Julian Foster’s hand commentary provides a good read every week. He picks up an interesting hand for commentary (sometimes from an SBC duplicate, sometimes from elsewhere). His column starts with a basic analysis of the hand then lists some key points to note as a quick summary to take away. It then ends with some more advanced points if you progress well with this laddered reading.
Julian is a many times NSW representative, he has an impressive bridge career as an individual player and coach!
- A double on the 2nd round
Today’s hand is taken from the SBC Fixed Income Solutions Christmas in Winter pairs congress held yesterday on 1 August 2026. There was a wide variety of results on board 11 from the 2nd round: https://nsw.bridgeaustralia.org/showtraveller.asp?id=679189&board=11&pair=1 In many cases North South played in a red … Continue reading - Blackwood
Occasionally a board comes along that everyone should bid to a grand slam. Today’s hand is like that. But sometimes people over complicate matters! 4NT Blackwood is of course the most famous slam going convention. In its simplest original form it was just asking for … Continue reading - Pre-empts make bidding harder – but play easier!
A pre-empt forces you to start bidding at a much higher level which naturally makes it harder to reach the best contract. On the other hand, a pre-empt can often help declarer figure out the shape of the hand and how to play a contract … Continue reading - Is there any chance left?
Sometimes your contract looks completely hopeless. At that point you have to consider is there any chance left? Today’s hand was an example where there was – but it’s not that easy to see. It’s also so obscure that it’s questionable whether it’s even worth … Continue reading - Stoppers and Lebensohl
On some hands it’s essential to play no-trumps from one direction. Today’s hand (taken from the Newcastle Congress played the weekend of June 13-14) is an example. 3NT played by West is hopeless because North can lead ♦Q and the defence will take the first … Continue reading
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