Winston Churchill said, "It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see."

When the dummy comes down, we are all used to looking ahead through the 13 tricks to come. But it is difficult to see that far. We get a general idea of how the play will go and look ahead at each subsequent trick.

However, you should also look ahead during the bidding. In today's deal, take a peek at the South hand. West opens one club, North makes a takeout double, and East passes. What should South do?

The choices are one diamond, one no-trump and two diamonds. The jump to two diamonds is a slight overbid. Between one diamond and one no-trump, the latter has two pluses: First, it promises values (whereas one diamond might be bid with a Yarborough); second, it leaves South prepared for further competitive bidding by the opponents. Over one diamond or one no-trump, West will rebid two clubs. Then, if South had advanced with one no-trump, he could now comfortably continue with two diamonds. But after one diamond, South will be left with two diamonds, which is less descriptive.

East might then compete to three clubs, but North would probably contest with three diamonds (although three clubs can be defeated by one trick).

Assuming West leads a trump against three diamonds, East will win with his ace and shift to a club, causing South to lose one trick in each suit but make his contract exactly.

Think ahead!

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