All News

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

The Truth, The Truth …nothing but the Truth! There are those who have been playing this game, bridge, for some 50 years (well, that could be me! I must have learnt when I was very young….well young!) who can be heard saying:... read more here

Jenny Pomeroy.   As it is 1st April, I thought I would have a bit of fun……..   "I bring you News from Top of the South but it is a little scant and thin. As for the good of all New Zealand we’ve been forced to... read more here

TWO WAYS TO SUCCESS (Morton’s Fork). A Tale of Jan and John. John Morton was made both Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor (as well as a Cardinal) in the reign of the English monarch, Henry V11, in the late 15th century. He... read more here

NO PERFECT BID. Yes, it can happen quite often. It happened in this feature only a few days ago. We found, then, that bidding was better than passing. Is that going to be the case with today’s problem?      ... read more here

Counting to 10. We all know that playing Pairs is so much about making overtricks or sometimes conceding less undertricks than the rest of the field. Certainly, you score very few match-points for your perfectly correct contract of 5 when there... read more here

Life’s an Illusion… You have, I am sure, been in the situation where you know that one’s opponents are about to get a ruff. So many otherwise excellent contracts fail because one’s opponents score one or more ruffs.... read more here

A “Double” Whammy. Well, nearly. It was not quite catastrophic to produce the red card as an answer to both our problems from yesterday…at least not just yet and as long as one has a thinking partner, then you could be saved... read more here

Hero or Villain? Why when defending no-trumps does partner always seem to lead a suit in which you have a small singleton or doubleton? Actually, that is just not true. You may only remember the bad leads. Sometimes, they actually make a good... read more here

DIARY OF A DISASTER. If you could always refer to your bridge textbook and find the exact answer to a problem, then bridge in general, bidding in particular, would not be nearly so exciting and interesting. The fact that so many hands do not fit... read more here

Thanks to Aucklanders, Patrick Carter and Sylvester Riddell, there is at least one opportunity per day to play in a shortish 12 board Pairs session involving New Zealand players. You must have a partner with a BBO log-in. BASIC DIRECTIONS Log... read more here