Twice a miracle

“It was a Christmas miracle,” Unlucky Louie told me. “Actually, it was a double miracle. When I took the tree lights out of the box I stored them in last year, they weren’t all tangled up. And not only that, they still work!”

Louie’s providence didn’t last in today’s deal. After he and North bid to a 28-point slam, West led the queen of diamonds. Louie took dummy’s ace, drew trumps, cashed the A-K of clubs, ruffed a club, went to the king of hearts and ruffed a club. Then the last club was good, but dummy had no more entries. Louie lost a diamond and a heart.

Club ruffs

Louie makes six spades if he untangles his entries. After winning the first trick, he must start the clubs immediately: ace, king, club ruff. He leads a trump to dummy’s ace and ruffs a club. Then Louie can draw trumps and go to the king of hearts to take the good club for his 12th trick.

“I’m hoping for another miracle,” Louie said to me. “Maybe for once, my family won’t get into some kind of argument all day on Christmas day.”

Daily question

You hold: A 5 K72 A83 K 9 6 4 2. Your partner opens one heart, you respond two clubs and he bids two diamonds. What do you say?

Answer: In “Standard” methods, jump to three hearts, forcing. A bid of two hearts would be invitational. In the dominant “two-over-one” style, in which your two clubs forced to game, you can bid two hearts, forcing. That style may gain here by keeping the bidding low; it has drawbacks as well, for instance by requiring a forcing 1NT response with invitational hands.

North dealer

N-S vulnerable