FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

THE PROPER ORDER

“First things first, but not necessarily in that order.” — graffiti

You’re declarer at today’s four hearts, and West leads a club. East takes the ace and returns a club to West’s king. After you ruff the third club, how do you continue? Say you believe in drawing trumps first above all things. You lead a diamond to dummy and return a trump for a finesse with your queen. West takes the king and leads another diamond, and you win and lead a second trump. East plays low. Fourth Trick

I don’t know whether you should (in theory) put up the ace or finesse with the ten; playing the ace is the winner today. But you can avoid an unpleasant guess if you put first things first.

At Trick Four, finesse with the queen of spades. If the finesse lost, you would hope East held the doubleton king of trumps or K-x-x. But when the queen of spades wins, play as safe as possible in trumps. Lead a trump to your ace. If East- West played low, you would return to dummy to lead a second trump. Daily Question

You hold: ♠ A Q 95 3 ♥ 63 ♦ AK6 ♣ 84 2. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one spade and he bids two hearts. What do you say?

Answer: Your partner has “reversed” and promises a strong hand: in many partnerships, enough strength to force to game. You can afford to bid three diamonds — partner will surely bid again — but I would be inclined to jump to four diamonds to show the excellent support for his first suit and encourage a high-level contract.