There are still a few club championships to be played before the summer and here is a summary of what is in store:

• Novice Pairs (0-20) Championship, Tuesday, June 3, at 7pm

• Men’s/Ladies’ Pairs Championship (Two sessions), Saturday, June 14, at 9.30am

• Junior Teams Championship (Two sessions), Tuesdays June 17 and 24, at 7pm

And once these are done, members can relax at the Bridge Club summer party on Saturday June 28 at  6.30pm

Today’s deal (see Figure 1) has two problems in one. In both cases you play in six spades, but in one case you receive the unfriendly heart lead, which sets up a winner for the defenders immediately.

In the other case you receive a passive trump lead. How should your approaches differ?

The deal comes from the world championships in Beijing.

In the Closed Room, West led the heart three and declarer won with the Ace, drew trumps, eliminated the clubs ending in hand, and exited with a heart.

West had to win this trick and, knowing that a heart or club lead would give declarer a ruff and discard he exited with a low diamond. (The Queen is probably the best shot to suggest you have the Queen-Jack, but it never seems to work when I try it.) Declarer took East’s Jack with the Ace, and the diamond finesse against West gave him plus 980.

In the Open Room the lead was a trump. Is there a better plan than the one described above? Yes, your best play is to draw trumps and go after diamonds to establish a discard for your heart loser.

It is a very close decision whether to lead them from the top or finesse twice against West or East.

So, the best approach is to test clubs before playing diamonds. If one opponent shows any real spade or club length, you should go for two finesses against the other defender.

Take another good look at both of these plays, as they will come up time and time again at the table.

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, May 23

1, Richard Hall/Molly Taussig

2, Sancia Garrison/Jane Smith

3, Judith Bussell/Diana Diel

Monday, May 26

North/South

1, Sheena Rayner/Patricia Siddle

2, Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

3, Jack Rhind/Judith Bussell

East/West

1, Martha Ferguson/Rachael Gosling

2, Sancia Garrison/Charles Hall

3, Lorna Anderson/Heather Woolf

Tuesday, May 27

North/South

1, James Mulderig/Robert Mulderig

2, Sanja Thompson/Michael Frings

3, Richard Neame/Louise Neame

East/West

1, Sheena Trot/Davina Dickenson

2, Gareth Cooper/Maximilian Santiago

3, Scott Gilbertson/Ross Cooper

Wednesday, May 28

1, Peter Donnellan/Judith Bussell

2, Stephanie Kyme/Charles Hall

3, Gertrude Barker/Linda Pollett

Thursday, May 29

North/South

1, Gertrude Barker/John F. W. Glynn

2, Julia Tadman/Joshimar Hussey

East/West

1, Stephanie Kyme/Charles Hall

2, Robert Mulderig/James Mulderig