The EBU’s Premier League takes place over three weekends and decides who will represent England in next year’s Camrose (home nations) Trophy. My team were leading after both the first and second weekends and I was all geared up for the coveted England shirt that says you are a bridge god and play for your country. Sadly, I won’t have to worry about whether they get my size right as we had a dreadful last two days and came absolutely nowhere! The event was won by David Mossop’s squad, which contains one of the nicest (and best) pairs on the circuit — Colin Simpson and David Price.

David gave his team a massive boost by bringing home this tricky 6NT.
Contract: 6NT by South

West led a middle Club which David won in hand and tried a Diamond to the Jack and Queen. East thought for a minute or two, and returned a Spade. Two rounds of those brought the unwelcome news, but when the ♦10 fell under the Ace, some parity was restored, and dummy’s ♦8 was good. With 11 tricks in sight, declarer had the option of taking the Heart finesse or squeezing East in the majors.

David went to dummy with the King of Clubs to cash the good Diamond, and returned to hand with the last Club. On this trick East was squeezed, but smoothly bared his King of Hearts, as you would expect in an event like this. David was not fooled, however, and after cashing his remaining high Spades, he coolly played a Heart to the Ace for a spectacular 990.

How did he get it right? Well, table presence plays a huge part here. When East was on lead, he took quite some time to plan his defence. This makes it more likely that he is looking at the King of Hearts, and is planning his sequence of discards. It’s a tiny hint, but sometimes that’s all you’ve got.