From a ball game to a card game

Dorothy Draper, who was an interior decorator, said, “Eating is really one of your indoor sports. You play three times a day, and it’s well worth while to make the game as pleasant as possible.”

Some sports personalities have also been keen bridge players. One who is not well known in the United States is Buster Mottram, who was Britain’s top tennis player in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. He was ranked in the top 20 in the world in 1978 and 1982. After quitting the tour, Mottram has had much more time for bridge.

In this deal, he was the declarer in three no-trump. How did he plan the play after West led the heart eight (a MUD lead — middle, up, down)?

Given the lead, declarer had six top tricks: one spade, three hearts, one diamond and one club. But Mottram realized that he needed the heart jack as a hand entry later in the play. West’s lead was from a selection of low cards unless he had specifically the Q-10-8. But if that were the position, the contract was probably unmakable.

After calling for dummy’s heart king, Mottram turned his attention to the club suit. All plays would work against a 3-3 break, but if they were 4-2, a doubleton honor was much more likely than a doubleton nine-eight. So, Mottram played a club to the ace and returned the club two.

West won with his king and switched to a diamond. However, Mottram won with dummy’s ace, played a heart to his jack and drove out the queen of clubs. Game, set and match to Mottram.