Why is bridge so interesting? - Is it because of the mistakes we make? - If we got it right all of the time it would be boring - Instead things go wrong and we wonder why and how we can do better .  Playing bridge there are lots of opportunities to make the wrong choice and then consider what you would do next time- part of the continuous learning experience .

Take the above hand from pairs at Kingsley. North's opening bid was clear cut  - a good quality opening of 1S .

East had a nice hand 12 HCP and two five card suits - 2 Hearts looked safe enough - with a better system available such as Ghestem or Quantum or something similar East might have been able to show two five card suits and leave the choice to West - this would have worked in 3C -putting NS on the spot.  However 2H was bid .

South then had an interesting decision; bid 2S which inevitably leads to 4S, or 2NT leading to 3NT , or take the other option of Passing - the most difficult bid at bridge . Partner could be a mininum and 2H minus 3 (+150) was better than 2S making (+110) at pairs. South elected to pass .

West had nothing to say . North had extra values, and wanted to show them. Hoping his partner would bid spades or bid another suit at the three level - North doubled. East remained silent.

The Grim Reaper had arrived for East - South made the well judged bid to pass - an even more difficult Pass to make, considering the vulnerability, after all a vulnerable game was available against  non vulnerable opponents- East went 4 down for +800 to NS.  Results at the table ranged from 620 , 630 ,650 ,660  to 800 reflecting spade, no trump and penalty contracts.

Fine judgement by south resulting in a top in Pairs - however would he have taken the risk at Teams with a certain 620 at stake compared with 500 bottom or the 800 top . What a game!  Continuously challenging your decison making on every hand.  Celebrations when right - agony when wrong !

Do you have any views on the above hand . If you want to add a Hand of the Week to the web contact Ross  . Hands can be downloaded direct from our records.

This looks like a simple 1NT for S but nobody made it.  If West leads a small heart then East plays the K.  East/West have 4 top tricks and if they can get 3 hearts tricks you will be one off.  It looks obvious to take the Ace of hearts and lead a spade. East will win and lead another heart - you can hold up for one round but this does not help as West will get in with the Ace diamonds and cash his 2 other hearts tricks to take you one off.

How about ducking the K hearts by holding off winning the Ace hearts at trick 1?  East will lead another heart and if you now win it, when East gets in with the Ace spades they will lead another heart and West will still get his heart tricks when he gets in with the Ace diamonds.

The only way to make it is to hold up the hearts for 2 rounds - a 'Double Duck'!  At trick 2 East will lead another heart and you duck again. East leads his 3rd heart which you win. Now when East gets in with his Ace Spades he does not have a heart to lead. So when West finally gets in with his Ace diamonds he can lead his 4th heart but you still have the Q and can then set about setting up your 2 diamond  tricks - making 2 diamonds, 2 hearts and either 3 spades or 2 spades and a club = 7 tricks!  I have never seen a 'Double Duck' before but it works - even if it looks stupid!

Everyone on Monday bid a slam on this hand and made 12 tricks. My partner is an optimist and being able to count 12 tricks (after Blackwood for Aces and Kings) decided to bid the Grand Slam. As always, I had the minimum hand possible so when Dummy (West) went down there appears to be very little play for 13 tricks. If I had just had the Q diamonds or hearts rather than 2 Js it could have been such a good decision!

Actually it was - 13 tricks are there but nobody found the correct line at the table. At our table Declarer was East and S was on lead and made the natural lead of the K clubs (but it can be made on any lead from either hand).

Declarer has 7 spade tricks, 2 heart tricks, 2 diamond tricks and 1 club trick = 12 tricks off the top.  Where to find trick 13?  The obvious line is to win the A clubs, cash 2 rounds of spades and then hope if you cash AK hearts the Q will drop and the J hearts will be the 13th trick. When it does not happen despair sets in!  But it shouldn't!

This is a Double squeeze set up. Only South guards clubs, and only North guards hearts (having 4 hearts) - they both guard diamonds - so at first glance you cannot get 13 tricks but watch what happens if you play off the spades from hand. The key is always what to throw from dummy and when! 

Just before you play the last spade there are 4 cards left in dummy - they need to be AK8 of diamonds and J clubs. In hand you have 3 of spades, 5 of hearts, 3 of diamonds and 9 of clubs.

South has Q74 of diamonds and Q clubs.  North has Q hearts and J109 of diamonds.  You play the 3 of spades - what does South discard? He must keep the Q clubs or the J will win so throws a diamond - it looks OK as North has a diamond trick.  But then you throw the J clubs from Dummy - it has done its job!  North now has the problem! He must keep 3 diamonds or the AK8 will all win so throws (reluctantly!) the Q hearts. Now declarer wins her extra trick with the 5 of hearts and the last 2 tricks with AK diamonds!  The 5 of hearts was not an obvious winner!

North can keep her Q hearts but then the last 3 tricks are won with the AK8 of diamonds - a perfect double squeeze!

It is slightly different if South by chance leads a diamond as you can use the A clubs as the entry to get to the winning diamond - try it and see! You can use the 'Play It Again' function to see what to do!

The moral is that if you are an optimist in the bidding you have to be an optimist as declarer and never give up!

Board 5 - Teams - 5 August.

Most Pairs will find themselves in 3NT by West and when Dummy goes down, wish they weren't!

This hand is a good example of 'frozen suits. A 'frozen suit' is whenever a suit is arranged so that whichever side leads it first loses a trick.

North's most likely lead is a heart. Declarer looking at his chances does not feel optimistic. You have no choice but the play the K hearts and there is great relief when it wins.

Next job - count your tricks. You can see 8 but where is the 9th coming from?  You may be able to get 2 tricks in spades but only after you have lost 2 and they already have at least 3 heart tricks so you will be one off!  Note the 9 spades and the 9 diamonds - both important cards!

The first step is to decide to give up trying to force a trick and simply cash the 4 club tricks, destroying all your entries to Dummy. This is not usually a good tactic but look at the problems it causes the defence having to find discards.  Then lead a small heart!  You have to hope that the hearts are 4/4 - it looks likely on the lead - and wait for the defence to lead either spades or diamonds.  If North leads a diamond play small from Dummy and South is forced to play the Q giving you a trick with the J in Dummy. If South leads a diamond simply run it to the J.  If North leads a spade play the 9 from Dummy and it forces out South's K and so when you lead to the J spades in Dummy it will make eventually.  If South leads a spade simply play small from hand forces the Q and then North must either lead a diamond (as before) or a spade and you just play the 9 - it forces the K which you win with the A and it sets up the J in Dummy.

So this is a hand with 2 'frozen suits' and as long as declarer simply exits with a heart after cashing the 4 club tricks there is nothing that NS can do to stop Declarer from getting 9 tricks!

The moral is on these hands where you cannot  see how to get an extra trick is let the opposition take their tricks and see what happens!

This is an interesting hand to play for lots of reasons.  Most declarers will be in 4S by N.

Getting a good score is very dependent on the lead. Without a heart lead it is much easier as declarer can simply win a diamond in hand and take the finesse the  Q clubs - if it wins then they can throw a losing heart on the A clubs and if it loses they can throw  2 losing hearts on the A and J of clubs.

If you get a small heart led what is the problem?  At first glance this looks like an easy hand with 6 spade tricks, 2 diamond tricks, 1 club trick and 1 heart trick.  The only danger seems to be that you might lose 2 spade tricks.  The simple approach is to win the A hearts and lead the Q spades - but what happens if W wins the Ace spades and his 2 heart tricks and were to then lead the 13th heart?  If you trump small then E may over-ruff with the 10 spades but if you trump with the J spades then you could lose a second spade trick to the 10 spades if they were 3/1.  You can protect against being over-ruffed by leading a small spade to the J and leaving the Q spades in dummy to prevent the 13th heart being ruffed by E but if the spades are 4/0 with W then you cannot avoid 2 spade loses and will be forced to take the club finesse be able to discard a losing heart. If the club finesse is wrong you then go 2 off - a really bad score!

What is the best line to safeguard the contract against losing 2 heart and 2 spade tricks?  On a small heart lead think about what you already know.  The most important thing is that the heart lead is very unlikely to be a singleton. W would have had to have had KQxxxx and with any other values would have bid over South's opening bid.  Even if you duck the heart and it is a singleton and W returns a small heart, then E will only be ruffing a losing heart and you are only going to lose one more spade trick.

So whatever the heart position it is safer to duck the first heart (it cuts the defences communications and W cannot lead another heart without giving you a heart trick). If W now leads a club or a spade it will be easy so you are certain to get a diamond switch.  You now need to tackle the trumps suit. If E has A10xx there is no way to avoid 2 trump losers but if W has the 4 trumps you can still prevail. Win the diamond in hand and lead towards the Q. East shows out and W will win their Ace. If they lead another diamond then win in Dummy and lead the spade taking the marked finesse against the 10. Draw trumps and give yourself the free chance of an overtrick by leading to the AQ clubs. You have 2 choices - either take the finesse and later throw the losing heart away on the A clubs or play Ace and then the Q.  If W has the K then either they will play it and you can go back to the A hearts (see how useful it was not playing it at trick 1) and play the J clubs to throw the last losing heart, or the Q clubs will win and you have ditched your losing heart.  The computer analysis says you can always make 11 tricks but on a heart lead you have to decide which way to take the club finesse.  As W has turned up with Q hearts (probably the K as well on the lead of the 7 hearts as this is not 4th highest from an honour), A spades and Q diamonds (11 points) then W may well have bid with the K clubs as well - finesse E for the K.

So there are 2 safety plays on this hand - firstly duck the A hearts and second make sure you play a spade to the Q so that you can pick up A10xx of spades in the W hand.  It shows what a difference the lead makes - on a diamond lead it is easy. Win in hand and take the winning club finesse and simply lead the Q spades 11 tricks!  Shows why it is interesting to know what the leads were on each table. Only 2 Easts led a heart - well done!

Board 24 - Wednesday 28 May

Anyone who reached this slam would be very pleased - until they tried to draw trumps!

Assuming an unhelpful Q clubs lead it still looks an easy slam to play. Count your tricks - 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs and if the spades break you have 6 spade tricks and a club ruff in dummy!  13 tricks - what could go wrong!  Before you play to trick 1 stop and have a think.  Even if the trumps are 3/1 then you could draw 2 rounds and then ruff the losing club in dummy. 

The spades are more likely to be 3/1 (50%) than 2/2 (40%) and so more often or not when you play AK there will still be a trump outstanding. If either player has a singleton club they will ruff your A or K and you will still have a club loser.  Can you make 12 tricks if the spades are 3/1 and there is a singleton club?  Not if West has the singleton club but it would be a bold lead to lead a singleton Q up to your second suit - whereas Q from QJ10xxx looks pretty safe and may get a ruff. If East has a singleton club there is a safety play. Win the first club in Dummy with the K and lead towards the Ace. If East ruffs he has only ruffed your losing club and if he had 3 trumps then you can draw his remaining 2 trumps and you are home - throwing the losing diamond and the last losing club on the AK of hearts.

When the Ace of clubs wins it now looks easy, until West shows out on the Ace spades, but it needs careful play to make sure that East only wins one spade trick. 

If you cross to the K diamonds and cash the 2 heart tricks, throwing a club and a diamond, when you lead the 6 spades East will split his honours (or you just take the marked finesse). Now just lead the losing club and ruff with the 10 spades. East can over-ruff but whatever he leads now, you can win  in hand and draw his last trump with the 9 and your hand is high.

Alternatively you can simply lead your club now and let him over-ruff your 10 with the J spades but then return to Dummy with the K diamonds and cash the AK of hearts and then take the marked finesse and draw his last trump.

I do not think it is possible to make the contract if the clubs are 6/1 and the spades 4/0 but you would be very unlucky to have this distribution.  However, by just looking for possible trouble it may let you make a contract where one of the suits breaks badly - as happened here!

It it very obvious to win the first club and bang down the Ace of trumps - with the existing distribution you can still make 12 tricks with careful play but it is not the best line!

Board 16 from Monday's Teams looks like a very difficult 6NT which defeated those declarers brave enough to bid it.

Assuming that you get an unhelpful lead of  a heart, how do you plan the play?  As in the 'Black Herring' you need to count your tricks and this hand is more difficult as you cannot be sure of 12 tricks even if the clubs break 3/3.  Unless the diamonds break most fortunately 7/1 with a singleton J then you cannot get 2 diamond tricks. You have 4 heart tricks so the key suit is the spade suit.  If you get 3 spade tricks and the clubs break 3/3 then you will have  12 tricks - 3 spades, 4 hearts, 1 diamond and 4 clubs.

Can you get 4 spade tricks in case the clubs do not break?  Missing the K,10 it is not easy. If North had the K and the 10 you could lead the J and when North covers you could return to dummy to finesse against the 10 but it needs both cards to be right - about 25% of the time. The danger is that North only has Kx and then you will only get 2 spade tricks as South will be sitting with 10 8 over your 9 7. A better play looks to be to lead towards AQ97 and finess the Q - if it loses then you can make 3 spade tricks as long as they break 3/3 or the there is 10x with North - or even if North has 10xxx you could finesse if you work out later that he has length in spades. 

So win the first trick with West's Q hearts and lead a small spade towards AQ97 - good news and bad news - the K appears - now you can always get 3 spade tricks but they are not going to break so you cannot get 4 spades tricks unless South leads them.  You could just try the clubs now and if they break you are home. But what if they don't?  Is there another squeeze on?  You know South has long spades and he may have the long clubs. The problem is that your threats - your long club and long spade are both in the East hand and South will be throwing away after you have discarded from East - if you throw a spade so will he and the same with clubs.  So a squeeze will not work.

You can still cope with South having long spades and long clubs by playing off 4 hearts, the A diamonds and J spades - with Ace spades trick already played, you will have now played 7 tricks and South will be holding 10 8  spades and if he had 4 clubs, he would have no other cards left. So play off the clubs and if they break - no problem but if South had 4 clubs just let him win his 4th club and he will have to lead from his 10 8 spades into your Q 9.  So 4 spades tricks, 4 hearts tricks, 1 diamond trick and 3 club tricks!  This is called a throw in!

I don't think it is possible to make it if North has 4 clubs but if anyone can find a way let me know!

Eddie Luck

6NT by N would be a likely contract for many players after a strong opening by North and a 2NT rebid.

Assuming the most unhelpful, and likely, lead by East of a small spade how do you plan the play?

The first thing to do is to count your tricks and it is soon apparent that if the diamonds break 3/2 there is no problem in getting 12 tricks  - 3 spades, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds  and 2 clubs.  but what if the the diamonds are 4/1?  Can you still make it and where does the 12th trick come from?  There appears to be a finesse position in both hearts and clubs and, as you need 2 clubs tricks then it looks natural that you should take the club finesse first. However, any aware defender will cover the Q clubs with the K if it is right and so you will only get 2 club tricks, even if the finesse is right so you will need the heart finesse to be right as well if the diamonds break 4/1. 

Another difficulty is your entries to the South hand. If you were to win the lead with the Q spades and then immediately take the club finesse and West covers the Q, you are now in hand with the Ace clubs and need to get back to Dummy with the Q diamonds to finesse the heart, but if the diamonds do not break then you can never get back to Dummy cash the Ace hearts.

You do not want to take the heart finesse if the diamonds are breaking 3/2 so you must play 2 rounds of diamonds first to find out.  So one obvious line is to win the A spades in hand and then cash the Ace diamonds followed by a small diamond to the Q. If the diamonds break you are home but when East shows out you now need the heart finess to be right. At least you are now in dummy and so can lead small to the Jack hearts, When it wins, play the K hearts but if you now play K diamonds and give up the diamond trick, West will lead a club and you will need the K clubs to also be right!

Is there a better line?  One thing that you can do is to see if there is anything that you can do to try to find out the distribution of  the opponents' hands before you decide what to do. You have the luxury of being able to play a second spade trick at trick 2 as you will not need another entry to hand with the K spades. When West shows out on the second spade it should ring alarm bells that the diamonds may not break as East has 6 spades.  The extra chance, if the diamonds do not break, is that West has 4 diamonds and 4 hearts and can be squeezed in the red suits. 

The club finesse is a 'black herring' - as even if it is right it does not help you - you still need the heart finesse to be right. To set up the squeeze you need to 'rectify the count' i.e. give up the trick that you must lose early on while you still have entries to both hands. So the best line at trick 3 (after taking AK spades) is to lead the Jack clubs!   Not a very obvious play!

If West takes it then you have created another entry to South with the Q clubs. If East (or West) were to try to be very clever and duck the J clubs then you now have your 2 club tricks and can simply play off the diamonds giving West his diamond trick and take the heart finesse later - 12 tricks , 3 spades, 3 hearts, 4 diamonds and 2 clubs.  East would need to be very brave or foolish to not take his K clubs and it doesn't matter if he leads a spade or a club back.  Now play Ace Diamonds, followed by a diamond to the Q - if they break you are home but, as expected, East shows out on the second round.  Now you are in Dummy so take the heart finesse - it wins - and cash the K hearts and then eliminate any clubs and spades, finishing in Dummy - you have now played 3 rounds of spades, 2 rounds of hearts 2 rounds of diamonds and 3 rounds of clubs = 10 tricks. You have Kxx of diamonds in hand and Ax of hearts plus x diamonds in Dummy. When West has to discard on the previous trick he held Q10 hearts and J10 diamonds but had to throw one of them away - if he threw the 10 hearts then A and another heart will win in Dummy or if he threw the 10 diamonds, then cash the Ace hearts and cross back to hand with the K diamonds to make the last diamond trick.  A Squeeze!

This would be a very difficult play to find at the Table.  However, it does illustrate some good principles that you can apply more generally.

Count your tricks - but even if it looks OK think about what would happen if suits do not break as you want and is there a second chance?

If you can afford it, cash any tricks you can, to try to find out the distribution before you decide how to play the difficult suits.

Watch your entries - do you have enough? Can you create any? In this case the Q clubs.

Rectify the count (lose a trick you have to lose first) if there is a chance of a squeeze.

I must confess that I didn't have the problem and played it in 3NT by South and got a heart lead which made it a whole lot easier!

If you have any better thoughts on this hand then let me know - Eddie Luck

The hand is from the match between Stamford A and Northampton A , 23rd August - presumably all reasonable players - and some very good players at Stamford - and yet?

The final contract of 4S is very reasonable , but everyone went down in it. Why?

The initial lead was the Ace , followed by the King and Queen of clubs (south discards a heart) - decision time for west - how did all these experienced players manage to go down. Not seeing the play at all tables I don't know , but can relay events from the table I played at.

The contract looked straightforward - ruff the third club drop trumps out etc .  Following the club ruff , spade to jack, followed by ten, north shows out and stuck in dummy . Back to hand with a spade , losing heart finesse and eventually losing a diamond . One off in a solid contract.

So easy to fall into a sloppy trap when the contract looks easy, instead of using forethought and planning. Before the play count the tricks , 5 spades , 3 diamonds , one heart and a diamond ruff . Easy . All declarer needs to do , rather than rushing on at trick 3 , is on the third club is to discard a heart from hand rather than take the "obvious"  harmless ruff. North does not have a good exit card . A further club can be ruffed high in dummy, if another suit is lead a diamond can eventually be ruffed high in dummy before all trumps are drawn.

I don't understand why all 4 reasonable players went down in this contract. Taking things for granted with a lapse in concentration ? It was a flat board at all tables - yet plus 11 MPs was possible with careful declarer play.

Clearly the AQ of hearts in dummy was a temptation too far and the 4/1 spade break was grossly unfair!

This hand was played at the Bedford pairs. Without looking at the north / south hands write down your play - on the lead of the 4 of clubs by north .  Assume that the spades are not split 5/0 ( no hope of making).

Have a look at all four hands did your play work.

We discussed the hand in the Brittania , Bedford Road after the event . Neither declarer made the contract - both good players.   Incidently, I left Sandy 20 minutes after our our fellow players, using an old fashioned map taking the direct route (A428). They were not in the pub and we almost got thrown out as we conducted a search . They finally turned up but they had used one of these modern sat nav things and had gone via the M1 ( slip roads closed ) then around Milton Keynes!!

Did you make the contract okay with all four hands shown. Not easy.

Applying the Old Adage of, in no trumps count your winners and in suits your losers then make your plan - before playing the first card - then the play is straightforward . The Old Adage is easier said than done compared with what goes through your mind at the table. Don't we all know this.  

There are three obvious losers, a diamond , and potentially two spades on a reasonable split. The play is club Ace , Ace King of hearts (club discard) , Ace, King of diamonds, then the key play of  a diamond , ruffing in dummy with the eight of spades.  If the diamonds split 3/3 there is no problem , south (on the layout) can over ruff the 8 of spades but it does no good . My partner who played the hand explained it to me immediately after playing it- it took me ages to work out. I just go down in simpler contracts.

North's 3C overcall was explained as weak -blimey - such is pairs -  wish we had doubled him for a plus score. On the other hand 4S making is better.     

Friday morning - previously:

Thursday evening - feeling a bit under the weather - plans - a bit of ironing - read a book - cocoa and bed at ten.

7-30pm phone rings - "Can you make up a pair now" - "Yes"

Dashed around and got to the club at 7-45pm. Turns out my partner had only gone to the club at 7-20pm to check his arrangements for Friday and had been collared.

On first round practised our speed bridge and with one passed out board and a generous director on timing we amazingly caught up with the field.

We progressed well during the evening with good and bad results and on the last round came across the leading pair - both charming ladies.

They use a well known bridge technique, however not often mentioned in magazines - called chatting up - seems to work for them. This technique can be more brazen , but being wise I quickly spot it, avert my eyes and look at the cards. Bridge chat up technique is more subtle, takes more practice, is more difficult to spot  and not so easy to counter.

I picked up the East cards, suitably lulled by the friendly banter, not much of a hand, and went back to my dreams. South bid 1 Spade - and I thought I might have a trick. Partner bid 2NT , with north passing. At this stage I managed to get out of neutral , pick out the alert card , muttered something about minors and bid 3C. I said the chat up bridge technique worked- I would normally have bid 3D - the method can be very effective.

3 Heart  - 5 Clubs from partner - he also uses a little known technique to many players  - bid when you have something - otherwise pass .  He knew I had been forced to bid - he must have a big hand.  Why only 4 tables ago, he overcalled twice, bidding again "with something" ( I was passing sitting East) , however south insisted on bidding up to 3H , All V.  Since parther always bids with something and passes with nothing I risked a double - 1700 off - did not know such scores existed . Funny how this little known pass with little technique works. Anyway I digress.

North bid 5H - , my spades suddenly did not look so good , but I had a safe lead of the king of clubs , and I was relieved that I would not suffer the embarrassment of admitting my wrong bid.  Vroom!! Suddenly everything took off - I was in 6 C doubled before I knew it. I had only bid once , reluctantly ! 

South led the Ace of spades , dummy went down , and south commented that she had never had seen a dummy like it - it ought to be photographed. (Hence this article) . I must admit the two single rows of black and red cards against the green baize had their attractions.

South continued charm was to no avail,  despite the not so friendly forcing technique when she got back in and continued with a spade. 

(See below for full hand)

At least we had an eight trump card fit - prefer longer fits myself despite advice to the contrary where side suits can be run.  The play was over in a flash -  Ruff on table , lost club to King to Ace , spade return , ruff , back to club ten , diamond king drops, draw trumps.

Nice top. Others , were in minor games , sometimes doubled or North /South in 5S going off.

Shows the power of long suits with top cards.

It felt a bit like something out of a James Bond book with bidding by the Rueful Rabbit.  A slam made with 15 high card points, perhaps I should have re-doubled in true James Bond fashion. Can't blame the opposition for the double with their 25 points . After all there was a slam their way too.

The charm technique evaporated a bit as we got good results on the next couple of boards , knocking the opposition off top spot. However charm can be effective - so can passing.

A typical night when called up to Northampton Bridge Club.  

Missed my cocoa, called to duty again tonight at Kingsley , to make up a missing pair. Don't have time to feel under the weather for too long. Oh, someone else has just called me for Monday.