DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

The defender in second seat often has an advantage. Since his partner gets to play last, he can wait and force declarer to make a commitment. But “often” isn’t “always”: Sometimes declarer can force a defender to commit himself.

Today’s West leads the queen of spades against six hearts. South fears a club finesse will fail; he places West with the king on the bidding.

So South ruffs the first spade with dummy’s king of trumps. He leads the queen of trumps to his ace and returns his deuce of diamonds toward dummy.

West must commit himself. In real life, he might grab his ace, fearing that South had a singleton, and South would have 12 tricks. But say West plays low, and dummy’s king wins.

Declarer then leads a trump to his hand, takes the A-K of spades to discard diamonds from dummy, and exits with the queen of diamonds. West is end-played: He must lead a spade or a diamond, conceding a fatal ruff-sluff, or lead a club from the king.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ AK5 ♥ A 10 9 6 5 2

◆ Q2 ♣ A 3. You open one heart, and your partner bids one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER: A jump to three hearts would suggest six good hearts and 16 or 17 points in high cards. But if an expert panel considered the problem, opinions would vary. Some players would want a stronger heart suit for a jump. There would be support for a bid of 2NT and a raise to three spades.