Bridge

Lack of foresight

Unlucky Louie says he learned many things from his mother: for example, faith (“You better pray that comes out of the carpet”), logic (“Because I said so, that’s why”) and foresight (“Always wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident”).

Alas, it seems that the lesson on foresight didn’t sink in.

Louie was declarer at four hearts. When West led the queen of spades, East played the nine.

Louie took his king and led a trump to dummy’s nine, and East took the queen and shifted to his singleton diamond. He won the next trump with his ace, underled in spades to West and ruffed the diamond return. Down one. FOUR TRICKS

East defended well, but Louie could have foreseen the result. He is in danger of four losers only if the defense gets a ruff, and East’s duck of the first spade indicates that he may have that in mind.

To break the defenders’ communication, Louie must return a spade at Trick Two, removing West’s entry. He limits his losers to two trumps and a spade. DAILY QUESTION You hold: ♠ K82 ♥ J87 3 2 ♦ Q 10 4 ♣ A6. Your partner opens one club, you respond one heart, he bids one spade and you try 1NT. Partner next bids two hearts. What do you say? ANSWER: Your partner has extra strength. After your weakish second bid of 1NT, he wouldn’t bid a third time with a minimum hand. Since your values are a maximum for your 1NT, you can be aggressive. Bid four hearts. Partner’s hand may be A7 4 3,A Q 6,7, K Q 10 7 3. North dealer N-S vulnerable