DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

The American Contract Bridge League is the principal sponsoring organization for bridge in North America. The league holds tournaments, promulgates the laws of bridge, and runs educational and charitable programs.

Anyone can join. One benefit is a subscription to the Bridge Bulletin, the league’s monthly magazine, which has instructional material for players at all levels.

Today’s deal is from a column by Eddie Kantar, who has been a contributor for well over a half-century. Cover the West/South cards and defend as East. Against 3NT, West leads the jack of spades. Dummy’s ace wins. What should East do?

As you might suspect, East must dump his king under the ace, getting out of partner’s way. If dummy leads a diamond next, East grabs his ace to return a spade, setting up West’s suit while West retains an entry, and South goes down.

For more about the ACBL and its activities, see acbl.org.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ Q5432 ♥ AQ4

◆ 842 ♣ A K. Your partner opens one diamond, you bid one spade and he raises to three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your partner has a hand worth about 17 points in support of spades with four-card support. His pattern is not balanced, else he often would have opened 1NT. A grand slam is possible. You can surely make six spades. Cue-bid four clubs, intending to cue-bid your ace of hearts next.