BRIDGE

MORE BAD LUCK Both vulnerable. South deals. Opening lead: King of Spades The battle of the boards was raging once again at the club’s Saturday night duplicate. Hard Luck Louie arrived in slam on the given auction. He won the opening spade lead in dummy and led a club to his ace, followed by the queen of clubs. West did not cover and Louie let it ride, winning the trick. Louie thought he was home free. All he had to do was ruff a low club in dummy, draw trumps, and concede one club trick. Louie was devastated when East over-ruffed the third club and returned a trump. With the diamond queen offside, Louie finished down one. “The injustice of it all,” said Louie. “Clubs 5-2 and the diamond queen offside. If it weren’t for back luck, I’d have no luck at all.” Lucky Larry played the same contract and also received the king of spades lead. He also won in dummy and played a club to his ace. Instead of leading the queen of clubs, however, he led a low club and ruffed it in dummy. Larry followed by drawing trumps and leading the queen of clubs, conceding the king to West. The 5-2 club split was of no importance to Larry – he just discarded his remaining low club on dummy’s king of diamonds. Six hearts, bid and made!