The Bermuda Bridge Club, like many other member-owned clubs, exists only because there are a number of members who are prepared to give their time and attention to the running of the club on a volunteer basis. No pay, no preferential rates and the opportunity to have nearly every decision second-guessed by one or more members – sound appealing?

Well it is! Having lived the game for a few decades, being involved with the running of the club was a most rewarding experience, even if at times a frustrating one.

We’ve been lucky at the club to have had a succession of superb people take on the task and the current administration is no exception – naming names is always dangerous but Wendy Gray, president; Peter Donnellan, chief tournament director; Richard Gray, treasurer and others like Bill Pollett, Charles Hall and Jack Rhind, all add so much to the club in keeping it alive now and planning for the future, and, along with the current committee, deserve a ton of credit.

All of the above came to me when I received a broadcast e-mail from a new committee member, Malcolm Moseley, which resonated with me as it reminded me of the excitement and passion in playing my part in helping the club survive and thrive.

The e-mail contains news of an exciting new initiative to encourage newer members, something which is essential for the club which has an ageing membership.

I reproduce the e-mail here:

“Dear Member:

“I was recently elected to the committee and one of my remits is to try and grow our Tuesday night game. As many of you are aware, if you are at work and cannot play during the day there are currently only two opportunities to play in an evening, with beginners on a Tuesday (currently under 150 points) and then on a Thursday night which tends to be of a much higher standard and is often seen as a very big jump from the Tuesday night beginner game.

“What the committee feel is lacking is the opportunity for players to play in an intermediate evening game that will ultimately act as a bridge to the Thursday night game.

“What we plan to now do on a Tuesday is run both a beginner game for those players with under 20 Masters points and also at the same time run an intermediate game for those who have under 300 Masters points.

“Bill Pollett has just completed ten weeks of lessons and has in the region of three to five new tables coming on a Tuesday to play in the under-20 Master point game.

“As a result, this is a perfect time to try and encourage players back to the club who may want to play in either the beginner game or join our intermediate game, I am writing to everyone that has played on a Tuesday over the last four or five years to try and encourage players back to the club who for one reason or another have not been coming to play.

“If you have under 20 points and want to ease your way back in to playing then please come and join the beginner game where you could use your cheat sheets and you can start as early as this week (I checked with Bill who would be happy for you to join with his proteges!).

“If you do not have a partner then we can match you up with another player and we also have a Tuesday WhatsApp group that you can join to seek a partner for the evening and if nobody is available you can always play with the Director.

“Please also note that we have also been running intermediate lessons every third or fourth Saturday addressing a specific topic and then playing a number of boards that allow you to practise what has just been learnt.

“If you want further details, please feel free to contact me with any questions but I would love to see some of you dust off the cobwebs and join us on a Tuesday as the more we can get to play, the merrier.

“If I have missed anyone off the distribution then please feel free to forward this to people you feel may be interested and also note that we will be running beginner lessons again in the fall, if you have friends who may be interested in learning the great game of bridge.

“Kind regards, Malcolm.”

So there you have it – and take note of the new series of lessons coming in the fall from the excellent Bill Pollett and Charles Hall and encourage your non bridge-playing friends to bite the bullet and take on the challenge of this great game.

This week’s hand is all about experience, where we see one player make a “standard” play and fail, and another player succeeds by combining more than one chance (see Figure 1).

See the bidding in Figure 2.

The four-heart bid by North was clearly a cue bid accepting spades as trumps – it can’t mean anything else – and both North/South pairs in a team game reached the small slam in spades.

Both declarers received the opening lead of the Jack of diamonds. At the first table, declarer won with the Ace of diamonds then decided to cater for West having a low singleton trump – an event that is four times more likely than the West holding the singleton Queen. Declarer thus led a heart to dummy’s King followed by a low trump to his ten. Alas for him, West produced the Queen of trumps and cashed a diamond for one off.

At the other table, the declarer was a hardy veteran. He had faced similar problems to this one many times. So, after winning the Ace of diamonds, declarer played the Ace and King of trumps, hoping to drop the Queen.

When the Queen of trumps did not appear, declarer played three rounds of clubs, discarding two diamonds from hand. When no one had ruffed in, declarer ruffed a club then crossed to dummy with a heart to the King and threw his remaining diamond on the established club. West ruffed this with the Queen of trumps and tried to cash a diamond. Declarer ruffed and claimed his contract.

The odds favoured the second declarer’s approach 55 per cent to 48 per cent – trust me on that! That may not sound like a lot but when you consider that the casinos and bookmakers of the world are delighted with margin of 3 to 4 per cent it represents a big difference over time.

And that is what you get by combining chances, an edge that amounts to a bushel of points over your bridge-playing career.

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, June 17

1. Pat Siddle – Tony Saunders

2. Marge Way – Jane Smith

3. Wendy Gray – Richard Gray

Monday, June 20

North/South

1. Elysa Burland – Molly Taussig

2. Peter Donnellan – Jed Drew

3. Sheena Rayner – Magda Farag

East/West

1. Gertie Barker – Jane Smith

2. Caroline Svensen – Joyce Pearson

3. Aida Bostelmann – Julia Beach

Tuesday, June 21

Juniors under 300 master points

1. Wenda Krupp – Barbara Elkin

2. Kathleen Keane – Richard Keane

3. Malcolm Moseley – Mark Stevens

Juniors under 20 master points

1. Louise Charleson – Maureen Murray

2. James Fielding – P.J. Lee

3. Vivien Pereira – Kalreta Conyers-Steede

Wednesday, June 22

North/South

1. Jane Clipper – Caroline Svensen

2. Lynanne Bolton – Peter Donnellan

3. Molly Taussig – Tony Saunders

East/West

1. Joyce Pearson – Joe Wakefield

2. Marge Way – Charles Hall

3. Pat Siddle – Julia Beach

Thursday, June 23

North/South

1. Gertie Barker – John Glynn

2. Marge Way – Misha Novakovic

3. Wendy Gray – Richard Gray

East/West

1. Sharon Shanahan – Claude Guay

2. Stephanie Kyme – Charles Hall

3. Rachael Gosling – Bill Pollett