Bridge in Oz

This one is embarrassing. From yesterday's club game... K1052,J82,AK4,J85 8,AQ63,1032,KQ962 A964,K9754,986,3 QJ73,10,QJ75,A1074 The deal is rotated to put me on the bottom. I was declarer in 4♠ after partner opened a bit light with 1♣. The opening lead was the ♣K. I won the ♣A and led a spade to dum...

With all 13 hearts it would be amusing to win the first trick with the 2 and then table the 3.

Updated 2023-05-07 This is an interesting convention that has some clear advantages and is similar to transfers after a 1NT opening. I've seen descriptions of a few variations but nothing "authoritative". Here I'll describe one that is simple and can be tacked on to your existing methods ...

At today's club game my partner Pauly picked up the best hand I've ever seen! AKQJ8532,AK2,A,A Two passes to you, what's your plan? Pauly just opened 6NT for 86% of the matchpoints, as most were in spades. My suggestion in the post-mortem was to open 2♣ and rebid hearts! With any luck partner will r...

My partner and I bid this poorly in a recent club game. Matchpoints, red vs. white. AK985,Q862,74,QJ 1♠ 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 5 ♦ ** Pass Q,J75,AKQ9862,A5 2 ♦ 3♣ * 4NT 6 ♦ * Fourth suit, artificial game force ** 1 or 4 key cards This is a terrible contract. What do you think was the worst bid? How would you and y...

This is from Saturday's Coffs Harbour club game. Matchpoints, opponents vulnerable, partner opens 1♠ in second seat, RHO passes and you hold: K98,AK73,K3,KQJ2 The first thing you might notice is that if partner has three Aces and the Queen of spades, you can probably take 13 tricks. Missing one of t...

Results from the 2022 Australia Wide Pairs have been released and may be found on the Australian Bridge Magazine web site. Colin Tolley and Barbara Herring distinguished the Coffs Harbour club by placing 9th nationwide. Here's board 29. North deals, all vulnerable. AK1054,AK42,75,A9 J,1083,KQ,QJ8765...

In the spirit of preparing a rebid, the commonly recommended answer with the first hand is to open 1 ♦ and rebid 2♣. You might instead rebid 1NT if partner responds in your singleton major. I don't recall discussions of hands like the second one but I'd call 1 ♥ . 1♠ is a trap because you don't have...

This deal from a session with the robots. IMPs, white vs. red. 4,Q42,KQ109,KQ982 What do you open? And if partner's response is 1 ♥ or 1♠ what's your rebid? And then, suppose your partner opens 1 ♦ . What's your response with: J10985,AK98,86,54 And after that, if partner rebids 2♣ what do you do?

This is from a recent club game. Playing matchpoints, white vs. red, you pick up: AQJ63,AQ6,10,9632 Partner opens 1♣, you respond 1♠, partner rebids 2♣. Playing splinter bids you might try 4 ♦ . This seems reasonable but gives up on the spade suit; remember it's matchpoints. Furthermore Blackwood do...