Chasing his tail

“I thought I had a problem today,” a club player told me after a midday duplicate. “My husband came home hungry from his morning golf game, headed for the refrigerator and gulped down some dog food I’d saved for our beagle. I didn’t tell him what he had eaten, but when we got here, he was scratching himself, and then he misplayed this 3NT.

“West led a spade, dummy played low and East took the king. My husband won the next spade with the queen but couldn’t reach dummy for the good clubs. He attacked the red suits — his tongue was hanging out — and lost three diamonds and one heart for down one.”

FIRST SPADE

“He must unblock his queen on the first spade,” I observed. “If East returns a spade, declarer takes the ten and ace, pitching his ace of clubs, and runs the clubs.”

“My husband was complaining of a headache,” my friend said, “so to be safe, I called our vet.”

“What did he say?”

“He said not to worry. He said that if my husband starts chasing cars, bring him in.”

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: A 6 4 3 2 one spade,

Q 7 A 7 5 4 3 A. Your partner opens you bid two hearts, he rebids two spades and you try three diamonds. Partner then bids three hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your partner has only a tolerance for hearts. With good support, he often would have raised directly to three hearts or jumped to four hearts at his third turn. Bid three spades. If he holds A J 9 6 5 2, K 6, J 7, K 6 5, he would like to know about your spade support.

South dealer

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