As we know live games have resumed at the Bermuda Bridge Club and certainly the signs are that we in Bermuda are in a good place right now relative to others in terms of Covid-19.

Hopefully we will all continue to be careful and prudent in the way we go about our lives, knowing that if we let complacency set in, we can be back to the spikes we saw just a few weeks ago – having said that it would be great to see some return to near normalcy at the Club which, for many, comprised such an important part of each week.

It seems to me that we have some great leaders at the top at the Bridge Club guiding the members through these strange times, and we need to recognise that none of that happens without a ton of talking, planning, hoping, hand-wringing and eventually decision making. And we are lucky that those in charge are ready to take on that responsibility. They deserve the gratitude of the membership.

Before I get to the hand, I want to send the best wishes of all of us at the Club to George Correia, who is leaving for a new life in Portugal – he will be sorely missed on many levels. George is a really popular character at the Club and at the table is known for his good card play and aggressive bidding. Away from the table he was always ready to lend a helping hand with work around the Club, especially to do with the clubhouse, and will leave a big gap there on his departure. It goes without saying that he will always be welcome back at the club when he visits.

This week’s hand has a familiar theme – looking for a second chance when the first chance doesn’t work. South didn’t quite figure it out, and his partner was quick to point that out! See Figure 1.

The 4NT was Roman Key card Blackwood and 5 diamonds showed one key card.

South reasoned that his partner would hold four or five trumps and a shortage somewhere and declarer’s expectation was on the singleton or void being in spades. West led the five of trumps against the slam. Declarer won this in hand with the nine and then advanced the Queen of clubs. West won with the Ace and exited with a second trump and declarer was pleased to see that East followed. Now South pinned all of his hopes on clubs being four-three and ruffed a spade in dummy.

After discarding a low diamond on the king of clubs, declarer ruffed a club and got the bad news that the suit was five-two. South’s next move was to ruff another spade and when East followed with yet another low spade declarer had to concede that he was one trick short of his contract and conceded defeat.

Dummy was unimpressed when declarer complained of his misfortune. Dummy retorted: “Instead of ruffing a spade at trick four, you should cash the King and Ace of diamonds. Then, after using the King of clubs to discard your remaining diamond, ruff a club in hand.

“You would get the bad news that clubs were five-two, but this would be good news as well; when West discards a spade, this reveals his likely distribution as 6=2=3=2. So, after ruffing a spade in dummy, a diamond ruff in hand establishes a diamond trick in dummy. All that would then remain for you to do would be to ruff a second spade in dummy and discard your queen of spades on the good diamond.”

Don’t you just love a kind and gentle partner who misses nothing!

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, November 26

1. Julia Beach – Elysa Burland

2. Joe Wakefield – Joyce Pearson

3. Molly Roraback – Charles Roraback

Monday, November 29

1. Martha Ferguson – Charles Hall

2/3Elysa Burland – Greta Marshall

2/3Molly Roraback – Charles Roraback

Tuesday, November 30

1. Heidi Dyson – Bill Pollett

2. Marion Silver – Duncan Silver

3. Richard Keane – Nick Jones

Wednesday, December 1

North/South

1. Diana Diel – Pat Siddle

2. Linda Pollett – Bill Pollett

3. Janice Trott – Julia Beach

East/West

1. Gertie Barker – Jane Smith

2. Tracy Nash – Des Nash

3. Tony Saunders – Dorry Lusher

Thursday, December 2

1. Inger Mena – John Rayner

2/3 Gertie Barker – John Glynn

2/3Elizabeth McKee – Linda Pollett

NON-BRIDGE CLUB ONLINE RESULTS

Saturday, November 27

Jean Johnson and David Ezekiel – fifth out of 218 pairs