BRIDGE BY DAVID EZEKIELThe 2013 Bermuda Regional is now in the record books and what a great event it was more than double the number of visitors, a huge increase in table count, great weather, superb organisation and a great job by the hotel staff made for a memorable tournament.Well done to Katrina Van Pelt and all her Committee and they are going to have their work cut out to improve on this year, though from everything I heard the numbers are likely to be huge.Minister of Tourism Shawn Crockwell, and Billy Griffiths, the Director of Tourism, attended the final banquet and will have enjoyed seeing such a large group here in January.The week started slowly for the Bermuda players, but got substantially better towards the end and a number of pairs finished in the overalls. The highlight was Alan Douglas’ win in the Norman Bach trophy for the local with the most masterpoints in the week, and he collected 68.99 finishing ahead of his partner Bill Tucker who had 57.71 well done.Winning the Newcomer version of this event was Kathleen Keane with 3.24 masterpoints and she finished ahead of Renate Flint and Gillian Hamilton who both had 2.80.The local pairs finishing in the overalls in the Championship events were as follows :Sunday ..Swiss TeamsBracket 4 Malcolm Simmons/Ernest Paynter/Ellen Davison/Janice TrottBracket 5 Peter Donnellan/Lynanne Bolton/James Leitch/Thomas BoltonTuesday Bermuda Gold Pairs Linda and Bill PollettThursday Bermuda Gold Pairs Danielle and Noella CloutierStratified Pairs Bracket B Gertie Barker / Magda FaragFriday Knockout Teams Alan Douglas / Bill Tucker/Richard Chan/ Shan HuangFriday SwissStrata X Lyn O’Neill/AudreySmith/Diana Diel/Nea WillitsStrata B Michael Tait/Jane Clipper/Charles Pearman/Lorna AndersonCongratulations to all these players and to those who had success in the other events, these are large tough fields and any overall placing or section top is hard earned.I really liked this hand from the Knockout Teams :Board 5. N/S Vul. Dealer North.S Q84H Q105D AK76C A62S J1062 S K5H 62 H 83D 108542 D J9C 95 C KQJ10743S A973H AKJ974D Q3C 8WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH1NT 3C 3HPass 4C Pass 4SPass 5D Pass 6HNorth’s 4C bid was clearly a cue bid agreeing Hearts and after another couple of cue bids the slam was reached.West led a club and it was clear that the only problem was the spade suit, one of South’s spades could go on the diamond but then it seemed that West had to have the king of spades for the hand to make. At one table declarer won the club, drew trumps, took the spade pitch and then played Ace and another spade towards the queen when this lost to the King the contract went down one.At the other table declarer was a bit more experienced and was prepared to put some real work into the hand. He won the Club ace and at trick two ruffed a club with the trump nine. He now cashed the trump Ace and played a trump to the queen, finding trumps 2-2. After ruffing dummy’s remaining Club declarer cashed the top three diamonds pitching a spade and ruffed a diamond to come to this 4 card ending:S Q84H 10D NoneC NoneS J1062 S K5H None H NoneD None D NoneC None C KQS A97H JD NoneC NoneDeclarer now played the Ace of spades and a spade to the Queen, as at the other table this also lost to the King but in this case, due to the preparation by declarer, East had nothing but clubs left and had to give declarer a ruff and discard to let the contract make. Super play.Now we can all catch up on some sleep in time for the 2014 Regional.