Diary of a Novice Part 4
Director is called
Alec McQueen 26th May 2026
I have only experienced a handful of Director calls in my short bridge career… and one interesting one happened over the weekend at the Wagga Congress.
It was the last board of the day: we were all tired. Partner and I were sitting NS (I was S) and the opposition bid to what felt like a pretty secure 3NT contract by E. I was sitting with 8 HCP, but 6 hearts to the J. I had an entry in C but not much else. So the Hs could be useful or they may get drowned.
I led a H to start the ball rolling and hoped that it might be declarer’s weakness. Dummy went down, and she had A10 of H in dummy. Declarer thought for a while and said: “Ace of hearts… uh, uh, no, the 10 please.” Dummy had not moved, but partner’s hand was raised: “Director” she called. Director came over, and partner explained what happened. The Director asked declarer to go aside and they had a chat for 20 seconds, declarer came back, and then I am asked by Director to have a chat. We drift off to 10m away and Director asked me what she said. “She called for the ace of hearts, then changed her mind”. Director said: “What *exactly* did she say?” I replied: “Ace of hearts”. We go back to the table.
Director then asks partner to go and have a chat: I was taking that to mean that there was a discrepancy between what declarer told him and what I told him. Partner comes back, and dummy says to the Director “Do you want to speak to me?” “Might as well”. While dummy was talking to the Director declarer looked at me and said “I don’t think it matters much.” It was a casual comment. But I was staring at the remaining 5 Hs in my hand and thinking “I wonder…”
When they came back Director said: “OK, I have listened to you all, and I am clear that the Ace was called and that is the card that should be played. Please proceed”.
Declarer obviously won the first trick and proceeded to play. On the 4th or 5th round, partner manages to get in with her AD, and leads me her QH. Declarer covers it with her K (another mistake?), and proceeds to play her suits.
It then comes to the C suit. She leads a small club from hand and I jump in quick with my A. OK, time to play my Hs. I play my J: must be a winner, I’ve seen the A, K, partners Q and the 10 already go in the first 2 rounds. There’s 5 cards left, I have 4, there’s one out… this must be good…. I play out my hearts and declarer’s demeanour gets more depressed with each H I play. I don’t think she had counted them. When I played the last H, she says to her partner “Sorry, partner, I think I stuffed this up”.
She made 7, 2 off, non-vul, +100 for us: good score when 5NT makes. As a pair we contributed 8 IMPs to the team for that board. Well done to partner for being firm about the Director call.
So, what do I learn from this?
- Director calls are FUN!
- It is important to think carefully before you speak as declarer
- It is possible to get what looks like secure NT contracts down by a long suit even when declarer has both the A and K at their disposal.
Declarer needs to play this right. For those more expert than I: how should declarer play this to make 5NT? Maybe they have to duck the first round of Hs to maintain 2 H stoppers and then finesse the Cs as soon as they get in? S can get in once with AC, but with a H stopper left, S never gets back in. But that still leaves 3 tricks lost. Maybe take the first H trick with the K, and immediately finesse the Cs: S can get in once to play a H which loses to the A in dummy, but after that S can’t get back in (as long as declarer finesses the Cs properly).
Moral of the story: more director calls needed!
Note for Directors: this is my recollection of the words that were used during the Director’s call… it is quite possible that I am paraphrasing some words, so please don’t jump at me that Director would not have said that! 😂🤪
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