DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

A third- grade teacher asked her class to complete some holiday- related sentences such as, “At Christmas, we exchange gifts with ______.” One commercially minded student filled in the blank with “receipts.” A common dummy- play technique is the “loser on loser”: exchanging one loser for another. Today’s declarer had that in mind. At four hearts, he played low from dummy on the first spade, took his ace, drew trumps and led his queen of diamonds. When West played low, South took dummy’s ace and returned the jack for a ruffing finesse, pitching a spade. Alas, West produced the king and led a low spade — queen, king — and when East shifted to a club, South lost two clubs. Down one. South had the right idea, but at Trick One he must play a low spade from both hands. He wins the next spade and proceeds as before. Then, when West takes the king of diamonds, he can’t give East the lead for a club return, and South loses only one spade, one diamond and one club. DAILY QUESTION You hold: A 6 4 K Q 6 5 4 3 Q K J 8. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say? ANSWER: Partner’s hand is not well defined, and your best contract is unknown. He could hold K Q 75, A 9 2, A J 7 6 5, 3 ( you belong at six hearts) or Q J 7 5, 9, K J 10 7 6, AQ 3 (you belong at 3NT). To learn more, bid two clubs. A bid of the “fourth suit” is often used as a mark- time action to let partner make another descriptive bid. South dealer N- S vulnerable