THE National Teams Championship held last weekend was won by Vera Petty, Roman Smolski, David Sykes and Sally Sykes. With one session to go the Barker team held a narrow lead but the Petty team had a strong final session and in the end won comfortably. This was an instructive hand on which neither team reached the excellent slam:North South

AKJ765 Q3

J973 AK10864

A3 K2

4 963At one table the budding proceeded:North South

1[spade] 2[heart]

3[heart] 4[heart]

4[spade] Passwhile at the other table a similar auction took place:North South

1[spade] 2[heart]

3[heart] 4[heart]

4NT 5[heart]

PassBoth pairs were playing 2 over 1 so 3[heart] was forcing, but a splinter bid of 4[club] would have been a more descriptive bid. At the first table 4[spade] was clearly a cuebid but even if South had bid 5[diamond] it is hard to see how North could have bid the slam with any confidence.

At the second table North chose the superior bid of 4NT. (Roman Key-card Blackwood) — the 5[heart] response showed two key cards without the queen of trumps. An accurate answer, you might say, but in fact when you have more trumps than you have promised you should respond as if you had the queen (5[spade] in this case) — that extra trump makes a lot of difference!

LATEST RESULTS

Bermuda Bridge Club

Monday, April 25, afternoon<$>: 1. Peggy Sinclair-Dorry Lusher, 2. Mary Arton-Alice Palmer, 3. Patricia Riding-June Stanton

Monday, April 25, evening, N/S: <$>1. David Cordon-John Burville, 2. Judith Bussell-Diana Diel 3. Lyn O’Neill-Lynanne Bolton. E/W: 1. Alan Douglas-Jane Smith, 2. Magda Farag-Stephen Ball, 3. Charles Hall-Anthony Saunders.

Wednesday, April 27, afternoon, N/S: 1. Gwen Christensen-Barbara Huntington, 2. Joan Sims-Gillian Gray. E/W: 1. Magda Farag-Mona Marie Gambrill, 2. Michael Bickley-Dorry Lusher.

Wednesday, April 27, evening: <$>1. Peter Jones-Don Airey, 2. Margaret Potts-Russell Craft, 3. Stan Turner-Mabs Turner. E/W: 1. Joan Ross-Ron Ross, 2. Anna Diethelm-Erica Hendricks, 3. Patricia Colmet-Annabella Fraser.

Friday, April 29: <$>1. Alan Douglas-Ruby Douglas, 2. Ernest Paynter-Charles Pearman, 3. David Sykes-Sally Sykes.

Bermuda National Teams<$>: 1. Vera Petty, Roman Smolski, David Sykes, Sally Sykes. 2. Gertie Barker, Jane Smith, Diana Diel, Magda Farag. 3. Jean Bath, Marge Way, John Glynn, Bill Pare.