Sometimes a hand comes around that just makes you smile. This not a case of it being fantastic or unusual, but more that it comes straight out of the teaching files, of what do you do now!! 

Here is an offering from a recent Bridge holiday, that came up. In all cases, the final contract was 2 ♠,  apart from one rather strange occurrence, when they somehow ended up in 2 ♦. I know not how, and I don't want to even want to get to know how, but it finished up going 2 down, for a solid bottom.

When the cards are surveyed, you as declarer in East's seat, work out that in order for you to make this contract, you are going to have to enlist your opponents help, just to make this contract. You need to make 2 no ♠ tricks, 2 no ♥ tricks, 3 no ♦ tricks & 1 no ♣ trick (apart from ♠, every other suit splits 4 / 3, so eliminating any extra length winners). However, if the ♠ suit does not break 3 / 2, then there could be more ♠ losers. The question is can you get to your total of 8 tricks, or can the defenders find the way to limit you to 7 tricks?

Here, you get the really helpful lead from South of the 6 ♣, which you play low from dummy, and North plays the A ♣. That is now your ♣ trick secure, as now between your Q & J of ♣, you can force out the K ♣  with one of them, to cash the other for a trick. If North is clever now, they will switch to a ♥, forcing you to win with one of your top winners in hand. If you now lead a small ♠ to start to shift the big trumps out of your opponents hands, they may continue with another ♥. Now, if you lead yet another small ♠, again you get the news, with them both following, but a ♣ switch from North, will now lead to your downfall, as you can now, never cash 3 no ♦ tricks. South should cash their last ♠, so in the end it forces you to play all the rest of the hand from dummy, finishing with a losing ♣ to go one down. It is no help to overtake the ♦ winner from dummy with the A in your hand - you still cannot get rid of your losing trick. So where did it go wrong?

Were you frightened of your opponents trumping in with all their big winners, and so turning three winners into five winners? You were! Well you will always go down then. 

The way to make this contract, is to realise that you need to unblock the ♦ winners in dummy first. So, after getting a ♥ return at trick 2, you need to cash both the ♦ winners in dummy. Now you can lead a ♠, which one of your opponents will take. If they now lead another ♥ , you must win this, and then cash your A ♦, as your opponents could fasten you in dummy, with no entry to your hand to take this winner. Now you can lead yet another ♠, and whatever your opponents do now, as the cards are laid, you will come to a ♣ winner eventually (because that winner is in the dummy, where the trump tricks are). So 8 tricks made & contract made.

We have all seen this type of hand in the teaching manuals, so to come across it in reality...........   

NEW PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS & EXISTING MEMBERS ARE 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.

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, we  played a small competition. This week, we will talking about the procedures of Bridge.

Please remember, there will be no Bridge + Cake on 10th April, due to another function taking place that day, but we will return on Thursday 17th April.  

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 on in April. Please sign up on the notice board..................(when it appears).

The next Thursday teams session is TBA, but in June probably. 

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 Monday 7th 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 @ 6.45 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)........................... 

Last season began for Wakefield Bridge Club, when we were all asked in July 2024, if we would like to play in the upcoming Yorkshire Leagues. Coming off the high's of having a team win a division title, and one of our members, subsequently attending the YCBA AGM to collect the trophy, reality hit when we could only enter three teams for the next Yorkshire League Season. 

So we started up the season, and it did not look too promising for all our teams at Xmas 2024, as although our B team were flying along, our A & C teams were struggling, to say the least! Four matches down & only three to go, it looked like relegation could be in the air. Would our B team be promoted to Division 3, whilst our A team were relegated to Division 4? Would our C team be relegated into the bottom division, Division 7?

What transpired basically turned the form book upside down! Our C team managed two wins and a draw, to finish the season well clear of the relegation zone. Our B team managed one win and two losses, to see their promotion hopes fade away, and they were extinguished with a final match loss. Finally our A team managed three wins, which catapulted them into the final promotion spot out of Division 3. It has been a long time since Wakefield Bridge Club has had a team in Division 2 in the Yorkshire Leagues. 

So, what started out not so well, finished exceedingly well. The A team promoted, and B & C teams both finished comfortably in their respective divisions. Thanks must go to all our members who volunteered to give up some of their Sundays over the last six months, whether that was in playing, being available to play, or by helping with the catering for our home matches. Without you all, Wakefield could not be represented at this level of Bridge in Yorkshire. Just to note, that our opponents in the home matches, were very complimentary in their praise for the quality of the food that was produced.

So, we hopefully look forward to the YCBA 2025 / 2026 league season. The opening four dates are on our "CALENDAR". We will see which of you expresses an interest in playing in teams events which represent Wakefield Bridge Club in Yorkshire, a little bit further down the line............... 

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 not be aware, of what we have available in our Club, or what we have been doing inside our Club :-

• 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.
• 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...............
• The settee & chair have now disappeared, making room for an additional table in that space.
• Our smaller room now has more playing tables in it.
• Did you know that we purchased a brand new dealing machine for the Club last year?
• The blinds on the western side of our venue, have all been upgraded this year. 
• Have you noticed the additional new two sets of coat hooks outside the kitchen? 
• Do you have any ideas to make things easier at the Club?

Things are happening all around! 

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