Bridge Play

West dealer

Both sides vulnerable

Unlucky Louie has been successful in business if not at bridge.

“Did you start out with nothing?” I asked Louie, “or did you have an inheritance?”

“My folks were so poor,”

Louie replied somberly, “that at Christmas, we exchanged glances.”

When Louie was declarer at today’s four spades, he let

East’s king win the first diamond. Louie won the next diamond (not best defense), led the king of trumps to East’s ace and won the trump return.

Louie then took the A-K of clubs and ruffed a club. When

West discarded, Louie led a heart to dummy’s queen. East won and returned a heart, and Louie had to lose a second heart. THIRD CLUB

Louie gave East-West a gift. He makes four spades by exchanging one loser for another. On the third club, Louie should pitch a heart. If West won, Louie would have the rest. When West discards, East can lead a heart, yielding a free finesse, or lead a club, setting up dummy’s fifth club. Either way, Louie gets his 10th trick.

This week: loser-on-loser plays.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ♠ A9 ♥ KJ76

♦ KJ6 ♣ J 10 8 7. Your partner opens one spade, you respond two clubs and he bids two diamonds. What do you say?

ANSWER: On the information available, you can place the contract. Bid 3NT. A style in which your two clubs was a game-force might be helpful. You could bid 2NT, forcing. Some players miss the old-fashioned direct 2NT response to describe your hand; most pairs now treat 2NT as a conventional spade raise.