3NT – Everyone’s Favourite Contract
Players at all levels know the advantages of bidding and making 3NT. A priori this is the most desirable and accessible game. System designers devise ways to get the users to 3NT with a reasonable...
View ArticleBridge at My Club
Bridge blogs are full of complaints. I am here to complain about the complainers who deride the game as played at the local club. They express grievances at a director’s poor decision regarding...
View ArticleThe Least Lie
During my first year of duplicate I opened 1♣ on a hand containing ♣AQ doubleton and ♦xxx. When the hand was over I was castigated by my LHO for not opening 1♦. It appeared he had given up an overtrick...
View ArticleReal Matchpoints
Play bad bridge and you lose – Robert Hamman It is in human nature that conservatism increases in proportion to uncertainty. After World War II and The Great Depression, anxious parents filled piggy...
View ArticleAh, Sweet Mystery of Bridge
I remember as a boy listening on the radio to Jeannette MacDonald singing “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life’. It was most embarrassing for a youngster to hear a middle-aged woman proclaim to the world at the...
View ArticleAgainst the Field
Against the Field What distinguishes matchpoint from Teams is the amount of consideration one gives to what others are doing with the same cards. At matchpoint scoring emphasis is placed upon reaching...
View ArticleCountering Ambiguity
I understand that early in World War II the Home Guard went about changing road signs in Southern England in the hope of confusing the Germans should they invade. It strikes me as a peculiarly English...
View ArticleGoing to a Better Place
Nothing personal, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel right to let partner play in 1NT. Most responders with a flat hand and less than 8 HCP will pass, and the more players who stay passive the more...
View ArticleOne No Trump Opposite 4441
If one is dealt a balanced hand with 16 scattered HCPs, and has just one bid to make, what would it be? 3NT! The single most likely situation is that the remaining HCPs are divided evenly about the...
View Article1435 Opposite 1NT
In a previous blog we employed the expected numbers of total trumps as a guide for competing with a weak 4441 hand opposite a strong NT opening bid. We noted that a second nonforcing bid by responder...
View ArticleStrong 1=4=3=5 opposite 1NT
In previous blogs we suggested modifying standard Stayman practices after a strong 1NT opening bid in order to allow for competing for part scores in a minor suit, a much neglected area. Note that the...
View ArticleThe Icarus File
The Greek legend of Icarus should remind players that it is dangerous to aim too high in a world characterized by uncertainty and doubt. At a recent club game a pair of visitors handed us a shared top...
View ArticleToo Many Bids, Mozart
Famously the Austrian Emperor Joseph II commented to Wolfgang Mozart that although he admired his lively opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio, he felt the work contained too many notes. Many bridge...
View ArticleWeak Two in First Seat
Recently we saw on BBO men and women competing for places at the world’s championship in Wroclaw. Male commentators, who tend to be judgemental when it comes to women’s bridge, place the likes of Karen...
View ArticleJekyll and Hyde Bridge
There are some lessons that need to be learned over and over again. Here is one of them. In 4th seat, nonvulnerable against vulnerable, I opened 1NT on ♠ AJ75 ♥ AT2 ♦ K84 ♣ QJ2, right in the middle of...
View ArticleA Brief Bridge Sermon
Here in Victoria, BC, every week men and women of many faiths and many races gather together in a church hall to play bridge in the spirit of fair and friendly competition under a policy of intolerance...
View ArticleThe Golden Rule at Matchpoints
Most play bridge for the fun it provides, and the most fun comes from the quick thrill of a lucky play. That’s a dangerous approach in the long run, so don’t say I didn’t warn you, but, hey, missed...
View ArticleSherlock Holmes Plays Bridge
In My Fair Lady Professor Henry Higgins asks his companion, Colonel Pickering, ‘why can’t a woman be more like a man?’ The colonel doesn’t come up with a clear answer. In the 21st century we are facing...
View ArticleSlams – An Endangered Species
Once upon a time slams were regarded as being within the exclusive domain of the expert. Accuracy in slam bidding was the hallmark of good pair. It was said that the team that got the slams right were...
View ArticleJames, Women, and Bridge
Our story takes us to London in 1968, a the time when Harold Wilson was pulling down the shutters on the British Empire having realized that the Gnomes of Zurich had got it right all along: it is...
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