HE WHO SEES TAKES CONTROL

Two of my favorite TV shows were “Yes, Minister” and its sequel, “Yes, Prime Minister.” In it, the minister, James Hacker, is thwarted at almost every turn by his permanent secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby.

In one scene, Hacker wants to move through some legislation. Sir Humphrey says, “What I mean is that I’m fully seized of your aims and, of course, I will do my utmost to see that they’re put into practice. To that end, I recommend that we set up an interdepartmental committee with fairly broad terms of reference so that at the end of the day we’ll be in a position to think through the various implications and arrive at a decision based on long-term considerations rather than rush prematurely into precipitate and possibly ill-conceived action which might well have unforeseen repercussions.”

“You mean, no?” asks a punch-drunk Hacker.

Maybe Sir Humphrey was sitting East on today’s deal.

West led the club king: four, seven, six. He continued with the club queen: eight, three, 10. Now West, remembering East’s takeout double, switched to the spade seven. Gratefully, declarer won in hand, drew trumps, unblocked his spade honors, crossed to dummy with a heart and discarded a diamond loser on the spade queen.

“Why did you leave me guessing?” asked West. “Overtake with the club ace at trick one, cash the diamond king and lead a low club back to me. Then I’ll know what to do.”

When you can see how to defeat the contract, take control. Don’t leave partner with any chance to misguess.