I covered the results of the Bermuda Mixed Team in Denmark last week and said I would follow up after a conversation with Jack Rhind, the captain.

I had a quick word with Jack following which he sent me this message which is interesting.

“Hi David, your article last weekend, though painful to read, was well received and spot on about the problems that we faced in Denmark. Although we all worked hard and put our best effort into the event, we were not prepared to face what we met, in many respects.

“It became clear very early that the systems we play are geared to play at the club level and against opponents who are playing bridge at a level way below what we faced there, especially in the area of competitive bidding.

“If we were to do this all over again, we would go into the event playing much different systems. As an example, most of the European teams play an opening 2D as showing a weak hand with six-plus cards in a major suit.

“Some play the full Multi, but not many these days. An opening 2H bid shows five-plus hearts and four-plus cards in a minor. 2S opening shows five-plus spades and four-plus of any other suit including hearts.

“A 2NT opener is a weak hand with the minors. They constantly make bids that are geared to show two-suited hands and get into the bidding quickly and get out, so partner knows what you have early in the bidding. This better enables them to determine whether they have a save against the opponent’s game contracts.

“The area where we really got killed in each match was high-level competitive bidding. You bid 4H and the opponents often bid 4S over you, you bid 4S and they bid 5C or 5H.

“They just have more and better experience than we have in judging these situations and putting you to the test — do you bid 5H over 5S, do you pass, do you double?

“In virtually every match we lost bundles of IMPs on these kinds of hands. Not losing IMPs on those kinds of hands would have put us in a much better position to be more competitive and avoid the big losses and even win a match or two.

“As a team, we all represented Bermuda well. We got along really well together and supported each other when times were difficult. I would play with this team again any time and would look forward to representing Bermuda again, but would prepare in a different way next time.”

So there you have it — a big part of the problem is that the gaps outlined by Jack that need to be filled can’t be learnt from a book, but comes from a lot of playing time against that level of opponent — and that is tough to do for the locals.

Experience, and “having been there before” are so huge in being successful at the higher levels, which is why one has players in their 70s and 80s still competing at the highest levels, because their store of knowledge gives them a huge advantage.

Travelling to nationals and regionals will certainly help any future contestants, though again one must enter the events where pretty much every pair is good! I’m not sure when the next big international event is, but it is clear that the preparation needs to be different and more intense.

I’m often accused of hating finesses, but I don’t. I don’t like them enough to make them my first line of attack, but quite often there is no choice. And there are finesses I like and finesses I don’t. With all that said, look at today’s hand (see Figure 1), where, you will be please to know, I like the finesse.

West led a spade — declarer ruffed, drew the trump and now played Ace- King-Queen of diamonds, hoping they were 3-3 or that the Jack was singleton or doubleton, in which case he could discard one heart and then try the heart finesse for an overtrick.

When this did not work, a bit unlucky, declarer had to try the heart finesse and eventually went one down — not good!

Yes I know I said I liked the finesse — just not that one!

Declarer was unlucky — his line of play would work every time the heart finesse worked or if something good happened in diamonds — probably about an 80 per cent chance.

Not bad you say? I agree, but 80 per cent is a lot less than 100 per cent!

Declarer should, after drawing the trump, go to the diamond King and ruff the last spade. He should then cash the Ace of diamonds and lead a diamond towards dummy in this position (see Figure 2):

When West follows low on the third diamond, declarer must take the finesse and insert the ten! This wins and declarer can discard one heart on the diamond Queen and the contract makes.

Lucky you say? What if East has the diamond Jack? Well, the contract is still cold — East now has to either lead a heart into the Ace-Queen, or lead a spade, in which case South discards a heart and ruffs in dummy … the diamond Queen takes care of the last heart and the contract makes.

So you see, some finesses are lovelier than others … and those are the ones I like.

• David Ezekiel can be reached on davidezekiel999@gmail.com

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, August 29

1 Jane Smith/Sancia Garrison

2 Elysa Burland/Magda Farag

3 Tony Saunders/Margaret Way

Monday, September 1

1 Sheena Rayner/Magda Farag

2 Martha Ferguson/Judy King

3 Desmond Nash/Lisa Ferrari

Tuesday, September 2

North/South

1 Tracy Pitt/David Leach

2 Desiree Woods/Ross Cooper

East/West

1 Veronica Boyce/Carol Eastham

2 Heidi Dyson/John Thorne

Wednesday, September 3

1 Patricia Siddle/Diana Diel

2 Gertrude Barker/Felicity Lund

3= Louise Rodger/Margaret Way

3= Richard Gray/Wendy Gray