The Free Lance-Star – May 16, 1975
Once upon a time there lived a bridge player by the name of Endplay Charlie. Of course, there was a very good reason why he was known by this name. Charlie wasn’t much of a player, as bridge players go — became he generally bid badly . -and had to suffer the con-sequences of this failing — but he was very good when it came to playing the cards. 
He was especially good in constructing endplays and often redeemed poor contracts with his exceptional aptitude in this field. Moreover, he was also gifted when it came to defending against endplays. More than anything else, Charlie loathed getting caught in an endplay while on defense and- he would go to any lengths to prevent this from happening.
Look at this play he once made.
Opening lead – four of diamonds.
Holding the East hand, he won the diamond lead with the queen and continued with the ace. Declarer ruffed and played high trump, where-upon Charlie took the ace and returned a trump. South won in his hand and led the ace of clubs, on which Charlie played the king! As a result, declarer lost two heart tricks and went down one.
But suppose Charlie had played the six of clubs on the ace, as any normal human being would hate done. In that case declarer could have made the contract by playing low from dummy on the next club lead, and Charlie would have found himself on lead with the king but thoroughly endplayed. Whatever he returned, South would score the rest of the tricks. Lots of players tried to do it, but they always had a very tough time trying to endplay Endplay Charlie.
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