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Success without Finesse! 50% they work and 50% they fail. “Really” many query? “Mine always seem to fail!”. In case yours do always fail, especially when you really want them to work, how about trying to avoid taking a... read more here

Tales of Disruption Surely there should be a rule about the number of times you can disrupt the opponents’ bidding?! That’s what you would wish for if you were the side who had reached a sensible game contract. Not so if you were the... read more here

     If you are registering for the full National Congress registration  or  the package rates for New Zealand Pairs, New Zealand Restricted Pairs or New Zealand Teams, then      pay by 31st August... read more here

Lesley Quilty and Sonia Crawford. Nice to see the days getting longer and the grass getting longer as spring beckons (well good for the farmer and maybe not so flash for the weekend lawn mowers). A whip around the clubs' websites indicates that... read more here

Helping Partner: The Doubleton Lead in No Trumps! What? Had you forgotten that it is no trumps and not a suit contract? “Certainly not” as the defender found a lead to test the declarer on the following board. What would be your... read more here

And They Just Love the Bridge They came from Auckland, from Oamaru, from the Wairarapa and Wellington, from the Central North Island, from Dunedin, the Waikato and from Canterbury, 38 in total to this year’s Youth Bridge Weekend which was... read more here

DISPOSING OF LOSERS….URGENTLY! When in a trump contract, you would like to be able to draw the opposition’s trumps quickly. We should know there are situations where declarer has to ruff cards in dummy first or where two losers need... read more here

A victory for New Zealand at the 17th World Youth Championships in China.  Brad (Johnston) from Otago Bridge Club played a part in winning the BAM - Board a Match Transnational event. This is for players whose teams do not make the... read more here

Day 6  No Happy Ending In the sense that New Zealand did record one win on the last day, the above statement was not true. It was their 4th win in 21 matches, most of which had been significant losses. Opponent Imp Score... read more here

Day 5. It’s Tough Downstairs. Although a glitch in the event website seemed to have dramatically incorrectly increased New Zealand’s score, along with that of every other country, Day 5 seemed to be a replica of Day 1, with four big... read more here

The NZB Secretary, Alister Stuck, achieved a great milestone on the weekend, reaching the giddy heights of Gold Grand Master.  Well done Alister and it looks like you celebrated in style with a ginger beer !     read more here

DAY 4 - ONE GREAT COMEBACK This day featured one great Kiwi comeback, nearly 100 imps shared with the host Chinese and then a bit of a reality check from the table-topping Americans. Hang in for the ride! Opponents Imp Score NZ... read more here

Day 3 Another tough day at the office. The third day of the event proved as hard for the young Kiwis as the previous two, with only the last match of the day against the country below the Kiwis providing some relief:   Opposition... read more here

Day 2 A LESSON TO BE LEARNT It was not a golden day but in at least two of the three matches, our Bridge Jacks showed an improvement and were finally rewarded with their first win, against opposition who had been doing extremely well:... read more here

Day 1. WHEN IT’S NOT YOUR DAY…… Our Bridge Jacks started on Day 1 of the qualifying Round Robin with the same hope as the other 21 competing countries in the Juniors section of the World Youth Teams Championship…21 x... read more here

Hearts A’ Flutter. Three successive boards, all with a similar theme, that of doubling heart contracts. Are your nerves up to it because in two cases, there will be no bloodbath! Let’s start with a bidding problem, or maybe it is... read more here

The 2018 North Island Pairs “The Come-Back Kids”. Every good event has a good story to go with it. This year’s North Island Pairs had two, both involving the winners. So, there you are in Hastings contemplating how you will... read more here

The 17th World Youth Bridge Championships in Wujiang, China start on Wednesday. The Bridge Jacks team of Nik Mitchell, Brad Johnston from Otago and Zachary Yan and Vincent He from Auckland are representing New Zealand in the Junior Teams. Meet Nik... read more here

                             If at first you do not succeed, try try again. But where? Which suit?... read more here

“ Game Forcing” Bids? Two pieces of interesting hand evaluation thrust  partnerships up into the slam zone..but would they drive on to too high a level? Let’s see: The first board offered both partners a chance to value... read more here

The Singleton That Isn’t… …or not where the defender thinks it is. It is a common plan when in a suit contract to win the opening lead and play immediately a singleton towards dummy’s  king or king, queen in a suit... read more here

If you were around Auckland during the last week, you could really have thrown aside the belief that Bridge is for the older folk in our society. Let’s see what has been happening. Auckland Grammar School where bridge is played two... read more here

                      Camouflage. If you make it plainly obvious how you are going to play a contract, then the chances are that the... read more here

New Zealand has a team in the up-coming World Youth Championships which will be held in the Chinese city of Wujiang, just north of Shanghai from Wednesday 8th until Saturday 16th August. Follow the progress of this team with daily reports on this... read more here

Damned if you do: Damned if you don’t. It’s that old problem: leading to 3NT when you and your partner have a bid a suit. Do you lead your suit or do you not? It’s time for you to decide. Here are two lead problems:... read more here

A Tournament with a great welcome - Akaroa Scnic Bridge Tournament, May 5th.   A bridge tournament in the South Island  with a powhiri is rather unusual! Thanks to Darryl Dowthwaite for reporting on this tournament: “Every... read more here