BRIDGE

One member of my club is a professional photographer. Once I asked her when she had snapped her best photos.

“Usually it’s when I’ve forgotten to remove the lens cap,” was her rueful reply.

Bridge requires concentration as well as technique and judgment, and we all have lapses. In today’s deal, East had overcalled in spades, so West led the 10 against 1NT. Declarer played low from dummy ... and East also played low.

Declarer took his queen and led a club to dummy’s jack, but East refused the trick. He won the next club and led the king of spades to dummy’s ace. After that, South had to resort to an end play to go down only one.

South lost his concentration at Trick One. He must take the ace of spades, lead the jack of clubs and continue clubs. If East sets up his spades, South’s queen is an entry to his long clubs, and he will probably win eight tricks.

Incidentally, wouldn’t you think that a professional photographer could avoid losing her focus?

Question: You hold: ♠ A8 2 ♥ AJ62 ♦ KJ73 ♣ J 5. Your partner opens one club, you respond one heart and he jumps to 2NT. The opponents pass. What say you?

Answer: This amounts to a simple problem in adding high-card points. Your partner’s bidding promises a good-looking 18 points to (if there is such a thing) an unattractive 20 points with balanced pattern. Your 14 points should suffice to produce a play for 12 tricks, hence raise to 6NT.