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Does partner have the ace or the king...or neither? That is the question. THAT DIAMOND DILEMMA. You bid all the way to a grand-slam in some style and then hear that dreaded sound “double” from one of the opponents, even worse when it... read more here

Counting on it! What is the hardest part of bridge? Some would say defence, others bidding, and many would say “everything”! One nomination which may not be right at the top of the list but must surely rank quite highly is... read more here

not today!. No Second Chance They, your opponents, had one chance to beat your 4S contract. Even then, they might not have been successful. However, try not to give them a second chance if you can. They may not turn down the opportunity twice.... read more here

A BRIDGE EVENT RARELY NOW SEEN. What is that? A flat board in a Pairs session? No way, such an event was rarely seen ever. No, the answer is a “passed in board”. Someone finds some excuse to open their hand. We did report one in the... read more here

Which Finesse? The wrong one. Well, it seems to work out that way, doesn’t it? Given a choice of two, the odds of success are nowhere near 50-50, or so it seems. Or, is all not what it seems? Has that “sadistic hand setter” to... read more here

Susan Humphries. Learning Bridge in Lockdown! Susan Humphries loves bridge. She showed her great enthusiasm for the game during her time in New Zealand, in particular with her support for Youth Bridge. She now lives in Sydney and has made the... read more here

  So Easy to Miss. Trick One, the losing trick for so many contracts. Careless plays, wrong plays, no win plays: they are abundant in any session of bridge. Sometimes, there are unlucky plays, too. Let’s not be too harsh as it is a... read more here

            The Sadistic Problem Setter. There is somewhere someone who punishes non- vigilant bridge players. That person teases us. They spend hours on end setting up hand lay-outs to catch... read more here

Double or Bid? How dare the opponents bid over yours or your partner’s 15-17 1NT opener. Not just that, but they often seem to bid without what you might call a bit of extra protection! We live in New Zealand. So, “she’ll be... read more here

ALIVE TO THE SITUATION. Diamonds You See …and Diamonds You do not! Partner leads your suit, sometimes yours and partner’s suit. It’s 3NT by your left-hand opponent who has announced a hold in that suit. You have a very short... read more here

Stewart Strang, new Life Member at Gore. Not much has happened in the South since you last heard from Moss—and I sadly don’t have anything cool to report in terms of solidarity or club happenings. Luckily Invercargill has been active,... read more here

a fair hand? SHAPE. Don’t you love it when you have got it! It kind of helps if partner has the same suit(s ) as you do, too. It is not so much fun when the opposition have great shape. Your aces can be worth nothing: kings and queens even... read more here

              SAFETY FIRST. When you cross a road, you look both ways, every way, and then once again, just to be sure. You want to make it to the other side, unscathed. For a... read more here

Which Ace? You have got three of them, aces that is. You are defending a part-score doubled contract, serious business. You do not want to put too many feet wrong. So, with which one do you start off? Shut your eyes and hope the choice is right?... read more here

three months' sanitiser ingredients..see the story below. Palmerston North. Today, we focus on what has been happening recently at the Palmerston North Bridge Club and in particular, a huge effort from one of its members. Palmerston North... read more here

Alister in Paradise. Above is the scene to which those of us who attended a recent Zoom meeting with NZ Bridge Secretary, Alister Stuck, were treated. While we sat in the confines of our homes, Alister was calling us from somewhere much more... read more here

“Fair” Support. You open 1H and partner raises you to 2H, three card support. You have a decent hand, enough for game and bid there directly. Your trump suit is but a little shabby..K8752. Plenty of winners outside, though. Oh, you... read more here

                                   “GRAND” DEFENCE. If only. If... read more here

A Valid Reason. Deciding what to lead at trick 1 can be a nightmare. Even when you have such an obvious lead, you can see immediately dummy appears that you have done wrong. In recent memory (only yesterday!), after a 1NT-3NT short and sharp... read more here

ALL ROADS TO THE SAME DESTINATION: TAKE CARE WHEN YOU’RE THERE! The first part of this heading should probably be less definitive. “All roads” should lead “to the same destination”. For the vast majority who held the... read more here

Who is the Boss? Bidding is all about the exchange of information. A very wise statement, perhaps, except I am going to change one word in that sentence, replacing “all” with “often”. There are times when all you need to... read more here

With so many now using BBO, some are wanting tips or to learn more about what BBO can do.  Attached is an indexed set of instructions that we hope will help.  In this document, if you click on the page number for the topic you want to... read more here

A TIME FOR CHANGE. The Way THEY Play. So often when you win the lead part way through a no-trump contract, the simple approach of returning the suit partner led at trick 1 is the right thing to do. They led that suit for a purpose and so often,... read more here

The Fabulous, Fantastic, Functional Four-Letter Word. It is lovely when the perfect gadget which you keep at the bottom of your “bridge bag” suddenly appears…something you and partner discussed ages ago but rarely use. You have... read more here

One Deal:  Two Clever Plays. Let’s start off today where we left off yesterday. We were talking about the problems of under-leading aces, even if in yesterday’s hand, success only came if you did so! (We will wait for you while... read more here

Never…well Maybe…No, Must! “Never ever ever” you are told as you first learn the game about under-leading aces against suit contracts. Eventually, the message sinks in. Occasionally, you have an outstanding success where... read more here

5-4-3-(2)-1 I knew of the song with this title but not very well and discovered a very pleasant song when I just listened to it on You Tube (if you are wanting to be cheered up, please do not listen to the words, though…trust me!). The... read more here

Because lessons cannot be run face to face at the moment, we have converted all lesson hands into LIN files so they can be loaded into BBO. We suggest you either practice these hands between friends or better still get a senior... read more here

                                Confusion Reigns. When 11 out of 14 pairs make a major suit... read more here

The Disappearing Diamond Loser. One of the most normal things you do when, as declarer, you see dummy is to look at your own hand, and in a suit contract, to see how many losers there are and to see which ones you can eliminate. Indeed, all the... read more here