Julian Foster’s hand commentary provides a good read every week. He reviews the results of our Monday morning session at City and Canada Bay and pick up an interesting hand for commentary. His column starts with the core principle, with key notes as a quick summary and advanced tips 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!
- When they can’t overruff
City and Canada Bay – Thursday Morning 9th January 2025. Board 13 last week was a competitive partscore hand where, defending on how the play goes, declarer may be able to make a valuable inference. Many players these days will open North with 1♣. Although there are only 11 points, the 5431 shape is always attractive. East will overcall 1♥ and South will show spades. It’s common to play here that a bid of 1♠ shows at least 5 spades and a double shows exactly 4 spades. That’s quite helpful to more quickly identify if there is a spade fit … Continue reading - 3rd seat openings and re-openings
City and Canada Bay – Thursday Morning 2nd January 2025. Board 1 seems like a good place to start for the first column of the new year. It shows the value of 3rd seat openings but also had some chances for the defenders to signal to make their lives easier. North and East will surely pass and many Souths would then do so as well. After all they hold a balanced 9 count. But there are many advantages to getting into the auction first and a tactical 1♠ opening has a lot to be said for it. South knows it’s … Continue reading - A slightly different finesse
City and Canada Bay – Thursday Morning 19th December 2024. This will be the last column for 2024 as there is no session on Thursday 26th December. I hope everyone has a good break. Last week I focussed mainly on defence. This week I’ll consider declarer play – on board 5. Many pairs were in the same contract – 3NT, mostly by South on ♣Q lead. The majority of declarers went off but it was quite possible to make. Let’s have a look at what line of play gives the best chance. First the auction though. Some Norths may have … Continue reading - No trump defence
City and Canada Bay – Thursday Morning 12th December 2024. Board 8 last week saw most East West pairs playing in assorted levels of no-trumps. The most common number of tricks made was 8 although the defence could, in theory, have done better. A few were allowed to make 9 tricks. There’s more interest in the defence on this hand than the bidding but there are some considerations worth discussing in the likely auction. West has a pretty standard 15-17 1NT opening over which North will pass. It’s then up to East. These days, especially if playing teams, East will … Continue reading - Transferring out of 1NT
City and Canada Bay – Thursday Morning 5th December 2024. Board 3 last week saw many East West pairs going off in 1NT but they had a much better spot available in diamonds. Let’s see why, and how they might reach it. Most Souths these days will open 1♠. Yes it’s only 11 points and the suit is bad but against that it gets your side into the auction first (a big advantage), it takes almost the whole 1 level away from East West, and you are at favourable vulnerability. West will surely then overcall 1NT (15-18 or thereabouts). If … Continue reading
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