It’s good to see the gradual return to some form of normalcy at the Bridge Club as we all take careful steps to try and get this horror behind us. It will, in all probability, not be a smooth upward climb but we can only hope that it is.

It seems like centuries ago that we had our friends come and make the Regional the highlight of our year and I know we all look forward to seeing it back in full flow in 2023 – fingers tightly crossed!

Having just spent a full month in England it is appropriate to talk about Andrew Robson, one of the most influential figures in bridge both in the UK and globally, as a player, writer and teacher. Andrew achieved great success as part of the GB team and now runs a successful club as well as something akin to the gold standard in teaching systems and schools. He is also the bridge columnist of The Times in London from where this hand comes.

Given his passion for teaching most of the hands Andrew covers have some strong instructional aspect, and this one, in Figure 1, is no different.

South opened a weak two hearts and North raised to 4 hearts, partly in the hope that it might make and partly to stop the opponents from entering the bidding.

West led the spade 10 – declarer tried the Jack but East won the Queen, cashed the Ace and then switched to the club Jack – what card do you play? Think about it before reading on.

Well, if you play the queen and it wins you still need the diamond finesse to work in order to make the contract as you have already lost two tricks and have to lose the Ace of trumps.

Now the light comes on – if the diamond finesse works …….you don’t need the club finesse!

So you win the Ace of clubs and, before playing trump, you run the Jack of diamonds. When this holds you repeat the finesse and throw your club Queen away on the third diamond. Now you give up the Ace of trumps and claim your contract.

See the full hand in Figure 2.

It all looks so easy in the post-mortem, doesn’t it? The key to success is bringing that clarity of thought to the table in real time – not easy, but very much achievable if you can put aside the fluff and just concentrate on what is in front of you.

This column was not published in its usual place in Saturday’s print edition of The Royal Gazette. It will be published in Monday’s Lifestyle section.

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, November 12

1. Joyce Pearson – Joe Wakefield

2. Peter Donnellan – Charles Hall

3. Aida Bostelmann – Heather Woolf

Monday, November 15

1. Judy Bussell – Joe Wakefield

2. Judy King – Molly Taussig

3. Tracy Nash – Des Nash

Wednesday, November 17

1. Magda Farag – Joe Wakefield

2. Janice Trott – Julia Beach

3. Diana Diel – Pat Siddle

Thursday, November 18

1. Gertie Barker – Rachael Gosling

2. Jane Smith – Magda Farag

3. Wenda Krupp – Jane Gregory