Well, the big day is here, and tonight sees the start of the 2024 Bermuda Regional at the luxurious Hamilton Princess, the first time the event has been held there which makes it even more exciting.

Rachael Gosling and her committee are ready to welcome our guests, and the opening event, as always, is the Ernie Owen Memorial Charity Pairs, a formal black-tie optional event, the proceeds of which are donated to local charities.

Directing the event will be a team of directors who come down from the US and Canada – the team is supplemented by our own Jack Rhind who is a fully qualified American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) tournament director and is headed up by the remarkable Sol Weinstein who this year will have been part of the directing team for 50 years! Sol started in the team under the legendary Maury Braunstein and has now earnt legendary status in his own right.

Producing the eagerly awaited daily bulletins will once again fall to Janet Evans and Bill Souster who provide a great mix of bridge hands, instructional articles, results, tourism information, gossip and other nonsense that makes the bulletin so enjoyable.

The game schedule was posted last week – in addition to the bridge sessions the expert panels are usually on at 1pm on four of the days and the closing banquet and prize-giving will kick off at 6pm on the Friday evening.

We always have a number of experts attending and at this point I know of Gail Greenberg, Jeff Hand, Joe Grue, Margie Sullivan, Robert Todd and Jade Barrett, and most of these will be involved in the expert anels.

As always we look forward to a great event that will hopefully maintain the high standards set by the Regionals held to date. Helping us do that are a number of generous sponsors which include the Bermuda Department of Tourism, IGI Insurance, Gorham’s, Gosling’s, Butterfield & Vallis, BGA and Tops.

I didn’t have much room for a full hand last week as the space was dominated by the Regional Schedule, so I provided a hand as a quiz and, being a caring person, decided to show you all four hands (see Figure 1)!

Hint – concentrate on the spot cards … …

After North opened one heart, South ended up as declarer in 3NT.

West leads the King of spades – you hold up, and when East pitches a diamond on the spade continuation you win the Ace – over to you!

Things don’t look good – if West has the heart Ace you are dead, but that is unlikely given his strong spade suit and lack of bidding. If East holds the Ace you need a lot of luck as hearts will need to be 3-3 and you have to keep West off lead.

You lead a heart and when West plays the seven you realise it is the lowest heart held by the opponents so you duck, knowing that East has to win the trick!

East wins and tries the Queen of diamonds but you now have the bit between your teeth – you win and play another heart to the King – East is now helpless and can’t stop you making three heart tricks – add this to the one spade, two diamonds and three clubs and the contract makes!

What if West plays the heart ten on the first round? You play the Queen, which loses to the Ace and a diamond comes back – you return to hand with a club and play another heart.

If West plays the seven, duck in dummy and East has to win the trick – if West tries the Jack you can win in dummy and play a heart and East is again forced to win and your contract is safe.

Not easy, keeping track of those pesky spot cards, but it was essential on this hand.

Give yourself a huge pat on the back if you got it right!

• Sad news to close with as we learnt of the passing of our eldest member, the lovely Gwen Christensen who was just short of her 100th birthday. A nicer person you could not meet, and she brought elegance, charm and a lovely smile to the Bridge Club where she was, for many years, a fixture at the afternoon rubber bridge games. She will be missed and our thoughts are with Willi, who plays at the club, and the rest of the family – our thoughts are with them.

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, January 12

North/South

1. Gertrude Barker-Rachael Gosling

2. Richard Keene-Erika Jones

East/West

1. Martha Ferguson-Molly Taussig

2. Stephanie Kyme-Diana Diel

Monday, January 15

North/South

1. Elysa Burland-Molly Taussig

2. Jack Rhind-Margaret Way

3. Gertrude Barker-Martha Ferguson

East/West

1. Tracy Nash-Desmond Nash

2. Judith Bussell-Diana Diel

3. Caroline Svenson-Jane Clipper

Tuesday, January 16

1. Malcolm Moseley-Mark Stevens

2. Kerri McKittrick-Vivian Pereira

3. Duncan Silver-Marion Silver

Wednesday, January 17

1. Gertrude Barker-Magda Farag

2. Judith Bussell-Stephanie Kyme

3. Bill Souster-Sheena Rayner

Thursday, January 18

1. Claude Guay-Sharon Shanahan

2. Gertrude Barker-John Glynn

3. Miodrag Novakovic-Margaret Way

Friday, January 19

1. Stephanie Kyme-Diana Diel

2. Harry Kast-John Rayner

3. Lorna Anderson-Joyce Pearson

Monday, January 22

North/South

1= Loise Rodger-Molly Taussig

1= Diana Downs-Inger Mesna

3. Jack Rhind-Tony Saunders

East/West

1. Margaret Way-Rachael Gosling

2. Lorna Anderson-Heather Woolf

3. Peter Donnellan-Lynanne Bolton

Tuesday, January 23

North/South

1. Erika Jones-Delton Outerbridge

2. Sarah Bowers-Stuart Clare

3. Mark Mosley-Mark Stevens

East/West

1. Nikki Boyce-Carol Eastham

2. Benjamin Stone-Adam Cartwright

3. Jean Schilling-John Thorne

Wednesday, January 24

1. Gertrude Barker-Jane Smith

2. Sheena Rayner-Molly Taussig

3. Patricia Siddle-Diana Diel

Thursday, January 25

North/South

1. John Glynn-Rachael Gosling

2. Stephanie Kyme-Jeff Hand

3. Roberta Meadow-Amelia Grosberg

East/West

1. Elizabeth McKee-Gail Greenberg

2. Nick Kempe-Desmond Nash

3. Miodrag Novakovic-Margaret Way

Non-Bridge Club Online Results for Bridge Club Members

January 14 – Elizabeth McKee and Diana Diel – 1st out of 80 pairs