Remember the bids and their effect

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE® GARFIELD® BIG NATE® ARLO & JANIS® ZITS®

Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

If you play the right card, you don’t have to remember the bidding and earlier play.

Well, that is an exaggeration, but there is some truth in it. Also, correctly recalling the bidding and how it influences the lie of the unseen cards will greatly increase the chance that you will play the right cards.

This deal would defeat some players, who would then say they were unlucky. How should South play in four hearts after West leads the club king to South’s bare ace?

South plunged into game, hoping his spade king would have some worth.

Declarer saw four possible losers: two spades and two diamonds. But surely one of the diamond finesses would work.

South drew trumps and played a diamond to dummy’s queen. East won with the king and shifted to the spade nine.

The key moment had arrived. If South had played second hand low, not remembering that that is a defensive guideline, West would have played low also. Declarer would have won with dummy’s queen, ruffed a club and taken the second diamond finesse. But East would have won and led his second spade to defeat the contract.

However, South cleverly put up the spade king on East’s nine. West won with his ace and returned the spade jack, but declarer took the trick with dummy’s queen, ruffed a club and played a diamond to the nine. The finesse lost, but East did not have another spade. South took one spade, six hearts, two diamonds and one club.