Here we are with yet another hand, but one which focuses on defence. This is a hand which can make or go down - it is entirely up to you as defenders to make up your own minds, as to the type of defence you want to try. The hand is shown through the eyes of East. Can you find the correct play to extract the maximum for your partnership? The bidding goes as shown, with the opening lead of Q ♥, so you play low & South wins with the King. South now can play in such a way, that it leads to East/West only taking one more trick, the A ♣, but is that the best that the defence can do? Let's find out..........

This is the classic case of East knowing a lot of the answers, but being guilty of not being awake to the situation.

So, what does East know?  Firstly, after the opening lead, East knows from the bidding, that West has some HCP's somewhere. Also from the lead, they know that they do not have the K ♥, and so East MUST in this case overtake the lead with A ♥. When East looks at dummy, they can see that the weak suit is Clubs. (Spades can never be weak as South opened the bidding with 1 ♠, and is happy enough to pass 4 ♠). By leading back a high Club in this case J ♣, the defence will find that South is trapped with K ♣, and so the defence can take three ♣ tricks, no matter what card South plays. This play will defeat the contract for a much better East/West result than before. (If you lead a low ♣, then West is end played into giving South a trick with K ♣, thus letting the contract make, providing that South plays low on the first trick).

South always has a ♥ loser, and a ♣ loser, but with help from their opponents they can make this contract. After winning the opening ♥ lead, South can clear the trumps and they can play the ♦ winners in dummy, throwing away the ♣ losers in declarer's hand. They can eventually ruff away their third ♥ loser, making eleven tricks, not forgetting to thank East for being asleep.

We can be awake enough to read bad results, and asleep enough to let it happen, but is that what we desire......................... 

LADIES - here is your chance to shine at a Yorkshire event! Just follow the instructions on the poster in the Club. It is on Thursday 16th May & takes place at Wetherby Bridge Club starting at 11.00 am. Good luck.............

(I am working on the image - sorry).

The next committee meeting of Wakefield Bridge Club is Friday 31st May @ 1.30 p.m. If there is anything that you think might need raising at this meeting, please ask one of the committee members to bring it up on your behalf. The names and photographs of the committee members are on one of the notice board in the big Bridge room, so that they cannot hide!

The committee members act on behalf of YOU the members, and to help keep the Club in a financially stable condition, amongst other considerations.

Is there any more we can do on other matters? Tell us please, and you never know what may happen!

Do not forget that the club does run teams events, on a reasonably regular basis. These occur predominately on a Monday evening (once a month) or sometimes on a Thursday evening (once every three months).

Please look out for these nights, which also appear on the "MENU" under "CALENDAR".

The next definite teams night is on Monday 3rd June. Please sign up on the notice board......... The next one on a Thursday, is on Thursday 6th June.

We plan to put out a regular pattern of teams events in the New Year, every 4 weeks on a Monday, and a Thursday teams event once every 3 months.

The latest Fun Day at Wakefield, was on 6th January 2024, and raised over £1500.  

Thanks to all involved in the planning/running of these events, no matter how large or small. We are talking about what to do with the monies raised, and have decided on a selection of items, which will help in the future. 

It has been decided to replace the current Refrigerator with a Fridge/Freezer, replace the signage in the Club, purchase a microphone for use with all events in our Club, and also to acquire some more small tables. 

The next Fun Day is on Saturday June 8th 2024, with the food of Pie & Mushy Peas, at a cost of £20.00 per person - a signing up list is up on the notice board along with a reserves list.

We suggest that you sign up quickly, as the last one was full in a very short amount of time!! 

Donations of raffle & hamper prizes are required. Can you help?

Calling all you mixed pairs out there - here is another chance to shine at a Yorkshire event, taking place at our own Club. Please follow the instructions on the notice on our notice board to apply...............

I know of at least one pair who are taking part. (I am working on the image - sorry). 

The Spring Sims Pairs charity event, was successfully run in 2024, with the winners being Allan Clarke & Peter Wallace.

Future dates for the British (Seasonal) Sims Pairs events are (there is no guarantee that Wakefield Bridge Club will be hosting any of these) :-

1.  Summer on 25th July
2.  Autumn on 10th October
3. Winter on 18th January

Watch this space for further details..................

We are pleased to announce that the next Swiss Pairs Event is going to take place on Saturday 10th August starting at 1.00 p.m. There will be refreshments available as well, all for the cost of £5.00 per head. The event is designed to be all finished by 6.00 p.m. after the prize giving has been completed. If you wish to take part, please put you & your partners names on the notice board......................... 

The EBU's Bridge - It's a Big Deal will take place nationally W/C 9th September 2025. The EBU, during this week, are hoping to raise at least £60,000 for the noble cause of Cancer UK. We at Wakefield Bridge Club will be doing something special on Saturday 14th September, and also as the affiliated Club in the area, are reaching out to those smaller venues where Bridge is played, with the wish that they too can also raise some monies for this cause. With a large national event such as this, the hope is, that with the publicity that is generated, it can gain new members for every group or club.

There are plenty of different events taking place nationally which you can view on the EBU web-site, but you will have to watch this space for our event....................... ( It is a different idea to recent events).

As has been reported to you all (we hope), our Monday Morning has had to change from a "Stepping Stones session", to an ordinary session. Originally, these type of sessions were set up to try & give all of us newbies, a gentler route into the world of Bridge. From here, we were all supposed to progress to playing in other sessions that are provided for, by the Club. However, what has happened instead is that, you, our members have voted with your feet, by continually turning up to this session, and largely, not moving on to other sessions provided by the Club. We do realise that this could be because this is the only suitable time for yourselves, but we are constrained by regulations, which means that we cannot continue in this way.

So, what we have decided to do, is to accommodate everyone, by leaving the session time alone, and just simply adjusting the type of session that is played. Henceforth, the Monday Morning session, will be a typical graded session, with MP's (Master Points) & NGS (National Grading System) applied to it. We hope that you find little or no difference in what is being played, but you will eventually notice the MP's & NGS appearing in your records.There will still be a host available, but there will be NO advice given at all. All other aspects of the Club will remain the same, and you can & should move on to trying to play in other sessions provided by the Club, a lot of which are hosted. (A host means that you can turn up as a single person & always have someone to play with). Do not be apprehensive about making this move, our members are a nice friendly assorted group of people from an assortment of backgrounds, who will help you settle in to a different environment.

It is interesting to note that we have gone very quickly from 42 unranked members to 22 unranked members.We hope that you can all make your way in the world of Bridge.

Some time ago, the decision was taken to scrap all the cup & shield competitions in our Club. This was replaced by an "Honours Board" which has regularly been updated on our notice board. The "Honours Board" is not a physical item, but in fact is a list which covers the last twenty odd years, and is on this web-site. Please look at the "MENU" under "CLUB HISTORY" and you will find it there. The notice board in the Club, shows the overall winners and monthly progress in these endeavours.

The results are now out for the previous twelve months (2023 - 2024), and you can view the winners there. The qualification for these, is that you first of all must achieve good results throughout the year, whilst playing in more than two sessions on average per month for the prescribed singular competition. There are no prizes to win, only the honour of trying your best, Any single winners of these competitions, must have played at least one of these sessions without their regular partner, if not more.

So now the new competition begins for the 2024/2025 season. You can keep up to date with this, by looking on the "MENU" under "INFORMATION", then under "Links to Bridge Organisations" and click on "Pianola". Then use your own personal "Log in" and click on "Competitions". Then click on the competition you wish to look at.

Good luck everyone for the upcoming year...................

We had two teams, entering the Leeds Swiss Pairs competition on Sunday 12th May. Against a very strong field, both teams performed reasonably well against opposition that was more than sprinkled with players of Ace ranking. It was a nice afternoon, and useful to see some of the County's best players in action. No doubt that this event will take place next year.................. Do you want a challenge..................

There is one team entering the Northern Midweek Congress in August. 

Are you taking part in any external competitions to the normal Club events?

Have you spotted any familiar names & faces in the current (May 2024) EBU magazine? 

Just a wonder - is there any traction in a Club Bridge Holiday for say 2025 or 2026 or even further down the line?

A lot of Bridge Clubs organise their own 2 - 3 day break, whether this is mid-week or on a weekend. Looking at what other Bridge Clubs have done, when they first started, they did so by going to a venue, which was not so far away (maybe the Yorkshire coast in our case). Then they could re-assess their ideas to possibly a break abroad, if there was the demand. I would suggest that we should think about starting small, so as to discover the pitfalls & problems first. I don't suggest that this will suit everyone, but it would be nice to know what you all think about this.

It would of course have to be out of season, as this is when we could find accommodation easier to find. 

Please let me know what you think......................... 

We fielded four teams in the YCBA (Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association) 2023/2024 Winter League. 

The provisional dates are out for the 2024 / 2025 season, which starts in October - these are shown on our "CALENDAR", please look in the "MENU". Please note that all leagues are subject to the number of entries received that wish to play, which can alter from previous years.

If you require more information regarding the YCBA leagues, please look under "INFORMATION" in the "MENU", and go to "Links to Bridge Organisations". Then look under "Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association" and then find "Leagues".

Please find below some of the members of the victorious Wakefield D Team - from left to right :-

Standing - John Dalton, Liz Clarke, Les Lammas, Barry Copley & Jonathan Poznansky.

Seated - Anne Haith, Pat Sellwood, Beverley Barrows & Janet Walker.

You all may be aware, that not only have we been recently renewing some of the visible items in our Club, we have also been renewing / upgrading some items that you might not be aware of, and did not know where available.

You will have seen that the bidding boxes have been given a good wash, and the bidding cards have been replaced. (I am sure that you remember all the initial sliding bids!!!). But did you know that there are left handed bidding boxes available at the Club. The right handed bidding cards boxes, are all in Red or Green bidding boxes, whereas the left handed bidding cards are in Black or Yellow bidding boxes. There are a couple of the left handed bidding boxes available on the shelves next to the computer station in the Club House. There are some more of each hand of bidding boxes, these are kept in the storage room, if required. Whilst we are on the subject of bidding boxes, if you come across a bidding box with an individual (or more) card missing from it, please do NOT try and sort this out yourself. Please make the TD aware of the problem first PLEASE. We need to be aware of a problem, so that we can rectify it, for everyone's benefit. Do not just simply swap it with another spare bidding box. All the bidding boxes were recently checked, and we were disappointed to find that two of the bidding boxes had cards missing from them. They had both been placed on two separate usually unused tables. Please help us to help you all..............

Also, we have available three card holders for those of you who may struggle holding the playing cards. These are usually available in the storage room - if you would like to use one, all you have to do is ask...............

A new development, which has been undergoing trials, is the positioning of the table numbers on the sides of the bidding boxes. These are designed to be seen from the aisle down the middle of the room, which we normally use as the main thoroughfare in the Club. We believe that this should make them instantly visible for everyone - much better than ending up underneath a bidding box (which is useless!!!). These are held onto the bidding box by magnets, so if they come adrift, they are easily put back together again.

The "PASS" cards in the main Bridge room have all been upgraded, and all those that were showing signs of wear & tear have been replaced.

There are other ideas that we, your committee have, to make things nicer & easier to play Bridge at Wakefield. Please watch this space.........   

Much has been said about having your hands hovering over a bidding box - at any time! It conveys to your partner illegal information about what sort of a hand you hold, and is distinctly unfair to your opponents. This could lead to the TD being called to the table, and you being penalised for something that was within your capabilities to not score an own goal! We all like a level playing field, so please comply with doing your thinking about a bid, by not having your hand anywhere near the bidding box. Please make your mind up about a bid (or a pass) in tempo please, and reserve those real proper thinking times to an appropriate time.

Also touching the bidding box or shaking it conveys the same illegal information, unless there is something missing from your bidding box, that you want to bid with. Do not be fiddling with your bidding box, for say your stop card is not in the correct place for you. Leave such things until the end of the auction, or better still before the next auction begins & you have not looked at any of your cards. 

There are lots of ways for us all to achieve a poor result for a Bridge hand - do not add to this by performing 

The phrase "Barking up the wrong tree" actually has an American origin. It first appeared printed in the book "Westward Ho! A Tale" by J K Paulding, published in 1832. He was not only a writer, but also rose to be United States Secretary of the Navy in the administration of President James Madison.

It's meaning is the allusion of hunting dogs barking at the base of a particular tree, when in fact their quarry had climbed that tree, crossed to another close by tree at a high level, and so escaped the dogs.

We normally would see this as making a mistaken or false assumption of something that you are trying to achieve. We commonly come across this in Bridge, firstly, where we think that certain cards are held by our partner, whereas, they are in fact held by declarer. How many times have you ended up leading a suit into declarer's Ace & Queen of that suit or some such bad combination of cards, forcing our partner into playing a high honour card. Or worse still, secondly by continuously leading the wrong suit, and not the suit which would harvest tricks for ourselves. In both cases, these can actually cost us tricks.

Can we overcome this? It is very hard, because usually when we get an idea in our head, we normally follow it to its conclusion. Good luck to everyone in avoiding this situation.