Confucius said, "I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand."

He would have made an excellent bridge player. A top performer listens to the bidding to get a good idea of who has what. He watches the cards being played and remembers the bidding to place the unseen key cards. And by doing that, he understands what to do next.

To illustrate, how should South plan the play in five diamonds in today's deal? West leads the heart king.

The dealer's opening suit-bid is followed by two passes. If the fourth hand makes a jump overcall in a suit, it is intermediate, showing 14 to 16 points and a good six-card or longer suit.

North was then tempted to gamble on three no-trump, but decided that it was unlikely he could run nine tricks immediately. Instead, he made an aggressive jump to five diamonds.

After winning the first trick with dummy's heart ace, South took the trump finesse. It failed, and he also lost two club tricks for down one.

South suggested that his partner's five-diamond bid was too optimistic. And in a way, he was right. But North had realized that South should have got the trump suit right. Why?

If West had had the ace and king of clubs, he would have led one of them, not the heart king. And if East had a high club, he could not also hold the diamond king, because if he did, he would not have passed over one heart.

Whenever a player bids or passes, remember what that tells you about his hand.

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