All News

  The High Wire: it’s dangerous! One slip spells disaster! The on-line Fullarton Teams over the last weekend saw a narrow victory for the team of Jan Alabaster- Pam Livingston and Jenna and Christine Gibbons, a nice boost for them... read more here

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players...and others! It's Fri Day.  Beware the pitfalls! Today’s deal has a little bit about bidding and a piece more about playing a board which is not quite straightforward. We will come back to... read more here

 LAST! Last but not Least. Bidding would be somewhat easier if the Dealer was always the player with the strongest hand. You could open 2C or the like and the bidding would proceed from there. That, of course, is not the situation..and nor... read more here

how high? A Try for Game…or for Slam? It can be hard at times to distinguish between competitive and slam try bidding. This is especially true when the opposition make a semi-constructive bid themselves. What would your choice be on the... read more here

You are not down until you are….down! Today’s deal features an attribute I admire in any sportsperson, whether they be chasing a ball or trying to make an impossible bridge contract. Never give up. You may have zero chance but until... read more here

A Tough Day of Pairs. That would sum up the first three rounds of the European Youth Pairs played in Veldhoven yesterday by the Kiwi pairs. There are 6 rounds of qualifying spread over 2 days with the first 3 x 15 board sets played yesterday.... read more here

Welcome  to coverage of the New Zealand Under 21 team which is about to take part in the World Youth Championships at Veldhoven in the Netherlands. The Teams event starts next Monday local time. Before that, there are two events for the Kiwis... read more here

in Major Danger. There is danger around the bidding of today’s feature hand. Before we discuss the dangers and what is the best path to overcome them, take a look at the following sequence.      ... read more here

Trumps are Tricks: aces too! When you aim to make lots of tricks, like in the slam zone, you do not necessarily need that many high card points. Aces, or voids, are very important and you can do extremely well with great length in one suit. Take... read more here

Semi- Final Spingold appearance for Michael Whibley. Michael Whibley has been making a name for himself on the international bridge scene in recent years both playing for New Zealand and also individually. He further enhanced his and his... read more here

for Junior, Intermediate and Novice players..and others. It's Friday. What a shame. Great bidding to a slightly aggressive but very reasonable contract…and yet our North-South pair recorded a minus score all because the declarer... read more here

Troubles at Five. Maybe today’s deal illustrates the value of bridge insurance and the difficulties, vagaries of 5-level competition. You have a very insignificant hand and yet you are being asked to make one, maybe two, big decisions. The... read more here

Not our holding, today! Spot the Stop? Sometimes, you pick up your bridge hand and see card after card in one suit…7 card, 8 card maybe even more. Then, there are times when it is difficult to see whether you have any 4-card suit, let... read more here

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