BRIDGE

This week’s deals have involved the elementary technique of setting up a long suit. Cover the East-West cards. How would you play at six clubs when West leads the king of diamonds? (I suspect that you wouldn’t bid the North-South cards that way, but let’s say you are filling in for a South who had to take a phone call.)

You can see 11 tricks: seven trumps, two hearts, a diamond and a diamond ruff in dummy. If you lead a trump to your hand at the second trick and ruff your last diamond, you will be stuck in dummy and will have little play for a 12th trick.

Your best chance is to go after the spades. Lead a spade from dummy at Trick Two. East wins with the nine and returns a trump, and you win with dummy’s nine, ruff a spade, ruff a diamond in dummy and ruff another spade.

Then you can draw trumps, go to dummy with the king of hearts and ruff a fourth spade to establish the long spades. The ace of hearts is still a dummy entry to cash one of them for a heart discard.

DAILY QUESTION:

You hold: ♠ 5 ♥ 643 ◆ 10 6 ♣A K Q J 10 3 2. You are the dealer, neither side vulnerable. What do you say?

ANSWER: A preempt with a solid suit would be wrong. Open one club, intending to keep rebidding the minimum number of clubs. Some pairs use a “Gambling 3NT” opening with a hand such as this. They promise a solid seven-card minor with no outside strength. Partner can pass with stoppers in the other suits or run to four clubs otherwise.