Board 20 is a good example for East to shine in defending 4H.

Analysis indicates it makes 8 tricks only.

Good to see 3 out of 6 pairs in 4H making, on less than adequate defence.

East has 3 certain tricks and now should be searching for others. How, where?

Not until you see the full hand do you see East must lead a club.

Two Easts got off to a promising start with the AS. The KS is my preference.

When Souths hand is revealed, East should realise West may be short in clubs.

If North opens 1NT with 3 clubs, West has a singleton.

Some of the best bids in bridge, are those described in one bid.

Where length and strength are narrowed to a small margin.

Weak 2 major openings or 7 cd preempts being classic examples.

But what happens with stronger hands as in Board 1.

North has a solid 7 cd heart suit and an extra Ace.

How do you as North convey a suit that is impenetrable and long?

Open 1H and jump rebid 3H? Open 4H as a gamble?

Neither quite convey the idea "I have 8 playing tricks in hearts"

Board 7 is a hand that promises riches for E-W, but if N-S can enter the bidding, things will escalate rapidly.

Is South's hand good enough to open? What do you think?

South's two suiter has 6 losers, fewer than many balanced hands with opening points. Suppose South passes awaiting developments.

West opens 1H and East responds 2C. Norths suit is too weak to bid.

What action, if any, should South now take?

A take-out double would imply the other suits D's and S's.

A cue bid:  2H by South would imply S's and another (obviously D's) and 5-5 shape.

Board 1 has 4 interesting features, which lead to varied successes.

All N-S pairs were in a H or S game with 26 points. 9, 10 or 11 tricks resulted.

The hand has4 possible losers; 2 spades, 1 heart and 1 club.

It is heartening to see every E-W pair bid to 4S on this hand.

East opens a weak 2S and West with good shape and a 5 cd fit bids 4S.

How many in the South seat competed with 3C vulnerable ?

Who wouldn't with their own good suit and a marginal opening hand.

The spotlight is now on North, pass 4S or sacrifice in 5C?

2 down doubled is -500, still better than 5S scoring -650.

North uses Loser Count to make an educated guess.

Typically, a balanced hand with 12HCP's has around 8 losers.

Congratulations to Tom Henwood and Joyce Reid who won the Te Puke BOP Pairs tournament on Sunday with the impressive score of 66.57%.  Joyce substituted Jen Elgar for this round of the Bay Pairs, Tom and Jen are leading the competition with the final round to be played in Whakatane in October.  Fantastic!

Computer dealt hands rarely give us easy hands to bid and play.

A close look at this weeks low level NT contracts show how opening 1NT or rebidding 1NT leaves you in an unmakeable contract.

Ideally you stay in NT if your best fits are 7 card suit(s).

But opt for a suit contract when there is a 4-4 fit.

Opening a 4 cd minor with the view to rebid 1NT better allows a 4-4 fit to be found.

It also allows opposition to bid a good 5 cd suit at the 1 level, thereby keeping you out of a doomed NT contract.

Wednesday night hands continue to be very challenging.

No one pair seemed immune from calamity.

Of the two slams, Bds 15 and 16, congratulations to the pair that bid and made 7D.

Only two of the seven found the play to make 13 tricks.

Bd 15 presented some great opportunities for defence.

Of the 7 pairs, 3 were in 6H, two making, despite missing an ace and 2 kings.

The bidding sheet shows one way to get to 6H

Ace asking found one, enough for East to bid 6H.

Shown is Norths hand, with the dilemma of what to lead against 6H.

Bd 22 posed headaches for West playing in 4H (no bidding interference).

Assume 10D lead from North.

You see their problem, there are 5 possible losers; 2 C's, 1 D, 1H, 1S.

Its no wonder 4 out of 5 Wests went down. One West got a helping lead.

Where do you start with a plan ?

You must remain optimistic. Assume all finesses work, trumps break nicely, opponents do not have shortage and trump in.

Opener must try to convey shape and strength in as few bids as possible.

Most unbalanced hands can be shown in 3 bids by opener.

The best start is to bid your longest suit first, even if it is lower in rank than a second suit.

Bidding a second suit twice must show at least 5 cards, indicating at least a similar length first suit.

If the first suit is lower in rank, then repeating a second suit twice, must show a 6-5 shape.

What happens when opener has not got sufficient strength to bid a second suit of higher rank.