With 8 slam hands, it is clear many do not have sufficient tools or insight to bid them.

Hand records show 25% of slams were bid, but only 20% successfully played.

Board 2 with 33 points, slam was bid and made 5 out of 6 times. Great.

It was the only slam hand with 30+ points, the other 7 had less.

Many players are reluctant to investigate slam unless they have sufficient points.

Two other features to be aware of when contemplating slams are;

Shortages: When a good fit is found.   Long Suit: to run in NT.

It is rare that a bridge hand has a major game for both sides.

Both sides can make 11 tricks, or 12 tricks with the right lead.

High card points are irrelevant in such auctions, N-S have 18 and E-W 22.

Who opens the bidding?

If West opens a tartan 2S, North will overcall 3H and East will bid 4S.

Is South brave enough to bid 5H, surely with a void they should.

West will not give in and bid 5S.

North must now realise that South is short in S's and bid 6H (not Vul).

Are there any E-W players who would seriously think of bidding 6S?

Wednesday night hands continue to test both bidding and card play for everyone.

40% of all contracts failed, 15 by 3 or more tricks, 21 by 2 tricks.

This suggests we are stretching our bidding as some contracts are being made on distribution and kind trump breaks.

And occasionally the bad trump break with flat hands bite us on the bum.

Hand 1 is a prime example.

After 1D -1S - 1NT some Norths rebid spades which lead to 3S, 3NT, 4S.

22 points and no shortages is a recipe for disaster, and so it was.

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"

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!

One of the highlights of our Club competition year is the annual Teams tournament with teams competing for the Janet Milbank Memorial Trophy.  This year Swiss Pairs format was chosen and we had 8 teams enter.

Looking at the results for 2026, as with last year it was tough at the top with a very close competition and especially so for 2nd and 3rd place.

Winners : 84.30 VP Joyce Reid, Rex Tulloch, Karen Warren, Bronwyn Kamphorst

2nd:  80.6 VP Derek Moores, Bobbi Drysdale, Don Moore, Ali Barr

Thank you Trust Horizon for again supporting small clubs like ours with a generous Grant towards power costs. This year we have been successful with a $2500 Grant secured from the latest funding round. This amount of money will go a long way towards helping meet what is one of our most significant annual costs. We would like to acknowledge Trust Horizon for this donation.

Only N-S hands are shown, to replicate the difficult decisions North players faced in playing 3NT.

East leads a small heart. Good play is not to play the Ace. West wins with the KH and returns a small heart.

You play the Jack, East the Queen, now you win with the Ace. Now the 10H is a winner.

North now takes stock. Combined, the other 3 suits have 7 cards each.

Those suits could give 3 winners each. Which suit to play on first?

Care must be taken because E-W will lead hearts at the first opportunity.

The second heat of the 2026 Bay Pairs competition which was to have been held at Whakatāne on Sunday 12 April has been postponed due to the forecast weather and official advice for only essential travel on the day.

We will notify clubs of an alternative date as soon as possible.