The Ernie Owen Individual took place last night and full details will be in the column next week.

I wrote about Ernie in last week’s column and the picture of him when he was at his hirsute best was fun to see! Ernie played with both the presence and the size of his moustache a fair bit, quite often decided by how things were going at the bridge table on a week-to-week basis!

This week’s hand is not complicated but is one which really only requires one thing from declarer — clear thinking!

Not always easy I grant you, but the ability to sort out the wood from the trees at the table, as opposed to only in the post-mortem, is a valuable thing to have.

Dealer South E/W Vulnerable

S QJ85

H K3

D AQ43

C AJ3

S AK109763

H 62

D 62

C KQ

South opened one Spade and North didn’t hang around. He bid Blackwood and settled in six Spades when South only showed one Ace. Declarer won the Club lead in hand, drew trump, crossed to the Club Ace and played the Jack of Clubs ... which red suit two should he discard? If the Diamond finesse is right then he should discard a Heart and if the Ace of Hearts is right he should discard a Diamond? Well, not quite!

Declarer can combine both those chances by discarding a Heart! Discard the Heart, come to hand with a trump and lead the now singleton Heart — if LHO has the Ace he must rise with it or lose it, and then the Heart King provides a discard for the Diamond making the Diamond finesse unnecessary.

If East has the Heart Ace and wins it, declarer ruffs the Heart return and then goes back to taking the Diamond finesse to try and make the contract.

The full hand:

North

S QJ85

H K3

D AQ43

C AJ3

West East

S 4 S 2

H A754 H QJ1098

D J75 D K1098

C 109865 C 742

South

S AK109763

H 62

D 62

C KQ

The play by declarer doubles his chances as the contract makes any time LHO has EITHER the Diamond King or the Heart Ace and ... two chances are certainly much better than one!