Opening lead: 4

As South, what is your line of play?

Would you try to play golf or tennis blindfolded? Not a good idea, is it? But most players do this at bridge. If you're ever to amount to anything at this game, you must build up a picture of the opponents' hands. I was South on today's hand.

Here were my thoughts when dummy came down. West didn't hold the king-queen of hearts or ace-king of diamonds; otherwise he would have led one of them. So East held at least the king of diamonds and queen of hearts. West's lead wasn't a singleton or we would have heard from East in the auction. The king of clubs was almost surely with West, for the same reason. I hoped it was a doubleton king.

I won the lead in dummy and led a club to the ace. When the king fell, I realized I had to lead another club from dummy to pick up East's remaining J-9-7 for one loser. So I cashed the king of spades and led one to the queen. Then I led a club, hoping that West held only two trump. East split by playing the 9 (otherwise I'd stick in the 8), and when my queen held, I drew the last trump and gave up a club.

My tip: Build up a picture of your opponents' hands.