For this week and the next two weeks I am continuing in my mission to get my readers to buy, borrow and read more bridge books. As I wrote last week, I’m always puzzled as to why bridge players rarely read bridge books – granted, there are some that are a bit technical and dry, and appeal only to the cognoscenti, but the majority of them are full of stories, wit and humour, and at the same time contain fascinating and instructional bridge hands.

I promised to introduce you to four great new bridge books over the next few weeks in the hope that you will order them on Amazon or elsewhere. All four books are among the nominees for the International Bridge Press Association’s Book of the Year and I think you will enjoy them all!

Last week I featured Peter Weichsel’s Bridge’s First Hippie and this week it’s a book I have written about before, Zia Mahmood’s Bridge: A Love Story (2023 Master Point Press, paperback or e-book, 327 pages).

Zia unlocks his personal vault to share the secrets to his remarkable and enduring success for over 50 years. Fast-paced, irreverent, humorous and instructive, this book is for all levels, from beginner to super-expert. Join him as he travels the world playing mega high-stakes games in exclusive clubs as well as under the spotlight at international tournaments.

Who does Zia believe is the greatest player in the world? Why is bridge “sexy”? How did the rampant cheating scandals wreak havoc on the game? If you enjoyed Zia’s best seller, Bridge My Way, which Omar Sharif called “simply the best bridge book ever written”, you won’t be able to put this down. Zia is one of a kind and so is his story.

This week’s hand (see Figure 1) features a neat declarer play, where declarer ruffs a winner in order to gain another entry to dummy and set up a side suit.

In the auction, South conformed to the adage of not showing a bad suit in a good hand at the first opportunity. As a result, the club fit was lost but the best contract was found.

West led the Queen of diamonds, which declarer took with the Ace. Declarer saw that he had to hold his club losers to one to make the slam. Declarer would achieve this if clubs were 2-2 or if West began with a singleton King or Queen of clubs.

Looking further, however, declarer also realised that if the hearts proved to be 4-3, he would be able to set up a long heart and dispose of two low clubs from hand, one on the Ace and one on the fifth heart.

Accordingly, declarer cashed the King of hearts at trick two and crossed to dummy with the Ace of trumps. Declarer ruffed a heart high and then made the clever, and key, move of returning to dummy by ruffing the good King of diamonds.

When declarer ruffed a second heart high, he was relieved to see that both defenders followed suit. Since the suit had broken 4-3, declarer drew the outstanding trumps and returned to dummy with the Ace of clubs to discard two club losers on the A-9 of hearts.

On the actual layout, relying solely on the club suit by trying Ace and another club would have failed, losing two club tricks for down one.

So, declarer’s forethought in playing on hearts first was rewarded. Of course, if hearts had not broken 4-3 declarer would still be home if the clubs played for one loser – as always, two chances are way better than one!

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, July 5

1. Stephanie Kyme-Diana Diel

2. Aida Bostelmann-Heather Woolf

3. Gertrude Barker-Martha Ferguson

Monday, July 8

1. Margaret Way-Rachael Gosling

2. Joyce Pearson-Allyson Eadie

3. Sancia Garrison-Harry Kast

Tuesday, July 9

1. Robert Mulderig-James Mulderig

2. Malcolm Moseley-Mark Stevens

3. Benjamin Stone-Andrew Tobin

Wednesday, July 10

1. Martha Ferguson-Margaret Way

2. Linda Pollett-William Pollett

3. Patricia Siddle-Diana Diel

Thursday, July 11

1. Charles Hall-Stephanie Kyme

2. Peter Donnellan-Lynanne Bolton

3. Margaret Way-Linda Pollett