I reported last week on the results of the Men’s and Ladies’ Pairs and congratulations once again to Jane Smith/Gertie Barker and Tony Saunders/Charles Hall, who finished top of their respective fields.

I realise, however, that I omitted to congratulate those who won in Flight B and C in the Ladies’ Pairs, so congratulations to Molly Taussig and Sancia Garrison who won the B flight, followed by Sarah Lorimer-Turner and Noula Contibas in second and Lorna Anderson- Ruby Douglas in third.

Sarah and Noula also won the C Flight, finishing ahead of Marion Silver and Jane Gregory.

Well done to all these pairs — the stratification of these events encourages those who are prepared to be at the table with the more experienced pairs knowing that they are also in a separate competition against their peers.

There were only six pairs in the Men’s, which is in fact the minimum number to hold a game, so there was no stratification in that event.

I was also about to offer congratulations to Katrina Van Pelt and Donna Leitch who, I was informed, had a 70 per cent game on Friday morning — when I checked they had come agonisingly close with 69.5 per cent, but that is still a great score, so congratulations are still in order.

While checking, I saw that Jane Smith and Gertie Barker had a 70.24 per cent game two Wednesdays ago, so they are clearly playing great bridge as they followed that up with the Ladies’ Pairs win. I also note that Sarah Lorimer-Turner and Noula Contibas, mentioned above, had a 72.92 per cent game on February 5, so well done again.

Seventy per cent plus games over 24 boards are infrequent so a big well done to anyone who gets there and I will keep an eye open for them — if you do achieve this at the club please e-mail me at dez@vlm.bm.

Today, the two-session Junior Pairs Championship takes place at the Bridge Club and on Monday afternoon, the club is staging a senior game — results next week.

Alongside all of this, the beginners lessons started at the club last Tuesday and will run for eight weeks — not sure if there is still space, but contact the club on the website if you are interested.

I love today’s hand because it features a declarer who saw an opportunity to use a non-honour card to make his contract — with that as a hint, try to see if you would have made it.

Dealer South

Teams — Neither Vulnerable

North

? 842

? K64

? A64

? AQ52

West

? J10975

? 8

? Q9852

? 84

East

? 63

? QJ1093

? J10

? KJ96

South

? AQK

? A752

? K73

?1073

South opened 1NT and North had an easy raise to 3NT, which was the contract in both rooms, and West led the jack of spades at both tables.

In the closed room, declarer won the spade and ducked a heart — East continued a heart and when hearts did not break and clubs did not behave, after a lot of huffing and puffing, declarer went down one.

The open room declarer was a bit better — he counted eight top tricks and saw that the ninth could better come from clubs — either the king being with West, 3-3 clubs or … East holding the jack.

So declarer won the spade, played a club to the ace and now led the 2 of clubs ... East had to win the jack or South’s 10 would win and now South could knock out the king with the 10 and finally make dummy’s queen — nine tricks and bravo!

You don’t have to know the odds, but this way of playing the clubs would only lose if West had started with exactly Jx — about a 6 per cent chance.

So the club play had a 94 per cent chance of success, a lot better than the 34 per cent chance of 3-3 hearts. And all because declarer saw the value of his 10 of clubs — really nice!

Results for week of February 25

Monday afternoon

North/South

1. Alan Douglas/Dianna Kempe

2. Geoff Bell/Kathleen Bell

3. Molly Taussig/Diana Diel

East/West

1. Charles Hall/Tony Saunders

2. Gertrude Barker/Martha Ferguson

3. Elizabeth McKee/Stephanie Kyme

Tuesday evening junior game

North/South

1. Wenda Krupp/Joanne Edwards

2. Malcolm Moseley/Mark Stevens

East/West

1. Nick Kempe/Samantha Pickering

2. Marion Silver/Jane Gregory

Wednesday morning

North/South

1. Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

2. Judith Bussell/George Correia

3. Julia Patton/Nancy Parker

East/West

1. Linda Pollett/William Pollett

2. Charles Hall/Desmond Nash

3. Molly Taussig/Tony Saunders

Thursday evening

North/South

1. Gertrude Barker/Jane Smith

2. Alan Douglas/Richard Keane

3. Katrina Van Pelt/James Leitch

East/West

1. David Sykes/Stephanie Kyme

2. Elizabeth McKee/Linda Pollett

3. Richard Hall/James Fraser

Friday afternoon

North/South

1. Katrina Van Pelt/Donna Leitch

2. Charles Hall/John Rayner

3. William Pollett/Molly Taussig

East/West

1. Aida Bostelmann/Heather Woolf

2. Elizabeth McKee/Diana Diel

3. Tracy Nash/Desmond Nash