Time is running out to sign up for the Bridge Club Summer Party — at which no Bridge will be played! That would not have happened in my day.

Here is a recent bulletin from the Committee to whet your appetite.

A reminder about the “Bridge Club Summer Party, with the Decade Busters” on Saturday 11th August, at the Bridge Club Gardens, (weather permitting, otherwise it will be inside).

We now have 36 people signed up.

Please sign up at the club or send an e-mail as below — it would help tremendously in the organisation (renting chairs, catering etc) if people could sign up sooner rather than leaving it to the last minute.

$50 per person, plus drinks (at our usual bar prices).

The party will:

— Start with a glass of complimentary bubbly and nibbles at 7pm.

— Dinner will be served at 8pm.

— Open seating on tables of 8-10 (no pre-arranged table plan).

— Drinks available from the bar on bar cards in the normal way.

— Followed by dancing/listening to the music of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

— Family and friends are also very welcome.

If anyone is celebrating a decade birthday or anniversary (ie any birthday ending in a zero) this year or last year (as we didn’t have the party last year), please let us know by e-mailing judyking1@gmail.com.

And hunt out a picture of when you were young so that we can have a “Guess Who” competition again at the party.

On average we should have at least 15 Decade Busters in our membership every year.

So there you are, no excuses for missing it!

Today’s hand is again aimed at the Bridge Summer Campers, some of whom will shortly be leaving to experience the ACBL Summer National in Atlanta.

Dealer South N/S vulnerable.

?743

?75

?K94

?87643

?1086

?K1095

?1052

?Q109

?52

?AQ84

?8763

?KJ5

?AKQJ9

?632

?AQJ

?A2

The hand is really about the play but I will discuss the bidding.

South decided to open his hand with a strong 2 Club opening bid which said nothing about clubs but simply tells partner that he has a very strong hand, and partner is obliged to keep the bidding open.

Partner has a bad hand and so bids 2 diamonds, which again says nothing about diamonds but tells South that the North hand has not got very much in the way of high card points.

South now bids 2 Spades (for all you more advanced players out there I would recommend that any bid by opener, except for 2NT, after a 2 Club opener is a one round force) and North now jumps to 4 Spades saying again that he does not like his hand.

The jump is based on the solid bidding approach of fast arrival with a bad hand and slow arrival with a good one.

So, declarer has to make ten tricks — West leads a diamond and declarer does some thinking.

He has only nine tricks (5 spades, three diamonds and a club) and the tenth can come from a heart ruff in dummy.

So at trick two, before drawing any trumps, declarer must play a heart to stay one step ahead of the opposition who now cannot stop declarer obtaining a heart ruff for his tenth trick.

Notice that if declarer makes the mistake of drawing even one round of trumps before playing the heart, the defence can prevail by playing a trump every time they get in to defeat the contract.

Notice also, that an initial trump opening lead defeats the contract, and I must say that with none of the other suits presenting an attractive lead a trump lead would appeal to me on that West hand.