Bridge | 15 July 2023

Geir Helgemo, widely considered to be the best player in the world, regularly gets followed around by a posse of devoted fans (myself included) who ask him questions about various points of play. ‘How do you always “guess” where every card is?’ is one that particularly interests me, as the ability to ‘read’ the cards is the major difference between the expert and the amateur. ‘It’s almost never a guess,’ says Geir as the posse gasps, ‘but rather about the absorption of clues from the auction and play to piece together the most likely lay-out.’

Take this hand:

You arrive peacefully in 2♠️, and West leads the ♥️2 to East’s Jack. The first thing an expert would do is take a minute or five to consider who’s got what. OK, where’s the Queen of Spades? West led a small Heart so he has an honour, and it must be the King. Leading from Kxxx is not the most attractive and surely he would have preferred leading from two touching honours if he had them.