For many (perhaps most) of you readers out there, bridge is an addiction — it has been for me since the age of 20, and for the next two decades, there wasn’t a bridge book published that I didn’t get hold of in the first week and then read cover to cover — and that includes the marginal ones!

Within the addiction, however, is a sub-addiction, if there is such a thing, and for me as a Pairs player that sub-addiction is for overtricks! I love them and go hunting for them on each hand, especially on those where the overtrick is a free shot.

Every once in a while, however, one has to curb that enthusiasm (love that show!) and settle for making the contract because the risk is too high. Awfully hard, but necessary.

So now take a look at this hand:

North has, at best a 1NT response to the spade opener or even a two-spade bid — his two over one.

Two-diamond bid was a vast overbid. He compounded this by bidding only three spades over the three-diamond bid, which is, in fact, a mild slam try, and lucky for him South thought he was in a game forcing sequence and bid four spades with his shapeless 14-pointer.

West led the Queen of hearts which South won immediately, as his eyes had lit up because he spotted a finesse! He immediately played a club to the King and played the ten of spades and ran it.

West won, cashed a heart and looking at that diamond suit switched to the obvious club, knocking out the Ace. It was now all over for our boy in the South seat — he drew trumps and played on diamonds but West won the Ace and cashed a club — down one on a frigidly cold contract!

Declarer should have weighed up three things on this hand:

• The finesse is 50/50, or perhaps a teeny bit less as West hadn’t led a spade

• With careful play the contract is cold

• If the spade finesse loses even a beginner would find the winning defence as a club switch was obvious after cashing a heart.

So, at trick two declarer should play the spade Ace (once in a while there will be a singleton King!) and then another spade. He is now one step ahead of the defence — if they switch to a club he wins, draws the last trump and then plays on diamonds while he still has a club entry in dummy — contract made!

It is so much nicer writing down +420 instead of -50!

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

BRIDGE CLUB RESULTS

Friday, October 2

1 Louise Rodger/Margaret Way

2 Tony Saunders/Patricia Siddle

3 Betsy Baillie/Heather Woolf

Monday, October 5

1 Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

2 John Burville/Molly Taussig

3 Tracy Nash/Desmond Nash

Tuesday, October 6

North/South

1 Tracey Pitt/David Leach

2 Ross Cooper/Desiree Woods

East/West

1 Joshimar Hussey/Julia Tadman

2 Jean Schilling/Keri McKittrick

Wednesday, October 7

1 Betsy Baillie/Sharon Shanahan

2 Patricia Siddle/Diana Diel

3 Peter Donnellan/Lynanne Bolton

Thursday, October 8

1 Tracy Nash/Desmond Nash

2 Claude Guay/Sharon Shanahan

3 Caitlin Conyers/John F W Glynn