Tales of Akarana
Tales of Akarana 2
19 Oct 2018
The Achievable and The Unachievable Here are two questions for you. We will pose a third later.You hold: T ... read more here
Tales of Akarana 010
28 Sep 2018
Normal Breaks do occur….. Normally! You do not believe the above statement, do you? You have seen it all..bid a grand slam with 10 trumps missing the queen and find Qxx behind the AK. You have played in countless excellent games with 4... read more here
Tales of Akarana 009
21 Sep 2018
THE FOOLISH FIVE? It’s OK. There will be no names except my own. I have to admit to being guilty..or am I just being wise after the event? What would you do? There’s not too much to this bidding sequence: ... read more here
Tales of Akarana 008
14 Sep 2018
Different Routes: Same Result. Party Spoilers! There were many different... read more here
Tales of Akarana 007
7 Sep 2018
“Innocent Bystanders”. Or were we? Everyone (well nearly everyone..or some people!) say they love Swiss Pairs. I might sometimes even agree with them, or some of them, or some of the time but there is one time when I and others are... read more here
Tales of Akarana 006
31 Aug 2018
Tales of Disruption Surely there should be a rule about the number of times you can disrupt the opponents’ bidding?! That’s what you would wish for if you were the side who had reached a sensible game contract. Not so if you were the... read more here
Tales of Akarana 005
24 Aug 2018
“GAME” FOR ALL Three makeable suit games and a great sacrifice in the fourth. Even 3NT was only one down! The board must be worth a look. A poser for you first. You are West: Board 8West DealsNone Vul ... read more here
Tales of Akarana 004
17 Aug 2018
SUITS MISHANDLED That’s all four of them. Spades should never have got a look-in. Hearts just cannot be trumps, for anyone. Diamonds were largely ignored while clubs proved too tough a suit to defend against accurately. These are the sad... read more here
Tales of Akarana
10 Aug 2018
Hearts A’ Flutter. Three successive boards, all with a similar theme, that of doubling heart contracts. Are your nerves up to it because in two cases, there will be no bloodbath! Let’s start with a bidding problem, or maybe it is... read more here
Tales of Akarana
3 Aug 2018
“ Game Forcing” Bids? Two pieces of interesting hand evaluation thrust partnerships up into the slam zone..but would they drive on to too high a level? Let’s see: The first board offered both partners a chance to value... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
27 Jul 2018
Camouflage. If you make it plainly obvious how you are going to play a contract, then the chances are that the... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
20 Jul 2018
“Badley” Done The title hardly literally reflects the theme of what follows because in this case, the defence can reflect on a job well done. The hero for the defence was, of course, Duncan Badley. So, let’s put you in... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
13 Jul 2018
"UNLUCKY" FOR SOME. That’s Board 13. It was there this evening to test one’s superstitions and liking or otherwise of safety plays! Safety plays are there when there is no apparent danger in taking one…so, you be the judge!... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
6 Jul 2018
AND THE MINIMUM PERCENTAGE IS? That’s for bidding games, especially vulnerable ones. How bad can they be for us to say we should be in part-score? There were 6 low point-count, lowish percentage games to be bid this week. Most were makeable... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
29 Jun 2018
DISASTER! So you think our top players always get it right? It’s nice to show how well they can play. Sometimes, though, it is just not their night. So, if you have a bad night at bridge, then what follows is here to cheer you up. It can... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
22 Jun 2018
PUSHING THE RULE TO THE LIMIT. You may have heard of it, “Hamman’s Rule” where if 3NT is a possibility from among your options, then you should give it a go. The boards at Akarana this week did little to doubt the wisdom of this... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
15 Jun 2018
IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO, DO NOTHING! How many boards when you are defending have you had no idea how you should be defending? If you are truthful, then the answer could be “quite often”! I would put two boards from this... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
8 Jun 2018
PLENTY OF FUN WITH POINTLESS HANDS. Welcome back to stories of a night’s bridge at the Akarana Bridge Club. After a gap of two months, it was nice to be back. It felt like a good practice for my first up-coming Rubber Bridge match in the... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
29 Mar 2018
a real hold FOUR VIEWS OF DUMMY So, what is a hold for no-trumps? You cannot always have AQJT in the suit the opposition bids. Sometimes with Kxx, you have to play the whole hand trying to keep one opponent off lead. Then, there are lesser holds... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
23 Mar 2018
Triers “Rewarded” 26-30 high card points between your two hands are an awkward number to handle. On some days, you want to be in a cold slam while on others, you are picking up the mess of how many under-tricks you need to concede.... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
16 Mar 2018
Making the best of a bad job Whatever happened to Hamman’s Rule? If 3NT is amongst your choice of makeable game contracts, then go for it….or words similar to that! It did not seem to be particularly true at Akarana this week. When... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
9 Mar 2018
Viva “The Law” Many pairs use cue-bids of the opponents’ suits to make serious game tries when our partner makes an overcall. This enables a jump raise, or in certain circumstances, even a simple raise to be of a pre-emptive... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
2 Mar 2018
Forcing and Invitational Bids 25 hcp between the two hands, a 4-4 spade fit, and not one of the 12 East-West pairs made it to the almost cold 4 game. Four will claim some dispensation as they reached and made 3NT, a contract which relied on the... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
23 Feb 2018
The Unchanging Commodity Bidding styles change over the years because some traditional approaches, whilst effective, occur so rarely that we find more frequent uses for such bids. A prime example is reserving one’s 2 level suit openings... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
16 Feb 2018
“Full Marks”. There are some jobs in Bridge which are very hard to pass on to anyone else. One such role is President of the Akarana Bridge Club. Ask Jonathan Westoby although after at least a decade in the job, he did escape. Ask... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
9 Feb 2018
SPADES A ‘ PLENTY After three weeks of Rubber Bridge, Akarana started its Teams and Swiss Pairs program with a lively night of Bridge this week. There were three interesting spade slams to be bid, only one of which stood a chance to be... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
26 Jan 2018
High Level Action at Rubber Week 2 of the three week... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
19 Jan 2018
“SWISS RUBBER” Welcome back to 2018. Akarana has welcomed the first month of the year with something a little different, a 3 night “Swiss Rubber” competition. Each night pairs play 2 x 14 board matches with Rubber Bridge... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
8 Dec 2017
“Passing” Time. I thought it would be nice to finish the Akarana year with the story of an exciting board, high level bidding, drama, a grand slam..the sort of story we all enjoy reading. Alas, no. We start this story a couple of... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
1 Dec 2017
Following in Michael’s Footsteps? Could they be? Zachary Yan and Vincent He are two students at Macleans College, the school in East Auckland which has had a keen group of Bridge players for around 6/7 years. Several are now members of the... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
24 Nov 2017
PRE-EMPTING PAIN and PLEASURES One can experience and inflict both types of feelings when pre-empts are around. … and there were a few. What, for instance, would you do when your partner, bless him, gets the ball rolling with 3NT, a solid... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
17 Nov 2017
When being “bad” is “good”. I learnt my lesson the hard way. Opening 4 of a minor with a four card spade on the side was a recipe for disaster…and it was disaster as we never found our way to the cold 4 spade... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
10 Nov 2017
THE MORE USEFUL CUE-BID “I’m your partner. Please do not pre-empt me”. Too late. Your partner is not listening. First in hand, not vulnerable. Off they go with the “stop” card. “3¨”. What pile of... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
3 Nov 2017
TOUGH TO BID…AND TO MAKE? That’s an obvious conclusion to draw from Board 12 at Akarana this week. Of the 11 tables in play, the correct contract was reached only five times and of those five, only two made their contract. Back in... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA by Mark Hangartner
27 Oct 2017
A Question of Judgement. Two newer players to Akarana, Kinga Hajmasi... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
20 Oct 2017
INSPIRED LEADERS Does that description fit you? Jacinda Ardern or Winston Peters, perhaps? Maybe they had other things on their minds last Wednesday evening. There were plenty of imps available on the following two boards….Will you... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
13 Oct 2017
“Currie(d) Ducks” So, about playing a board with David Dolbel? We all know David’s system is a little “eft field” but when it comes to being declarer, he is in the same uncertain melting pot as the rest of us. So,... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
21 Sep 2017
A TALE OF TWO “SHORT” KINGS Partner and I have a kind of agreement that we do not treat singleton aces or kings as singletons. They tend to lead partner astray as to the strength or otherwise of their own holding in the said suit. So,... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
15 Sep 2017
ANYONE FOR HEARTS? Trying to play boards in hearts this week at Akarana proved or could have proved a little difficult. From Board 1 through to 28 would see a multitude of failed contracts. On Board 1, East-West held:... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
8 Sep 2017
Passing…and Doubling. What is the highest number of high card points you have ever held when you passed your partner’s opening three-level pre-empt? Secondly, would you double the following 4 heart contract after the following... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
1 Sep 2017
Tales of the Absurd: Do you want to play in hearts? How else can one describe a couple of boards from this week’s play? No fancy squeezes or end-plays this time. It’s all in what we bid and how much…which usually means too... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
25 Aug 2017
Playing with Stanley…and like him! Well, that has to be a compliment. It certainly would be true on the following board from play at Akarana. The moral of what follows is: Never be fazed By the difficulty of the contract By a lack of... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
18 Aug 2017
Play Low, Low and Low Again With plenty of action from Lyon at present and a quiet night at Akarana, here is a little story involving some unusual happenings in the spade suit. The first was in the bidding. You are sitting there as West and... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
11 Aug 2017
SLAMS A’PLENTY There were good slams to be bid. There were bad slams which were both bid and missed. There were 50% slams where the missing king was well placed for the brave. There was even one lay-down slam in each direction, “lay... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
4 Aug 2017
The Glorious Dummy. Don’t you love it when you struggle your way through the play of a hand, in... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
28 Jul 2017
HEART ATTACK …and HEART BREAK! The evening was littered with long heart suits. The heart suit normally has to play second fiddle to the black spades but much of the action revolved around the red hearts. Spring Lin and Kevin Fan were... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
21 Jul 2017
ONCE MORE INTO BATTLE In English History, it could be “The Wars of The Roses” between Yorkshire and Lancashire. In cricket, it could be the battle for “The Ashes” between England and Australia. It could be Trans-Tasman... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
14 Jul 2017
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
TALES OF AKARANA
7 Jul 2017
UNIVERSAL CONTRACT THOUGH NOT RESULT Many argue that the bidding is by far the most important of the three parts of our game. Get that right and you will most of the time achieve a good result. Maybe it takes the exception to prove the rule but... read more here
TALES OF AKARANA
30 Jun 2017
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
