THE ‘Not So Crazy Bridge’ evening held at the Bridge Club last Saturday was a huge success and the 80 players who took part had a lot of fun and also took away some good tips on declarer play from the seven ‘instructional’ hands played during the evening. The game was sponsored by the Orbis Bridge Education grant and we hope to have some similar evenings on a regular basis.

Now for some news from the US and world bridge scene which caught my eye.

Zia Mahmood, Kerri Sanborn and Alan Sontag have been elected to the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame. Induction ceremonies will take place this summer during the Summer Championships in Nashville, Tennessee.

These are the three I voted for in the ballot and they make great additions to the HOF. I’ve known Zia, who is now a real superstar in the bridge world, since our days as students in London and he can produce moments of absolute magic at the table.

Kerri (nee Shuman) is a marvellous player and Colin Millington and I played against her and Barry Crane in 1978 when they subsequently went on to win the World Mixed Pairs by five boards!

And Alan Sontag, who with Peter Weichsel may have been the best ever precision pair, has won five World Team Championships, and wrote my favourite book, The Bridge Bum<$>.

In other news, the world bridge rankings were released, with the Americans and Italians dominating.

At the close of 2006, Lorenzo Lauria of Italy was ranked the world’s No. 1 player by the World Bridge Federation. Fourteen of the top 15 hailed from either Italy or the United States. The 15th was Gabriel Chagas of Brazil, who ranked eighth.

Many of you have heard me say that Chagas was, for me, the best I’d ever played against. The top woman player was Sabine Auken of Germany. Six nations had players in the top ten. In the Grand Master category, the top rank went to Bob Hamman of the United States. The leader among women was Jill Meyers of the United States.

This week’s hand is quite a simple one and comes from Eddie Kantor, who was in Bermuda last week with the Zeke Jabbour group. Eddie is a marvellous player and teacher. The hand is all about ‘entries’.

There are many ways to create entries, some quite daring. The bottom line is to know how many entries you need and, equally important, how to secure them.

Once you decide which suit you are planning to establish, keep as many entries to that hand as possible. As a general rule, try to retain entries to the weaker hand. The stronger the trump suit, the more careful you must be to conserve trump entries to the hand you are establishing.

North

[spade]7 3

[heart]Q 2

[diamond]A J 7 6 4 2|0xa8|A K 3

>West East

<$f"ZapfDingbats">|0xab|10 6 [spade]K Q J 9 4 2

[heart]10 8 6 5 4 3 [heart]A K J

[diamond]Q 10 8 3 [diamond]K 9

[club]5 [club]8B>South

[spade]A 8 5

[heart]9 7

[diamond]5

[club]Q J 10 9 72North East South West<$>

1[diamond] Dbl 3[club] Pass

4[club] 4[spade] 5[club] All PassOpening lead: Spade 10

The only hope is to set up diamonds. Assuming a normal 4-2 divis, three <$>diamonds must be ruffed. This requires three dummy entries in addition to the ace of diamonds.

If that club 3 doesn’t look like an entry to you, get a new pair of glasses. If you ruff diamonds high, conserving your beloved deuce, you will be able to set up the diamonds eventually and will get to the good diamonds by leading the club 2 to the 3. Try it!

The key to this hand, as always, is clear thinking. Work out what is required, three entries to dummy, and then play accordingly.

LATEST RESULTS

Bermuda Bridge Club

Monday afternoon, ch 26, N/S: <$>1. Richard Gray-Wendy Gray, 2. Julia Beach-Bill Tucker, 3. Joan Sims-Better Outerbridge. E/W: 1. Gill Butterfield-Margaret Way, 2. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 3. Pat SiddVivian Siddle.

Monday evening, N/S: 1. Bill Tucker-Kevin Comeau, 2. Stephen Cosham-Cliff Alison, 3. Craig Hutton-John Hoskins. E/W: 1. Oswald Dietrich-Nea Willits, 2. Jean Bath-Tony Saunders, 3. Alan Dous-Barry Rahman.

Tuesday evening, N/S: <$>1. Alan Douglas-Bill Tucker, 2. Richard Gray-Wendy Gray, 3. Margaret Way-Lyn O’Neill. E/W: 1. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 2. Diana Diel-Nea Willits, 3. Gertruderker-Jane Smith.

Wednesday morning, N/S: <$>1. Lisa Burland-Patricia Hayward, 2. Louise Rodger-Dorry Lusher, 3. Joan Sims-Betty Outerbridge. E/W: 1, Julia Beach-Bill Tucker, 2. John Hoskins-Michael Bickley, 3 (jt) Vera Petty-Roman Smolski and DiaDiel-Nea Willits.

Wednesday evening, N/S<$>: 1. Jim Ramsey-Peter Adhemar, 2. Geoff Bell-Kath Bell, 3. Trish Moody-Mark Coke. E/W: 1. George Ogden-Sandra Ogden, 2. Joan Ross-Ron Ross, 3. Jonathan Clir-Rachel Blakeney.

Thursday evening, N/S: <$>1. Judith Bussell-Lyn O’Neill, 2. Diana Diel-Nea Willits, 3. Lisa Burland-Patricia Hayward. E/W: 1. Vera Petty-Roman Smolski, 2. Bill Tucker-Anelise Scheland, 3. Charles Pman-Ernest Paynter.

Friday evening: 1. Bill Tucker-Kevin Comeau, 2. Oswald Dietrich-Nea Willits, 3. Craig Hutton-Cliff Alison.