We are still in tournament season at the Club and hot on the heels of the Mixed Pairs last week we have the 0-299 Non Masters Pairs in progress – the second session will have concluded last night so I will bring you the results in next week’s column.

Talking of the column …. those of you who are ACBL members will have received a message announcing that the New York Times is dropping its Bridge Column which is really sad news. It is (was) probably the most famous column in the world which started (under Albert Moorehead ) and most of us associate it with the late Alan Truscott who made it his own over a 40-year period from 1965 to 2005 since when it has been taken over by the excellent Philip Alder who announced the closure in his column yesterday.

I guess in a world of instant media being available to all, a column that is not ‘local’ no longer has the relevance it once had and as a result becomes a casualty in cost-cutting measures in a competitive sector. A real shame though! Now to this week’s hand.

As I have written many times before in this column, a huge part of declarer play at bridge is in the planning and the approach, and too many declarers are just too lazy to spend time on that, and that laziness usually proves costly.

Today’s hand is all about clear thinking and planning, and when you go through the process what looks like a difficult play ends up being really quite simple.

Board 1. Love All. Dealer North.

North

S AQ964

H K3

D K92

C 542

West

S J1075

H J10954

D none

C K983

East

S none

H 8762

D 108654

C Q1076

South

S K832

H AQ

D AQJ73

C AJ

North – South on this hand were an experienced and well practiced pair and after North opened the hand One Spade they found their double fit in spades and diamonds and landed in the excellent No Trump Grand Slam.

When dummy comes down it all looks too easy and this is where ‘approach’ comes into play – when it looks like you need a miracle play the hand as if it is going to happen. But more importantly, when it all looks too good look hard for what can go wrong and then devise a plan to cater for that !

Now to the planning - Clearly on this hand it is all about the spades and diamonds . Spades first ……if they break that is fine , but if one player has four you can only handle it if that player is West – so play for that . King of Spades and East shows out ….another spade to the 10 and queen and the spade suit is now well positioned. Now to diamonds ……with East having a spade void he is more likely to hold the long diamonds and again you have to plan for that ! So again the King of diamonds is played from dummy and West shows out !! Now nine of diamonds to the 10 and jack , a spade to the nine , cash the spades pitching a club , a low diamond to the 7 and now claim 13 tricks !!

This is the sort of hand that one lies awake dreaming about … great bidding backed up by just solid clear thinking declarer play …..can’t ask for much more !