Plus ça change

Quite a different team for the Tolly qualifier this year, but not much change in the outcome. After 5 matches we had 50 VP out of 100 and hopes of mid-table respectability, but we then scored 2, 0, 1 and 1 to free fall down the table, only saved from last place by a Devon team that was much weaker than usual. (It's good to know that we are not the only county to have problems in selecting their best team.)

The single most costly hand was against East Wales, where both of our pairs overbid to 4 hearts with

	♠ A K Q ♥ 8 ♦ K Q 10 7 5 ♣ K 9 6 3
	♠ 9 4 ♥ A Q 10 9 5 4 ♦ J 9 ♣ 10 8 4

Even vulnerable at teams, this is a rather optimistic game and both opposing pairs stopped in 3 hearts. However, the Ace of clubs was onside and there were no defensive ruffs, so 4 hearts depended on playing the trumps for one loser.

It may look like a pure guess whether to finesse the Q or the 10; this is so if the suit breaks 3-3, but on a 4-2 break it never gains to finesse the 10. Finessing the Q has a 40% chance of success, compared with 34% for a finesse of the 10. Unfortunately both Dorset players finessed the 10, converting a gain of 40 imps to a loss of 26 imps.

Ann and I saved some face by finishing above half way in the Butler rankings, although I felt that this flattered our performance as we had more than our fair share of presents. My main contribution to the debacle was this hand

	♠ 9 4 2 ♥ 9 6 ♦ Q 6 ♣ J 9 8 7 6 4
	♠ 8 ♥ A K J 7 5 ♦ A K J 8 7 5 2 ♣

I was South and opened 1 diamond - I strongly believe that you should bid your suits on this type of hand rather than open with an artificial strong bid. West bid 1 spade, East made an unassuming cue bid of 2 diamonds and I bid 3 hearts. East now bid 4 spades, passed round to me and my 5 diamonds was doubled by East.

The defence began with two rounds of spades. The correct line is to ruff, cash A K of hearts and ruff a heart with the queen. Return to hand with a spade ruff and ruff another heart with the 6 to set up the last heart. East can overruff but you ruff the return, draw trumps and claim. These manoeuvres were necessary as West held four hearts to the Queen and East held all four trumps. I managed most of this but suffered what my partner described as a 'senior moment' and ruffed high at the end to go one down.

Off to a bad start

In the last 16 of the Hubert Phillips we are playing against one of the seeded teams. The match got off to a bad start on the first board, when we had a chance to pick up a game swing, but inferior play at both tables meant that the swing went to the opponents.

		♠ A Q 6 4 ♥ K 10 7 ♦ 9 6 ♣ 10 9 8 2
	♠ J 9 ♥ A 8 5 4 2 ♦ J 5 3 2 ♣ 7 4

At my table, I was South and LHO opened a strong no-trump after two passes. Partner (Martin) overcalled with an Asptro 2♦ (spades and another suit) and RHO raised to 3NT. Partner led the eight of spades (2nd highest from a bad suit) and declarer won with the King in hand. After much thought, he led a heart to the Jack, King and I won with the ace. Now what? I returned the two of diamonds - not good enough as the full hand was

	♠ 10 8 7 3 2 ♥ J ♦ A Q 10 4 ♣ K 6 5
♠ K 5 ♥ Q 9 7 3 ♦ K 8 7 ♣ A Q J 3		♠ A Q 6 4 ♥ K 10 7 ♦ 9 6 ♣ 10 9 8 2
	♠ J 9 ♥ A 8 5 4 2 ♦ J 5 3 2 ♣ 7 4

My diamond lead went to the eight and ten. Martin now played Ace and another diamond but declarer won and ran his hearts to squeeze North. Although Martin bared his King of clubs smoothly, he was marked with the King after the overcall and declarer dropped it to make an overtrick. There is only one card for me to play at trick 3 - the Jack of diamonds.

In the other room, our team mates were playing a weak no-trump so West opened 1♥ . North overcalled 1♠ and South doubled the final contract of 3NT. I think that this asked for a non-spade lead, so North led ace and another diamond. Declarer can now make the contract by playing on hearts and then squeezing North in the black suits, but in practice she took the club finesse and was one down.

Although North found an overcall in both rooms, I'm not sure that it was a wise choice as it gave declarer the clue to the winning line.Without the overcall, declarer would surely take the club finesse.

Should Have Stayed in Bed

Our second round Crockford's match was one of those evenings where I could do nothing right. Apart from going off in several making contracts, this was the sort of thing that was happening to me. At red, I held

♠	K 10 7 6 5
♥	K 3
♦
♣	A 10 9 6 5 2

Partner passes and RHO opens a Precision 1♦. We don't have a 2-suited overcall to show this hand so I bid 2♣. LHO now cue-bids 3♣, pass from partner, 3♥ on my right. Not having shown my 5-card major on the previous round, I feel obliged to try 3♠. LHO now jumps to 5♦ and partner bids 5♠. I hope she is allowing for my usual over-bidding, as otherwise this might be going for 1100. As expected, RHO places the red card on the table but leftie is still there and removes to 6♦ which partner doubles.

I lead the Ace of clubs and dummy is a bit of a shock

♠	Q 8
♥	5
♦	A K Q J 9 6 4 2
♣	7 4

Partner plays the Jack and declarer follows small. We play reverse attitude on Ace leads, so partner could have J, Jx or KJ. What now? If declarer has AQJx of hearts and KQx of clubs, we need to cash our spade tricks immediately, but a spade lead will be disastrous if partner does not have the Ace.

At the table I tried a spade and began to feel ill when dummy's queen held. Declarer's hand was

♠	A 3
♥	Q J 9 7
♦	10 7 5
♣	K Q 8 3

Should I have got this right? There are no guarantees, but I think a club continuation is best. This works if partner has KJ or singleton J of clubs, or the Ace of hearts, and only loses when partner has the Ace of spades. Even then, declarer has a choice of plays in hearts and may choose to finesse.

Overtime

We tried our best to lose our first round Crockfords match against a team from Wells, but the match ended in an exact tie (the second time this has happened to me this year!) and we won by 11 imps in overtime. This was a declarer play problem that I got wrong

	♠ Q 3 2 ♥ A 9 3 ♦ 8 6 3 ♣ K 9 6 2
	♠ A K 7 6 5 ♥ K J 7 5 ♦ K Q 7 ♣ J

South	West	North	East
RockH		Rev
11♠		22♣	p
22♥		23♠	p
33NT	p	44♠

Partner had a close decision whether to pass 3NT or bid 4♠ -as my singleton club is the Jack, 3NT is a rather better contract on the actual hand.
West led the Jack of trumps. I won in hand to lead a club, and West went in with the Ace (East dropping the 10) and switched to a diamond. East took the ace and returned the suit. So far, things had been going well but when I played the King of trumps West showed out.
I played a trump to the queen, cashed my other diamond winner (both following) and exited with a trump. If East had no more diamonds he would have been end-played now, but he produced the thirteenth diamond and I had to ruff. Meanwhile East had thrown 3 clubs and a heart. We were now down to

	♠ ♥ A 9 ♦ ♣ K 9
	♠ ♥ K J 7 5 ♦ ♣

I crossed to the Ace of hearts and cashed the King of clubs, both following small. It looked as if the clubs were 6-2 in which case the hearts were originally 3-3. I could either take the heart finesse or hope that West had the queen and had been squeezed. As West might have led a heart rather than a diamond with three small in both red suits, I went for the squeeze. Needless to say this was the wrong view and we lost 12 imps when they took the finesse in the other room. Can you see how I should have played to avoid the guess in hearts?

Birthday treat

On the Saturday of the Swiss pairs at Brighton it is Ann's birthday. Both opponents gave her a couple of presents on this hand - clues from the bidding that pointed the way to a fine piece of declarer play.

E-W vul

	♠ AQ9432 ♥ K ♦ AKJ ♣ 765
♠ 8 ♥ J962 ♦ Q852 ♣ KQJ10		♠ KJ1076 ♥ 8753 ♦ 107 ♣ 98
	♠ 5 ♥ AQ104 ♦ 9643 ♣ A432

South	West	North	East
AnnyS		RockH
p	p	1♠	p
2♣	X	3♠	p
3NT	p	p	X

My 3♠ was wrong - I should have redoubled, which must be game forcing after a 2 level response. If the opponents run they are in deep doo-dah, although perhaps my misbid turned out well as 2♣ redoubled would have gone down on normal play. West's double was not alerted but when he led the king of clubs it was clear what he meant.

Ann ducked the club, won the second round, finessed the ♦J and then cashed AK of diamonds, king of hearts and ace of spades before exiting with dummy's last club. West was able to cash two more winners in the minors but was endplayed and forced to concede the last three tricks in hearts. Well played indeed.

Unfortunately we didn't always play that well. Here are a couple of text book problems that we failed to solve at the table

N-S vul

	♠ A873 ♥ A8765 ♦ A6 ♣ Q6
♠ 54 ♥ 92 ♦ J94 ♣ AJ10984		♠ KQJ2 ♥ 43 ♦ 10832 ♣ K32
	♠ 1096 ♥ KQJ10 ♦ KQ75 ♣ 75

South declared 4 hearts after West opened 3 clubs and East raised. West led ♣A and continued with a second club to the King. Now East switched to the king of spades.

Best is to duck the King (surely West would have led a spade if he had a singleton), win the next spade and run the trumps (throwing a spade from hand) to squeeze East in the pointed suits. On the actual layout you can also succeed even after taking the first round of spades. On the run of the trumps East has to keep his diamonds and must come down to a singleton spade. Now declarer plays a spade to set up the 8 - a squeeze without the count.

♠ 1076 ♥ AKJ104 ♦ 2 ♣ 9742 ♠ A2 ♥ Q8653 ♦ 743 ♣ AQ5

I opened 1NT as South and ended in 4 hearts. West led a diamond and switched to a trump, East following. I took a mundane club finesse, hoping that if it lost West would fail to switch to a spade and that clubs would be 3-3.

A better chance is to play for an elimination. Cash the Ace of spades at trick 3 and then play another spade. On any return I can draw the last trump, cash the Ace of clubs and eliminate spades and diamonds, ending with the lead in dummy. Now play a club. This line still wins when East has the king of clubs, but also when West has a singleton or doubleton King, which was the case on the actual hand.

Grand Designs

At Bournemouth Bridge Club we started with new packs, which normally require an enormous amount of shuffling to produce random deals. When my first 8 hands were all either 4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2 it looked as if we were in for a dull evening. Fortunately things improved after that, but then I picked up

♠KJ10x ♥Qxx ♦KJ10x ♣Ax

Another boring 1NT? Not exactly. I opened 1NT and partner bid 3 clubs, a natural slam try. Although I have a maximum, it's not a great hand for a club slam but I think that it is too good to rebid a discouraging 3NT, so I try 3 diamonds. Partner bids 3 hearts, doubled on my right and now I bid 3NT. Partner goes into the tank and and after a while bids 4 clubs. Our system is that when we take out 3NT into 4 of a minor, 4NT on the next round is a sign off, so that's what I bid. Now partner returns to the tank for an extended visit. After much agonising she eventually takes all the cards out of the box - 7NT and produces

♠A ♥A ♦AQxxx ♣KQJ9xxx

Well bid partner! Though for maximum style points Ann should have bid 7NT two rounds earlier. 3 diamonds must show diamond length with the A or K , and I would surely have rebid 3NT with an aceless hand.

Hands from the past - Giant killing in the Gold Cup

Late one night I arrived home from a business trip to Edinburgh, only to be told by my wife 'You might be going back - Bartlett's been on the phone, and you have got to play some Jocko team in the Gold Cup'. The 'Jocko team' turned out to be the top Scottish team and number five seeds, Steel, Matheson, Cuthbertson and McIntosh. I went away on holiday while Keith sorted out the arrangements to play the match at a half way venue in Manchester Bridge Club.

After the first set of eight boards, I wished we hadn't bothered. The opponents had made a close slam on the second board, and Miles and I had eight minus scores on our card. We were relieved to be only 11 imp down. The second set continued in the same vein, we were 22 imp down and the match seemed to be following a predictable course.

Then came two boards which altered the whole complexion of the match.

♠ A J 3
♥ A 4
♦ A Q 8 4 3
♣ 8 6 5


♠ 5
♥ Q J 8 7 5 3
♦ J
♣ A J 10 7 2

Miles and I bid

1♥ - 2♦
2♥ - 3♣
4♣ - 4♥


The crucial bid was Miles' three clubs, which steered us into the best contract. Four hearts made eleven tricks when the hearts and clubs both behaved. In the other room the Scots had to contend with a Gary Pick weak jump overcall of two spades on Q 10 x x x , and ended in 3NT. This had to go one down on a spade lead for a swing of 13 imp. On the very next board Miles and I overbid to six hearts on these hands.

♠ K Q J 3
♥ 7 5 4
♦ 6
♣ A Q J 7 2


♠ A 5
♥ A Q J 8 6 3
♦ K 7 4
♣ 8 4


West led a spade, and as dummy went down an angry local burst into the room, complaining that we were using the boards which he had painstakingly prepared for a teaching class. Disturbed by this interruption (that's my excuse), I mistakenly won in dummy and led a diamond to the king and ace. West now returned a club, leaving me in a dilemma- should I go up with the ace and hope that East had singleton or doubleton king of trumps, or finesse the club which would allow me to pick up king to three trumps with East? After much thought I followed the first line, but the cards lay so well that both lines would have worked.

The contract in the other room was a sensible four hearts, so we had another 13 imp. Can you seen how I should have played? With a few small gains on the other boards we won the set 35-0, the match had turned round and we eventually held on to win by 14.

What about that six hearts? The correct line is to win the spade lead in hand and play a diamond (the king is best as it may avoid a potential spade ruff). If West wins and returns a club you win with dummy's ace, finesse a heart, ruff a diamond, draw trumps and claim. This line wins as long as the trump finesse works and the trumps break 2-2 or 3-1.

Hands from the past - the Reverend's Coup

The 4th round of the 2007 Gold Cup saw a local derby between two Dorset teams captained by Phil Norman and Keith Bartlett, with the prize for the winner being bragging rights and the chance to take on a seeded team in the round of 32. Keith’s team (Anne Sharples, Barrie Cantello and me) had the better of things, and a couple of weeks later I got an e-mail from Keith that said ‘The draw for round 5 finds us against Allfrey, Forrester, Robson & Bakshi. No trouble then! After we beat them, we probably get Peter Lee's team from Surrey, and then Byrne of Manchester in the quarter-finals.’ In spite of Keith’s optimism, our match against Allfrey was a bit like Weymouth playing Chelsea in the 4th round of the FA Cup. With the bridge correspondents of two national newspapers in the team, the opponents had arranged for duplimated boards with hand records, so that details of any interesting hands could be made available for the delectation of readers of The Times and the Daily Telegraph, not to mention the Dorset Coup. Although we did not manage a giant killing, conceding when 48 imps down after 40 boards, we did have our moments. Here is a hand where Barrie Cantello (aka the Reverend), perhaps inspired by playing in an old rectory, came up with a coup that I had never met before, either in print or at the table. I doubt if Tony Forrester had seen it either, as it caused him to go down in a cold game.

	♠ A9752 ♥ Q532 ♦ K103 ♣ J
♠ Q10 ♥ 64 ♦ A986 ♣ 97653		♠ KJ864 ♥ A8 ♦ QJ75 ♣ A10
	♠ 3 ♥ KJ864 ♦ 42 ♣ KQ842

Forrester declared four hearts after Barrie had opened one spade as east. I led a spade which Forrester won with dummy’s ace to play a club. Barrie took the ace and cashed the ace of trumps. If he had continued with the obvious play of another trump, I am sure that Forrester would have made the contract by playing a top club (throwing a diamond in dummy) and ruffing a club. When the 5-2 club break is revealed, declarer is a trick short but he can ruff a spade back to hand and lead a diamond towards the king for his tenth trick. But after Barrie had taken the ace of hearts he switched to a spade, convincing Forrester (and everyone else at the table) that he had started with a singleton ace of trumps. Forrester ruffed the spade and thought that he might have a winning line on a cross ruff, so he cashed the king of clubs throwing a diamond from dummy. The fall of the ten of clubs was suspicious, but surely it was safe to cash the queen of clubs as East could not have any more trumps. It was something of a shock when Barrie ruffed with a card he could not possibly have – a trump – and played a diamond to my ace for one down. So now you know the Reverend’s coup – cash the ace of trumps when holding A x or A x x and switch to another suit. Declarer is bound to play you for a singleton ace. 

Only one hand from this match ended up in the national press, and even that was not quite truthful. 

 

 I was the West who led the 'dubious' eight of diamonds, but declarer (Robson) did not actually play as described in the article and went one down. Not that it really mattered, as Forrester and Bakshi were allowed to play in four hearts at the other table for a big gain.

Hands from the Past - a Bad Trump Break

One of the most valuable rules of Bridge is David Burn’s Law of Total Trumps. ("When you are declarer, the total number of trumps held by your side should be greater than the total number of trumps held by your opponents.")

It's normally a good idea to keep on the right side of Burn's Law, but not always. My most spectacular piece of law breaking came in a county KO match, where Roy France and I played in five clubs vulnerable with a combined trump holding of four to the jack. In spite of the ludicrous contract, the bidding was not unreasonable, nobody doubled, and we even gained on the board.

The hand comes from the match between Keith Bartlett and Shirley Groome, won convincingly by Shirley, in spite what happened here.

Game all

	♠ 95 ♥ KJ10 ♦ A4 ♣ AK10653
♠ 32 ♥ 5 ♦ KQJ952 ♣ J842		♠ AQJ10746 ♥ 874 ♦ 8763 ♣
	♠ K86 ♥ AQ9632 ♦ 10 ♣ Q97

At my table the auction was brief but eventful

South	West	North	East
1♥	2♦	4NT	5♣

I have to admit that I was East, and my five clubs was an attempt to get a club lead against five or six hearts, and to give the opponents a chance to forget their responses to Blackwood after intervention. Unfortunately this cunning plan backfired when South passed to show one ace, West passed to show club tolerance, and North passed to show even more club tolerance.

I am sure that North (Andy Passmore) was right to pass five clubs - he knew that six hearts would go down on a club lead, and the penalty in five clubs undoubled would be worth more than a game.

North-South could have taken all the tricks, but it is always difficult to find the optimum defence against silly contracts, and they generously allowed me to take a spade, a heart ruff and a diamond (!) for a penalty of 800.

Meanwhile Keith Bartlett and Gary Pick had a good auction to the second best contract on the North-South cards .

South	West	North	East
1♥	pass	3♣	pass
3♥	pass	4♦	pass
5♣	pass	6♥	double

28 imps hung on the choice of opening lead. East's double was Lightner, which asks partner to find an unusual lead and is usually based on a void. Perhaps South should have removed to 6NT (which makes on any lie of the cards), but West failed to get the message and led a diamond. Declarer quickly wrapped up all the tricks for 1860 and a 14 imp swing.

Torquay 2009

Which discard system do you prefer? Several people at my local club play a system called Dodds, where any discard conveys a message about your holding in another suit, the exact meaning depending on whether the card is high or low, odd or even, red or black, or if it’s Tuesday or Thursday. I ought to make the effort to understand it, but life’s too short at my age.

Instead, I get my own back on the Dodderers by telling them that my discards are ‘KWTL’. When this results in a puzzled look, I explain that KWTL is not a country music radio station in Oklahoma, but stands for ‘keep winners throw losers’. KWTL ought to be a simple system to play, but it’s not always that easy…

In the Torquay Swiss Pairs my right hand opponent is a leading tournament player, though his partner is unknown to me. On the last hand of the match, honours are about even when I pick up

♠ 5 3 2 ♥A K J 10 ♦ 9 5 4 ♣ A J 7

and hear partner open a reverse Benji two diamonds. I relay with two hearts and partner bids two spades to show a hand with eight playing tricks in spades. I set the suit by raising to three spades, and partner makes a cue bid of four diamonds. I am going to bid a slam so I wheel out 4NT, key card Blackwood, getting a response of five diamonds to show three key cards. I make a further enquiry with five hearts and hear six diamonds, showing the queen of trumps and the king of diamonds but no king of clubs.

I could bid six hearts now, to confirm that we have all the key cards and maybe to suggest a grand if partner holds the queen of hearts, but that would take us into uncharted waters and I am going to settle for a small slam. I can count eleven top tricks and the contract will depend on a heart finesse at worst. As it is pairs I go for the maximum and bid 6NT.
West leads the king of clubs and I see

♠ A K Q J 7 6
♥
♦ A K 7
♣ 8 6 5 4


♠ 5 3 2
♥ A K J 10
♦ 9 5 4
♣ A J 7

Rats. I hadn’t thought of that. So much for taking a heart finesse for my twelfth trick. On the opening lead East plays the nine, which could be the start of a peter to show a doubleton, so it looks as if West has four or five clubs to the K Q 10. How do you rate my chances now?

If West has the expected club holding, the contract is odds-on. East is more likely to hold the queen of hearts (he has fewer clubs and more vacant places in his hand for the other suits), and in that case there will be a double squeeze as neither opponent will be able to guard diamonds in the end game. I might even be able to win the last trick with the seven of diamonds and claim a free beer, although it is the first match of the day and I do not normally start drinking at 11.30 am.

I duck the first trick to tighten the position for the squeeze. West switches to a low diamond, so I win in dummy and cash the spades. There is no need to count the opponent’s hands - I just need to keep track of whether they unguard either minor - and I don’t look too closely at their discards. I throw a heart and a diamond, but then I have to discard the jack of clubs. That shouldn’t matter, as if West holds K Q 10 he will still be in sole charge of the suit.
I come to hand with the Ace of clubs. By now East will have been squeezed out of his guard in one of the red suits. If he has unguarded diamonds, two rounds of hearts will now squeeze West in the minors.

I cash the top hearts and the queen falls from East so I claim my slam, only slightly disappointed that I did not take the last trick with the seven of diamonds. All this has taken a while, so there is no time for a post-mortem and we move on to the next match, feeling quite satisfied at having made a slam on a double squeeze.
It is only after the session when I study the hand records that the full deal is revealed as





No squeeze was needed, as after ducking the opening lead I had twelve top tricks. Or I did until I threw the jack of clubs away, an abject failure to follow KWTL. Fortunately East let me off the hook as he also violated KWTL by discarding a third heart rather than a diamond. If he had kept three hearts and three clubs I would have gone down in a cold contract.

A final point about the bidding - I only chose play in no-trumps because we were playing pairs. It occurred to me afterwards that the auction had revealed a lot about partner’s hand but almost nothing about mine, so there was a good reason for my hand to be declarer at any form of scoring. I don’t think that East would have misdefended if my hand had been on the table.

Year End 2008

After the Tolly I was tempted to give up competitive bridge, but the persuasive Mrs Sharples encouraged me to sit opposite her for the mixed pairs at the London Year End Congress. It seemed a good omen when I forgot the system on Board 1 and we still managed to end in the right contract and get a decent score. The opponents were in charitable mood throughout and Ann played very well so we ended the first session in the lead.

In the second session we made a few mistakes but the opponents were still distributing largesse at regular intervals so that I felt we had a chance going into the last round. A poor bid from me led to a below-average first board and then came this little number, where I was declarer in 1NT at love all

♠ J 7 5 2
♥ 6 4
♦4
♣ J 9 8 7 4 3


♠ Q 3
♥ A 8 3
♦ K Q J 10 7
♣ A Q 10

I opened 1♦ and west's overcall of 1♥ was passed back to me. I bid 1NT to end the auction.

If you are wondering why North did not remove 1NT to 2♣, it was the last hand of a long day and her mind was already focussed on for more important matters, such as whether the large glass that would shortly be in her hand should be filled with Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon.

I ducked the opening lead and won the third round, West having started with ♥KQJ10xx. When I played on diamonds East took his ace on the third round, while I threw a spade and two clubs from dummy. I was expecting a spade switch which would allow the opponents to cash out for two down, but East played a club, and what had seemed like an auto-pilot hand now required some thought.

If East has the king of clubs, I can play the ten, overtake with dummy’s jack, repeat the club finesse and take eight tricks, but a losing finesse will lead to three down and a near bottom. Or I can go up with the ace of clubs and settle for one off.

Time stood still while I dithered and dummy’s need for a glass of wine grew ever more desperate. Eventually I decided to play the ace, on the grounds that the opponents could make at eight or nine tricks in hearts, so that one off would not be too bad a score. I try to avoid hyperbole, so let’s just say that I was rather pleased when West followed with the king and the contract rolled in with two lucky overtricks.

Making nine tricks on the last hand scored 59 match points out of 68… and we won by 4 (2365 to 2361). It was only when looking back later that I realised that a singleton king was the most likely explanation of the opponents’ caution in passing out 1NT. Another one for the Rabbi’s Rule - the king of clubs is always bare.

A few weeks later, another hand from this event found its way into Zia's column in the Grauniad

The last event of the old year, aptly named the "year end festival" by the English Bridge Union, provided an excellent example of a worthwhile resolution that you all might make for the new year. However hopeless your position may seem at the bridge table, never give up. Love all, dealer North.

South's jump to game was a normal enough move on his cards, but when he was doubled by West and the dummy was displayed, he could barely suppress a groan. Four hearts doubled seemed booked for two down, and it was clear that East-West could not make a game, so minus 300 was bound to be an awful result.

West began with the two top diamonds and, confused by East's signal in the suit, continued with a third round. That at least gave South the chance to dispose of his losing spade on dummy's queen
of diamonds, but prospects still looked bleak . Declarer called for dummy's low spade (it would not help to lead the king and ruff away East's ace, since that would not resolve the problem of trump losers), and East followed with the nine. South ruff ed, led the queen of hearts to the king and ace, watched East show out, and almost resigned himself to his fate – surely West was bound to make two of his three remaining trumps.

South ruffed a spade – not caring whether East played the ace, for this did not matter – cashed three rounds of clubs ending in dummy, ruffed another spade and led a fourth round of clubs. West, down to 10 8 6 of hearts , had to ruff this trick and lead into South's remaining hearts, which were J 9.

"Sorry", said West. "I thought you might be ruffing the third round of diamonds, and in any case I was certain I had two trump tricks, so my defence did not matter." "No, " said East, " I should have sacrificed in four spades." And I promise you – for I was there – that the words "but only if you were going to defend like that" never passed his lips.

When we played this hand the final contract was also 4♥ doubled after North had opened 1♣ and Ann overcalled 1♠. I cashed my top diamonds and led a spade to Ann’s Ace. A club would now lead to two down, but Ann made the natural looking return of diamond and South erred by discarding a club and coming to hand with a club. (He need to start on the trump reduction either by ruffing the diamond or ruffing a spade to hand).

Declarer then led the Queen of trumps which I ducked. When the four-nil break came to light he tried for a trump reduction and end play by ruffing two spades, but in the end game he held ♥ J 9 7, I had K 10 8 and dummy had A 5. I had to come to two tricks. If I had covered the Queen of hearts, in the end game declarer would have J 9 7 and I would have been end-played with 10 8 6. Plus 300 was worth 62 out of 68. One down would still have got us 42, but we needed those extra 20 points.