The ACBL Wide Charity game was held at the Club last Thursday and the winners were Russell and Dee Craft with a 59.82 per cent game followed by Elysa Burland and Julia Beach in second with 58.63 per cent, a great performance by this pair, and in third with another excellent showing were Peter Donnellan and Paul Thompson on 57.14 per cent. Congratulations to all three pairs and while sub 60 per cent scores will not rank in the ACBL overalls, all you can do is try and beat the pairs you play against at the table.

The Mixed Pairs (previously known as the divorce stakes when many married couples took part!) is next up on the calendar on the 13th/17th and the Non Life Master 299er Pairs after that on the 23rd/30th. Stay tuned for results.

Good bridge is all about communication, not just in the bidding but also in defence. You cannot defend properly opposite a partner that does not give count or does not play their cards carefully enough so that you can get some clues as to what they want you to do.

When players see how the experts defend they often say that they defended “like they could see through the cards”. Most of the time, however, all they are doing is taking a really good look at the cards their partner is playing — and then trusting partner’s signals.

This hand is a perfect example of defence at the top level.

E/W Vulnerable — dealer North

KJ10 S

102 H

AJ10873 D

K8 C

West

9543 S

94 H

9542 D

AJ6 C

East

876 S

AKQJ8763 H

None D

53 C

South

AQ2 S

5 H

KQ6 D

Q109742 C

The bidding was over quickly — North opened an off-shape 12-14 NT, East bid four Hearts and South was pushed into five Clubs which is way inferior to five Diamonds — that’s what pre-empts are designed to do!

Declarer was the excellent Joel Woolridge and he was up against two formidable defenders as sitting West was Brad Moss and in the East seat was Canada’s Fred Gitelman, the inventor and owner of Bridge Base Online.

Moss led the Heart nine and declarer made the good play of the ten! Good play you say? Why? These are top players, and if declarer played the two, Gitelman could let the nine hold and play the three under it, his lowest Heart, looking for a Diamond shift which would defeat the contract.

At the table Gitelman won the ten with the Jack and led back the three of Hearts — declarer ruffed and now played a low club intending to finesse the eight, based on the bidding, which would deliver the contract. Moss, however, rose with the Club Ace and gave Gitelman his Diamond ruff! Down one!

How did he know? He trusted his partner and asked himself why Gitelman would play back the Heart three when he obviously had a choice of six other higher Hearts! Answer — the low card is screaming for a return of the lower non-trump suit, which is Diamonds!

This is a pretty dramatic example of a play that comes up time and time again — when you are playing a suit back to partner who is going to ruff or win it, choose a card to return that sends a message!

High card — you like the higher of the other two non-trump suits.

Low card — you like the lower of the other two non-trump suits.

Medium card — I have nothing to suggest!

Easy game ...