Those regular readers who are not involved with the local bridge scene will have noticed the name Debbie Roberts appearing frequently among those of other successful players, something of an irritation to us male chauvinists. Debbie's success is not the result of progressive squeezes, grand coups, smother plays, or any other exotic techniques described ad nauseam in a host of bridge books, but simply from an instinct to do the right thing at the right time or, under some circumstances, the supposedly wrong thing at the right time. Debbie led the ace of clubs. I expect a large number of club players led the ace of clubs too, so what is so clever about that? Because most of the club players who did so always lead their ace against a small slam. Next time they do it. declarer will be handed his contract on a plate. If Debbie is around on that occasion, she will probably find a different lead.

The clues lie in the bidding. South has shown a two-suiter and West has no honour cards in these two suits, so, if there are any key honour cards missing from declarer's hand, then any finesse made by declarer is going to win. When the cards lie favourably for the opponents in a distributional deal, it usually pays to try to cash your top tricks before declarer starts discarding losers, even if this means cashing unsupported aces or leading away from kings. On this occasion, somewhat unusually, the key discard comes from declarer's hand and not from dummy. Note the devastating effect if the ace of clubs is led. Without it, declarer simply leads dummy's ace and king of diamonds, discarding his (or her!) losing club. However, once the ace of clubs has taken the first trick, declarer has no way of avoiding a spade loser and failing in his slam. Bridge is an easy game.

LOCAL NEWS Wallingford Congratulations to Debbie Roberts & Geoff Nicholas for winning the Jersey Mixed Pairs and to Kate Melhuish & Francis Glassborow for winning the Oxfordshire Mixed Pairs. Wessex League At the end of the season, Abingdon A return to Division 1 as Division 2 champions after two years in the wilderness. They displace Wallingford A, who are relegated to Division 2. Abingdon B beat Highworth in their final match to avoid the drop to Division 3. Wallingford B had a more comfortable season in Division 2, ending up in third place. Abingdon C and Blewbury remain in Division 3, both failing in the promotion race after a promising start. Wallingford C are booked for relegation to Division 4. In Division 4, Abingdon D and Wantage kept clear of the bottom spot. Wantage continued to show their unpredictability by recording their best win (18-2) against the Division 4 champions, Summertown, among a number of disappointing results.
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