BRIDGE

BRIGHT IDEAS A light in my club’s main card room had burned out, and Unlucky Louie was drafted to replace it. He dropped the replacement bulb, and it shattered to pieces.

“You know what that means,” Cy the Cynic observed: “seven years of bad ideas.”

In a penny game, Louie was declarer at today’s 3NT. North took a rosy view when he raised to game. West led a spade, and dummy’s ten won. Louie next led the ten of clubs, and East rose with the ace to return a spade.

Louie took the ace and cashed three clubs, but when he next led a diamond from dummy to his jack, West won and cashed three spades. Down one.

“It wasn’t a good idea to overbid,” Louie told North. Diamond I suppose it wasn’t, with Louie as declarer. At Trick Two he must lead a diamond to his jack. West wins but can’t lead another spade effectively.

If West shifts to a heart, Louie wins and forces out the ace of clubs. He wins East’s spade return, runs the clubs and finesses in diamonds again to win nine tricks. Daily Question You hold: ♠ KJ 7 52 ♥ J 42 ♦ K 8 4 ♣ 6 4. Your partner opens one heart, and the next player overcalls one spade. What do you say?

Answer: You might defeat one spade, perhaps by more than one trick, but it’s a mistake to go “headhunting” and seek to penalize the opponents when your own prospects on offense are undetermined. (Moreover, the opponents might have a better contract than one spade.) Bid two hearts, showing your support for partner’s suit. South dealer N-S vulnerable