FRANK STEWART BRIDGE

CY THE TAILGATER

Cy the Cynic gave me a ride to the club, and we got behind a car that was poking along. There was no place to pass, and Cy, who isn’t known for patience, fretted and fumed. It didn’t help when he got close enough to the car ahead to read this bumper sticker: “Excuse me for driving so closely in front of you.”

Cy’s impatience is mirrored in his dummy play: He seizes on the first line he sees. When he was declarer at four hearts in a penny game, the defense led three rounds of clubs, and Cy promptly ruffed the third with dummy’s ten of trumps.

Down One

East overruffed and exited with a diamond. The Cynic drew trumps, but when he tried a spade to dummy’s jack, East had the queen. Down one.

Impulsivity was Cy’s downfall. On the third club, he must discard a spade from dummy. Later, he throws another spade on his queen of diamonds, losing three tricks in all. Cy’s play would have been defensible at matchpoint duplicate, but for money, he should have protected his game. Daily Question You hold: KJ62 10 9 5 4 2 AK 4 2.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ Your partner opens one club, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. The opponents pass. What do you say?

Answer: Certain hands with 11 high-card points might be worth only an invitational raise to three spades, but my judgment would tell me to bid four spades with this hand. The trump support is good, and since partner’s hand is likely to be short in hearts, the play may go quite well. South dealer N-S vulnerable