I read recently that bridge today is 70 per cent bidding, 20 per cent defence and 10 per cent play, and if the first weekend of this year’s Premier League is anything to go by that would about sum it up. Most IMPs went out of the window with bidding misunderstandings leading good pairs into the wrong contact, or, through sloppy or unlucky defences, contracts being let through.
This hand, from the first match, caused the most discussion, and illustrates the value of a great defender:
Andrew Robson who, I read somewhere, is 70 per cent class, 20 per cent tall and 10 per cent a bit of a slowcoach, was sitting West. The contract is quite good, mainly because of South’s 9, 8 of Diamonds, which gives declarer an extra opportunity in that suit. The slam was bid at four of the eight tables in Division One.
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