Online games continue strongly at the Bridge Club and it looks like that may be the case for a while. What seems clear is that there will continue to be a demand for online bridge even after we return to “normal” and that will pose a real challenge for the Bridge Club and those who run the game locally. As I’ve written here before, a large percentage of our members fall into the “Covid vulnerable” category, so there will be no quick turnaround in terms of attendance at the physical games, whenever they start — lots to ponder.Also lots to ponder for South on the hand above after his declarer play was, to put it mildly, not appreciated by his partner!South opened 1NT and North had an easy raise to 3NT — West led the 3of Hearts.Declarer won the 10 with the Jack and played the Queen of Clubs, which East won to play another Heart to West’s 9, 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 previous columns about being nice, or at least courteous, 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 — contract made.This is actually no more than a standard hold-up play … if South had Kxx in Hearts, he would probably have held up at trick one as it is a much more familiar situation and would make the hand.The hold-up is an important part of declarer play and it comes in many different forms, and is often the difference between success and failure.