DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

It was the first of the month, and I found Unlucky Louie at a table in the lounge, looking disconsolate, like a scarecrow with no crows to scare. He was regarding a stack of unpaid bills as if they were a group of obstreperous children.

“My sweet wife outdoes Julius Caesar,” Louie said. “With him it was ‘veni, vidi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered.’ With Esther it’s ‘veni, vidi, Visa: I came, I saw, I shopped.’ ”

Louie lost out in today’s deal from his penny game. At six spades, he won the first club with the ace and drew trumps. He next led the queen of hearts and let it ride. East took the king and led the jack of diamonds: queen, king, ace. Louie then returned a trump to his hand and passed the 10 of hearts — and East produced the jack and cashed two diamonds.

“Only you could go down three with 11 top tricks,” North sighed.

“West would have a heart honor 75% of the time,” Louie growled.

Louie won’t get his credit card bill paid off at this rate. When he leads the queen of hearts and West plays low, Louie can infer that West doesn’t have the K-J. Louie can take the ace, cash the K-Q of clubs to pitch his 10 of hearts, and return the nine for a ruffing finesse through East. If East followed low, Louie would discard a diamond and later lead the eight of hearts for a second ruffing finesse.

As the cards lie, East will cover with the jack. Louie ruffs, leads a trump to dummy and returns the eight of hearts, ruffing East’s king. Dummy’s seven is high for the 12th trick.

North dealer

N-S vulnerable