All News

Jan’s Day in the part-score Zone. Such deals may not be sensational but their outcome can be every bit as important as a slam or game contract, especially playing Match-Point Pairs. You bring home a very tight small slam on a double squeeze... read more here

                    Immediate Action Needed. Defence can be very personal in that although every pair defending a board has the same aim, they may well... read more here

The 2021 New Zealand Bridge Youth Bridge Weekend by Paul Coleman The 2021 Youth Weekend is the first in about 22 years that Richard Solomon has not run. By my   calculation, the 1999 youth weekend was held before two-thirds of this... read more here

   “There’s a hole in my bucket, Dear Lisa, Dear Lisa.” Well, you pick up your hand and see a neat two-suited 16 count. Plenty of potential in that. Then, you observe your partner, who is the dealer, reach for the... read more here

Too many of them! Losing a loser! Well, you just have to when you are in a 5-level contract and your loser-count seems to total three. All would be well on the deal below had a key finesse worked though by the time you get round to playing the... read more here

  Making something out of nothing... for less experienced players and others. Today we have a lead problem which covers the situation where the player on lead has very little, even less and whether they should make the normal lead of an... read more here

Jan’s Day: A Blind Spot. Most of us have them. Hopefully, they do not cost and if they do, that such an error occurs in a part-score and not in a game contract where the loss is greater. So, today, you want to get it right. You are not in a... read more here

Can you ignore me? “I” am the much abused, often ignored club suit. “I” am opened when players have three or two card suits, by some with even less. Yet, when “I” have a fine decent suit, many choose to ignore... read more here

Stolen Bid. 20 high card points but not really enough for a strong 2 level opening. However, just as you contemplate how the auction will go after you start with your longest suit at the one level, your right-hand opponent opens the suit in front... read more here

Little Clues can mean a lot. Well, they can when you are in grand slam and have a decision to make without any help from the opponents’ bidding. They were silent! South DealsE-W Vul ♠ A K 6 3 ♥ 7... read more here

Little Clues can mean a lot…for less experienced players and others. Today and tomorrow, we will look at a couple of deals where small clues might lead declarers to winning solutions. A little clue is better than no clue at all and takes... read more here

      Bad luck? Jan’s Day has a Trump Problem It is more than a little annoying when any very good contract is put into grave danger by a bad trump break but even more so when it is a slam.   South... read more here

The Most Likely Way Home. “Home” is achieving the right number of tricks to make your contract. There is no chance of an overtrick but we are in a slightly tenuous slam. So, let’s be happy with 12 tricks. East... read more here

The Chameleon Club. Your partner opens with a suit and the opposition end the bidding with a strong no trump overcall. With queen doubleton in your partner’s suit and a smattering of high-card points in the other suits, the opening lead... read more here

Balanced…in two suits! Many new players bauk at opening a 12-14 1NT because they do not have holds in all four suits. We know that it is impossible to guarantee such a balanced spread of your honour cards with such a few number of high... read more here

Suzanne Carpenter. We start the review with some interesting reflections by a new player to our game on her first tournament, Palmeraston North’s Suzanne Carpenter. She starts with a quote:   “Admitting errors clears the... read more here

  Finessing and timing and ducking..for less experienced players, and others. Today’s deal may seem quite basic but it offers some good lessons for those who may be struggling to make, in particular, their no-trump contracts. You... read more here

  Jan Cormack. Jan’s Day: More on Finessing. That could be a clue as you make a plan to score 12 tricks from your rather ambitiously bid slam. There are finesses we need to take, finesses we put off unless there is no other way and... read more here

      A Finesser’s Dream…or Nightmare? You have finesses available in three suits, one of which is a 2-way finesse (don’t we love them…not!) and a guess in the fourth suit, too. We cannot afford... read more here

High-Level happenings. A question for you. You lead your singleton H2 against 7C doubled, the opponents’ sacrifice. What happened? Depending perhaps on the result, we all love a piece of high-level drama. Someone usually has a strong... read more here

“Multi” Problem. Love it or hate it (and there are many in both camps), the Multi 2D can cause problems for all four players at the table. One such problem is that there is sometimes only one player at the table who knows for sure... read more here

  Basic Defence: for less experienced players and others. It is time to remember two, maybe even three, basic rules of defending. Had East done so on today’s deal, then their partnership would not have got such a poor result from the... read more here

Opportunity Knocks. We know that Bridge is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest wins! Sometimes, you get the chance to do something clever, to profit from good play rather than an opponent’s mistake or unlucky lead. Are you ready... read more here

Avoiding Disaster. Well, it was not total disaster because our North-South pair did get a plus score but the plus should have been so much bigger.     ♠ 9 ♥ K J 8 7 5 2 ♦ J... read more here

  s   The Second Double. What does it mean and what should we bid now? These two questions arise from a second double from our partner. We know that the first double was a standard take-out double…but what about double number... read more here

Trump Reduction. It’s time to look at another hand from last weekend’s South Island Pairs. While the vast majority of West players struggled away to make an overtrick in 3NT and usually failed, one West player could put his feet up... read more here

     Not today. Today’s a good news day! No Demons but still down…for less experienced players and others. The following deal was given to me because all bar one who played the board in the 4 game (and at the... read more here

  This will soon be full of bridge tables and bridge players. Congress update July 2021 It is great to see many players entering this year’s National Congress with some having paid their entry fees. We have many players entering the... read more here

Where is she? Jan’s Day: a problem from a barrage bid. No matter how good a player one is, one does not get all decisions right in the area of high-level bidding. Take a look at this:   North DealsBoth Vul... read more here

 Brian Mace and Tom Jacob... read more here

The Power of “Nine”! One way is technically correct. Another may be practically successful while a third results in a minus score! So, which way should we not take? It seems perhaps that the last is not the best! Yet, it is perhaps... read more here

But not spectacular.                                Bread and Butter. That’s... read more here