Here is a hand played away from the Bridge Club, which poses a question at the conclusion.

The bidding goes as shown, with Stayman being used to locate the trump suit. The 5 ♦ shows one Ace (Roman Key Card Blackwood 0314 or Normal Blackwood both achieve the same answer), so South continues with a King ask (5 NT), 6 ♥ showing two Kings, and so 6 ♠ is reached.

East, knowing that he always has one trick with the A ♠, tries his luck with 6 ♣. There is no science here, as any lead could work out, but this one actually causes declarer a problem. Declarer decides to put up the J, covered by the Q to declarer's K ♣. Next he leads a small ♠ towards dummy, which East smoothly ducks and declarer puts up the Q ♠ from dummy, which wins. So, he returns to his hand, with a small ♦ to the Q ♦, and leads another small ♠, and the A ♠ now is played. East now tries another ♣, to which goes declarer plays the A ♣ in dummy.  Declarer now plays K ♠ in dummy so as to dispose of the last trump held by the defenders. Then he plays A ♦, followed by the K ♦, only to see West show out as the suit does not split nicely, as declarer disposes of his losing ♥. Declarer now plays a fourth ♦ from dummy, always intending to trump it. Declarer now plays A ♥, followed by K ♥, disposing of the losing ♣ in dummy. Now declarer plays a ♣ to trump in dummy, and concludes by cashing the established fifth ♦ in dummy, for 12 tricks, slam bid & made.

So, where is the problem? Looking from the long trump hand, declarer starts out with a definite ♠ loser, a possible ♥ loser and a possible and a probable ♣ loser. The opening lead here, forces declarer to plan their defence of the losers. Could you find the route to succeed?

When the hand was played, two other pairs bid the slam & went one off, four pairs bid 4 ♠, of which only one pair made 12 tricks, the others making 11 tricks. The final two pairs tried 3 NT, which is a horrible contract that goes down for a bottom for N / S, on a ♥ opening lead.

It all looks so easy! However the skill is in making an entry to the dummy, where one does not exist. East astutely robs declarer of the one extra entry to the ♦ suit in dummy, by playing the ♣ suit for a second time. Declarer works out that if the ♦ suit does not split nicely, then the K ♥ provides a place to discard a losing ♣ from dummy, so as to be able to trump a ♣ from declarer, to then be able to cash the last ♦.   

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

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

Well it happened again, and not all the cake was consumed & we still have the capacity for more members & newcomers to turn up. 

Last week, our topic was bidding and bidding interpretation. This week, we will be looking at distributional hands.

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 bite to eat. 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!
• Normally 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".

We plan to put out a regular pattern of teams events, every few weeks on a Monday, and a Thursday teams event once every 3 months.

The next Monday teams session is TBA.

The next Thursday teams session is in June probably. 

Please sign up on the list on the notice board for the appropriate session.............................(when it appears).

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 from around the country. Over the course of four days (Monday - Thursday), the same hands are played up & down the country - (they are different boards each day). We, (if we are playing the event), normally 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.   

The 2025 dates for the British (Seasonal) Sims Pairs events are (based on playing on a Thursday) :-

1. Spring on Thursday 10th April 2025.
2. Summer on Thursday 24th July 2025. 
3. Autumn on Thursday 9th October 2025.

More details to follow (as & when we enter these events)............................

The next committee meeting of Wakefield Bridge Club is on Tuesday 29th 2025 @ 6.15 p.m. This is our annual AGM, and as such, this is for all of our members, your opportunity to ask questions of your committee, as well as possibly alter the personnel on your committee as well. Please look out for a nominations sheet to appear on the notice board in the near future................ 

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!

As a thank you to all those members who turn up on the night & attend the AGM, we are pleased to offer a FREE evening of Bridge on that evening. Please note that this is not a transferable offer, and it could possibly involve playing a few less hands than normal (this is dependent on how long the AGM lasts).

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

The Fun Day took place on Saturday 4th January 2025. We raised just over £1700.00, a fantastic amount, so THANK YOU all for your generosity. Thanks also go to everyone involved in making this event happen.

Now we have finished upgrading the blinds all along the West side of the Club rooms, so that they all actually work. Thanks should go to Dorothy & Gerry for this.

Look out for the next one, which will be on Saturday 7th June, and you should add your names on the list on the notice board when it appears (nearer to the time)........................... 

An idea which we are looking into is Cafe Bridge. This is just as simple as it seems - Bridge played in a Cafe. We are at present looking into Cafe's in the centre of Wakefield, where we could try this out. Our idea is simply to promote the game of Bridge to the inhabitants of Wakefield, some of whom may be under the misapprehension that Bridge is a game/pastime that takes place in big houses (it seems to be portrayed this way on television). We are probably looking at a time which is not a busy time (meal times), but when they are open & have some passing trade. It may be a good idea or it may not, but other Bridge Clubs up & down the country have tried it, so why not us! This is still a work in progress (as at Feb 2025).

You should all have received a copy of the details of the survey, which was carried out over the Summer. A lot of time & effort was put into giving you all extremely detailed & comprehensive analysis, which we hope that you can appreciate & you can now find under "CLUB HISTORY" on this web-site. Watch this space for developments..........................   (To be discussed at the next committee meeting in Feb 2025) 

We are also looking into more ways to get out & about to promote our Bridge Club, as we feel sure that there are a lot of people out there, who are totally unaware of us. Watch this space to see what develops.....................

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.

• 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) cards 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 some of the bidding boxes had bidding cards missing from them. They had both been placed on two separate usually unused tables. Please help us to help you all..............
• We have available some card holders for those of you who may struggle holding the playing cards. These are usually available in the small storage room - if you would like to use one, all you have to do is ask...............
• A recent development 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. This has recently been extended to all of the bidding boxes in the Club, no matter where they are.
• The "PASS" cards in all of the bidding boxes in the Club, have all been upgraded again, for the second time this year, and all those that were showing signs of wear & tear have been replaced. 
• Have you noticed the larger than ever shelf of library of books available? - borrow what you like & try to remember to return them, when you have finished with them.
• Did you know that we purchased a brand new dealing machine for the Club this year?
• How often do you think that we replace the playing cards that we all use?
• There are a lot of unsung people, quietly working away keeping OUR bridge club functional. 
• Have you noticed the "Headers" on the notice boards?
• Have you noticed the new coat hooks & additional one outside the kitchen? You may have noticed that the old hat & coat stands have now finally disappeared. 
• Do you have any ideas to make things easier at the Club

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