When you’re seeing cards around the table

“Do you ever ‘ see cards’ around the table during the auction?” a club player asked me.

“Experienced players do that,” I replied. “The bidding can affect the value of their hand. Also, in judging how high to bid, they may visualize possible hands for partner. The saying is, ‘ Bidding is mental play.’”

He displayed today’s deal.

“I was South,” he said, “and when East-West competed in hearts, I ‘ saw’ no wasted heart honors in

North’s hand. If his strength lay in clubs, I expected to make four spades. But my crystal ball was a bit cloudy.”

At four spades, South played dummy’s king on the first heart, and East took the ace and returned a heart.

“I threw a club and won in dummy,” South told me, “drew trumps and led a diamond to dummy’s king. I ruffed dummy’s last heart and led the queen of diamonds, but when West took the ace, he continued with the jack. I ruffed but lost two clubs. Down one.”

South was unlucky to find dummy with so much wasted heart strength, but four spades was makeable. At Trick Two, South must ruff, deferring his discard on dummy’s high heart. He draws trumps and leads the three of diamonds.

West is stuck. If he plays low, South wins in dummy and discards his queen of diamonds on the high heart, losing two clubs and one heart. If instead West grabs his ace of diamonds and leads another heart, South discards a club on the high heart, takes the queen of diamonds, and gets two more club discards on the K-10 of diamonds, losing one trick in each side suit.