DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

“It seems to me that spelling ‘rules’ are often broken,” I remarked to my friend the English professor. “What about ‘i before e except after c’?”

“That rule has been disproved by science,” the prof growled.

At today’s 3NT, South won the first spade with the queen and let the eight of clubs ride. When East took the queen, he swiftly led another spade, but declarer won and forced out the ace of clubs. West shifted to the 10 of diamonds, but after East took the queen and ace, South claimed, scoring game.

“I would need to be prescient to find the winning defense,” East shrugged.

A conscientious East would reason that the deck didn’t have enough points for West to hold A-J-10-x-x in spades plus an entry. Moreover, if South had the ace of clubs, he would have cashed it before finessing.

At Trick Three, East must lead a low diamond. When West takes the ace of clubs, he leads his last diamond, and East runs the diamonds.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ K42 ♥ Q5 ◆ K5 4 ♣ K 10 9 7 3. Your partner opens one heart, you respond two clubs, he bids two diamonds and you try 2NT. Partner then rebids three diamonds. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner suggests five cards in each red suit and minimum values. Pass. No game should succeed. At matchpoint duplicate, you might risk a return to three hearts to play at the higher-scoring partial.