All News

Twenty Short. Four matches on Saturday and hope at the start that a good performance could leave The Bridge Blacks challenging for the top 8. How many vps did we need from a day with no easy matches, if such a thing exists in this event? Perhaps... read more here

Deja Vous. At the end of this day, there will be sadness in the Kiwi camp that inconsistency has once again let the side down. Let’s not forget also that it was a day in which the Bridge Blacks beat the strong USA 1 team and then toppled... read more here

“A Sad Tail” Spell “tail” either way and the adjective “sad” could be applied to the performance of the Bridge Blacks on Day 4. A day of what might have been. Their first match on BBO against South Africa saw... read more here

                             A "Double" Double Day 7th at the start of the day and 13th at the end of 4 matches sounds like a disappointing day for The Bridge Blacks. Even... read more here

A Sign of Great Happiness? Apparently, some cultures believe that if you see a group of seven ducks, then they represent great wealth or happiness coming your way! If we substitute 7C for “seven ducks”, then there was a sign of great... read more here

the venue. Day 1 Stop the Clock! This week, daily reports from Salsomaggiore replace or double as our "Daily Hands". Right now, after three of the 23 matches for the New Zealand Open Team playing in the Bermuda Bowl in Salsomaggiore. If... read more here

The Timing’s Right too! If you are going to do something a little unusual, then you could have egg on your face if it backfires. However, on a good day, your “crime” or creativity pays dividends. Today, we have Alan Grant... read more here

is? Where to next? Under one third of the North-South pairs bid today’s North/South cards to quite a reasonable slam, many being satisfied to play in 3NT. Let’s see what our Panel would bid at a key moment in the bidding.... read more here

The Last Resort. If you can entice the opposition to open up a suit to your advantage, then it can be better than playing the suit yourself. Perhaps you can force them to play that suit for you. Even better. If all else fails, you will just have... read more here

What you can hear. Today, I am handing the floor to Pat Carter, one of our leading players and directors. Pat has been heavily involved in on-line playing and directing since the start of the Covid epidemic, firstly on BBO and then on... read more here

Avoiding Disaster: The Best Lead of All. Today’s deal was played 18 times in 4H and somewhat surprisingly half the time, the contract made. Yet, looking at all four hands, it seems so easy to defeat. Firstly, though, what would be your... read more here

  The Auckland Bridge Club are running a 2 evening 5A Point tournament on 31st March and 1st April  to raise funds for Ukraine. See below for details. We hope as many pairs as possible will support this oh so worthwile cause. ... read more here

National Bridge Congress 2022 (1st – 8th October) at Bay Park Tauranga. As promised last Friday, we are going to start promotion of the 2022 National Congress with you today. We will show you the program but first will address some of the... read more here

 RIGHT LINE ON LINE! Everyone at the Kelly Peirse Open Teams, hosted by the Rotorua Club last Saturday, was playing on-line but very few who ended as declarer found the right line to bring home a tricky 4 contract.   West... read more here

We went 28 months without a National Congress, far too long. Even then, we had to compromise with an on-line Congress. We were so lucky to have RealBridge as the medium we could use for our Congress, not like live but very much the next best... read more here

No way! We are talking about bridge hands! “Bread and Butter.” Not all deals can feature high level decisions in bidding or play. Pairs events are often won and lost in the world of the part-score and although today’s deal... read more here

Double Trouble? Well, you doubled. So, you had better defeat this contract. You have the strongest hand at the table and have two certain tricks.   West DealsE-W Vul ♠ 10 2 ♥ A 5... read more here

but for which side?  Happy Ending? That is what you would hope for as declarer on the deal below. It was indeed the ending for all players as it was the last of the 96 boards played at last weekend’s Taranaki Teams. For most declarers... read more here

  EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST SOUGHT FOR ON-LINE BULLETIN EDITOR FOR  LIVE 2022 NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL BRIDGE CONGRESS   Congress live at Bay Park, Mt Maunganui Saturday 1st October until Saturday 8th October 2022   Be an... read more here

In your bidding. Aces go Places! An ace is worth more than 4 hcp which means two must take you in or towards double figures. Throw in a side-suit singleton and four cards in partner’s weak 2 and it looks like we have a pretty good hand.... read more here

The Best You Can. If you do that on every board, you cannot feel bad about the result. Neither can your partner! Yet, did our South on the board below do the best they could in trying to make their game?   West DealsN-S Vul... read more here

“Never” put an 8-card suit down as dummy. (well “almost never”.) There are certain bids, conventions you learn in your early days of playing Bridge and then you may as well forget them because they never happen at the... read more here

Not today! That’s a word one of our panellists, Michael Ware, uses a lot. One day, he will be proven right but today, like every other prediction he has made in such a situation, is not to be the one. We are talking about competitive... read more here

Kevin Skoropada. Southern Winners of the National Pairs. Kevin Skoropada and Moss Wylie had a great weekend at the National Pairs emerging as clear winners. The event was supposed to be held at the Wellington Bridge Club though the live event... read more here

Do we have enough? A Tricky Number.   Well, today’s deal is tricky but only because our second suit is clubs. Were it spades and our partner had shown a strong hand with hearts and spades, it would simply be a matter of asking for... read more here

A “Vulnerable” King. Or so it might seem to any East player who found themselves in a bit of a quandary in a sequence like the following. It is all very well trying for a slam but not so good when you lose the first two tricks because... read more here

  Or play it! Hold Up…and Give Up? It is an age-old problem for defenders. It is so often a good idea to withhold your high honour, especially the ace and especially in no-trumps, to cut a declarer’s communication from one... read more here