FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

ACCIDENTAL DEFENSE?

Wendy, my club’s feminist, had won in the day’s penny game. Cy the Cynic had been the big loser. As today’s South, Cy held a hand with a quartet of queens. When North opened 1NT, Cy boldly bid four spades.

Wendy, West, led a heart, and Cy took the queen, king and ace to pitch his queen of clubs (not best; he should have led trumps). Wendy ruffed, and instead of trying to cash her ace of clubs, she shifted to a diamond. The Cynic won in dummy and led a trump, but Wendy won and led a second diamond. East ruffed, and Wendy’s ace of trumps won the setting trick.

Intelligence

“Cy acted as if I’d found a good defense by accident,” Wendy told me. “It never occurs to him that a woman might get the better of him via superior skill.” Wendy judged from Cy’s play that his pattern was 6-2-4-1, so a diamond shift was marked. She beats the contract even if Cy has Q 10 9 8 7 4, Q 9, Q 8 7, Q 3.

“A man blames a woman who beats him,” Wendy said, “like he blames a door he bumps into in the dark.”

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ A K 2 ♥ 7 5 ♦ J 9 5 3 2 ♣ A 5 2. You open one diamond, your partner bids one spade, you raise to two spades and he tries 2NT. What do you say? Answer: Partner’s 2NT shows game interest and suggests about 11 points, balanced pattern and only four spades. You can’t bid game; your hand is a minimum. To play at notrump is unattractive, but your diamonds are ragged and you can’t return to spades with only three-card support. Pass and hope for the best.

North dealer

N-S vulnerable