All News

Blame! “You gave away the 10th trick. It must be your fault.” Does that sound familiar? Hopefully not but before such a statement is made, make sure you yourself are squeaky clean. Often, it is not that straightforward.... read more here

and care! Doubling the new…. and the less new ones, too! There is a debate going around parts of the Waikato Bays Region about whether one should be instructed not to double inexperienced pairs just out of classes for penalties, on the... read more here

A Happy Ending, of course, as it’s Fri  day! For Junior, Intermediates, Novices and others! You must have been in this position more than once: many times! What does partner’s bid mean? What shall I do? The longer you say... read more here

Balancing Thoughts. I thought today’s problem concerned the question of whether we should balance rather than how. The Panel raise an interesting approach to the art of balancing. Take a look. North DealsN-S Vul  ... read more here

Pairs’ isn’t Fair. This week I saw my football team equalise with a penalty in the last minute to finish 4-4 with league leaders, Manchester City. Neither team deserved to lose as both played good football. The same could be said of... read more here

Aussies to the fore. The final round in the 9 round Trans- Tasman Challenge, played on the night of Friday November 10th,  did not prove very successful for the New Zealand teams. Our 2 Open teams played the two Australian Open teams, both... read more here

Loveblock New Zealand Wide Pairs. A Franklin Win. Lynne Geursen and Grant Jarvis of the Franklin Bridge Club took line honours in last Friday night’s Loveblock New Zealand Wide Pairs which was contested at 51 clubs throughout the country.... read more here

RESULTS   Loveblock New Zealand Wide Pairs. Most heats are now scored and the results are showing on the Compass mate site…. See below link.  https://www.compassmate.bridge-centre.org/results/monthly  All ... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players..and others. It’s Fri day. The Battle of the Minors. Sometimes, not very often, the only suits which seem to matter are the minor suits. There are a couple of valuable lessons to learn from the... read more here

No One Way. When we get five different answers from our Panel as to what they would bid after a rather straightforward start to an auction, then we have a problem! So, let’s have a look.      ... read more here

Loveblock New Zealand Wide Pairs is here. This event is back and takes place on the evening of Friday November 10th at a club near you. There will be 54 heats ranging from Kerikeri in the north to Winton in the south. Many of the heats will... read more here

Michaels Achilles. Most players use some form of Michaels Cue Bids even if it is only jumping to 2NT to show length in both minor suits. It can be really handy to identify two suits in one bid. We like both suits to be of at least 5-cards long as... read more here

Paula Boughey and Duncan Badley Four suits bid. There are the mundane bridge deals, fought out between two sides in the part-score zone or maybe an uncontested part-score or game contract but then there are others where there is lots of... read more here

Setsuko Lichtnecker and Peer Bach. Favourites off the pace in the National Swiss Pairs. 12 by 9 board rounds of Swiss Pairs produced surprising but worthy winners in the National Swiss Pairs this last weekend at the Auckland Bridge Club. There... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others. It’s Fri day. What double means. One of the difficulties of the bid “double” is that it means different things at different times of an auction. When the... read more here

Wrong: for sure. Two defenders took the same route on the same deal, a route they knew could not benefit their side. There was another way which might not be so wrong as unlikely as it might seem. On this deal, both South declarers had played... read more here

Regional President, Mairi Fitzsimons at the prize-giving.  In memory of Zelda. The 10A Zelda Morris Central Districts Pairs was held on the 29th and 30th of October at the Havelock North Bridge Club. Club President, Graham Potter,... read more here

for partner. Reopening doubles? I am curious about reopening doubles. In olden days…well, a few years back…you reopened because you were short in the opponent’s suit and therefore had four cards in the other major. If you did... read more here

Where is she? The search for the queen. You have all the aces, all the kings, and a couple of significant queens. You even have the jack of a significant side-suit. You have a 9-card trump fit and drawing the missing trumps is not to be a... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players …and others. It’s Fri day. Choice! You might use that word colloquially when partner puts down a good dummy! Yet, it has another meaning. What is your next bid with the following hand?... read more here

On presentation of Life Membership to NZ Bridge at the 2018 National Congress with the then Mayor of Hamilton, Andrew King and NZ Bridge Chairman, Allan Morris. A tribute to a gentleman: Robin Young. As we stated last week, Robin Young passed... read more here

Celebration Time at Hamilton. Labour Weekend was celebration time at the Hamilton Bridge Club, albeit just a little late as the club turned 70 last year though celebrations had to be delayed until this year. As well as the usual three days of... read more here

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players..and others: it's Fri  day.  Even when it’s right, it’s wrong! When we start playing, we learn that a 2-level opening suit bid, other than 2, shows a 6-card suit and 6-10 high... read more here

The Dreaded Two-Way! The wrong way and you are down! That two-way finesse. There’s evidence for taking it either way and yet one way is wrong. The only good thing is you do not have to apologize in advance of going down. Save the... read more here

Les Gould...collecting a prize for a tournament success. Two well-known bridge players and personalities have passed in the last few weeks. They are Robin Young of the Marlborough Bridge Club, who was a Life Member of New Zealand Bridge and Les... read more here

An Imperfect Double. As with yesterday’s deal, today’s came from last Friday’s Trans- Tasman Challenge. There was an immediate “challenge” for many of the 18 West players.   Board 13North... read more here

Trans- Tasman – Round 8. Fast and Very Slow Arrival! The 8th Round of the Trans- Tasman took place last Friday night. With just one round left, these are the current leading positions. Round 7   Round 7 Round 8... read more here

It’s Fri-   Day ….for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others! Rule-breaking? It’s time to revisit one of the initial guidelines we learnt about responding to our partner’s 1-level opening suit... read more here

But start well, too! Start well: end well. Like our declarer when today’s board was played, you would not want to be recording a minus score, would you? Chances of success went from moderate to poor but you could still emerge with 9 tricks... read more here

Three Way: Three Wrong. It’s one of those familiar situations today. Do you bid on, double or pass…and it is one of those deals where there has been very little passing to date! Take a look:      ... read more here

Carefully does it. Sometimes, when you are in 3NT, 9 tricks stare at you in the face. On other occasions, you have to be a little careful…and then there are deals where they appear to stare at you but you must still be a little careful!... read more here

For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players….and many others! “Bread and Butter”. So, you think bridge bidding is all about making and defeating games and slams? This next piece may get you thinking again especially if you... read more here

Anthony Ker The Practice Finesse. Kathy and Anthony Ker had a fine Congress especially in the New Zealand Open Pairs where they finished runners-up. Today, we see Anthony at work though this occurred at the back end of the week.... read more here