The season got off to a very bad start for my team — and continues in much the same vein. The Premier League, which has become the trials for the Camrose, is played over three weekends, this year starting in Manchester. Our first match was against David Mossop’s strong squad and we did rather well! May I boast that I made two 3NT contracts that went down in the other room? OK — moment of glory over. The second weekend in London is finished — and so, it would appear, are we! One more weekend to avoid relegation.

Take this hand as an example of when things are not going your way:

Both tables in our match bid the touch and go slam, and both received the challenging lead of the ♣J. My counterpart at the other table won the Ace, finessed in Hearts, and ended up with an overtrick when the Spades were good for five tricks.

At our table, I decided that rather than bank everything on a Heart finesse, I should combine my chances in Hearts and Spades: if the King of Hearts doesn’t fall under the Ace, I can still get my Clubs away by taking a ruffing finesse in spades.

I won the Ace of Clubs, and tempted East with the ♥Q, but he played low without a flicker. I took the Ace, unblocked the ♠K, ruffed a Diamond in dummy and cashed the ♠A for a Club discard. The Queen came tumbling down, but East unfortunately still had the King of trumps. He ruffed the next Spade and cashed the ♣K for one down.

The fact that my team mates congratulated me on making a good play did not soften the blow of another 17 IMP swing in the minus column.