Would you think of the helpful play?

Sir William Osler, a Canadian physician and cofounder of Johns Hopkins Hospital, said, “Shut out all of your past except that which will help you weather your tomorrows.”

That is fine if what you need now did happen in your past, so you can draw on that experience. A tougher problem to solve occurs when you have never faced it before. At the bridge table, these situations usually separate experts from less good players.

If you would like to experience something out of the ordinary, look only at the West and North hands. West leads the club queen against four spades. When East encourages with the nine, West continues with his second club. East takes that trick with his king and cashes the club ace, South following with the jack. How should West plan the defense?

Over East’s raise to three diamonds, South might have rebid three hearts, since it was possible that North had more hearts than spades. But South, judging that he would do better not to spill his hand to the defenders, jumped to four spades.

Sitting West was Harry Fishbein, a colorful character who always wore a beret. If South had a diamond, a shift to that suit would work. However, what if South were void in diamonds? A fourth round of clubs from East would promote West’s spade queen as the setting trick. But how could West get East to lead a club, not a diamond? Fishbein discarded his diamond ace! East also got an assist award because over two spades, he bid three clubs, not three diamonds — clever.