Getting older

One of my club’s senior members told me he has difficulty maintaining focus.

“I must be getting old,” he said. “Yesterday, I went to an antique auction, and three people bid on me.”

When my friend was declarer at five clubs, West took the K-A of hearts and led the jack of diamonds. South took the king, drew trumps and went looking for the queen of spades.

“West had bid,” he said, “so I led the jack, let it ride – and went down. My partner said I could have tried to count the hands, but I can’t focus well enough to keep track of the cards that are

x played.

z

“I thought getting older would take longer.”

Last heart

Counting does take focus but is easy in principle. After South draws trumps, he can take the ace of diamonds, ruff a diamond, ruff his last heart in dummy and ruff the last diamond.

South then knows West had five hearts, four diamonds and three trumps – and one spade. So, South’s guess in spades is a nonguess: He takes the king and leads to his jack.

Daily question

You hold: ♠ 7 ♥ AKJ97 ♦ J 10 9 4 ♣7 4 2. Only the opponents are vulnerable. Your partner deals and passes, and the next player passes. What do you say?

Answer: Since the vulnerability is “green” and your partner is a passed hand, you can take some liberties. Open two hearts, weak. You would not make this call if partner had not passed since it might mislead him, but as it is, you can direct a lead and preempt the opponents somewhat.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable