All News

DIAGNOSIS OF A DISASTER The opposition reached a very poor 3NT contract, with insufficient high card points and no real long suit to run….at least not without a loser or two first. They got a little lucky with the break and position of... read more here

 A Bidders’ World. Would you?  Should you?  There’s not any money at stake but you are playing Rubber Bridge and you are winning the match. The opponents are vulnerable and stand to claw back your advantage if they make... read more here

The Finesse That Cannot Fail. Everyone is taught the art of finessing at a very early stage of their bridge career. Playing a small card towards AQ gives you a 50% chance of success, even if you feel that more than half of your finesses do fail!... read more here

Hope Springs Eternal The emotions one can through during the 7 or so minutes you play a hand of bridge can be quite contrasting. You can start off with dreams of gold, a nicely shapely hand with an almost solid suit…and just for once, your... read more here

They Do Not Come Very Often…. Especially when your partner opens a strong 1NT! So, enjoy the minute or two bidding such a hand and hopefully you can have a sensible auction to the right spot. One such hand occurred last weekend in the... read more here

July 2017: Heather and Chris Jared It is a great pleasure having joint nominations this month with the award going to husband and wife, Heather and Chris Jared. They have been long-time supporters of the Hutt Bridge Club in particular and of... read more here

THE IMPORTANCE OF…..or Replacing the Guess You can manage without it but without it, it becomes guesswork. You can try and guess what is happening with a deal, what the declarer wants you to do and therefore do the opposite. You can... read more here

Getting Rid of Your Losers The teacher said when you are in a trump contract, it is usually best to draw the opposition’s trumps. Normally, hopefully, your side has more than they do and you can stop their trumps being a threat. The... read more here

EXPERT CARD COUNTING Brilliancies come in different ways. We will show you an innovative way of finding winning bridge. You must have seen examples of brilliant card play and defence in past bridge articles, of how declarers worked out the... read more here

PREEMPTING A PRE-EMPT.....The Eighth Deadly Sin. Do you? Should you? What are the dangers? Can your partnership pull up short of disaster? These are some of the questions generated by Board 23 this week. Look at the West hand and decide if you... read more here

Guiding Partner Good defence can be thoughtful defence. You know what needs to be done but partner may not be on the same wave-length. If you can, guide them. Look at the very simple error which occurred in the defence to this part-score.... read more here

DOWN A BEER OR DOWN THE CONTRACT? Which is more important to a bridge player? Maybe if you are 25 or under..or a year or 20 over, then the answer is obvious. The chance of a free drink would certainly come at the expense of beating a part-score.... read more here

“Don’t Send a Boy on a Man’s Job” The “boy’s” name was Jack.  He was sacrificed, was sent out too early. His loss caused a break-down of the whole operation (contract) resulting in failure. Cause of... read more here

PARTNER’S ALWAYS RIGHT….EVEN WHEN THEY ARE…… That’s right! Partner knows best. You lay down the rules and partner agrees with you. All fine in theory. Let’s tune in to two sides of the bridge table,... read more here

HUGE SCORE BY MACLEANS PAIR IN SCHOOL PAIRS COMPETITION Sunday 18th June saw 22 students from Macleans College and Auckland Grammar School take part in a one session Pairs competition at the Auckland Bridge Club. The speed was, shall we say,... read more here

COUNT TO SUCCESS It’s not easy and there are some deals where you either have to make assumptions in order to try and count a defender’s hand…i.e. working out where missing honour cards are more likely to be. Sometimes, when... read more here

“What a Pass” Take a step forward, Stanley Abrahams. In case you do not know, he is a fine intuitive Auckland bridge player. Played for New Zealand, too. So, pardon the expression, “no mug”. Lover of the Multi 2 too,... read more here

        FITS LIKE A GLOVE We are programmed, have it drummed into us to beware of misfits, that high-card points are not everything and to be cautious in our approach to bidding. Over-cautious would be my impression... read more here

Two Contrasting Test Matches While the Zone 6 countries fought for the Zone’s places at the Bermuda Bowl/ Venice Cup, both New Zealand teams played 64 board test matches against Australia. The first 12 boards saw the Australian Ladies win... read more here

Spotting the difference? 55 boards played…one to go. A nice quick board to finish the day, a quick score-up. The bar beckons. A nice solid 8 card suit . They open 2, meaning, strangely, diamonds…..and you still remember to use the... read more here

DISAPPOINTMENT ALL ROUND At the start of the final day of the double-robin event, the New Zealand Open Team was in third place. Good performances in their three matches against the other top teams and anything was possible. They started against... read more here

HELP FROM ACROSS THE TASMAN The New Zealand Open team started in great style with a 32-4 (16.72) win over Australia. With China recording a smaller win over Indonesia, New Zealand regained the overall lead by a massive 0.37vp! It was a steady... read more here

A NEW NAME TO CHASE The day started with the New Zealand Open Team chasing Japan who had come off a huge day to take the lead. A lot can happen in 24 hours or 4 matches. First up for New Zealand was Thailand with a bucketful of imps changing... read more here

JAPAN SETS THE PACE IN ROUND ROBIN 2 In the second Round Robin, the leading teams start off by playing those at the bottom. So, there is the likelihood of some big scores. The New Zealand Open Team got to play the bottom team of all…but... read more here

A JOB WELL DONE…SO FAR The New Zealand Open team had only two matches today as they finished the first round-robin with a bye. It was to be a day of mixed fortunes, too, with a loss, a good win and then a wait to see if they would end the... read more here