Janet de Botton

The Hubert Phillips is a knockout tournament unlike any other. First it is mixed — there has to be at least one male and one female playing at all times. Second, the scoring is total points (honours count). And lastly everyone plays a set with each of his/her teammates. Rubber bridge, in effect. This year’s final was between Susanna’s team (captained by Paula Leslie) and Brian Senior’s. Brian’s squad — four internationals — were probably favourites, and not just because they knocked us out! Susanna was playing with lovely Graham Orsmond when they bid and made slam on this hand. It doesn’t require any fancy squeezes or coups but it does need care and thought to guarantee bringing it home safely.

Ostend has been host to hundreds of bridge players representing their various countries in the European Teams Championships. The ten-day marathon across three disciplines (Open, Women and Seniors) has two functions: first, to find the gold, silver and bronze European medallists, and second, to select the top eight teams (out of 33) who will go to next year’s World Championships in China. It finished on Saturday evening; Norway took gold on the last board, Israel received silver having led all day, and all three England teams qualified and will be going to China. Yippee! The surprise teams, certainly unknown to me, were Hungary and Russia. Hungary stormed into the top eight after winning their first match and stayed there all week (leading at one point).

Talk about Custer’s Last Stand. My poor old team has been knocked out of all this year’s main tournaments — the Gold Cup (I’m still reeling), Hubert Phillips, the Schapiro Spring Foursomes (worst performance ever) — which left Crockford’s the only competition left in which to qualify for the final. To do that we went to the utterly charming village of West Marden (and I’m not an utterly-charming-village kind of gal) to play the semi-final against Lilias Lamont’s team. Forty-eight boards took seven hours to play and we emerged half-dead but victorious to qualify for the eight-team final at the beginning of September. Here [above] is Israeli international Dror Padon, playing a highly optimistic 3NT, which gained us a badly needed swing.

Martin Hoffman, who died last week, had an extraordinary life. Born in Prague in 1929, he was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust and came to live in England soon after being liberated in 1945. He learned bridge by kibbitzing at a local club and became one of the most brilliant card players of all time — considered the best pairs player in the world for many years. The week before he died, he won a club duplicate and the day before he gave me some hands for this column. ‘Always count the opponents’ hands’ was his favourite tip and no one did that faster than Martin. West’s 3♣ was explained as a fit-jump —showing a raise to at least 3♥ and a club suit. When South offered 3♠ Martin bid game.

This year’s Schapiro Spring Foursomes, England’s best tournament by a mile, wasn’t held in the usual Stratford-upon-Avon venue but in the rather grim Warwick Hilton. Adding energy and enthusiasm were four or five junior teams. Don’t imagine they are treated with kid gloves, though. A well-known figure on the circuit was playing against the Under 16s (most of them look 11) when one of them, hands too small to comfortably hold the cards (according to my source!), took his time with a bid and was called to task by our man for breaking tempo and thereby giving his (ten-year-old) partner unauthorised information! Only 103 IMPs up on the kids, he called the director who was legally bound to rule the contract back to the grown-ups. No concessions here.

England had a narrow lead going into the second weekend of the Camrose, with the Irish National team and the Irish Bridge Union team (the host country gets to field two) in hot pursuit. The highly effective partnership of Espen Erichsen and Glyn Liggins (England) defended today’s hand against Wales while the two Irish teams played each other. Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann, Ireland’s strongest pair, defended the same contract in their match. Was England going to keep its lead?   Espen kicked off with the ♠2 and declarer paused for thought. If he played the Queen and East covered with the King, he would potentially have an entry to dummy to enjoy the heart suit. Equally if he played the ♠9, and North covered with the Jack, he would again create the vital entry.

I’m not saying that I want ‘She played bridge for England’ on my tombstone — but then again… Last weekend, due to the freakish weather at the beginning of March, my team was selected to play the second weekend of the Camrose Trophy in Dublin, as the Allfrey team, who won the place to represent England against the other home countries, couldn’t make the rearranged date. The Hinden team, who played first, had left us in the lead and as my first teacher, David Parry, said in his meltingly sweet email to me, ‘Don’t screw up. Nobody remembers who came second.’ We all played our hearts out under the wonderful captaincy of Alan Mould, and won the Trophy back for England! More exciting than that I haven’t experienced.

Have you ever picked up your hand, opened a weak 2 on a proper six-card suit (all right, if you’re being honest, maybe a bit underweight point-wise but you’re not vulnerable) and watched with mounting alarm as it goes pass, pass, DOUBLE, all pass? Have you then sat there while they take the first seven tricks, and a couple more at the end, and written miserably on your scorecard minus 800? Scoring up is not too attractive, is it? It has happened to me so often that bad weak twos or two level overcalls with only a five-card suit are toys I have put away. I look at my hand and invariably think ‘Nah — can’t be bothered’, and I rarely regret it.

Little did I know, when I was railing at how Britain comes to a standstill at the first flurry of the white stuff, how marvellously it would turn out for my team. The second Camrose (home countries championship) weekend was cancelled and a substitute announced. Unfortunately, the winners of the Premier League last year (Allfrey) couldn’t make the date chosen and the runners-up (Hinden) had already played the first weekend, which meant that my team, coming third, was invited to represent England in Dublin next month. Fan-blooming-tastic. My first England cap. But back to tournaments played. Here is the most talked-about hand in Simon Gillis’s fabulous Lederer Trophy.

No February blues for me. The past couple of weeks have been the most exciting and interesting (bridge-wise) I could ever imagine. Super sponsor Pierre Zimmermann hosted the second Winter Games in Monaco, which he has made better than a European Championship. Seventy-eight teams competed over seven days for the title. Then we rushed back home to play two days of the Lederer, London’s best and most prestigious tournament. I never thought I’d say this, but I need a break!   Today’s hand was one of the last boards in the semi-final of the Zimmermann Cup and features two Norwegian World Champions, Geir Helgemo for Monaco, arguably the best player in the world, and Boye Brogeland for Mahaffey (the eventual winners) of whom one can only say: ditto!

August 2015 will be remembered as a landmark for World Bridge. There had long been talk among bridge players about certain pairs ethics, and enough evidence was found by experts sifting through filmed vu-graph documentation to accuse four World Champion pairs of cheating, Italians Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes among them. The American Bridge League banned them for life while its European counterpart (EBL) suspended them for three years for ‘collusive cheating’. The pair appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), a board with no bridge players on it, which, while not exonerating them, upheld the appeal.

I have just returned from the annual pilgrimage to Reykjavik, home of one of the best tournaments of the year. Iceland has produced some very fine bridge players —none finer (or nicer) than Jon Baldursson, who was on the team that won the World Championships in Yokohama in 1991. One of the most interesting side benefits of playing good events anywhere is hearing the experts talk about their ‘line’ and how they reached it. Most agree that very few decisions are a complete guess. There is usually a little clue to tip the balance, if you can find it.   This hand came up in one of the matches in the teams’ tournament last week. I went down in 4♠ and Jon made it.

The first home tournament of 2018 was last week’s four-day European Open Trials. Ten selected pairs played 216 boards at IMPs scoring, competing for the chance to play in this year’s European Championships. The top two will join Andrew Robson and Tony Forrester (who were preselected) to form the team representing England. My regular partner Artur Malinowski was playing with teammate David Bakhshi, and they made thrilling viewing on BBO hitting the top two slots for over half the tournament. With one match to go they were one of three who could make it — and make it they did! Many congratulations to them and to Jeffrey Allerton and Chris Jagger. England has a terrific team for the Europeans.

Well, I had a very merry Christmas thank you — and I hope you did too — but as usual I have torn myself away from the festivities, rushing back to play the EBU’s Year End teams’ tournament. I don’t know why I enjoy this tournament so much — it’s certainly not the very unglam venue. Perhaps it’s because it’s fun and buzzing and everyone seems in a good mood to have got through another Christmas intact. It’s the perfect way to ease yourself into the New Year.   My (bridge) resolution is the same as it was last year — take longer before playing to trick one.   In America, every second player you encounter tells you they always take a couple of minutes to work out a plan when dummy goes down. Why, oh why can’t I?

The year is drawing to a close and this is my last column before Christmas. May I wish you all a very merry one?   TGR’s autumn Superleague finished last week and was won by my friend Jonathan Harris and his merry men. For once that evil old mantra ‘When a friend succeeds a part of me dies’ did not push itself unbidden into my bitter little brain. ‘Is it the first time you’ve won this?’ I asked him. ‘It’s the first time I have won anything — including a raffle,’ he replied, quick as a bunny. Jonathan is one of those rare birds, a bridge player who loves the game no matter what the result. He never blames his partner or teammates and he never looks shattered if things go wrong. Note to self...

When I first started playing tournament bridge there were relatively few European sponsors. The US was buzzing with sponsored teams — many of whom were selected to represent their country and a few of whom became world champions. There is no greater education for the ‘inexpert’ than discussing the boards with great professionals and letting the magic unfold before your eyes.   The young Danish superstar Dennis Bilde played for me in the first Vilnius Cup a few years ago — and in an extremely strong field we won! When you come out from a set and compare scores with your teammates, it is easy to gloss over flat boards that appear to be of no interest.

The third and final weekend of England’s Premier League took place in Solihull and was a very jolly affair. All three divisions played at the same venue, which meant lots of bridge chat between sessions and lots of speculation about who was likely to get promoted or relegated. In division one, the eight teams were competing for the top two positions, earning those teams an invitation to play for England in the Camrose (home countries) Trophy. My team was in contention right up to the final board, but sadly we clung grimly to third place so no England cap for moi. That privilege goes to the Allfrey and Hinden teams. There was much buzz surrounding today’s hand. My teammate Espen Erichsen played it and triumphed:   The lead was the ♣10.

When I started playing bridge in earnest, the first tournament I entered was the EBU’s Autumn Congress, which back then was held in Bournemouth. Two days of pairs and one of teams. I had never had so much fun. Ofc I came nowhere in either event but the joy of playing all day and then sitting in the bar discussing the hands until much too late was my idea of heaven. It still is, actually. I couldn’t play last weekend but my old friend Jack Mizel, who hasn’t played at all for the past two years, came out of retirement to play the pairs with Brian Senior. Verdict: only slightly rusty. Pre-rust, Jack was West on today’s hand in a team’s match and Brian was South at the other table.

Somewhere between 1 and 3 a.m., I turn off the lights but I can’t turn off my whirring brain. Cards float before me, doubled contracts torment me and unbid slams haunt me. My antidote to this is Desert Island Discs. I always hope for someone who unexpectedly plays bridge or has a bridge story, Omar Sharif being the only one, until last night when I downloaded Jack Lemmon. Asked by Sue Lawley about his parents and childhood, he came up with the astonishing tale of how and why he was born in a hospital lift. His mother and father were playing bridge — and winning — and they ignored all signs of labour until they could ignore them no longer!

The youngest player on the great Allfrey team, Mike Bell, is forming a very strong partnership with David Gold. They have already represented England and had a hoard of good results. When playing at such a high level, not only do you have to be technically pitch-perfect, you also need to have the guts and imagination to go with your instincts — and not be afraid of looking a fool in front of your team mates. This cannot be demonstrated better than with this hand from the first weekend of the Premier League: A frisky auction saw Mike end up in the doubled slam. Unlike a couple of other declarers, he was not treated to the favourable Spade lead which allows two Diamonds to be discarded from dummy. West led a trump. He won, ruffed the ♠Queen and played a small Club from dummy.