Hi ,

I just heard the wonderful news that Pam Livingston will be representing NZ in the Women's Division next month! She'll be playing for New Zealand against Australia in a Zone 7 playoff.

I thought it'd be a great chance for us to learn a bit about how players are selected for international tournaments like this one, and lucky for us, Pam was willing to join us for this impromptu video:

Play Video

Congratulations, Pam!

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Partner asks for takeout. What do we choose?

Article by Daisy Dillon

Take-out doubles are extremely useful and versatile but often forgotten. Most of the time we will like one of the options partner has given us, but what do we do when we don’t? 

When thinking about what to respond to partner’s double, we consider:

1 - What’s the best strain to play in?

• A major whenever we have a fit is our first choice.
• NTs if we have a good stop in the opponent’s suit is our second choice.
• A fit in a minor is our third choice.
• With none of the above, we have a problem! We’ll come back to this in a bit.

2 - What level do we want to play at?

• With values for game and we know which strain we want to play in, we just bid it.
• With a weak hand with little to no interest in game, we bid our best strain at the lowest level.

3 - Do I have to bid?

• If the opponent has bid in between, we are allowed to pass.
• If the opponent has not bid in between, we can only pass if we want to convert partner’s takeout double into penalties. We need something exceptional for this.
• Otherwise we must bid something.

Let’s consider the two biggest problems you may have after partner has done a takeout double. The auction has gone 1♥ – X – P – ? to us. What should we bid with each of these hands:

Hand 1: ♠ 432 ♥ 87653 ♣ 432 ♦ 32

Oh no! We have no points and no fit anywhere. Do we panic, think for ages, and let our opponents know we have a problem? Hopefully not! We cannot pass as we expect 1♥X will make. Therefore, we smoothly bid 1♠ as this is the suit we have the most cards in other than hearts plus we’re only at the one level. 

Hand 2: ♠ 2 ♥ KQJT98 ♣ 432 ♦ 432

1♥ looks like a very bad spot for our opponents... (Click here to continue reading)

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Happy Easter and Happy Passover to everyone!

Thank you to Pam Livingston and Daisy Dillon for the video and article. And to all of you for your support.

Wishing you the best,

Bajir from Learn Bridge Online

Related links:

• Link to this Youtube video: https://youtu.be/YIHCr0IBrb8