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 The Guide. As a defender, it seems you are always struggling to do the right thing. Of course, you tend to forget the countless normal and successful defences you find, let alone the seemingly rare occasion when you does something really... read more here

GOOD IMAGINATION. Today and tomorrow, we will look at two boards from the recent Inter-Provincials where the defence could either get it right…or not! Do you want a plus score or a minus score? So, let’s pose you the problem for... read more here

Clean Sweep for the North Island. It was North Island all the way in this year’s Inter-Provincial Championships with each of the four North Island Regions taking out one title and Auckland-Northland the all-important Dougal McLean trophy... read more here

Central Districts Early Leaders. Central Districts are the early leaders in the chase for the Dougal Mclean Trophy at this year’s Inter-Provincial Championships. After 5 of the 7 rounds in the first round-robin (each team has one bye), they... read more here

Which Major First? Some slams are a straightforward make while others provide options with the declarer hoping to take the route with the most chance of success, in bridge terms, the best percentage line. The following slam certainly fell into... read more here

High Stakes from the Start. I have a little confession to make, to the Panel. When today’s deal occurred, it was in the Pairs’ environment where if one makes the wrong decision, it is only a maximum of around 4%. 16 or 17 imps in the... read more here

How Strong’s Your Weak No-Trump? Yes, that’s all your hand is….and a minimum point-count 12 hcp at that. Yet, it is starting to look a little better….but how much better? Good enough to advance the bidding freely to the... read more here

The Achilles Heel. One advantage of keeping a strong hand hidden as declarer is that the defence are less able to know for sure which honours declarer has or may not have. One would think that when the “monster” hand is exposed as... read more here

                              Don’t Go Chasing Rainbows. We all like to look for any way... read more here

A Dangerous action?                              Sound or... read more here

Winners and Losers Today’s deal is about winners, about keeping them and not discarding them, about saluting them, the team above who won the National Open Teams in Auckland last weekend in some style and who got our deal today just right.... read more here

A Baker’s Dozen. It is not very often that your side holds all 13 cards in one suit. It is even rarer that you know from the start of the bidding that this is the situation…and you are the only one at the table who knows it! How do... read more here