Bridge in Oz

A tragedy is serious stuff, often concerning death, and bridge is just a game. Maybe this deal would be a light-hearted tragedy if such a thing existed! Also posted to Bridge Winners. IMPs, nobody vulnerable. Screenshot from 2023-11-28 12-12-11.png East led the ♥ Q, won in dummy. A trump to the Quee...

It's another Monday club game and you pick up this hand: AK6,AQJ10872,AK8,-- Not bad, you may be thinking. But then partner opens 3NT! Obviously this is not the old-fashioned 3NT that shows 25 HCP. The most common treatment today is that it's a 7-card minor headed by AKQ with no outside ace or king....

As discussed on the Bridge Winners site, partner and I recently had this deal come up: deal.png North would like to ask for key cards, however 4NT may get the auction too high. What to do? Kickback is popular among advanced players but requires careful study and discussion to avoid misunderstandings...

Here's another one where a notrump-style auction made the strong hand declarer with a good outcome. Board 10, both vulnerable, East deals. Screenshot from 2023-09-02 14-29-05.png East Doug West Rod Pass Pass Pass 2♣ Pass 2 ♦ Pass 2NT Pass 3 ♥ Pass 3♠ Pass 3NT Pass 4♠ All Pass North's sequence showed...

Doug and I played in this on Monday and did pretty well. Results are not final as of this writing but it appears we'll be in the top 2% nationwide. The following deal demonstrates my penchant for 1NT openings that are a bit off-shape and how that sometimes works out well. Doug is not a fan of this b...

From yesterday's club game. Matchpoints, board 3, South deals, EW vulnerable. 9,K62,AK106,J9654 J105,AQJ75,J532,8 AK876432,10,Q8,A7 Q,9843,974,KQ1032 I was looking at the North hand after two passes. There are two schools of thought about opening with 4-5 minors; one says open diamonds to prepare a ...

This hand came up in a recent club game. West A93,KQ6,8652,1076 Pass 2S 4S East K7654,J,AJ3,AQ53 1S 3C Pass This game had no chance on the diamond lead, though it seemed reasonable for West to accept with 9 points. The problem is that the side suits did not fit well. If you switch West's heart honor...

An interesting bidding problem was posed on the Bridge Winners site where you have: J5,7,KQ964,QJ1082 and your LHO has opened 1♠, partner overcalled 2 ♥ , pass pass to LHO who bid 2♠, back to you. Now what does a 2NT call mean? Natural or minors? Bridge World Standard says: Forcing vs. nonforcing: W...

Here's another deal from the recent Nambucca Swiss Pairs Congress. Match 1, Board 13, all vulnerable, North deals. Q432,72,A42,Q874 K85,Q1043,1098,1092 AJ76,AK9865,J,63 109,J,KQ7653,AKJ5 The auction proceeds: North East South West Pass 1 ♥ 2 ♦ 2 ♥ 3 ♦ 3 ♥ ? What would you do as South? You have a pre...

This is from the recent two-day Swiss Pairs Congress at the Nambucca Valley Bridge Club. I played with Pauly Griffin. Match 5, board 1, nobody vulnerable. Due to a bidding misunderstanding with our unusual methods I am declaring 3NT with these cards: Dummy AJ8,KQ108,K973,KQ You 97,A7653,A65,987 The ...