Susanna Gross

Bridge | 22 May 2014

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

Hiring a top-class player is not only about improving your game, though: it’s just such fun to play with someone better than yourself. And it has become a lot easier thanks to a new agency — ProBridge —  set up by Sally Brock, Simon Cope and Ben Green. A multitude of professionals, from ordinary teachers to superstars like Zia Mahmood, have signed up, offering a range of services from local duplicates to international tournaments. Do check it out (www.pro-bridge.co.uk).

I myself hire Sally Brock (women’s world champ) a couple of times a year, and wish it could be more. What ordinary partner could have shown me how to tackle this slam:

West led the ♦K. Sally thought for a while, then ducked. She won the trump switch, drew trumps, cashed the king and ace of clubs, and discarded a club on the ♦A. Next she ruffed a club and played off her trumps. In the 4-card ending she held ♥4, ♠AJ7 in hand opposite ♠K5, ♦J, ♣6. When she played the last trump, West had to discard a spade to keep the ◆Q; Sally discarded dummy’s ◆J. Now it was East’s turn to discard a spade in order to keep his winning club. There was no longer any need to try the spade finesse: Sally knew they had to be 2–2, so she cashed them from the top.

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