Bridge in Oz

This is another deal from a recent club game. Vulnerable vs. not you pick up: AQ8,AK6,AK4,AJ43 Not bad! However LHO opens the bidding with 1♣, partner passes and RHO bids 1 ♥ . What to do? The first thing to do is count your points. 25! That leaves 15 for the other three hands and it looks like the ...

Have you ever seen declarer complimenting partner on a nice dummy that they just put down, and partner beaming with pride as if it were a flower bouquet personally arranged? Coffs Harbour is a lovely beachside town of 80,000 and the players at the club are gracious like that. As anywhere they can so...

At yesterday's club game this deal came up. Matchpoints, EW vulnerable. 103,AKQ743,942,95 J7,2,KQ10,AQJ8764 Q9642,1098,A5,K103 AK85,J65,J8763,2 I'm a big fan of The Rule of 2, 3 and 4 . As North in first seat, white vs. red, I counted my tricks. Six. 6 + 4 = 10. Applying this simple math and The Rul...

Here's another cute problem. Match 7, board 2, at favorable vulnerability I opened 4♠ with: KJ109743,3,643,A4 I like the rule of 2, 3 and 4 for preempts. That means at favorable you want to be within 4 tricks of the contract; at equal 3, and at unfavorable 2. My LHO thought for quite a while about w...

Match 7, Board 10, I picked up this monster. AQ105,--,AKQJ6,AQ108 The problem with opening 2♣ on such a hand is that you'll start naming your suits at the level of 3 ♦ , and you'll still have two suits left to show. Would you open 2♣ anyway? I chose 1 ♦ , which looked like a very bad choice after th...

The Grosvenor Gambit is a "psychological play, in which the opponent is purposely given the chance to gain one or more tricks, and often even to make the contract, but to do so he must play for his opponents to have acted illogically or incorrectly." One pair, perhaps unintentionally, perp...

This one is from the Swiss Teams event of the 2024 Port Macquarie-Hastings March Congress in Australia. Match 6, board 19. We were vulnerable against not and I held this interesting hand as East: 864,AKQ109432,53,-- The bidding proceeded: South West North East Pass 1♣ Pass 1 ♦ * 1♠ 2 ♦ 3♠ ? As we ar...

My solitaire bridge app dealt this one today. You are South declaring 6NT after an auction best not discussed. North J42,J83,KQJ54,J7 South AK10975,AK,A,AK108 West leads the ♥ 4 and East follows with the 2. What is your plan? The ♠A fetches the 8 from West and the 3 from East. Do you see that you ca...

I recently learned there is also a nice article about this from 2015 on the Bridge Winners site. Curiously it has the same title as the one above.

Here's a deal from playing with the robots today. I like this auction. J1073,AJ98,AK2,A2 1NT 2 ♥ 3NT 4NT 6 ♥ A4,KQ74,Q104,K1087 2♣ 3♣ 4 ♥ 5♠ Pass The key bid was 3♣ which is natural with slam interest, and then 4 ♥ confirmed heart support. My robot partner, holding a maximum, was then smart enough t...