The great thing about this game is that it never stands still – you have to keep thinking, and while a play of a certain suit combination may be correct on one hand, the next day you may have to play that combination differently because the rest of the hand is different.

With that as a preamble, look at today’s hand in Figure 1.

South opened 1NT (15-17) and after North looked for a spade fit by bidding stayman, the final contract became 6NT played by South – West led the safe eight of spades.

Declarer has 10 top tricks with a host of chances for the other two – find the club Queen, hearts being 3-3, or the diamond finesse working. The key to playing the hand, however, is to ensure that you get a chance to try all three.

Clearly clubs is the suit to start on, as even a losing finesse gives you your 11th trick and you will be looking for just one more. The “normal” way to play this suit is to play a club to the King and then finesse West for the Queen – this works whenever West has the Queen or East has the singleton Queen. But do you see what happens if you adopt this line and the finesse loses?

Any sort of bridge player in the East seat will return a diamond whether he holds the king or not – this takes away one of your options by forcing you to make a decision on the diamonds before testing for 3-3 hearts.

There is a neat way to avoid this by changing the way you play the club suit, and playing East for the Queen. So, after winning the first spade in dummy, at trick two you play a low club to your nine – this loses to the Queen, leaving you a bit annoyed. West wins, but cannot attack diamonds, and exits with another spade.

Even though you lost the finesse you still have retained both your other chances – you win and immediately test the hearts. When these don’t break, you now go to your last option and take the diamond finesse which wins and gives you 12 tricks – four spades, three hearts, two diamonds and three clubs.

See the full hand in Figure 2.

The hand came from the great Scottish bridge player and writer Hugh Kelsey, with whom I had the pleasure of spending many hours talking bridge, and learning a ton, during the World Championships in Holland in 1980. He passed away in 1995, but not before leaving his mark on bridge theory and literature.

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, August 5

1. Jane Smith – Diana Diel

2. Julia Beach – Magda Farag

3= Wendy Gray – Richard Gray

3= Gertie Barker – Martha Ferguson

3= Joe Wakefield – Charles Hall

Monday, August 8

1. Gertie Barker – Jane Smith

2. Lorna Anderson – Heather Woolf

3. Magda Farag – Sheena Rayner

Tuesday, August 9

1. Malcolm Moseley – Mark Stevens

2. Jamie Sapsford – Jane Downing

3. Benjamin Stone – James Fielding

Wednesday, August 10

1. Pat Siddle – Diana Diel

2. Gertie Barker – Jane Smith

3. Wendy Gray – Richard Gray

Friday, August 12

1. Jane Smith – Marge Way

2/3.Stephanie Kyme – Diana Diel

2/3.Charles Hall – John Rayner

Monday, August 15

1. Jane Smith – George Correia

2. Wendy Gray – Richard Gray

3. Diana Diel – Charles Hall

Tuesday, August 16

North/South

1. Ben Stone – James Fielding

2. Katyna Rabain – Louise Payne

East/West

1. Rosemary Smith – Barbara Elkin

2. Amanda Ingham – Heidi Dyson

Wednesday, August 17

1. Jane Smith – Sancia Garrison

2. Charles Hall – Tony Saunders

3. Sheena Rayner – Magda Farag