All News

Central Districts Early Leaders. Central Districts are the early leaders in the chase for the Dougal Mclean Trophy at this year’s Inter-Provincial Championships. After 5 of the 7 rounds in the first round-robin (each team has one bye), they... read more here

Which Major First? Some slams are a straightforward make while others provide options with the declarer hoping to take the route with the most chance of success, in bridge terms, the best percentage line. The following slam certainly fell into... read more here

High Stakes from the Start. I have a little confession to make, to the Panel. When today’s deal occurred, it was in the Pairs’ environment where if one makes the wrong decision, it is only a maximum of around 4%. 16 or 17 imps in the... read more here

How Strong’s Your Weak No-Trump? Yes, that’s all your hand is….and a minimum point-count 12 hcp at that. Yet, it is starting to look a little better….but how much better? Good enough to advance the bidding freely to the... read more here

The Achilles Heel. One advantage of keeping a strong hand hidden as declarer is that the defence are less able to know for sure which honours declarer has or may not have. One would think that when the “monster” hand is exposed as... read more here

                              Don’t Go Chasing Rainbows. We all like to look for any way... read more here

A Dangerous action?                              Sound or... read more here

Winners and Losers Today’s deal is about winners, about keeping them and not discarding them, about saluting them, the team above who won the National Open Teams in Auckland last weekend in some style and who got our deal today just right.... read more here

A Baker’s Dozen. It is not very often that your side holds all 13 cards in one suit. It is even rarer that you know from the start of the bidding that this is the situation…and you are the only one at the table who knows it! How do... read more here

No Half Measures: All or Nothing. Some declarers in the recent National Open Teams in Auckland failed in a game contract to a rather unkind ruff but should never have been in that position because they either drew one trump too many or one trump... read more here

or Attack or Defence Today’s problem is not just about an opening lead but it is an opening lead problem with which we left you, maybe a rather random problem because you neither have much nor have much information on which to base your... read more here

“D” for Diamond: “D” for Disaster! A plan to avoid one! Part of successful defence is co-operating and guiding your partner, if possible, to the winning defence purely through the card(s) you play. This can be both hard... read more here

First in New Zealand: that's Maureen Russ and Vivienne Sexton. Greetings from the Winterless North yet again. Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun. My turn again with all the news that is news from the fabulous upper part of NZ.... read more here

All that Glitters… A nice- looking hand, great potential, two good suits….and, wait a moment. Someone has opened the bidding in one of them…but it is not your partner. What should you do?   South... read more here

      Walk in the Park? Some contracts seem impossible to make but the defence is not the sharpest or the breaks are very kind. Others seem quite straightforward but can catch out the unwary. Come, join me, for this... read more here

Living Dangerously? Today’s hand centre’s around two issues, firstly about whether a double in a low-level auction is for penalties and then, assuming it is, whether that is the choice you would make.   East... read more here

Saluting the winners. The Babich Wines New Zealand Wide Pairs took place on the evening of Friday October 30th at 57 clubs all around New Zealand. That was the same number of clubs as in 2019 though there were 26 fewer tables this year. That was... read more here

“Hidden Treasure”.          A fairly straightforward bidding sequence with presumably a fairly strong hand which opened the bidding about to go down in dummy. They need a stop in the suit... read more here

                   Just waiting….   Nearly Positive. Bidding styles continue to change with bidding after a strong Game-Forcing 2 opening no... read more here

Dispensing with the safety barrier. I have no head for heights, or to be exact sheer drops. If I am somewhere high, I like to feel there is a good strong safety barrier between me and the world down below. In bridge terms, my safety barrier, in... read more here

“IF”   So, what do you do when dummy appears which is some two or three tricks short of what you anticipated, or hoped for rendering your contract next to impossible? Thanking partner is of course, the polite thing. No need... read more here

Make them vanish! Ruff Away If you have not got enough top tricks to cash in your suit contract, then using your trumps separately to create extra tricks seems a good way to try to make your contract. When most of your trumps are above the level... read more here

Did you see it? Dallas’ Diamond Double. An interesting double in a recent hand led to an unusual sequence of events in which the other three players were not leave the table without a little piece of egg on their faces. Was the double an... read more here

      Partner. Our trump suit is..? Setting Trumps. The sun is shining today. Partner has made a take-out double of a weak 2 and you have a goodly 18-count including a decent 5 carder in a suit partner is almost certain... read more here

Declare or Defend? We seem to have too much support for our partner’s suit to allow our opponents to play in their major suit game but too much defence to want to sacrifice. Do we bid on and sacrifice or trust our defence will prevail?... read more here

The Wrong Road. This might seem a strange title for an article which we hinted yesterday would come under the overall heading of “You never know your luck”. Yet, both statements are relevant as most declarers, given the opportunity to... read more here

You Never Know your luck. Today and tomorrow, we feature a couple of deals where the defence and declarer can earn themselves a piece of good fortune. That’s right. It does not come on a silver platter but if you do the right thing, you... read more here

Common Mistakes in Bridge taught by Tina McVeigh. Today’s article is a taste of some excellent free videos produced and made available by Tina McVeigh who has run the most successful House of Cards Bridge Club in Christchurch for some... read more here

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