Bridge

This was the bidding at the table where I was kibbit zing, at the 2017 House of Lords versus House of Commons annual teams-of-eight bridge match. Not overly revealing, is it? So it was hardly surprising that West led off with the jack of clubs, which gave declarer his ninth trick. Even on a heart lead, it’ s not possible to run five heart tricks, as the suit is blocked, but as the clubs fines se is needed, the game still fails. However in spite of only having a combined total of 17 points, if East and West can find away into the bidding, the lucky lie of the defensive cards will see them coming home with 11 tricks in hearts. Paul Bow y er, who put together the set of 24 hands, described what happened at one table when this hand originally arose in a teams-of-four match. North opened with One Diamond; East passed; South raised to Two Diamonds and West, a passed hand, intrepidly came in with Two Hearts, Three Diamonds from North, Three Hearts from East-which was where the matter rested.