The Bermuda Bridge Club Committee continue to do great things in the advancement of bridge on the Island, and last week I received a call from John Burville with news of yet another initiative that will help the game locally.

John gave me the background and I reproduce here an email from the club which best explains the new success:

“We are very pleased to announce that the Bermuda Bridge Club is now an Approved Activity Provider for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is run in a large number of countries, and is very popular in Bermuda where eight schools participate.

“Last year, over 200 students started the program, and over 400 are actively participating. Bridge will be classified as a “skill” option which is one of the four component parts for the Duke of Edinburgh award. The DOE program is particularly popular at Saltus and Warwick Academy.

“We feel that this is a big step forward to strengthening our Bridge in Schools program which will be starting its second year. We are currently working with Saltus, and Warwick Academy with good support from both the headmistresses. With the Duke of Edinburgh component, we hope to have greater student enrollment, and greater committed participation.

“Our Bridge in Schools program is heavily dependent on volunteers from the club, so if you can help, please let John Burville (jcburville@gmail.com) or anyone on the committee know of your interest, and your ability to help.”

So, good things happening and once again the Club and Committee deserve congratulations for these initiatives .

This week’s hand is going to make you work that brain.

Dealer West E/W Vulnerable

S J105

H K4

D AK643

C J94

S 72 S 98643

H J10983 H Q752

D QJ95 D 8

C K2 C A85

S AKQ

H A6

D 1072

? C Q10763

West led the Jack of Hearts against three no-trump. Declarer counted seven tricks on top, and turned his attention to the matter of finding tricks eight and nine.

Clearly, the answer was not in playing on Clubs as then, on most layouts, the defenders would have little trouble in taking at least three Hearts as well as the Ace and King of Clubs.

So, declarer focused on making four Diamond tricks. As this would have been routine if the Diamonds were 3-2, he looked to see if he could overcome some of the 4-1 breaks. Upon reflection, he saw that the only such divisions that he could make four tricks against were those where East began with a singleton eight or nine.

As the King of Hearts was the only side entry to dummy, declarer took the first trick with the Ace of Hearts and led the ten of Diamonds. When West covered this with the Jack, declarer took it with dummy’s King of Diamonds, and then played the three of Diamonds to his seven.

West had no answer: If he took the trick, declarer would be able to finesse the six on the next round of the suit while, if he ducked, declarer would continue with Ace and another Diamond to set up a long Diamond, with that carefully preserved King of Hearts as the entry to cash it.

Of course, if West had not covered the ten of Diamonds, declarer would have played low from the dummy and won the trick. Then, the Ace, King and another Diamond would have set up a long Diamond, again with the King of Hearts as the entry to cash it.

Great play.

I think most players would see that playing on Clubs was not the answer, but only a tiny fraction of those would figure out how to cope with the 4-1 break when West held the four card suit.

Would you?