All News

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. All you need is one finesse to work and then you can claim your 9 tricks and move on (maybe with an overtrick on a good day!). Both opponents are in the bidding. Both could have the missing king. You know... read more here

Carefully Does It. Maybe only two losers in your major suit game. That sounds not too hard an ask. However, we did say "maybe". "Maybe", there could be one or two more lurking. "Carefully does it."   South DealsE-W Vul... read more here

Michael Miles: original show compere. “Open the Box”..or “Take the Money”. Am I showing my age in quoting from a very old English television game show called “Take Your Pick” where contestants were given the... read more here

A Rightful Reason? A little look at defending a part-score, today and, in particular, in what you would lead at trick 1. Just a simple no -trump opening and a transfer. No help from your partner. No stand-out obvious lead. So, anything could be... read more here

Making the most of good fortune. You escaped the lead which would defeat your slightly ambitious contract. Yet, the contract failed, partly through sensible defence, partly because of a bad break in a side suit and partly because the declarer... read more here

“DODGING BULLETS.” A mild auction, at least initially but it “hots up”. Today’s deal focuses initially on what your partner might expect from support of their overcall and whether a decision to double the opponents... read more here

    Danger: Beware! It is not that the path you are walking on is slippery. You are safe at the bridge table!  It is that the finesse you are about to take would end the hopes of making your contract if it fails.  ... read more here

A Strange Choice? How can a decision seem both obvious and yet very strange? Such are the mysteries conjured up by bridge bidding. On one hand, the bid I chose (yes, I own up before anyone else is tainted with the decision!) seemed obvious and on... read more here

BOLDNESS PAYS. It does not always. You make an attacking lead and immediately, you know that it is an absolute disaster. Sit there and wait to score your honours and you will be rewarded. Sometimes. The trick is to know when to wait and when to... read more here

Not so strong any more. You start off with a more than decent hand, a solid suit, top honours in a second, and a void as well. However, by the time your partner has not only bid this void suit, but gone on to suggest slam in that suit, you must... read more here

Entry to the “Club”s When you are setting up a long suit in a weak hand, you must be very mindful of entries to that hand. "Being mindful"means taking small risks that a suit will not break too badly to ensure that you make the... read more here

Follow Suit? Actually, you cannot because it is the fourth round the club suit has been played and everyone followed to the first three rounds. So, you just have to find one discard.Only one. Surely, that cannot be too painful?  ... read more here

“Don’t put all your eggs in just one basket”. Options…keeping them open for as long as you can. If you do not succeed at first, then perhaps you can try again. Once you commit down one road, it may be impossible to turn... read more here

                 The auction..that is! Reopening Issues. How and when to reopen in the balancing position? What to do when partner does reopen with a double? These... read more here

“Rock Crushers”. During the course of a bridge competition, you pick up some fairly dull 2 or 3 counts, some with a bit more interest, even a few opening hands and just occasionally one that stands out from the rest. Like the one... read more here

Unforeseen Danger. A play problem for today. You receive a pretty friendly lead to your game contract. It should be an easy make…should be. Sometimes players can take their mind off the ball…. East DealsNone Vul... read more here

How high and how? The opposition are not giving you an easy run. Vulnerability is in their favour and you have managed one bid and you are already at the 5-level for your next. The first decision to make is whether you should “take the... read more here

The Sun Can Still Shine. Some contracts look quite easy to play and indeed are. Others may look easy though unpleasant breaks, some other bad news, an opposition ruff perhaps, get harder as the play develops. Where there is life, though, there is... read more here

Game Selection. Choosing the right game in all kinds of scoring is so important. No-trumps can often be the best choice when all games are making the same number of tricks though 4 of a major can produce an extra trick where there is ruffing to... read more here

You might need it! DISCARDING DILEMMA The one good thing when you are defending and having to decide which cards you will keep is you are not on your own. Your partner is there to help, or at least in theory! There are a few basic rules which... read more here

It’s Good News Week. Well, it must be. Most of our bridge clubs are back in operation while there are several tournaments taking place this coming week-end like: “Spa Town”... read more here

Fast Arrival….or Take it Slow? Below is the bidding sequence and hand we gave you yesterday. We asked you what action you would take at this point of the auction. We asked that of our Panel too but we also asked the Panel whether they... read more here

The hunt for another queen. Yesterday, we found that a little investigation beforehand made it absolutely clear which opponent held a key queen, thus ensuring the contract’s success. It is the same contract, today, with once again the... read more here

  Richard Andrew. We were poised in April to make New Zealand Bridge’s regular Volunteer of the Month Award though, with our bridge clubs shut, no presentation could be made. Therefore, our April award is being made a couple of... read more here

The “hunt” for the queen. Where is she? She is not singleton. Either defender could hold her. There are only four cards missing in that suit which is often but not always the trump suit. It was not trumps in the deal below. It seems... read more here

Communication Crisis. You are almost certainly in the wrong contract but one which probably should make but with less tricks than in at least one, maybe even both higher – scoring major game contracts…and to make matters worse, a key... read more here

The Aim against the Rubber Game....or Slam! How adept are you in the delicate art of sacrificing in Rubber Bridge, the form of bridge from which today’s hand arose? Rubber Bridge is not that common in this country, especially around club... read more here

The Power of a Pre-empt. Sometimes they do backfire. There is a risk in making such a bid. An understanding partner must appreciate that if your action was sensible but wrong. However, I would think the effect of a pre-empt (and a weak jump... read more here

It’s Amazing what You can do. Yes, you. You have powered your way to slam and get some rather bad news at trick 2. You have two alternatives: Moan about your bad luck (No-one is listening, least of all your opponents) and give up or Get... read more here

Fighting for The Plus-Score. You cannot make a game or slam on every deal. Sometimes, despite having the majority of the high-card points, you cannot make a contract! Weird distributions are all part of the fun, in a “weird” or... read more here

WE HAVE A NATIONAL CONGRESS. The big news to come from this newsletter is that New Zealand Bridge will be running this year’s National Bridge Congress on schedule this year, that is from Saturday 26th September until Saturday 3rd October.... read more here

Two Strange Views on One Hand. When you are in a hole, do you accept your fate or try and dig your way out of it? If you take the latter course, there is a chance that you may slip even further down…and, of course, there is a presumption... read more here

Redouble: lots of trouble! We do not use this bid much but when we do, it will cause some heartache for at least one player at the table. Is it you? There are various meanings attributed to the least used bid, “redouble”. It can... read more here

     Two-way mirror. Same Board :Different Seats. It is not often you are asked to bid for one side and then defend for the other on the same board. You would think, then, that with some inside knowledge of declarer’s... read more here

“HIGH FIVE” The ace is the highest card of a bridge pack where we do not allow any jokers or give special privileges to bowers. However, we all know how important those little cards at the bottom end of a pack can be. I was rather... read more here

The Swinging Pendulum. The pendulum swings…and so does the fate of many bridge contracts. Cold off one minute, making the next but finally? Who knows? Will the pendulum ever stop swinging? North DealsN-S Vul... read more here

“FREAKY” DOUBLES -Part 2. Blood on the table..but whose? Are you still here after yesterday? Like all good 2- part stories, we give you the highlights from Part 1 where we saw a penalty double with 5 decent trumps and a couple of... read more here

“FREAKY” DOUBLES -Part 1. Our two boards over the next two days have a common theme where a player has five trumps to the ace, and in one case, decent cards below in that suit, and has a seemingly obvious penalty double as the... read more here