make the unmakeable. We shall consult our Panel first:... read more here

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players...and others. It's Fri  day! A Partly True Saying. “Why do good players take fewer finesses than we do? When they do, they seem to work more often than ours!” Such laments are often... read more here

Murat’s Finest Moment. Thanks to Murat Genc for allowing me to reproduce this story. Murat was one of my teammates in the recent NZ Seniors’ Team in Buenos Aires. The story becomes much more real with names. His partner was Anne... read more here

Or square! Enterprising defence….and bidding! Today’s deal has a few interesting angles. The question posed below is for a defender. South DealsNone Vul ♠ 9 7 6 A 9... read more here

Running or Staying Still? Today, we feature one further successful board for the winners of the Loveblock New Zealand Wide Pairs. It features a difficult situation when one’s opening weak no trump is doubled for penalties. What would you do... read more here

Taupo’s tops in the Loveblock. The annual New Zealand Wide Pairs, sponsored by Loveblock Wines,  took place last Friday with there being 54 heats taking place at 53 clubs from Kerikeri down to Invercargill. While not a record for the... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others!  It’s Fri day! Doing it Right. Welcome back to our Friday slot for less experienced players. Today’s deal is one all declarers should get right though only just... read more here

To see the results of the 54 heats as they come in, go to   https://www.compassmate.bridge-centre.org/results/monthly   thanks to the X Club team for producing them so quickly.   Richard Solomon         read more here

Another Leading Question. As promised yesterday, we have another “Leading Question” today. Like our two from yesterday, it comes from a Seniors’ match in the recent World Championships in Buenos Aires. Yesterday’s two had... read more here

Success for Debs  Havelock North’s Debs Smith has won the recently completed WBF On-Line Autumn Bridge Festival, the third time she has won one of these events. which are held bi-annually. She is a regular in these events and has... read more here

Leading Questions. Over the next two days, we will cover three leading problems, all with a uniting theme. All three occurred in the recent World Championships within the space of a few boards. The first two will be today and you will not be kept... read more here

Fine Finish for winners of National Pairs. The National Pairs, the final of the national events ( outside the Inter-Provincials) took place at the Auckland Bridge Club this past weekend. Some of our international players had still to return from... read more here

Contrary to the norm. Are computer dealt hands freakier than ones we deal ourselves? The argument has raged for years and most of us feel that is the case. We are lazy shufflers and thus are more likely to produce lots of flattish deals.... read more here

Jo Simpson, Auckland Club President, Neil Stuckey, and Sam Simpson. Fine Finish for winners of National Pairs. The National Pairs, the final of the national events for 2024 (outside of the Inter-Provincials) took place at the Auckland Bridge... read more here

Medal-taking Kiwis. The Closing Ceremony at the World Championships took place last Sunday night local time. It was pleasing to see some Kiwis go up on stage to take their prizes. In the one day BAM Teams (Board a Match or more commonly known... read more here

The Clock is Ticking… Apologies that the daily hands have been a bit sporadic during the World Championships in Argentina. Hopefully, regular readers have found compensation in the on-line daily bulletins. They will return to be regular 5... read more here

Commiserations and Congratulations That would sum up our feelings especially for the New Zealand Women’s Team. After negotiating their way comfortably through the round-robin stage and qualifying in 14th place (16 to qualify), 27 vps clear... read more here

  Day 5 in Buenos Aires Our Open team had a small loss to USA, a big win over Guadeloupe and an equally bad loss to Sweden which leaves them nearly 16 vps behind 8th placed Romania. Their remaining opponents are South Africa who are a... read more here

Day 4 in Buenos Aires At best, this was an indifferent day for the Kiwi teams. Our Open team would not have been happy with small losses to Argentina and Chinese Taipei and are in 11th place, about 13vps behind the 8th qualifying place with 5... read more here

Day 3 in Buenos Aires It has not been a great day for the 4 Kiwi teams though the Open team had three small wins which leaves them just outside the qualifying places in 9th place. This came from the NZ Open Team’s match against bottom... read more here

  Barry chats to Mereana about day 2 at Argentina ...  Argentine 2nd Day.mp3     read more here

Day 2 in Buenos Aires A very damp day in Buenos Aires when the lucky players were those staying in the playing area. Pride of place on this day went to our Mixed Team who won 4 out of 5 matches and sit in 3rd place at the end of the day. They... read more here

Glenis Palmer and her partner, Linda Cartner who knows when to finesse.  Day 1 at the World Champs. Day 1. Tuesday in Buenos Aires saw the action start. A bit of a mixed start for the 4 Kiwi teams though generally a satisfactory day in... read more here

Nearly Ready. The World Olympiad starts local time in Buenos Aires at 10am on Tuesday morning, at the Centro de Convenciones de Buenos Aires in the very early hours of Wednesday morning in New Zealand. Each of the four competitions, Open, Women,... read more here

A gigantic  jump! Wouldn’t it be boring if we all bid the same hand the same way? We might not have very much to discuss in the post mortem….or at least we would all say the same! This recent deal was not handled that well by... read more here

Young players just love bridge.  for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players.....and others, especially those younger in age.  Better than 50-50. Last Sunday afternoon, a small group of young players enjoyed an on-line session on... read more here

(read on to find out why this man appears at the head of this article). A Two-Pronged Attack. There’s something about an auction that starts with a game-force bid and a positive response. It has a momentum which one starting at the... read more here

You have been warned! Double Danger. Really, any South who was not doubled in the popular contract on the deal below, is unlikely to make their contract while anyone doubled should. Naturally, reality was far from the above: East... read more here