Daily Bridge Club

Mad bridge party 2

At the Mad Hatter’s game, the Red Queens kept arguing. The Queen of Hearts said no ace or king dared capture her. The Queen of Diamonds insisted that losing a trick can be better than winning one.

Against the Hatter’s four spades, Alice led the jack (!) of hearts to avoid the Queen of Hearts’ wrath. The Hatter took the ace, drew trumps and led a diamond.

Mindful of the Queen of Diamonds’ words, Alice played the queen! Dummy’s king won, but East got in with the jack later to lead a club through, and South lost three clubs. LAST HEART

The Hatter is safe if Alice plays low on the first diamond. He can take the king of hearts, ruff his last heart in dummy and exit with a diamond. Then if Alice leads her last high diamond, declarer discards a club, and West is end-played.

If Alice wins the first diamond with the ace and leads the queen, South can win, ruff dummy’s last diamond, take the king of hearts, and pitch a club from dummy on a third heart lead to end-play West again. DAILY QUESTION You hold :♠73♥ Q J 109 ♦AQ2♣AQJ 2. The dealer, at your right, opens one spade. You double, and your partner responds two hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: This is a troublesome sequence because you have no room to investigate game. Partner’s hand may be quite weak, but your only options are to pass or raise to three hearts. Since the hearts are strong and minor-suit finesses through the opening bidder rate to win, I would raise. South dealer Both sides vulnerable