Two popular and qualified bridge teachers, Bill Pollett and Charles Hall, will be starting a new series of Beginners Lessons at the Bridge Club on Tuesday October 15.

The lessons are suitable for those who have never played bridge before and for those who may have started recently or started and then stopped.

The lessons will be held at the comfortable Bermuda Bridge Club premises on Pomander Road, (a one-way road that starts between the National Trust headquarters and Aberfeldy nursery).

The lessons will be for two hours between 7pm and 9pm.

The value is tremendous — you pay $50 for an eight-week course, but you don’t pay if you decide it’s not for you after the first or second lesson.

Better still, if you then decide to join the Bridge Club the entire $50 will be offset against your first year’s membership; so enticing, it makes me want to go!

So show up, take a friend and spread the word to anyone who you think may be interested.

Bridge is a game for a lifetime which will at different times thrill, enthral, frustrate, invigorate and depress you but will never ever leave you bored.

Try it — once you find your level each day gives you a chance to do something better.

So contact Bill at bill@pollett.com and start your adventure.

I just love today’s hand which shows the thrust and parry between an excellent defender and an equally excellent declarer. (see Fig 1)

South opened 1 Spade and after North bid 3 Spades, a simple limit raise in spades, South had an easy four-spade bid. West led the king of diamonds.

East overtook this with the ace and returned the two of hearts.

Declarer read this for what it was — a singleton.

As he had three certain losers (two diamonds and a trump) he could not afford to suffer a heart ruff.

Declarer observed that there was no chance that East would have defended this way with a singleton in spades; also, he saw that he needed East to have the ace of trumps — otherwise East would always get a heart ruff.

Declarer knew that his only chance to make ten tricks was to cut the transportation link in diamonds between the defensive hands, which east had carefully kept intact.

So, after playing low from hand on the heart shift and taking the jack of hearts with the king, declarer led dummy’s seven of clubs to his ace and continued with the queen of clubs to dummy’s king.

Next he advanced the ten of clubs from dummy and was relieved to see East’s jack of clubs appear.

As planned, he threw the ten of diamonds from his hand.

East felt that the chance of getting a heart ruff had likely disappeared but nonetheless played the eight of diamonds next.

Declarer ruffed this with the nine of trumps then played the king of trumps.

East took his ace of trumps and returned a trump.

Declarer now claimed ten tricks: five trumps, three hearts and two clubs — contract made and just a beautiful hand all around.

East’s play of overtaking the diamond and returning a heart was brilliant, but Declarer’s reading of the cards based on that play was stunning, as was his execution.

His brilliance was rewarded by East having both the Spade ace and the Club jack, but it was well deserved.