Hand of the Week #161 ♦
N E S W 1♥ P 1NT P 2♦ P 2♥ P P P A fairly straightforward auction sees North end up in a partscore of 2♥. North shows their 5:4 shape by starting with 1♥ and rebidding 2♦, and with this information South elects to play
Hand of the Week #160 (Solution) ♥
N E S W 1♥ P 2♣ P 2NT P 3NT P P P Counting our top tricks, we have: 1 spade, 2 hearts, 1 diamond and 2 clubs, so 6 tricks in total. As far as extra tricks go, we only really have one suit to
Hand of the Week #160 ♥
N E S W 1♥ P 2♣ P 2NT P 3NT P P P West opens their strong balanced hand with 1♥ (the correct procedure with exactly 4-4 in the majors and too many points to open 1NT) and East replies 2♣ which shows 10+ HCP and
Hand of the Week #159 (Solution) ♣
N E S W 1♥ 1♠ P 2♠ P P P Looking at our losers here, we have: 2 top trumps, 1 heart, 1 potential diamond and 2 clubs. The spade and heart losers are inevitable and 1 of the club losers is also unavoidable. We could
Hand of the Week #159 ♣
N E S W 1♥ 1♠ P 2♠ P P P South opens the bidding with 1♥, West overcalls 1♠, North passes and East raises West's overcall to 2♠ based on the level of the fit. This bid ends the auction as neither North nor South want
Hand of the Week #158 (Solution) ♠
N E S W 2♠ P P X P P P Usually in a misfit (which this hand definitely is!) you look to draw trumps as you are often drawing 2-for-1, but in this hand you have information about how the spade suit is lying. North made
Hand of the Week #158 ♠
N E S W 2♠ P P X P P P East opens a weak 2♠, South and West both pass round to North who opts for a takeout double. East passes and South has a difficult decision as to what to bid. North is expecting South
The Losing Trick Count ♦
In the bidding when you have an unbalanced hand and have found a fit, your points won't actually give you an accurate value of your hand. The losing trick count is a method in which to evaluate your hand which is different to high card points, and you can
Hand of the Week #157 (Solution) ♦
N E S W 1♦ P 1♠ P 3♠ P 4NT P 5♥ P 6♠ P P P Looking at South's potential losers, we have: 1 potential trump (unless there is a 4-0 split in which case we are off!), no heart losers, no diamond losers and
Hand of the Week #157 ♦
N E S W 1♦ P 1♠ P 3♠ P 4NT P 5♥ P 6♠ P P P With East-West silent throughout the auction, North starts by opening with 1♦ and South replies 1♠. North now knows of a spade fit and uses the losing trick count