DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

At a rural Alabama county courthouse, the office that issued marriage licenses closed from 12 to 1. A sign hung on the door: “Gone to lunch. Think it over.”

One difficult aspect of bridge: Plays that look easy and automatic may be clearly wrong if you think about them. Against today’s 3NT, West led the jack of spades, and South won and led a club: five, queen ... and West took his king.

South won the next spade and led another club. East won and led his last spade to dummy, but South led a diamond to his ace, ran the clubs and ended with 11 tricks.

West should have thought it over; he succumbed to impulse when he took the king of clubs. Declarer surely needs club tricks to make his game, so West mustn’t make it easy for him.

If West ducks the first club, East will win the next club with the ace and return a spade. South can come to his ace of diamonds to set up the long clubs but has no further entry to his hand to cash them. He will win only eight tricks.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ AKQ ♥ AK543

◆ K43 ♣ 6 2. The dealer, at your right, opens one club. You double, and your partner “advances” (responds) one diamond. The opponents pass. What do you say?

ANSWER: Be aware that partner’s hand may be as weak as yours is potent. He had to respond to your double and may have no points and flimsy diamonds. With as many as 10 points, he would have made a stronger bid. Bid one heart. If you have a game, partner will act.