Many congratulations to Linda and Bill Pollett who put together an excellent second session in the Bermuda Bridge Club Open Pairs Championship to leap from third to first and claim the title.

Two match points behind them in second were Judy Bussell and John Rayner, followed by Delton Outerbridge and Tim Mardon in third. In fourth and fifth were Lorna Anderson and Heather Woolf, and Misha Novakovic and Marge Way.

There were no fireworks in the morning session after which Misha and Margie had a nice lead over Lorna and Heather and Linda and Bill.

The afternoon session, however, saw a major change with the leaders having a session to forget and Linda and Bill clocking up just under 60 per cent to lift the title.

The winners are a really solid pair and have been in the top echelon of Bermuda bridge for a long time with multiple wins at the club — many of the intermediate players, some in this field, will have benefited from the lessons Bill ran with Charles Hall.

Judy and John came up just short but can be pleased with two solid sessions. Delton and Tim, and Lorna and Heather, are now showing that they fully belong in this company and it is no longer a surprise to see them in the mix. Well done to them for that — the next target for them has to be a winning one.

Next up on the tournament calendar is the Junior Open Pairs Championship, which had its first session last Tuesday and will conclude next Tuesday.

We are playing a bit more Teams bridge at the club than previously, but since the vast majority of the games are Pairs, most players find it difficult to adapt, especially in declarer play.

Today’s hand (see Figure 1) came up in a Teams game and declarer, a lifetime Pairs player, failed to adjust his thinking to the different form of scoring.

South thought about opening two clubs but eventually opened one spade, North dredged up a two-spade response and South jumped to the spade game — West led the heart Jack.

Declarer played the Queen and won the trick with the Ace when East played the King. He now crossed to the spade Ace to play a club towards the King — West won the Ace and continued with a trump — and the alarm bells started ringing …….

South won this and played another club but West won and played a third spade and the contract was doomed as declarer lost three clubs and a heart.

Declarer was a bit unlucky … … why? Because he was dealt the King of clubs! If this was his hand, he would never go wrong (see Figure 2).

He would win the heart and immediately play a club and since the defence cannot play trumps three times the contract makes.

And at Teams bridge, where overtricks do not matter and making the contract is all that matters, even with the original hand declarer should play a low club from his hand at trick two and guarantee making the contract! An embarrassment of riches!

Now go back and ask yourself how you would play the hand in a Pairs game where overtricks are precious and 11 tricks would be available if East had the club Ace?

I think I would take the risk and play the way the original declarer played — cross to the Ace of trumps and play a club, trying for 11 tricks — for it to be wrong the club Ace must be with West, West must have three trumps and West must find the right defence! All of that, for me, makes it a risk worth taking.

With all that said, absorb the lesson of the Teams play — making the contract is all that matters!

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, March 13

North/South

1 Peter Donnellan/Charles Hall

2 Elysa Burland/Magda Farag

3 Jack Rhind/Molly Taussig

East/West

1 Lorna Anderson/Joyce Pearson

2 Stephanie Kyme/Diana Diel

3 Betsy Baillie/Heather Woolf

Saturday, March 14

Open Pairs Championship

1 William Pollett/Linda Pollett

2 Judith Bussell/John Rayner

3 Delton Outerbridge/Tim Mardon

Monday, March 15

North/South

1 Peter Donnellan/Lynanne Bolton

2 Sheena Rayner/Magda Farag

3 Louise Rodger/Molly Taussig

East/West

1 Gertrude Barker/Caitlin Conyers

2 Sancia Garrison/Jane Smith

3 Patricia Siddle/Diana Diel

Tuesday, March 17

1 Tracey Pitt/David Leach

2 Ross Cooper/Desiree Woods

3 Joshimar Hussey/Julia Tadman

Wednesday, March 18

1 Charles Hall/Stephanie Kyme

2 Sheena Rayner/Molly Taussig

3 Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

Thursday, March 19

1 Miodrag Novakovic/Margaret Way

2 Duncan Silver/Marion Silver