Last night will have seen the second session of the Open Pairs and even though two pairs have stolen a march on the field in the first session, there are enough boards left for the winner to come from the chasing pack as the gap is meaningful but not insurmountable, by any means.

Leading after the first session are Jean Johnson and Charles Hall with an excellent 65.05 per cent game and not far behind are Rachael Gosling and Simon Giffen on 62.27 per cent.

Then comes the gap with Jane King and Gertie Barker in third with 56.25 per cent, Marge Way and Misha Novakovic on 56.02 per cent and Heather Woolf and George Correia on 54.02 per cent, a good performance by this pair.

The gap between first and third is just two boards so it is still all to play for.

This week’s hand was a story of missed opportunities — initially by declarer to completely kill the defence, then by the defence to not make declarer pay for the error.

Board 7. Game All. Dealer South.

North

S J107

H K732

D K82

C QJ10

West East

S 92 S A865

H Q5 H J10974

D J109765 D Q4

C A32 C 764

South

S KQ73

H A86

D A3

C K985

South opened a 15-17 No Trump and North decided not to look for a major suit fit with his 3-4-3-3 hand and made the practical raise to 3NT. I like the bid because it is usually the best approach and also gives little away to the defenders.

West led the Diamond Jack, and it went two, four, Ace — a lazy play by declarer who should have held up and won the next trick. Declarer was, however, without knowing it, safe due to the play by East.

Declarer led a low Spade to the 10 and Ace and now when East played the Diamond Queen, he let it hold. The defence now have no way to unravel their Diamonds and declarer actually makes 10 tricks.

Now let’s see what happens if East plays the Diamond Queen on partners Jack at trick one and declarer again wins the trick to lead a Spade.

Now when East wins and plays back a Diamond, declarer can hold up for one round but is forced to win the next. With West still holding the Club Ace the contract slips to a two-trick defeat.

If declarer had attacked Clubs before Spades he would, undeservedly, make the contract as West’s entry is removed but the contract should never have been put in danger.

So, back to trick one. East plays the Diamond Queen on the Jack but declarer refuses the trick and wins the continuation with the Ace. Now no matter which black suit declarer plays first the defence is dead ... try it. A pretty straightforward holdup play.