DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Unlucky Louie and I had spent the day Christmas shopping. It’s an annual trial for him since he has a big family.

“It’s a contest,” Louie sighed, “to see which gives up first, your feet or your credit card.”

Buying gifts would be less stressful for Louie if he cut his losses in my club’s penny game. As declarer at today’s 6NT, Louie took the ace of hearts and tried a club to dummy’s queen. East took the king and returned a heart. Louie then cashed the jack of clubs. When West discarded, Louie had only 11 tricks: two spades, three hearts, four diamonds, two clubs. He led a spade to dummy’s ace and finessed with his jack ... losing. Down one.

Louie can lead a club to the ace at Trick Two and return a club. If East takes the king, Louie has the rest. If East plays low, and West discards on Louie’s jack, Louie finesses in spades through East, winning at least three spades, two clubs, four diamonds and three hearts.

DAILY QUESTION:

You hold: ♠ A104 ♥ K74 ◆ KQ ♣ AQ972.You open one club, your partner responds one heart, you jump to 2NT and he bids three diamonds. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your 2NT promised about 19 points with balanced pattern. In “Standard” methods, any second bid by your partner is forcing. Bid three hearts, showing three-card support for his first suit. If your hand were a bit stronger and had better heart support, you would jump to four hearts.