Long and winding road

One member of my club works in waste management. When he was a new employee several years ago, he drove a garbage truck.

“Did they train you for that job?” I asked him once.

“No,” he said, “I just picked it up as I went along.”

Becoming proficient at bridge is an extended process. You need technical knowledge from reading, plus a well of experience on which to base your judgment. Bridge has fewer prodigies than chess; if you’re like most players, you pick it up as you go along.

Today’s South opened 1NT even though he had no stopper in either major suit. If instead he opened one club, he would have no satisfactory second bid if North responded with one of a suit.

After a Stayman sequence got him to 3NT, South won the first diamond with the king and saw that if West had the queen of hearts, a winning finesse would bring in three heart tricks to go with two diamonds, two spades and the A-K of clubs. So at Trick Two,

South let the nine of hearts ride. East took the queen and returned a diamond, and declarer played low and won the third diamond. He cashed the A-K of clubs, dropping the queen, and led to dummy’s jack but had no re-entry to his hand. When he led a heart to his jack, West took the ace — and two diamonds for down one.

Next time, South may get it right. After he wins the first trick, he cashes the A-K of clubs. When the queen falls, South has nine tricks: He takes dummy’s jack and returns to the ace of diamonds for the two good clubs.

If the queen of clubs didn’t fall, then South would finesse in hearts.