FAMOUS HAND

Not much is written about “table feel” — the ability to sense where certain missing key cards are located. Nevertheless, it is a fact of bridge life that all players try to draw inferences from the actions of their opponents — and that some players are much better at it than others.

Take this case from the 1996 Spingold Teams. South — Bart Bramley and his partner, Sidney Lazard —

hd lb h di of spades offside, it might appear that Bramley was destined to go down one, but he proved otherwise.

He won the heart lead with the ace, drew three rounds of trump, East discarding a spade, and cashed the heart king. This was followed by a diamond to the ace and the queen of hearts, East and declarer each discarding a spade. Bramley then ruffed the ten of hearts, East discarding a third spade, and led the queen of spades, on which West followed low.

At this point, Bramley stopped to review all the accumulated information — including what his “table feel” told him. From the standpoint of pure probabilities, East was far more likely to hold the spade king, since he had started with only two clubs and two hearts. This left him with nine cards in spades and diamonds as opposed to only five cards in those suits for West. Also, West might have covered the queen of spades with the king if he had it.

But on top of this, East had shown increasing signs of distress in choosing his three discards, and this made Bramley even more certain that East had the spade king.

So Bramley put up the ace of spades and cashed dummy’s last trump, discarding his remaining spade. East, who at this point had the J-7-5 of diamonds and lone king of spades guarding

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