Author Archives: Julian Foster

Today’s hand is taken from the SBC Fixed Income Solutions Christmas in Winter teams congress held on Sunday 2 August 2026. Board 7 from the 1st match was a potentially unpleasant experience for North South with several incurring significant penalties … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →