I've been asked for an electronic version of this seminar: you can find slides plus notes as an mht file in the Seminars section of the Members Area.

Our September seminar looked at some aspects of opening leads, and the October one presented by Nigel Lancaster is taking a similar tack, but concentrating on leads against no-trump contracts.

You may think there's nothing to say in this regard - if there's one thing we remember from our early bridge experience is that we lead the fourth highest of our longest suit against no-trump contracts, at least unless there's something in the bidding that dictates otherwise, like partner having contributed a bid.

Two things that might surprise you then. Firstly, leading the fourth highest of your longest suit is frequently the wrong thing to do. Secondly, the best lead in teams is not always the best lead in match-pointed pairs.

The seminar provides some fairly simple rules to follow in selecting your opening lead which sometimes, but not often, indicate you should lead the fourth highest of your longest suit. The rules are backed up by some tables based on computer analysis of thousands of randomly-dealt hands, but you don't need to commit these to memory, just the rules.

If you're happy achieving below-par scores against opponents' no-trump contracts, this seminar is not for you. But otherwise . . .

The half-hour seminar starts promptly at 6.45, it's free and open to all. We operate a hosting system, so you don't need to come with a partner if you want to stay on and play, which we hope you will.

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Winners of the 2015-16 annual competitions were:

The NICKO is probably the most popular of all our national tournaments and is a knockout competition for teams of four representing the same affiliated bridge club. Any affiliated club can enter a team, and can enter as many teams as it wishes. So if you want to take part just ask your club secretary to enter you, your partner and your team mates.

Entry for the National Inter Club Knock Out (NICKO) closes on Thursday 15th September 2016.

We have twice weekly sessions of good standard Duplicate Bridge at the very attractive South Bucks Bridge Centre - a purpose-converted 16th Century barn in its own grounds, between Beaconsfield, Maidenhead and Slough 

Our main session is at 7.30 every Monday evening, when we play Pairs, except Teams of Four on the third Monday each month except when this is a bank holiday.  A host is available to play with anyone without a partner on Pairs evenings.

We use Bridgemates, for instant scoring, with current scores displayed on a large screen.  Hand records and results print-outs are available within a few minutes of the end of every session. 

Several teams from the Club compete in the Berks and Bucks League of 8, with the A team in the first division.  We also encourage less experienced players and hold monthly free seminars before the start of an evening session.