A new month, so here is a new hand. This is a hand that has not been played in the Club, but one inspired by a hand, which I viewed on-line, although there are a few cards that have been re-positioned. 

The bidding goes as shown, but I should explain some of the bidding & the thinking behind them. First of all the rebid by North of 2 ♠ - this is just a bid to confirm ♠ as a fit, but not forcing on South. We must always remember, that South could have as few as SIX HCP's to bid at the one level, so jumping in the bidding, is not always a great idea. Secondly, 4 NT by South, is Roman Keycard Blackwood, in which the response of 5 ♠ is two Aces + Q ♠. Thirdly, 5 NT is asking for Kings, to which the response of 6 ♥ indicates two of them, and so South, knowing that they have one King missing, opts for the safer contract of 6 ♠.

Some of you, I am aware, may have different techniques of bidding this slam, but this is the method I have used for explaining this one. 

Here, you get the lead of Q ♥ (top of a sequence), and now is when declarer must choose their course of action. Providing that the trumps divide nicely, there are only eleven top tricks, so you have two losers, which you can trump in either hand. BUT WHICH? Is one way better than another?  You can either :-

• Option 1 - Trump two small ♥ in the South hand, or
• Option 2 - Trump two small ♦ in the North hand,

You can see that you have a certain ♦ loser - or do you?     

Well Option 1 is the winner here. Win trick one with K ♥ (do not try and take trumps out first, as you need them in both hands), and lead a small ♥ towards South, who trumps it. In this instance, you can afford to trump high, as this will guarantee you win the trick, regardless of the distribution of the ♥ suit. Now you need a safe lead back to North, say a small ♣ to the K ♣. Now lead another small ♥, and again trump it high (suggest using K ♠, as it unblocks the suit). Now you can take out trumps, by first leading the last high trump (probably J ♠) from South, followed by the last trump to the high trumps in North, who then can clear the trumps. Now a small ♣ from North to cash all three ♣ winners in South, discarding your losing ♦ on the last ♣. If the trumps divide badly, say 4 / 1, then this is not a problem. You can play to remove all the trumps, and cash A ♥, before playing the small ♣ to the South hand.

Now you are in the home straight. Cash A ♦ & then trump a small ♦ with the last trump in North, and finally cash A ♥ for your 13th trick. Are you feeling good about yourself?

Incidentally, if you choose option 2, you can only ever make 12 tricks, and you will have to lose a ♦ trick eventually, I will let you work that one out for yourselves.

As for other contracts that you could end up in. By bidding 1 NT as North's rebid, you probably will end up in 3 NT which can only ever make 11 tricks. By not being confident in your bidding, and ending up in 4 ♠, this is just an undersell of the hand, although it should score better than 3 NT. Is it possible to bid a grand slam on this hand - I will leave that for you to decide..... 

As a result of the Survey of 2024, and subsequent discussions by your committee, we are pleased to announce, the launch of some short informal learning sessions. These will take place prior to Monday Morning sessions taking place at 9.15 am, and prior to Tuesday Evening sessions, starting at 18.10 pm. The subject of the Tuesday sessions, will be a repeat of the Monday sessions, and there may be some prior to a Friday morning session. Danny Parsonson & Peter Wallace are the people who have volunteered to launch these short sessions, but they may be helped out by others doing other sessions, at a later date. 

The subject of these sessions will not be replacing any of our existing teaching sessions, but will be concentrating on subjects to help bolster that learning & also to take in some of the finer points of bridge. 

We sincerely hope that you will support this initiative, by turning up to these short sessions, and letting us know what you think. We do think that these types of sessions, could encompass most members of our Bridge Club, and for now we are aiming to repeat the session each individual week, to try & reach a larger percentage of our members.

We hope, that this is just the start & that we can do more on these types of sessions in the future..................     

Please note - there is no charge for these sessions. 

NEW PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS & EXISTING MEMBERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. YOU DO NOT NEED A PARTNER.

We start, on Thursdays, at 10.00 a.m. for two & a half hours approximately, finishing at 12.30 p.m.

Last week, we looked again at second hand play & third hand play. This week, we will be looking at some more of the same.                                                                         

This relaxed & laid back session is predominantly aimed at people who want to learn the basic information about bridge, and to explore a bit further into the game. Our basic session can include :-

• Playing up to eight hands, possibly more on some specific occasions. These will all be pre-dealt hands that have not been played before, and so will all be new, even to myself. After playing a hand, you can have a chat at the table about these hands, if you so desire, unless you are specifically requested not to, in the case of competitions. 
• There will definitely be a break around the half - time  mark, for a cuppa & a biscuit. The kettle is always boiled when you arrive, so you can grab a cuppa then as well.
• Normally we will have a topic to talk about - this usually changes every week!
• Usually we encompass at least one sample hand - just to illustrate a particular point, but not always on our topic.
• Sometimes, we can have a little chat about what is going on at the Club. 

We want this session to be a fun & very relaxed session, and a place to learn about the world of Bridge, as well as card play & defence - two absolute basics of playing Bridge. We would also encourage you to talk & discuss Bridge related problems, and if you do not fully understand something, PLEASE ask & we will try and answer your query, even if it is not straight away. 

Please note that this session is to be charged at the same rate as any of the other Wakefield Bridge Club's sessions. I look forward to the journey..............

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 Monday teams session is on Monday 17th November, you can sign up on the notice board.............

The next Thursday teams session will take place TBA, in approximately January / February 2026, so watch this space.                                                          

Wakefield Bridge Club, has three teams entered in the above competition, for the 2025 / 2026 season, which is a straight forward knockout competition, with eleven teams entered.

Two of our teams are playing in the first round, Wakefield Thornes are away to a team from Leeds Bridge Club, whilst Wakefield Holmfield are at home to a team from Wetherby Bridge Club. Both of these matches, have to be played before the end of November 2025. If our teams are successful in winning the opening round, their rewards are :-

• for Wakefield Thornes, an away fixture at either York or Ilkley. 
• for Wakefield Holmfield, a home fixture against our other team of Wakefield Clarence.

Both of these fixtures have to be played before the back end of January. 

Results will be published here as soon as possible after the matches have been played. 

On the evening of Thursday 27th November, our Bridge Club is entered into the above event, starting at 19.00 pm. As the event suggests, this is a handicapped SIMS event, and as such, you will be playing on a level playing field against other pairs from around Yorkshire. 

So far, apart from ourselves, the Bridge Clubs of Doncaster, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Ilkley (Olicana), Sheffield, Wetherby & York, have all entered this event, which takes place over the course of either the Wednesday or the Thursday. All results are then collated together, and the winners of the handicapped result, will get to donate the prize money to the charity of their choice.

This event is open to ALL of our members, and we would encourage all players, no matter what your standard of play is, to participate in this event. All handicaps will be derived from each player's EBU NGS ratings.

Xmas is coming, the excitement levels are rising, and as in previous years, our Xmas tree and its lights, will make another annual appearance.

It would be nice to see some / all of you dressed in whatever seasonal garments that you have in your wardrobe, but preferably from 1st December onwards. No doubt, at some point, the tin of sharing chocolates will appear, to help us all transform into the spirit of this segment of the year. 

I hope that this time of the year, will see me get some decent hands, but that is in the lap of the gods of Bridge.........

We are starting to think about the seasonal end to the year, and what better than our annual Xmas lunchtime meal @ Holmfield Arms in Thornes Park, Wakefield. It is on Monday 8th December, meeting at 13.00 for a 13.30 start. It is the usual 2 or 3 course meal, that you can decide on yourselves. A notice has appeared on the notice board, along with some copies of the menu for you to peruse. Please take one, select your choices, as well as putting your name on the sheet, and return it to the envelope on the notice board, from where it will be collected & collated. Xmas is coming........................

The next committee meeting of Wakefield Bridge Club is on Friday 12th December 2025 @ 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 boards 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 many other considerations.  

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

Look on the web-site under "CALENDAR" for all future Committee meetings dates, including the date of the 2026 AGM ...................

The Xmas adverts are already being displayed, so we can see that Xmas will be on us before we know it. So that we all appreciate the seasonal time of the year, we are proposing the following closures of all sessions of Bridge at Wakefield Bridge Club.

• Thursday 25th December.
• Friday 26th December.
• Thursday 1st January.

As far as we aware, at this point in time, all other sessions at this time of the year are running, but please watch this space...............

The last Fun Day took place on Saturday 7th June 2025, where we raised just over £1000. Thanks also go to everyone involved in making this event happen, in whatever capacity.

We are pleased to announce that the next Fun Day, will take place provisionally on Saturday 3rd January 2026, starting at 10.30 am, at a cost of TBA

 As always, the proceeds of this event, will be used to enhance the experience of playing Bridge in our Club. 

We have started to get involved playing in the EBU Seasonal Sims Pairs events, which take place approximately every three months. This gives us all an opportunity to measure ourselves up against other bridge clubs & members from around the country. As well as our Club results, there will also be National results for each day, from every Club that participated on that particular day. 

Usually, over the course of four days (Monday - Thursday), the same hands are played up & down the country - (they are different boards each day). We usually play on a Thursday, and the cost of each of these events is normally £3.00 + our normal session charge, with the £3.00 going to the EBU charity EBED (English Bridge Education & Development), which funds the development of youth players in the game.   

The 2026 dates for the British (Seasonal) Sims Pairs events are :-

1. Winter on Thursday 15th January. We have entered this event. (This event is just on Wednesday & Thursday).
2. Spring on Thursday 16th April. We have entered this event.
3. Summer on Thursday 23rd July.
4. Autumn on Thursday 8th October.

Please await a notice appearing on the notice board, nearer the date, as a reminder............................

In the last event, the British Autumn Sims Pairs, Russ Parkinson + John Milne finished third across the country - well done to them.