A few years ago, Sally Brock – women’s world champion many times over – told me she’d like some coaching in declarer-play from Artur Malinowski. Artur, she said, just seems to make more contracts than other people. And it’s true: he has extraordinary table presence. He relies on ‘reading’ his opponents as much as he does on playing the odds.

I was reminded of this during a recent TGRs Super League match:

West led the ♥️8. The obvious line is to cash the ♥️KQ, play the ♦️A, ruff a diamond, draw the last trump, play a spade to the ♠️A and cash the ♦️K. If the ♦️Q falls, you claim. If not, you ruff again, cross to the ♠️K, pitch a second club on your last diamond, and play up to the ♣️KJ, hoping to get it right.

But Artur had noted West’s hesitation and passive trump lead, suggesting he had some values. He won the ♥️Q, and, deciding that West wouldn’t lead a singleton trump, overtook the ♥️K with his ♥️A! To him, the small risk of a 4-1 break was worth it: he got to watch what his opponents discarded while they still had no idea what was in his hand.

On the third trump, West discarded a spade (as did Artur). On the fourth, he threw another spade, making Artur think that he was either short in spades or under pressure. Artur discarded a club, and so did East, which suggested to Artur that the ♣️Q was with West (it’s not easy to discard from a queen). On the fifth, West threw a club, Artur a spade, and East another club.

Artur’s strong hunch now was that West held the ♦️Q and ♣️Q. He played a diamond to the ♦️J, pitched two clubs, ruffed a diamond – and claimed.