DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Cy the Cynic says you should never put all your eggs in one basket — unless they’re chocolate, and it’s his basket.

Cy was declarer at 6NT. Playing with his usual impulsivity, he won the first club in dummy and let the queen of hearts ride.

West took the king and placed all the missing points from the bidding. He shifted astutely to the nine of diamonds, and the Cynic had to guess. He could succeed if the 10 of hearts fell under the A-J or if a diamond finesse won, but he couldn’t try both chances. He took the ace of diamonds and relied on the hearts, and down he went.

Cy should put his eggs in more than one basket. He wins the first club in his hand and leads a low heart. If West takes the king, Cy has 12 tricks. If West plays low, the queen wins, and Cy finesses in diamonds for 12 sure tricks.

If East had the king of hearts, Cy would still have two chances: He could try to drop the 10 of hearts, and if that chance failed, he could finesse in diamonds.

DAILY QUESTION:

You hold: ♠ KQJ73 ♥ Q3 ◆ A53 ♣ Q 4 3. You open one spade, your partner responds two hearts, you bid 2NT and he rebids three hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner has six or maybe seven hearts but minimum high-card values for a two-level response. He could have jumped to four hearts at his second turn but preferred to sign off. You could justify a raise to four hearts with A 10 9 7 3,K4,A53,K43,butyour actual hand is nothing special. Pass.