All News

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

Together….and Apart. Discarding is a very important and dangerous area of our game. One wrong discard can be very expensive for the defence. It is important for defenders to try to give each other as much information as they can to help... read more here

Advantage Number 11. Do you remember when we listed Giles Hancock’s 10 advantages of BBO? Well, you should as it was only yesterday! That list was though incomplete. There is an 11th one. …which brings us back to the questions you... read more here

WELLINGTON. Our report today comes courtesy of the club's most efficient and hard-working manager, Bridget Hannaway-Willcox. "Well I have been flat out at home. Wellington Club is assisting players with accessing online play, a big thanks to... read more here

The Lighter Side of Bridge. Wishing..and hoping. There are times when you hope your partner does not put down too good a dummy, like when you have stopped short of slam. Please, please show me a couple of quick losers to justify my... read more here

Signalling to Success. Playing Teams, scoring +300 even +500 when most of the room achieves +650 is not that good a score. Should you accept +500 or risk only 300 in search of +800? That’s accepting a loss of 4 imps or try for a 4-imp gain... read more here

Trying to have your Cake…and Eat it too! It is difficult for newish players to grasp the concept of re-opening doubles, an important part of playing negative rather than penalty doubles when an opponent overcalls. It is generally accepted... read more here