DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

One of bridge’s chickenor-egg questions: Does bidding or card play have the greater influence on your results?

In today’s deal, for example, some Easts would open one club, others would try one spade. Depending on East’s action, the auction might develop in any number of ways.

South would bid diamonds, but how many would depend on his judgment. Regardless of East’s opening bid, I wouldn’t be eager to leap to five diamonds when I knew little about the deal and had defensive values. I might overcall a quiet one or two diamonds. But when East opened one spade, the actual South’s judgment told him to blast away.

West led the 10 of spades, and when dummy produced the A-Q of clubs, South’s blast seemed to be a winner. He covered with dummy’s jack, ruffed East’s king and cashed the ace of trumps.

When East discarded, South took the A-Q of clubs, ruffed a spade and led his last low club.

West ruffed in with the jack of trumps and led a heart. East won and led a fourth club, and West scored his queen of trumps, ruffing in front of dummy. Down one.

Whatever your view of South’s bidding judgment, his play determined the outcome. At Trick Two, South should lead the jack of hearts, breaking the defenders’ link. Say East wins and returns a heart, and South ruffs and takes the A-Q of clubs. He ruffs a spade and leads a low club. West can ruff, but South ruffs the spade return, draws trumps and has the rest.