KEEP IT SIMPLE, PLAY SENSIBLY

James Thurber said, “I loathe the expression ‘ What makes him tick.’ ... A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.”

People are complex, but that does not mean that simple is always wrong. Often, being unimaginative works best.

This deal occurred during the pair events at the world youth championships in Lyon, France, last August. What happened in three no- trump after West led the heart 10?

With 26 combined highcard points, it was nigh impossible to avoid bidding game. Almost every pair was in three notrump. The top North- South score in the Girls Pairs went to Jinyue Li and Qi Xia from China, who were plus 200 against three hearts doubled.

Three no- trump by North was much harder to defeat, requiring a club lead and heart shift. In all of the events, nine of the 13 pairs made that contract. Eishi Imakiire and Koki Kobayashi from Japan made three notrump by South after a heart lead.

East won the first trick with the heart king and should have kept it simple by returning a heart. It was unlikely, though not impossible, that West had led from a three- card suit. But East shifted to the club two. Understandably, West, thinking this was an excellent idea, played three rounds of the suit. However, Kobayashi took the last one, drove out the spade ace and claimed. He lost tricks only to the four missing honors.

Keep it simple, sensible.