Hand of the Week #229 ♦
N E S W 1♣ P 1♠ P 1NT P P P North has a strong balanced hand, and this North-South pair are playing a weak NT (12-14) so North opens 1♣ with the intention of rebidding 1NT to show 15-17 balanced. South replies with a simple
Hand of the Week #228 (Solution) ♥
N E S W P P 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ P 3♣* P 4♠ P P P Analysing potential losers in this hand, we have: 2 trumps, 2 hearts, 1 diamond and 1 club. We might lose 2 trumps if they break 4-0, 1 trump if they break
Hand of the Week #228 ♥
N E S W P P 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ P 3♣* P 4♠ P P P West and North both pass to start off this auction, East opens 1♠ and South overcalls 2♦. West has 6-9 HCP and a fit for their partner, so they raise 1♠
Hand of the Week #227 (Solution) ♣
N E S W 1♥ P 4♥ P 4NT P 5♦ P 6♥ P P P If we analyse our losers on this hand, we will quickly see that the only cards that might trouble us are the aforementioned ♠A and ♥K. Quite clearly, the missing Ace
Hand of the Week #227 ♣
N E S W 1♥ P 4♥ P 4NT P 5♦ P 6♥ P P P With East-West passing throughout the auction, South opens the bidding with 1♥. This North-South pair unfortunately are not playing Jacoby 2NT, so North takes the simple approach of raising their partner
Weak Stayman ♦
In this video lesson we learn about using Stayman to show a weak hand with 5:4 in the majors. Rather than the traditional 11+ HCP required, you can bid this version Stayman with any number of points!
Hand of the Week #226 (Solution) ♠
N E S W 1♠ P 1NT P 2♠ P P P Looking at this hand, it seems to 'play itself' as we can simply win the heart lead on the table and lead the ♠9, looking to draw trumps and finesse North for the missing ♠K
Hand of the Week #226 ♠
N E S W 1♠ P 1NT P 2♠ P P P A rather 'quiet' auction sees East end up in a low level spade contract. East opens 1♠, West replies with 1NT (6-9 with no spade fit) and East rebids 2♠ which ends the auction. Nice
Hand of the Week #225 (Solution) ♦
N E S W 2♥ X 4♥ P P P Given that we have managed to steal the contract with our aggressive bidding, it is likely that we will struggle to make our contract, but that is okay! Had we not been so bold in the auction,
Hand of the Week #225 ♦
N E S W 2♥ X 4♥ P P P North opens a weak 2 in hearts to start of the auction, East intervenes with a takeout double and South leaps to 4♥ based on the level of the fit (10 trumps means bid for 10 tricks!).