ANOTHER hugely successful Bermuda Sectional concluded last Monday and chairperson Donna Leitch and her team deserve a lot of credit. The event was well attended and from the couple of times I visited, including the prize-giving, it was clear that everyone enjoyed both the bridge and social side of the event. These things are always a team effort and Donna and her group deserve congratulations.

The results of the Sectional are included at the end of this column so I will just highlight some of the major winners and results. It was good to see a strong participation at every level and for the first time in some years the winners of the three major events were all different.

Winning the Teams were the familiar quartet of Roman Smolski, Vera Petty and David and Sally Sykes. The Open Pairs were won by Alan Douglas and Sven Pride and the Masters Pairs, with two huge sessions, by Bill Tucker and John Burville.

Sven, playing in his first Sectional, is clearly a fine player who has quickly made his mark and Bill Tucker brings tons of talent and experience to the table since his recent return.

There were many other good performances over the weekend and a number of Pairs/Teams did well in placing above their strata — Jane Smith and Gertie Barker won Strata B and came third in A in the Zip X Pairs, Kevin Comeau, Simon Giffen, Dee Griffiths and Russell Craft won both B & C in the Goslings Swiss and Sally and Scott Godet and Vivian and Pat Siddle came second in both.

In the Friday afternoon Pairs Gertie Barker and Magda Farag won B and came third in A, and an excellent performance in the Monday afternoon Pairs saw Julia Lunn and Pat Siddle win B & C and finish third in A — well done all !

Thanks must also go to all the sponsors — Gosling’s, Zip X and Safeguard, as well as the Bank of Butterfield who provided a lot of support. Next year’s chairman has a tough act to follow!

This week’s hand came from the second session of the Safeguard Holding Pairs which was a red-hot event with the winners Tucker and Burville averaging an amazing 68% over two sessions, followed by Smolski and Petty who averaged 64.6% and Douglas and Rahman who averaged 62% — often enough to win the event!

The hand features Douglas and Rahman and was board 11 in the second session of the event on Monday night.

Dealer South

None VulnerableNorth (Douglas)

[spade]A K 7 4 3 2

[heart]2

[diamond]K 5

[club]A K J 6

West (Wakefield) East<$> (Cordon)

[spade]Q 10 9 5 [spade]None

[heart]Q 10 5 [heart]K J 9 8 73

[diamond]Q 7 2 [diamond]J 10 9 8 6 4 3

[club]9 4 3 [club]None

South (Rahman)

[spade]J 8 6

[heart]A 6 4

[diamond]A

[club]Q 10 8 7 5 2The bidding was great pairs from both sides:South West North East

2[club] (1) Pass 2[diamond] (2) 2[heart] (3)

3[club] (4) 3[heart] 3[spade] 4[diamond]

4[spade] DBL Pass (5) 6[diamond] (6)

DBL (7) 6[heart] (8) ???1. Precision 11-15, 6 plus clubs or 5 clubs and four of a major

2. Artificial forcing inquiry

3. I like this even though the diamonds are longer. The heart suit is better and diamonds can be introduced later

4. Showing six plus clubs and No 4 card major

5. After some thought about redoubling as slam could be on

6. My favourite bid of the auction, putting maximum pressure on the opponents

7. This says ‘let me out of here’!

8. What now?? Alan figured passing the double would result in either a small loss or a big loss as slam looked on for North/South. Bidding on could also result in a big loss but could also result in a big gain — a good tradeoff.

Remembering the earlier double Alan bid . . . seven clubs!! Great spot.

Barry played it well — win the club lead in hand, ace of heart and ruff a heart with the king of clubs. Diamond to the ace, ruff a heart with the ace, jack of clubs overtaken with the queen, draw trumps, throw a spade on the diamond king — slam made!

Really great bridge all around — well done to all four!

SECTIONAL RESULTS

Goslings Swiss Teams Flight A<$>: 1. David Sykes-Sally Sykes-Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 2. Sven Pride-Judy Bussell-Eddie Kyme-Stephanie Kyme, 3. Alan Douglas-Barry Rahman-David Pereira-Tony Saunders.

Goslings Swiss Teams Flight B:<$> 1. Kevin Comeau-Simon Giffen-Dee Griffiths-Russell Craft.

Zip X Pairs Flight A: 1. Sven Pride-Alan Douglas, 2. David Cordon-John Burville, 3. Jane Smith Gertrude Barker.

Zip X Pairs Flight B: 1. Jane Smith-Gertrude Barker

Zip X Pairs Flight C: 1. Dolly Winwick-Aida Bostelmann

Safeguard Holding Pairs Flight A<$>: 1. Bill Tucker-John Burville, 2. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 3. Alan Douglas-Barry Rahman.

Safeguard Holding Pairs Flight B<$>: 1. John Glynn-Bill Pare

Safeguard Holding Pairs Flight C: 1. Dee Griffiths-Russell Craft

Friday afternoon Pairs Flight A:<$> 1. David Sykes-Sally Sykes

Friday afternoon Pairs Flight B: 1. Magda Farag-Gertrude Barker

Friday afternoon Pairs Flight C:<$> 1. Dolly Winwick-Aida Bostelmann

Monday afternoon Pairs Flight A:<$> 1. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski

Monday afternoon Pairs Flights B & C: 1. Julia Lunn-Pat Siddle