All News

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

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