Improver articles
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
10 Dec 2018
Cast Aside Self Pity :Match their Good Defence! Why is it when you are in times of need (I know, your contracts always seem to be in a state of need…needing a favourable lead, needing a finesse or three to work, needing just a little slice... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 8
3 Dec 2018
A TIME FOR A TRUMP…. Lead, that is! What else could we be talking about?! When the opposition appear to have the minority of the high card points, one place they will try to score extra tricks is by ruffing, whether cross-ruffing (that is... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 7
28 Nov 2018
TOP DEFENCE, SCOTTY. Working as a partnership…signalling meaningfully where necessary….counting declarer’s hand. These are some aspects of top defence. This week’s hand is not necessarily one you will get right (you... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 5
19 Nov 2018
A MATTER OF COUNTING. Trumps, tricks, the number of hearts in one hand, the number of spades outstanding…the number of boards left in the session of bridge before you can get a drink! You are always counting something when you sit... read more here
Play and Defend...even Bid Better
14 Nov 2018
MICHAEL’S MISTIMED Here’s a little play problem for you. No catches…and no help from the defence, either. It’s quite a reasonable 28 hcp slam. West leads J which wins the first trick. West continues with 2.... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 4
6 Nov 2018
SIGNALS DO MATTER. They do not have to be complex. They are, though, very important. You cannot manage without getting some help from your partner. Take the following example: South DealsN-S Vul ♠ K J 10 8 2... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 3
29 Oct 2018
Right Opening…Right Play….Right Double. Look at the two wonderful hands below. If you had the choice of defending the opponent’s 6S contract, doubled, for one or two down (naturally, they are not vulnerable) or play in your... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 2
24 Oct 2018
ONE EXTRA CHANCE “All I wanted was an even trump break and I would have had a claim” exclaimed the declarer as another slam bit the dust. While that comment was true, the declarer did not give himself that one extra chance of making... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players 1
16 Oct 2018
The Ruff You Do Not Want! You have a singleton in your partner’s suit. You have a tenuous trump holding in the opponent’s suit, KJ2 with both A and Q in the hand where you do not want them. Yet, if partner gives you a ruff, that is,... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
25 Sep 2018
Keeping Partner “Sweet”. You lead partner’s suit and you wish you had not. You do not lead partner’s suit and wish you had! Do you know the feeling? Been there, done that, I am sure. Watch the following: ... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
17 Sep 2018
RUNNING OUT OF TRUMPS A play problem for you. You are South and become declarer in 4. You may criticise the bidding, with justification: more of that shortly. However, it is 4 you have to make and not 4 or even 3NT. West leads 4 to... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
10 Sep 2018
TOUGH DEFENCE. We could twist those above two words around and insert the word “is” because “Defence is tough.” Here’s a hand to prove the point though in many cases, we could expand on the phrase and say... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
4 Sep 2018
Success without Finesse! 50% they work and 50% they fail. “Really” many query? “Mine always seem to fail!”. In case yours do always fail, especially when you really want them to work, how about trying to avoid taking a... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
28 Aug 2018
Helping Partner: The Doubleton Lead in No Trumps! What? Had you forgotten that it is no trumps and not a suit contract? “Certainly not” as the defender found a lead to test the declarer on the following board. What would be your... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
21 Aug 2018
DISPOSING OF LOSERS….URGENTLY! When in a trump contract, you would like to be able to draw the opposition’s trumps quickly. We should know there are situations where declarer has to ruff cards in dummy first or where two losers need... read more here
Play and Defend Better: for improving players
6 Aug 2018
If at first you do not succeed, try try again. But where? Which suit?... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
31 Jul 2018
The Singleton That Isn’t… …or not where the defender thinks it is. It is a common plan when in a suit contract to win the opening lead and play immediately a singleton towards dummy’s king or king, queen in a suit... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
23 Jul 2018
Damned if you do: Damned if you don’t. It’s that old problem: leading to 3NT when you and your partner have a bid a suit. Do you lead your suit or do you not? It’s time for you to decide. Here are two lead problems:... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
16 Jul 2018
Which Club? Give a bridge player an opportunity to go wrong and the chances are they will accept it with open arms. So, if there is anything we can do to save one’s partner from themselves, then we should strive to do that. It’s a... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
10 Jul 2018
YOUR 12 TRICKS ARE? You have reached a reasonable but slightly pushy 6 spade contract and your bidding has telegraphed to your opponents that a trump lead is a good idea. So, that’s what you got…and now is the time to decide how you... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
3 Jul 2018
“CAN I HELP?” Another unmakeable contract makes! It’s only a part-score but it’s 5 imps to the opposition which they really should not have got…or it would have been a lot better had their contract failed.... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
25 Jun 2018
THE PRICE YOU PAY We like to bid when we get the opportunity though there are times when you do bid when you wish you had not. One such occasion is when you tell the declarer how to play a hand by the bid you have made. Watch the following:... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
19 Jun 2018
Go for Gold..but how? A touch of overbidding but you have ended in not too bad a contract…at least on their opening lead. You are in 3NT and there are only two suits wide open! So, let’s see how many tricks we can count.... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
11 Jun 2018
WELL BID….and WELL PLAYED? When you make the right decision in the bidding, you want to follow it up by playing the hand correctly. Hopefully, that means making your contract! So, plan the play in the following 3NT contract. While... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
7 Jun 2018
SHOULD YOU TRUST PARTNER? That’s right. We are talking about your partner. Bridge is all about creating a large level of trust between you and your partner. Are you going to “not lose the post mortem” and trust partner or is it... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
30 May 2018
GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO GO WRONG. A standard time for false-carding is as declarer when the first round of a suit is played and you fear a ruff if you follow meekly low. Name me a defender who has not at some time been fooled by the jettisoning of... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
22 May 2018
COMBATTING THE JACK We learn pretty early on that “third player plays high.” That means, simplistically, that when your partner leads a low(ish) card, you will play a high card to either win the trick or force an even higher card out... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
15 May 2018
Keeping The Extra Chance up your Sleeve. When you first see the sight of dummy and thank partner for the 13 cards they have produced which may or may not resemble their bidding, your next task is not to play a card from dummy but to plan the play... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
8 May 2018
TWO LEADS ONE THEME Opening leads are at times pretty subjective affairs. Rules can be laid down, proven and then on the particular problem you have can be proven not to work. With that depressing thought somewhere in the back of your mind, try... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
1 May 2018
Take advantage when the sun shines You should take great care in the way you play any board as a declarer, watching out ahead for the dangers, doing what you can to minimise them. Yet, there are times when a touch of optimism is required,... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
24 Apr 2018
GOT THEM..OR HAVE YOU? We love to bid and make nice slams. We love to make a difficult contract. We love to catch the opponents with a penalty double. All three statements seem true though the last has a proviso…that we beat the contract.... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
17 Apr 2018
giving a helping hand. Signalling for Success. Whatever methods you normally use to exchange information to partner, there are times when clear suit preference signals are required. For many pairs, this occurs when one player leads an... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
10 Apr 2018
The Curse of Board 11 Keen bridge players and most Scottish people (surely all Scots play Bridge!) know that the diamond 9 is the “Curse of Scotland”. Our der knowledgeable friend “Google” will enlighten any ignorant... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
3 Apr 2018
Signalling and Counting One of the advantages of being a defender is that you have someone else at the bridge table on your side, with the same aims as you have and someone who is taking an active part in the play of the hand. So, even though you... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
26 Mar 2018
King for Count in Queenstown This is the tale of an actual hand (well, all the stories are) but this is a kind of special one from last weekend’s Queenstown tournament. Are you ready for a defensive problem? Board 2East... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
20 Mar 2018
PAIRS AND TEAMS PHILOSOPHY They can be the same and they can be so different. One similarity would be when you are in a normal contract, you would not risk going down in your contract by taking a finesse for the sake of an overtrick, unless you... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
12 Mar 2018
CUTTING ONE’S LOSSES Unless we know we are sacrificing, we bid games to make them. It is great if we do, especially with an overtrick or two. However, either partner’s hand is a let-down (never yours, of course!) , a bad break or good... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
6 Mar 2018
Finessing is Fun Yes, it can be. Trust me. They do work sometimes. Indeed, sometimes, well maybe all the time, you really hope they work. Let’s see how many finesses you need on the following board. If they all fail, you could be in serious... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
26 Feb 2018
TUNNEL VISION It is a really good idea to look at your hand and dummy after the opening lead is made and see what can be done with all the losers in your hand. Then and only then should you play to the first trick. There is, though, a hand type... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
19 Feb 2018
There are many ways of discarding which work most of the time. Sometimes, they all run into difficulty. When that happens think about the easiest way you can get your message across to your partner. If your card is not going to be easy to... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
13 Feb 2018
USING THEIR TIME So, what do you do as a defender when the declarer goes into what seems like a 10 minute reverie at the first sight of dummy? OK, it was only 30 seconds but you only had four minutes to play this board or else time penalties... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
5 Feb 2018
SECOND PLAYER PLAYS….. You know the rule. You learnt it five or ten or thirty years ago in the days when you wanted to be dummy…less pressure. It’s good to know that the rule is alive and very well. Yet, there is another rule... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
30 Jan 2018
MISSED GAME: STILL PLAY CAREFULLY So you played in a stupid part-score contract when you see that slam in a different suit is cold? Don’t give up. Try and make +90 even in your 3-1 fit. It might just be worth + 4 imps when the cold slam... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
23 Jan 2018
"ROUGHLY" DOWN Maybe the first word has been misspelt but the second word is clear evidence of what happened as another contract which should have been made bit the dust. A test for you. You made a very respectable overcall and much to your... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
16 Jan 2018
SACRIFICE THE QUEEN Queens are good cards to hold, often winning tricks on the second round a suit is played. That does not mean you should always keep them in your hand when defending. One sacrificed queen carried an important message on the... read more here
Tip for Christmas Day
25 Dec 2017
A TIP FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING Or the day or week after…by the time you have read all the bridge books you have been given for Christmas. “What, you did not get any? Then, read on. Glad to be of service.” Today’s tip... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
12 Dec 2017
Another Finesse That Failed They all do, or so it seems. Selective memory, perhaps, for the 50% or so that work…usually when you have missed an iffy game and play in part-score, when every finesse seems to work! Yet, there are some... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
5 Dec 2017
“To continue or to switch”? That is the question. One of the... read more here
Play and Defend Better..a piece of bidding and The Lighter Side of Bridge
20 Nov 2017
PLAY and Defend Better….a piece of bidding….and The Lighter Side of Bridge. Three articles around one bridge deal. How do you rate your partner? Now, that is a very interesting question. You can see in print what your partner... read more here
PLAY and DEFENCE for Improving Players
13 Nov 2017
A squeeze you can perform. You may have heard of this term “squeezing an opponent”. You may think it is something the “better players do”. Certainly, they do get extra tricks, make seemingly impossible contracts, by... read more here
