This is so difficult to do confidently

Wendy Wasserstein, who won a Tony and a Pulitzer for “The Heidi Chronicles,” said, “Because of Mozart, it’s all over after the age of seven.”

Because of the laws, bridge bidding is all over after the level of seven. But landing in the right contract at that level is important because there are so many points at stake. Have a quick look at the North-South hands. What is the best contract?

This deal was played six times on the last day of the 2017 world championships in Lyon, France. Three pairs stopped safely in six spades, two went down in seven spades, and one got to the right contract with the given auction. North was David Gold and South was Andy Robson, who live in London.

South’s three-spade rebid was a superaccept showing four-card support and, typically, a doubleton somewhere. Four clubs and four diamonds were control-bids, four no-trump was Roman Key Card Blackwood, and five hearts indicated two key cards and denied the spade queen. Six clubs asked for a thirdround control in that suit (the queen or a doubleton). South had neither, but he realized the advantage of making diamonds the trump suit, because his partner’s fifth spade would provide a discard for his third club. So, he jumped to seven diamonds. Getting the message, North passed.

Note that in spades, there are only 12 tricks: five spades, one heart, four diamonds and two clubs. But in diamonds there is a 13th trick from a heart ruff in the North hand. Brilliant!