Stamford Bridge Club prepare for cafe day

In a week’s time 48 of our members will take part in our annual Café Bridge Day, writes Marcus Witt of Stamford Bridge Club.

We introduced the event in 2018 but, because of the pandemic, this is just our fourth outing. It is a duplicate session of bridge played in the historic centre of Stamford where entrants move from one venue to another, playing four deals in each of six establishments, and taking lunch in one of them.

It gives the club a chance to make a small contribution to the local economy and to provide an advertisement for what is a wonderful game. Further, we donate all the entry fees (£240) to the (Stamford) Mayor’s Charities. We wish all participants an enjoyable and rain-free day.

Hand of the Week

Today’s 3N hand came up a few weeks ago in a practice teams’ game. In Room1 declarer put in H10, which held, and played a diamond to D10. West won and played another heart, taken with the ace. Declarer played DQ which, perforce, West took to play another heart. Declarer was in trouble and hoped for a 3-3 diamond break (crashing D9 on DK). No luck there and there was just one remote chance – that East started with either a singleton or doubleton king of clubs. When the finesse of CJ lost, West cashed a couple of hearts and the contract failed.

In Room 2 declarer also won in dummy (H8) but played a diamond to the queen. West won to play the inevitable heart and, after taking the ace, declarer played D10, covered and won in dummy. Now a diamond was played to D9 before South played ace and another club. West took the king but declarer had gathered in 11 tricks – two spades and three in each of the other suits. A swing of 13 imps.

It looks as if success depended on guessing which defender held DJ but some deeper thought was needed. West was the danger hand (having the potential heart winners) and it was important to knock out that hand’s sure entry quickly. Hence DQ being the better early play. If East had DA, declarer would win the heart continuation to run D10. If that lost to East a heart return would mean hearts were 4-3 and, if they were 5-2, East couldn’t play another round.

Tip

Identify the danger hand and play accordingly. This generally means keeping that hand off lead or, as here, removing its clear entry early.