I am 15 years old and I live in Dorset. At age 10, I was taught to play bridge by my very insistent father and since then I have only looked back maybe once or twice. I enjoy playing regularly at the Allendale Bridge club in Wimborne, and in international youth competitions. Currently, I'm operating with both under 16 and under 26 women's squads.
My first taste of victory -aside from my club’s 7 of diamonds prize- was winning the Hampshire Swiss teams at 11 years old. My most notable bridge achievements up to date include 1st place in the Under 26 women's Channel trophy, finishing 8th in the Lady Milne Trials and 2nd in a national ladies competition at the young Chelsea bridge club. All this was with fellow U16 Lottie Bedford, who I partnered after graduating from playing with my dad. I also play with Tom Furness, and with him, won the Peggy Bayer 2022.
Although I do often play in congresses and competitions, successes in smaller games still taste just as sweet. Playing a match as part of a Swiss pairs league with my father, I picked up this hand:
A832
QJ863
AT6
3
A good 11 count- made better by partner's opening of 2nt! I quickly transferred and bid 3s upon a standard 3h response. 4s was bid, and I bid blackwood. 5D, showing 0 or 3 aces. Guessing which of these partner held, I bid 6s. A lead of the 9c, and dummy goes down with:
KJ97
AK5
J97
AKJ
A pleasant surprise was the double fit. Despite his stunning hearts, my father kindly let me play the hand in spades to protect any diamond holding I may have. But the spades were the problem. How would I play them?
The hand got off to the best start it could muster with no diamond lead to set up a trick in that suit. With a club discard in one hand and 2 heart discards in the other, there would be no problem making as long as I can limit my losers in spades to one.
If spades are 3-2 there will be no problems. Finessing or cashing AK will work. The splits that must be considered are where spades are 4 and 1.
After taking the lead with the Ac, I immediately played the Ks. While it may look tempting to take the Ace and finesse this will fail when there are 4 spades over the dummy. Next, I ran the 7 of spades. If the hand over dummy had shown out, I would've risen with the Ace and played up to the Jack. In this scenario the shortage was with the other hand. My 7 held, and I made the hand from this point by playing As and playing out all my tricks.
Aside from bridge (the horror!) I enjoy climbing, making terrible hairstyle decisions, and computer programming. However, attempts to combine these have resulted in a sufficient loss of good hardware and multiple trips to Poole A&E.
Young Pair of the Year award 2022
Junior International Selections
Peggy Bayer Selections: 2020 (EBU Team); 2023 (U26W) and 2024 (Eng)
Leszek Nowak Memorial Trophy: 2020
Junior Channel Trophy (U26W): 2021
World Youth Team Championships: 2023 (U26W)