Many congratulations to Erika Jones and Caitlin Conyers who lifted the Bermuda Bridge Club Novice Pairs Championship held two weeks ago – they had a superb 68.75 per cent game and needed it, as the second-placed pair Benjamin Stone and John Thorne were not far behind on 65 per cent.

These are two superb scores at this stage in their bridge journey, as these beginner events are usually won by scores in the high 50s in what is often a very bunched field.

It was good to see enough pairs enter to hold this event, and we will hopefully see the pairs from this field take the next steps into the Intermediate Strata. Well done Erika and Caitlin!

In other news we received the results for the various Player of the Year competitions which were:

• Senior Player of the Year - Jane Smith

• Intermediate Player of the Year - Betsy Baillie

• Junior Player of the Year - Jean Schilling

Player of the year titles are hard earned – not only do they require a lot of play but winning also calls for maintaining a high level of concentration week in week out – not an easy task. Many congratulations to the winners.

While we are talking about winners, I plucked from the Bridge Club website the following list of eight pairs who, during 2023, had recorded games above 70 per cent. Plus-70 per cent games are rare , as one can have a perfect 24/26 Boards and still land up in the 60s if other pairs have matched your score on each board, so to score 70 per cent or more is quite an achievement

• Malcolm Moseley and Mark Stevens, November 7, 76.25 per cent

Jean Schilling and John Thorne, August 15, 76.69 per cent

Molly Taussig and Tony Saunders, July 19, 77.5 per cent

Judy King and Martha Ferguson, June 10, 71.88 per cent

Stephanie Kyme and Joe Wakefield, June 5, 71.67 per cent

Charles Hall and Joe Wakefield, April 21, 77.73 per cent

Louise Payne and Katyna Rabain, January 3, 70.75 per cent

Note that the only name to appear twice on the list is that of the late Joe Wakefield and his game with Charles Hall was the best-scoring game of the year at 77.73 per cent, just pipping Molly Taussig and the remarkable Tony Saunders at 77.5 per cent. Well done to all these pairs.

Given that I’ve just covered the Novice Pair results, this week’s hand (see Figure 1) is a lesson in planning and is fairly straightforward when one sees the right play, although an expert declarer got it wrong in the finals of an English Team Championship and I’m sure many “advanced players” would do the same!

After two passes, East opened a super-light one heart in third seat to try and disrupt the bidding – South doubled and after a muddled sequence North-South ended up in the reasonable contract of five diamonds.

West led the heart seven – the expert South ruffed the second round of hearts, inexplicably drew three rounds of trumps and took the club finesse. This lost and West cashed a heart for down one.

I’m sure this play was repeated a few times as most declarers only start thinking about a hand after drawing trump!

This hand is perfect for a cross-ruff. After ruffing the heart, declarer should simply cash the AK of spades and the AK of clubs and give up a club to leave this position (see Figure 2).

Now there is nothing the defence can do to stop declarer cross ruffing the hand to make the contract. Notice that the existence of the Jack of clubs in the South hand was a ‘tender trap’ – without it the winning line becomes easier to find.

The hand highlights perhaps the most common mistake made by intermediate bridge players – the management of the trump suit. You are usually playing in a trump suit because there was some reason a NT contract did not appeal, and that means there must be some ruffing opportunities in the hand. That needs planning at trick one!

• David Ezekiel can be reached at davidezekiel999@gmail.com

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, December 29

1. Jane Smith-Margaret Way

2. John Burville-Molly Taussig

3. Stephanie Kyme-Diana Diel

Tuesday, January 2

North/South

1. Catherine Kennedy-Jean Schilling

2. Duncan Silver-Marion Silver

3. Wenda Krupp-Jane Gregory

East/West

1. James Mulderig-Robert Mulderig

2. Elaine Henderson-Peter Henderson

3. Tracey Pitt-Desiree Woods

Wednesday January 3

1. Wendy Gray-Richard Gray

2= Patricia Siddle-Diana Diel

2= Linda Pollett-Kristy Pollett

Thursday, January 4

North/South

1. Peter Donnellan-Gertrude Barker

2. Lynanne Bolton-Magda Farag

East/West

1. Claude Guay-Sharon Shanahan

2. Stephanie Kyme-Margaret Way