Bridge-player missing beginning of banquet (4)
I believe the answer is:
east
'bridge-player' is the definition.
(bridge players are given names of compass points)
'missing beginning of banquet' is the wordplay.
'missing beginning of' means to remove the first letter.
'banquet' becomes 'feast' (synonyms).
'feast' with its first letter taken away is 'EAST'.
(Other definitions for east that I've seen before include "An opponent of North" , "Bearing of 90 degrees" , "Direction taken when going from the US towards Ireland" , "Chinese, perhaps" , "Ninety degree bearing" .)