DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Even if you’re a nearbeginner, you can enjoy the challenge and camaraderie of duplicate bridge. Many ACBL-affiliated clubs offer easygoing games for newer players.

Duplicate lets you compare results with players who faced the same deal at other tables. Say you play at today’s six spades. You win West’s trump lead and count 11 tricks. To succeed, you will need a trick from dummy’s long clubs. Suppose you take the A-K of trumps and A-K of clubs and ruff a club. Alas, West overruffs, and you must go down.

To minimize the chance of an overruff, take the king of trumps, ace of hearts, ace of clubs and ace of trumps, and discard a club on the king of hearts. You can ruff a club safely, lead a trump to the queen, cash the king of clubs and ruff a club. Go to the ace of diamonds for the good club.

If you made this slam,

I’ll bet you would get a

“top” on the deal: quite an achievement.

Duplicate is fun. For info on the ACBL and clubs in your area, see acbl.org.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ AQ3 ♥ K2 ◆ A6 4 ♣ K 6 5 4 3. Your partner opens 1NT. The next player passes. What do you say?

ANSWER: You have 16 good points, and your fifth club may well be a winner — worth another point or two. If partner’s 1NT bid promised 16 to 18 points, raise to 6NT. If he might have as few as 15 points, you might settle for a slam-invitational “quantitative” raise to 4NT. Do your duty and get your side to the proper level.