Another message, anticipating the Christmas season, on a sign at a church in my town: “The Wise Men didn’t need GPS to find Him, nor do you.”

Expert declarers reputedly have magical card-reading powers: finding singleton kings and so on. But most “expert” techniques are simple in principle.

Today’s South was Bob Hamman, long one of the world’s top players. He bid boldly to four spades; a player as sharp as Hamman can add a point or two for his dummy play. West led a heart, and Hamman took dummy’s ace and led a club ... to his ace.

When West’s king fell, Hamman took the A-K of trumps and led the three of clubs from dummy: nine, queen. When West couldn’t ruff, Hamman drew East’s last trump and lost one club and two diamonds.

Hamman’s play was logical, not magical. He knew East had the king of diamonds (West would have led a high diamond with the A-K) and at least one high heart. To have the values for a two-level overcall, West probably held the king of clubs.

Daily question: You hold: ? K 5 ? A 10 9 3 2 ? 8 4 ? 10 6 3 2. The dealer, at your left, opens one spade. Your partner doubles, you bid two hearts and he raises to three hearts. What do you say?

Answer: Your partner has a strong hand to commit to a three-level contract, and your hand is far from hopeless. You have five good hearts. With 75,A10932,84,K632, you would have a clear bid of four hearts. As it is, your king of spades is probably worthless. Pass.

Tribune Content Agency