All News

Passing Penalty Doubles, perhaps: Part 2. Yesterday, we gave you a situation where passing a penalty double by your partner in a competitive auction at the 4-level was not the best thing to do. We have got another situation today where it may or... read more here

Passing Penalty Doubles, perhaps: Part 1. How are you feeling as this slightly unusual auction developed? Everyone seems to have thrown away their “pass” cards! West DealsE-W Vul    ... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players… and others! It’s Matariki Day. Being a Real Nuisance! Sometimes you make a bid without real expectation of making your contract but in order to make life harder for your opponents. That... read more here

An Unusual Bid. You can play bridge for quite a long time and still come up with fresh bidding sequences which you and your partner have not discussed. What does partner mean by their bid and what should you bid? These are the 2 questions raised... read more here

A Touch of Discarding: touch or tough? It’s not the part of the game that most players enjoy. Declarer is in 3NT and has a long suit to run. They know it is a good idea to do that not just because they score tricks but also they might get... read more here

Diamonds are the Panel’s best friend. Are they yours? Well, no-one has mentioned them yet. Is now the hour to do so?             West DealsBoth Vul   N... read more here

is this how you feel? No Good Action. Good bidding problems produce a variety of answers because there surely is no one answer that satisfies all our concerns. Today’s falls into that category. It occurred at the Akarana club’s... read more here

It's Fri Day: for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players...and others. More Chance of Success. We would not put all our eggs in one basket if we do not have to. We know what happens when we drop the one basket: our contract fails. So, how are... read more here

Even World Grandmasters Nod. For a change, today’s article is a salute to this country’s first World Grand Master, Michael Cornell. It is written by Auckland’s Alan Taylor who for many years produced the daily Bulletins at our... read more here

With finesse: without finesse! After the excitement of two rather wild 6H contracts, we go for something a little more technical and a little…well, not much…lower as you are declarer in 6D! There has been no interference bidding... read more here

2 of these are missing! Where are they? 6 Hearts again! For the second day running, our contract is 6H with one hand holding H AQT to 6 hearts and once again, the opponents have done their hardest to disrupt the bidding by pre-empting to 5D. It... read more here

Mary Wood, fund-raiser extraordinaire. Hospice day at Howick Bridge Club. This is the story of an incredible fund-raising effort from one of our bridge clubs. Howick Bridge Club commenced having an annual charity event for the Totara Hospice... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others. It’s Fri Day. It’s Friday not Doomsday! It is though a day when the opposition attack your weakest suit. Why do they always seem to find the right lead when you are... read more here

or as close as we can! The Percentage Line. Today’s story involves percentages, well at least if you want to understand why it is correct to take a rather unusual action in declarer play. Even if you are not into percentages, it’s... read more here

Michael on his wedding day.    It is very sad to have to report the sudden passing of Michael Sykes earlier this week. For many years in the 1980’s and 1990’s, he was one of this country’s most prominent players and... read more here

A Lesson for both sides. Today’s deal might seem rather mundane and uninteresting and indeed would have been had most who held it followed our Panel’s advice. However, the statistics indicate that most of the 94 East players who held... read more here

Achieving Par. That’s what we aim to do with every deal: correct? I will answer that question. “Maybe.” Yesterday, we alluded to the fact that (very occasionally) the “master-suit” is the lowly club suit. Normally,... read more here

not today! The “Master- Suit”. Four of the nine New Zealand teams recorded victories in Round 5 of the Trans- Tasman Challenge, played last Friday night. However, at the top, Australian teams have started to gain a small lead at the... read more here

  NATIONAL CONGRESS 2023: CALLING INTERMEDIATE, JUNIOR AND NOVICE PLAYERS.   This a great opportunity for players of all ranks – including Novice. Freddy Wilkie was a nationally ranked Junior player in 2022 when he attended... read more here

It’s Fri day…for Junior, Intermediate, Novice players…and others! Bidding high and Playing safe. Today, we have a bidding and a play problem. Let’s begin at the beginning. What would you open with the hand below?... read more here

  Defending on your own: not always pleasant! Yes, you do have a partner across the table but in today’s hand you are very much on your own because your partner has to follow suit while you have to find four discards. Your partner is... read more here

A Problem 21-count. 21 high card points in your hand is usually something we look forward to having, a slam possibly, surely a game or maybe taking a penalty off your opponents who are making life as awkward for you as they can. Here, though,... read more here

  a view you might have seen were this tournament not on-line.  Aussies to the fore in the South Island Teams. The Picton Bridge Club hosted the on-line South Island Teams over 2 days this past weekend. It consisted of 8 rounds of 14... read more here

In playing in the New Zealand Zone 7 Open Team win over Australia in Hong Kong last Friday, Michael Cornell has become the first Kiwi, indeed the first player from Zone 7, to achieve the rank of World Grand Master. He gathered the last 0.5 points... read more here

Second is No Disgrace. Failing to win the APBF Open Championships may feel very disappointing for our Open Team, understandably, especially as victory was in their own hands. To have led the event for all but the last two rounds, early in the... read more here

Matches lost but not the lead. A run of 18 matches without defeat by our Open Team came to an end with a 2 imp loss to Indonesia yesterday morning, a match in which the Kiwis could not quite peg back enough 1 imp swings to catch up their... read more here

Four More Wins. Big, small, lead from the front, come from behind. It does not matter how they come but at the end of the day, the New Zealand Open Team finished each match with more imps and vps than their opponents. Still unbeaten, they drew... read more here

Day 4 in Hong Kong. In past years, New Zealand teams have done well in international events against the stronger teams but have struggled against teams that were near the bottom of the table. Not so the current Open Team who finished up Round... read more here

Still Unbeaten. That is the situation of the New Zealand Open Team after Day 3 in Singapore. It is a slightly strange statistic, but true, after what proved an extremely tough day for the Kiwis. Just look at their results: 1 New... read more here

A Second Day Unbeaten. That’s the story of the New Zealand Open Team at the APBF Championships in Hong Kong. They made steady progress, retained pole position and each match scored more vps than their opponents. These are their results on... read more here