Becoming a member of Stamford Bridge Club is a cheap hobby that keeps your brain active
The club had their AGM in April, writes Stamford Bridge Club member Trevor Thrower.
We welcomed David Ogg onto the committee replacing Susan Westcott, who stood down after a considerable length of service. David will be responsible for marketing and communication.
The club have voted to increase the table fees to £3 per three-hour session which includes coffee/tea and biscuits. The first increase in fees in many years but bridge still remains a very cheap hobby whilst in addition to keeping your brain active.
Hand of the Week
This month's hand comes from a session at Stamford Bridge Club. When it was played there were a variety of contracts played but I want to concentrate on the defence to 4S. Defence is a very important area of card play as you spend half your play at the table defending contracts. East will lead the singleton H5. West will win and know that partner's card was a singleton because they would have led the King or Queen from K5 or Q5. West will give partner a ruff but it is important which card he plays. West needs to tell partner that he would like a club return after East has ruffed.
There are two suits excluding the suit ruffed and trumps i.e. clubs and diamonds. A low heart play from west should indicate they require a club return (the lower of the two suits), a high heart would indicate a diamond return (the higher of the two suits). Note that east is ruffing with their natural trump trick. East should now realise that the contract will go down if when partner is in with the club ace another heart back will promote another trump trick for him because he hold Q10 behind the AKJ, if declarer ruffs low east can overruff, if declarer ruffs with the ace of king then east now holds Q10 behind the AJ. How can east tell west that he wants another heart return?
East can lead a low club to encourage a club back and a high club for something else. West should know that if east has the ace of diamonds it will always be a trick and therefore should return the HJ to promote the trump. Note that the seemingly unimportant cards that both west and east have played back are in fact very important in directing the defence to defeat the contract.
Tips of the Week
(1) When giving partner a ruff try to indicate which suit you want returned by playing a low card for the lower of the other two suits and a high card for the higher of the other two suits. This is known as a suit preference signal.
(2) If you want partner to return the suit you lead play a low card, if you want them to switch to another suit play a higher card.
