J743 K1082 4 A1074
A98 A754 AKJ K83		N		Q Q96 Q10632 Q6522
	W		E
		S
		K10652 J3 9875 J9

Bidding: East 1, South 2, West 5 & North 3 E leads 6 to his partner's Ace. West cashes A and plays K cut by N with J (why J?). North cashes A and K and exits with 8. South cuts with a low spade and leads J to West's K - North playing 10. West returns 8 cut by South who leads a diamond. North throws a club (he doesn't cut!) and East wins with Q. East returns Q followed by K and A. E-W now make their bid since East must win a trick with 8 or 9. Both sides make and you might think it was good play all round! But it wasn't! North decided as early as the third trick not to try and set. As a general rule you should consider setting an 11 bid. The big clue is the third trick. North knows that East was probably counting K as a trick. Therefore he knows there is a chance of setting him. He should therefore cut with a small spade and cut any further diamond leads. If you play the cards out, then you will see that N-S have an easy set. What can we learn from this hand? Don't make up your mind to bag the opponents too early in the hand. There are two reasons why. Firstly, getting a set is more important than taking a few bags and secondly, your partner may have a problem making his bid and YOU end up getting set! When should you bag? As a general rule NEVER play the bagging game on bids of 12 & 13 tricks - always play for a set. You have to use your judgement on a bid of 11. Bagging may be the right play, but you should consider a set and don't start bagging early in the hand. On 10 and less bagging is probably the right play, however playing for a set may be right on occasions. If opponents have bid 8 tricks and my partner and I have bid 2 tricks, then I would probably bag from trick one - being set would not be a disaster. However, if opponents have bid 2 tricks and my partner and I have bid 8 tricks, then be very careful! The most important thing is to make your bid. This time being set would be a disaster. A couple of bags is better than -80.

Hand 2 - Miracles Do Happen - Part 1

		J54 AJ62 KQ3 Q108
A Q1097 J105 AJ974		N		Q862 854 764 532
	W		E
		S
		K10973 K3 A982 K6

E-W were winning comfortably 494 to 357. North bids 2 and East bids 1. Double Nil sounds ridiculous after the first two bids so South looks at his cards. What can he do to save the game? He has a bid of 4 or 5. Can he do anything to fool E-W? South tried a bid of 2!! What does West now think? It appears that N-S are going to try and bag E-W - yes 6 bags have been given before! West therefore bid 3 - one more for luck! Fortunately North realised in time what was going on and after N-S had rattled off 10 tricks, E-W saw that they had been conned. Score now 454-303. N-S still alive - just!

Hand 2 - Miracles Do Happen - Part 2

		542 J10 9865 10653
7 Q72 KJ107 AQ42		N		A1093 9643 AQ J98
	W		E
		S
		KQJ86 AK85 43 K7

N-S luck continued on the next hand. East bid 4, South bid 6 and East was desperate to bid nil, but he settled for a bid of 2. North launched into Double Nil. As the cards were placed this was untouchable. South made his 6 bid and N-S won 563 to 524! What a turn around! This should show you that should you never give up. There is always hope. Miracles don't happen very often, but when they do .......... Were E-W just unlucky? The answer is no not entirely! West knows that North is likely to bid double-nil and the odds are that he will make it. Can he do anything about it? Bidding 2 gave N-S a very easy time. West has two possibilities. Firstly, he can play to set the 6 bid. He should let his partner know this by bidding 3 or even 4! The other option is to bid nil - Yes it's a TERRIBLE nil, but it makes life difficult for N-S. If N still bids DN then you will probably make your nil and win the game! If he bids 1 - then you can set them! If he bids nil - then you probably both make your nils. Once again you win! What would I have bid ? I'm not sure, but definitely not 2! This hand was a lot more complicated than at first appeared. The main lesson to learn from these two hands is - Make life as difficult as possible for your opponents. Give them a chance to go wrong and they often will. Remember NEVER GIVE UP!