DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

“I can’t believe it,” Wendy, my club’s feminist, grumbled. “After all the times Cy has seen Minnie and her glasses do him in, he let declarer make four spades.”

Minnie Bottoms, our senior member, wears old bifocals that make her mix up kings and jacks, often to her opponents’ dismay. Cy the Cynic has been Minnie’s chief victim.

Wendy and Cy were East- West in a penny game. Against four spades, Cy did well to lead the ace and a second club to Wendy’s king.

“On the next club,” Wendy told me, “the Cynic ruffed ... with the jack of trumps.”

South won Cy’s heart shift and was sure Cy had the king of trumps: With two kings, East would have responded to the opening bid. So South banged down the ace of trumps and won the rest when the king fell.

“Men are like government bonds,” Wendy said. “They never seem to mature.”

Cy must ruff the third club with the king, the card South can infer that he holds. When South gets back in, he will lead dummy’s ten of trumps and let it ride in case Wendy has J- 9- 3. DAILY QUESTION You hold: Your partner opens one club, your respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER: You might survive a jump to 3NT, but partner’s hand is not well defined, and your best contract might be four hearts or a slam. As most pairs agree, a jump to three hearts would be invitational, not forcing. Bid two diamonds, the “fourth suit,” asking partner to make another descriptive bid. West dealer N- S vulnerable