Goren Bridge

Today’s deal is from a recent tournament in Europe. North American players, typically, do not play “Support” doubles at the three level, but it worked perfectly here.

This deal shows why Key Card Blackwood has become the standard for today’s tournament players. The king of the agreed trump suit becomes a “key card,” along with the four aces. You can also find out about the queen of the agreed trump suit and side kings as well.

The five diamond response showed zero or three key cards, with spades being the “agreed” trump suit. South logically decided it was three and the five heart bid asked for the queen of spades. The six diamond response promised the queen of spades, and also the king of diamonds. South could now count 12 top tricks. A thirteenth could come from the jack of spades, the jack of diamonds, or a good split of the outstanding spades. Also, why risk a bad spade split for no reason? South bid the grand slam in no-trump.

South won the opening heart lead with dummy’s ace, cashed the three top spades, and ran off five club tricks. West could only afford to discard one spade, so he had to discard three diamonds. South led the four of diamonds to dummy’s king and led back to his ace and queen. The carefully preserved two of diamonds was his thirteenth trick. Well done!

Dear Amy: My wife and I recently purchased our first home. The previous residents were an elderly couple who passed away.

When we bought the house we did not know that the couple’s daughter, her husband and two teenage daughters were our neighbors across the street.

We painted, put in new windows and doors and landscaped. As we made changes, we noticed the daughter and her family taking notice. I’d wave to them, but they never waved back.

A few months ago, we got an anonymous note in our mailbox, saying that the changes were “ugly,” “too modern” and that it looked “cheap.” My wife was offended. We both assumed it was authored by the daughter or someone in her family, but decided to ignore it.

Now we’re the victims of more petty harassment. Someone keeps throwing eggs at our windows, our trash cans are almost always tipped over and it’s pretty common to have our mailbox filled with rocks or dirt.

I can’t prove it’s anyone in this household, but I don’t think anyone else would do this. What do you think? — Nervous Neighbor

Dear Nervous: The following is from the U.S. Postal Inspection website: “Mailboxes are federal property, and federal law makes it a crime to vandalize them (or to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them). Violators can be fined up to $250,000, or imprisoned for up to three years, for each act of vandalism.”

From your account, this does not seem to be petty vandalism, but an escalating course of harassment. You should install an outdoor security camera in order to try to record any vandalism. Take photos of property damage, and keep notes. Call the police non-emergency number every time this happens. Do not confront the neighbors in person.

Dear Dr. Roach: My son and his new wife went on a dream honeymoon that has since turned into a nightmare. They went to Costa Rica and of course were bitten by mosquitoes.

Upon returning home, they were told about the Zika virus.

One person told them to wait six months before trying to have a baby; another source said to wait two years. They are in their mid-30s and want to have a baby. What do you know about this scary virus? — E.I.

Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and is present in many areas of the Americas, Caribbean and Pacific.

There has been an ongoing outbreak over the past few years.

Zika is related to yellow fever, dengue and West Nile virus. One major concern about Zika is that it can cause neurological complications, sometimes severe, in babies born to women who were infected during pregnancy.

Also, Zika may temporarily affect fertility in infected men. Zika can be transmitted sexually.

Couples who are planning pregnancy should avoid areas where Zika transmission occurs, see cdc.gov/travel/page/ zika-information). For couples who have been exposed or who might have been infected, the most conservative recommendation I have read is six months.

This is based on a finding of Zika RNA in men up to 188 days after having symptoms of Zika, even though no sexually transmitted cases have been reported more than six weeks after the man had symptoms of Zika (men and women may also transmit Zika after an illness without recognized symptoms).

Given how severe the infection can be to the developing fetus, I think six months is the right amount of time, but two years is unnecessary.