The Men’s and Ladies Pairs concluded at the Bridge Club last Friday and there a was a contrasting finish in the two events, with real fireworks in the Ladies second session compared to an eerily sedate second session in the Men’s.In the Ladies Pairs, contested by 14 pairs, Jean Johnson and Lyn O’Neill had an astonishing 74.68% second session to come from absolutely nowhere to win the event by more than two boards.Judy Bussell and Stephanie Kyme had a good lead after the first session and held on to second place, with Lynanne Bolton and Marge Way in third and Sheena Rayner and Magda Farag in fourth.The Men’s pairs was entirely different with the first four placings remaining unchanged from the first session. Michael Bickley and Harry Kast had a one board lead in the 12 pair field after the first session over Bill Tucker and Alan Douglas and when both pairs strangely had exactly the same 62.55% game in the second session that was good enough to make Bickley Kast the winners from Tucker-Douglas with Joe Wakefield Tony Saunders in third and Hank Youngerman David Cordon in fourth.Congratulations to both sets of winners who, I guess, can be classed as ‘veterans’ in their respective fields and who, between them, have won any number of championships at the club.Michael and Harry deserve plaudits for two excellent sessions and Jean and Lyn must be congratulated for a sensational second session. It is very rare to see a score that big and even rarer for it to be in a winning cause in a championship event. Well done.I was looking for a hand for this week’s column and almost at the same time I received an email from Harry Kast, one of the winning pair in the Men’s Pairs, giving me a hand from the second session. So, here it is, in his own words.David,Thought I might send you a hand from the recent Men’s and Ladies pairs. Doing well in bridge often involves some skill and also a dose of good fortune (this hand, by the way, is very similar to the one in last week’s column).Game All. Dealer WestA987AŸJ987AKQ4543 Q1062J54 Q10973Ÿ Q10643 Ÿ AK2107 9KJK862Ÿ 5J86532On our last board of the first session, number four, West passed and I opened a precision club with the North hand. My LHO overcalled 2 diamonds(?) which I took to be a weak 2 diamond bid.My partner now bid a positive 3 clubs and West bid 3 diamonds around to me. I figured that partner must be void or at most have a singleton in diamonds. Maybe I should have tried Blackwood but figured that 6 clubs had to be on, so I bid it directly. After they take their diamond trick, it rolls with 13 or 14 tricks available.Turns out that LHO meant to make a one diamond bid, Cappelletti, to indicate the majors and accidentally bid 2 diamonds which in turn led me to bid 6 clubs.Funny game.My best,HarryHarry talks about the luck of the game, but what I like about this hand is his hand evaluation, and then the practical, reasonable leap to the club slam with no messing around. Knowing that it might not be the perfect spot but is certain to have a chance if South was short in diamonds.Well done.