Really sad news just before the holidays with the passing away of Sally Sykes, after a long and brave battle against illness.

Sally and her biggest supporter, husband David, were a regular pair at the Club for many years and have won multiple trophies in a variety of Club Championships and also represented Bermuda on a number of occasions.

They formed a great partnership at and away from the table and our thoughts are with David and her family, which for Sally very much included her two beloved puppies, Simon and Abigail. She will be missed.

This week’s hand is interesting both in the bidding and the play as North-South combined well to get to the perfect spot and South then followed up with good play to justify the aggressive bidding.

N/S Vul … Dealer South

North

S Q76543

H None

D K53

C AJ32

West

S 9

H KQJ10987

D Q984

C 4

East

S 2

H A654

D J107

C Q10986

South

S AKJ108

H 32

D A62

C K75

West

4H

Pass

North

5H

Pass

East

6H

Pass

South

1S

6S

This was excellent bidding. North’s 5 Heart bid had to be based on a void and since South had no wasted values in Hearts in what was now a 30 point deck he bid the slam despite having only 15 points and an uninspiring 5-2-3-3 shape.

West led the Club three which, based on the bidding, was clearly a singleton. Declarer thus did not waste the Jack and won the club with the King.

This is a fairly simple hand for the advanced player but for the intermediate to intermediate-plus player the hand needs real attention.

With such a massive trump fit declarer headed towards an elimination play. At trick two declarer ruffed a Heart in dummy, came to hand with a trump and ruffed his other Heart. With all the trumps collected and all the Hearts eliminated declarer now played Ace-King and another Diamond.

This was the position before the play of the third diamond:

North

S Q76

H None

D 3

C AJ3

West

S None

H KQJ10

D Q9

C None

East

S None

H A6

D J

C Q109

South

S J108

H None

D 6

C 75

The defence is stuffed! If West wins he only has red cards left and has to give declarer a ruff and discard.

If West allows East to win the trick he can either lead a Heart also providing a ruff and discard, or lead a Club straight into the Ace-Jack — contract made!

If you didn’t solve it, cut out the hand and put it on display where you can see it often, as this is a play that will present itself time and time again at the table!