Happy New Year! I hope 2017 brings you all good things at and away from the Bridge Table.

You will, of course, be making your new year’s resolutions as we speak and once we get past the usual ones that we never keep — take off a few pounds, stop smoking, more exercise — we can get to the ones that really matter, those to do with bridge and golf! Given that this is not a golf column, I will stick to the former.

Again, there are some staples here — be nicer to partner, be nicer to opponents, just be nicer, etc — and then we get to others that will really change your results.

For that list, a few hints:

1,, Instead of just hoping to get better, actually try and get better. Read a bit, discuss the hands with partner after the game, know your basic conventions.

2, Bid the same way on weekdays and weekends, don’t just bid because you have 13 cards on a particular hand, you will get 13 cards on the next hand whether you bid or not.

3, For a pre-empt have most of your points in your suit otherwise partner has no idea whether to bid or defend

4, Do not bid again after you pre-empt unless partner asks you to.

5, Learn how to play some basic suit combinations Axxx opposite QJ10x is different to Axxx opposite QJxx — explore why and you will figure out how to play these.

6, When you open a NT remember that you have described your hand — 15/17, no singletons, no 5 card majors, at least three cards in one major — so partner now becomes the Captain on the hand and guides you towards the final contract.

7, Let EVERY bid of yours have a meaning. Let me give you an example — you hold S- Qxx H- Kxx D-AKxx C-J10x. You open a Diamond, partner bids a Heart, RHO bids a Spade — your bid? Pass! It immediately tells partner two things — I don’t have four Hearts and there is nothing about my hand that is special. If partner wants you to bid again she will let you know. So next time you hold AJ10-Kxx-AQxx-xxx and bid 1NT partner will know that you have a better than average hand and a really good Spade stopper.

8, I could go on, but lastly — let the opponents win the bidding occasionally, especially when you do not have any clear fit with partner. One of the most frustrating things at the table is having a partner that refuses to lose the bidding and constantly turns the opponents minus scores into your minus score.

North

S K74

H A86

D K95

C J964

West

S 102

H K9732

D Q42

C K32

East

S J985

H 105

D 10863

C A75

South

S AQ63

H QJ4

D AJ7

C Q108

Now on to today’s hand which has no connection with any of the above.

South opened 1NT and North had an easy raise to 3NT — West led the three of Hearts. Declarer won the 10 with the Jack and played the Queen of Clubs which East won to play another Heart to West’s nine, which declarer allowed to hold. West cleared the Hearts and now waited with the King of Clubs to beat the hand — down one.

South looked at partner who was clearly not happy — “should I have tested the Spades and then tried the Diamond finesse?” offered a flustered South. “Rubbish,” said North (see new year’s resolutions earlier about being nice to partner!), you should have simply let the Heart 10 hold at trick one since you know West has the King. East can do no better than return a Heart which you win and now play a Club — the defence is stuffed.

If East wins he has no Hearts left and if West wins he can clear the Hearts but now has no entry back to his hand to cash the Heart winners — contact made.

This is actually no more than a standard holdup play … if South had Kxx he would probably have held up at trick one as it is a much more familiar situation and would make the hand.