With the tournament season now over till the end of summer there are still a few things happening at the Club, all of which are detailed on the excellent website at www.bermudabridge.com

Last night will have seen the Decade Busters Summer Party, while July 2 will see a workshop on the Unusual No Trump and Michael’s Cue Bids, July 8 will see another Junior Senior Game and on July 16 at 7.30pm Diana Diel will present Lesson Two on the Play of the Hand — so, no excuses for not improving.

It’s always nice to hear from Bridge Club members on hands they have played and happenings at the Club, especially when some of it provides material for the column.

John Burville wrote recently with an interesting potpourri of topics, the main one being to point out some noteworthy performances at the Club by players who are not usually in the limelight.

John reports that on June 2, during STAC week, Ernest Paynter and Charles Pearman came first in a Howell with a 65.63 percent game which beat all but one pair of the 181 pairs that took part in 33 different clubs. A great performance for a pair who, it seems, really work at their game and strive to do well.

Then, about ten days later a friend of Ernest and Charles, Keith Smith, who comes from a Bid Whist background and had been kibitzing at the Club for a bit, came down to play and recorded a 61.57 percent game in partnership with Ruby Douglas. Well done to all. It is great to see new players emerging.

John then got down to the hand which was Board 4 in the June 6 Worldwide Bridge Contest — John was West, John was North and his partner was Paul Thompson. Both pairs were vulnerable.

(Spades / Hearts / Diamonds / Clubs)

North: KQ98 / 10765 / AQ97/ K

East: A32 / KQ4 / 108652 / 87

South: 4 / 983 / K / AQ1096432

West: J10765 / AJ2 / J43/ J5

After a pass by West John opened a Diamond, Paul bid a gentle 2 Clubs and John leaped to 3NT, a practical bid based on his limited values as they were already in a game forcing situation — fast arrival shows a weak hand in a game forcing sequence. After much thought South passed, possibly hearing the advice of the great Bob Hamman in his ears: “On every hand with enough points you have to tell me why we are not playing 3NT”.

East, Magda Farag, got off to the worrying lead of the Diamond 5, removing the only entry to dummy outside the critical Club suit.

There were now a lot of choices, not many of them good. Play a Spade to set up some Spade tricks, play a Heart to get the opponents to play Spades or Diamonds, or go for broke in the minors. Notice that a Spade to the King and Ace and a Diamond continuation by East would give John 12 tricks, but a Club or Heart switch could hold him to nine.

After a lot of thought John decided to look up at the sky, say a little prayer and trust the minors. He overtook the diamond King with the Ace, cashed the Diamond Queen, overtook the Club King with the Ace and then cashed the Club Queen, if the Jack does not come down the opponents now have a lot of tricks to cash. All was well, however, and the Club Jack showed its pretty face — ten tricks well done.

That is Pairs bridge for you, the fall of the Club Jack resulting in ten tricks and had it not fallen it could have been as little as five.