“Do you ever ‘see cards’ around the table as the auction progresses?” Unlucky Louie asked me.

“Any good player does,” I said. “A simple example is when the player at your right overcalls. If you have a holding in his suit such as K-J-x, it may become worth as much as an A-Q. But if your left-hand opponent bids the suit, your king and jack may be worth little or nothing.”

Louie told me that he was proud of his visualization in today’s deal. As South he had jumped to four spades at his second turn.

“That was a bit bold opposite a single raise,” I said.

“I was sure partner had no points in hearts,” Louie replied, “so what points he had would be useful.”

Louie ruffed the heart opening lead, drew trumps and led a club to dummy’s ten. East took the jack and led a low diamond: deuce, queen, three. West then led a club. Dummy’s queen lost to the king, and East cashed his ace of diamonds. Down one.

“I was right that my partner didn’t have much in hearts,” Louie shrugged, “but the East-West cards lay poorly.”

Four spades was a good contract, but Louie’s visualization was better than his dummy play. After he draws trumps, he can lead the king of diamonds. If West were to win and lead a club, Louie could play dummy’s queen. Then if East took the king and led, say, a heart, Louie would ruff and force out the queen of diamonds to get a club discard from dummy on his fourth diamond. He could lose at most three tricks.

As the cards lay, Louie could also succeed by guessing to play the king on the first diamond, then leading a second club.

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