Back in the Day

When clearing out my loft recently I came across a tatty old notebook where I used to record interesting hands. Here are a few examples from over 40 years ago in the Knight Cup.  This is now the Dorset county pairs championship, a one day event where it is a struggle to get more than eight tables. Back in the 1980s it was a different story; the local EBU county (Southern Counties) covered Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, and the Knight Cup involved heats at local clubs and two semi-finals before a ten table final. Just reaching the final was no mean achievement. 

In 1983 Graham Pearce and I qualified for the final for the first time. We were minnows amongst sharks but it was one of those rare days where we could do no wrong so I was hopeful of getting the half a green point that I needed to become a Regional Master. Back then there was no instant computer scoring or internet so you had to wait until the following evening and phone the scorer to find out the result. I remember him telling me that we had won by 'a considerable margin'.

 This was an example of our good fortune from that Knight Cup final.  

When Reese and Flint first developed the Multi 2♦ opening in the early seventies, it included strong 4441 hands as well as the usual weak twos in either major. If it was good enough for them it was good enough for us, so 3♣ showed 4441 with a singleton diamond and 18+ HCP. I had a little to spare but 4♥ was still a bit of a punt. West had read the textbook that told you to lead a trump after this sort of auction, but mistakenly chose to lead the nine of hearts. Graham won, cashed the top spades, ruffed a spade with the seven, then played a diamond to the ace and ruffed another spade with the eight. Meanwhile our friendly West discarded two clubs. When declarer led a club West took the ace and exited with a diamond, but now dummy was high so we made 12 tricks for a rather fortuitous top. 

Strong 4441 hands are pretty rare and including them in a Multi has now gone out of fashion, but the system came up again in the Knight Cup semi final the following year. 

On a club lead I won the ace, ruffed a club and led a heart to the queen and king. On a diamond return I was able to ruff two more clubs in hand and make 12 tricks when both major suits broke 3-2. In the final everything seemed to go well and we had another comfortable win. This hand helped.

In the 21st century I would make an immediate splinter bid 4♣ over 1♠, but back then we played it as some form of Swiss. It didn't matter as I was able to show my hand type on the next round. I should have redoubled 4♣ to show first round control, but we ended up in the right spot. The slam made with an overtrick for an outright top and helped us to keep hold of the cup.

Tollemache Final 2026

Last November Dorset did exceptionally well to win their group and qualify for the Tollemache final, no doubt helped by the fact that Ann and I were not playing. We were added to the team for the final to make up a team of 10. It was a nice change to play in a high level face-to-face event, but results were rather disappointing and we finished 7th out of 8. Ann and I held our own on the first day, but were out of form and luck on Sunday. This hand was a typical example.

Ann won the spade lead in dummy and ran the eight of clubs to West's ten. West defended accurately by returning a trump. After drawing trumps, West won the first round of diamonds and when both defenders kept their clubs there was no way home. 

The hand record showed that ten tricks could always be made, but we had to put the deal into Deep Finesse to find the winning line. The key play, not at all obvious, is to ruff a spade at trick two, and eventually West can be endplayed to concede a second club trick. You can follow the play by clicking Next on the diagram. Four hearts was the contract at 11 of the 16 tables, but was only defeated twice. I would be willing to bet that the other declarers succeeded due to a friendly defence rather than finding the double dummy line.

Violating Burn's Law

I expect that you have heard of 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.

But in bridge, there are exceptions to most rules. Take this spectacular deal from the 2025 Bermuda Bowl final between USA and Denmark.

South's 2♣ rebid was Gazilli, showing various hands and not promising anything in clubs, 2♦ just showed a game force and I believe that 3♠ promised a very strong red 2-suiter. So the Danes played a grand slam in a 5-1 fit in a suit that was bid for the first time at the 7 level. So much for Burn's Law.

Schaltz did remarkably well to pass 7♣ and after a trump lead, he brought home the slam by squeezing West in diamonds and spades. That was worth 17 imp when the Americans were two down in 7♦. 

A few weeks later, this hand came up in the rather more mundane surroundings of a club duplicate at Poundbury.

We were playing 2-over-1 so my 2♥ was forcing to game and I had a problem over 3♦. I was reluctant to bid 3NT with such a feeble stop and I thought that partner would expect three trumps if I bid 3♠, so I tried 3♥ and ended up in another contract that Mr Burn would not approve of. 

I won the spade lead in hand and played a top trump to East's ace. A low club switch would have given me a tricky guess but he returned another trump. I played the other top trumps, cashed the ace and queen of spades (throwing a club) and ruffed a spade. Now a diamond finesse and the last spade meant that East could only make his master trump.

On reflection I think that 3♠ is probably the best bid over 3♥, and in this specific sequence does not have to have three trumps. 4♠ would also have made but I was right to avoid 3NT as it goes down on a club lead.