Well, the big day is here and we welcome to the 2025 Bermuda Regional the hundreds of visitors who are mainly from the US and Canada, with a few from the UK.

The Regional starts with the Charity Pairs, as it has always done – part of the proceeds from tonight’s game will be donated to a local charity. The charity game is usually a bit more relaxed than the ones played Sunday through Friday, and gives players a good chance to reconnect with old friends ahead of the competitive games.

The Regional is far and away the highlight of the Bermuda Bridge calendar and there are a lot of people that make this event happen – chairpersons Rachael Gosling and Steve Cosham are in the hot seat this year and their planning will have started not long after the 2024 event concluded.

Rachael deserves huge plaudits for having the vision and tenacity to help bring the tournament back to Bermuda last year, despite having to overcome a ton of obstacles. Steve and Rachael are supported by a great committee who deserve individual mention as there is a ton of hard work and planning that goes into this event.

They are: Sharon Shanahan (treasurer), Lorna Anderson (trophies, caddies and help with sponsors), Gertie Barker (sponsors and prize desk), Judy Bussell and John Glynn – (partnerships), Judy King (website and finance support), Stephanie Kyme (ACBL Unit 198 president – prizes), Tracy Nash (general support), Lisa Rhind (hospitality desk), Rosie Smith (gala dinner dance). Adjunct members: Janet Evans (bulletin), David Ezekiel (MC).

Special mention must be made of Tim Morrison and his staff at the Hamilton Princess who have been so supportive – the hotel has had an amazing, multifaceted transformation under the Green family ownership and Tim’s leadership, and is a great example of combining a business mission with a community involvement that is so far-reaching.

Hal Browne and Amelie Smith are the ones that make it work for us at the hotel and their patience and expertise with large events play a big part in the success of the tournament.

And crucial to the staging of this tournament are some loyal and generous sponsors – the Bermuda Tourism Authority’s support was vital in getting the event back last year and their support continues.

Other major sponsors are IGI Insurance, who are with us for a second year, together with longtime supporters Goslings, BGA, Butterfield and Vallis and Lindo’s, who all play a part in sponsoring the events and helping us fill the goodie bags for the players.

Also new to sponsorship this year are BermudAir who have provided two flight tickets as raffle prizes at the banquet. Also for the raffle, the Hamilton Princess has provided four one-night stays for the 2026 Regional for locals or visitors – so I expect to see a lot of raffle activity on the closing night!

We have a number of well-known experts attending, including Gail Greenberg, Jeff Hand, Jerry Helms and Robert Todd from the US, first-time visitor Alejandro Bianchedi from Argentina, and possibly Brian Senior from England, and we can expect to see their names on the leader boards throughout the week.

The local players and visitors will all be looking to make their own mark, and success looks a lot different to the players in contention and to those who are just looking to make further progress in the game.

For those that look to be competitive, a few words of advice – stay focused, put the bad boards behind you the minute you take the cards out for the next hand, stay disciplined in the bidding, and trust your partner more than you trust the opponents, both in the bidding and play. And never give up on a session – the last few boards can often work wonders for your score.

For those at the earlier stages of the game – novices, intermediates and early advanced – much of the above applies but a bit more. Don’t worry too much about the final score in the session. Take each hand as a separate challenge, celebrate the ones you get right and ignore the others while the session is in progress.

But importantly, and I think you know what I’m about to say, take the time after the session, in person or on the phone, to go through each hand with your partner and discuss what you could have done better. That is the only route to improvement.

And to all the players, remember that we play this game for enjoyment – I realise that is not easy when your performances and results fall short of expectations, but just remember how lucky we all are not just to be playing the game, but to be playing it in this island paradise!

Best of luck all!

This week’s hand (see Figure 1) is a bit unusual in that the North/South pair bid to game in what they knew was a 4-3 major suit fit.

The bidding was great and took advantage of the opponents’ interference (see Figure 2).

North’s double was a “support double”, promising three-card support for spades. Three of clubs asked for a stopper in that suit, and from there a scramble to reach the best game began. When South rebid three spades to suggest a good suit, North raised and reached the best game.

West led the ten of hearts. Declarer won the trick with dummy’s Queen and cashed the Ace of trumps. Declarer now paused to consider his options.

He had nine winners – eight in the major suits and one in diamonds. Declarer saw that the only opportunity for an extra trick was in diamonds; if the finesse was working, declarer realised that he could draw trumps and make some overtricks.

However, if West had the King of diamonds and trumps were 4-2 then drawing trumps, cashing the hearts and then taking the diamond finesse would see the contract fail by two tricks.

So, declarer decided to abandon trumps at trick three and lead the Jack of diamonds. When this lost to West’s King, that defenders played Ace, Queen and another club. Declarer was now able to ruff the third club with dummy’s eight of trumps and discard diamond from hand.

Next, declarer overtook the Jack of trumps with the King and was relieved to see that both defenders followed. After drawing the two outstanding trumps with his Queen and ten, declarer then claimed the last four tricks with his red-suit winners.

The key to the winning play was to take the diamond finesse while there was still a trump in dummy to protect against the defence playing three rounds of clubs. While declarer could have drawn a second round of trumps before playing on diamonds as the cards lay, on other layouts declarer would have to guess which red-suit to use as an entry back to hand to draw the remaining trumps.

Finally, if the Jack of diamonds holds you should probably draw one more trump, keeping one in dummy and repeat the finesse – if that holds draw trumps and claim 11 tricks.

The danger in drawing all the trumps before repeating the diamond finesse is that West may have ducked the diamond King – now the defence can run a lot of clubs and defeat the contract by a few tricks.

A real takeaway from the above hand is that playing game in a 4-3 major suit fit often works if a pair is fully exposed in one suit and can’t play NT. The British, some of whom still play Acol with four-card major openings, are well used to playing in 4-3 fits, sometimes by mistake and sometimes by design, and often gain a bushel of matchpoints.

• A sad postscript to this column to report the passing of the wonderful Dot Buckley at the age of 101. It would really be hard to point to a nicer and more genteel person – she always had a smile and a nice greeting which disarmed everyone.

She loved her bridge, as did her late husband Tony, and it was always amusing to see how Tony jumped all over in the bidding to ensure he became declarer on every possible hand!

The Bridge Club has been a poorer place without their presence – they were neighbours of mine, and our thoughts go out to all their family and friends, who were lucky to be in the orbit of two such lovely people.

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, January 17

North/South

1. Stephanie Kyme/Diana Diel

2. Gertrude Barker/Martha Ferguson

3. Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

East/West

1. Sancia Garrison/Jane Smith

2. Rachael Gosling/Delton Outerbridge

3. Charles Hall/Molly Taussig

Monday, January 20

North/South

1. Louise Rodger/Molly Taussig

2. Charles Hall/Tony Saunders

3. Judith Bussell/Diana Diel

East/West

1. Bill Souster/David Cordon

2. Lorna Anderson/Heather Woolf

3. Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

Tuesday, January 21

North/South

1. Joshimor Hussey/Julia Tadman

2. Tracey Pitt/Desiree Woods

3. Jamie Sapsford/Jane Dowling

East/West

1. Veronica Boyce/Carol Eastham

2. Amanda Ingham/Heidi Dyson

3. Malcolm Moseley/Mark Stevens

Wednesday January 22

North/South

1. Elysa Burland/Magda Farag

2. Martha Ferguson/John Luebkemann

3. Geoff Bell/Molly Taussig

East/West

1. Peter Donnellan/Lynanne Bolton

2. Stephanie Kyme/Charles hall

3. Rachael Gosling/Elizabeth McKee

Thursday, January 23

1. Stephanie Kyme/Charles Hall

2. Stephan Cosham/John Luebkemann

3. Claude Guay/Sharon Shanahan