Bridge “I heard you’re on another diet,” I said to Cy the Cynic. He constantly battles his weight.

“The 14-day diet,” Cy nodded.

“So how’s it going?” “Successfully,” the Cynic said. “I finished it in five days.”

Cy plays the dummy the same way: always trying to finish in a hurry. Against his four spades, West led the ten of clubs, and Cy put up the king. East won and returned a club, and West won and shifted to a low heart: queen, king. When East returned the ten, Cy took the ace but had to lose another trick.

Cy played thoughtlessly, as usual: He must play low from dummy on the first club. If West leads another club to the ace, and East returns a diamond, Cy wins, leads a trump to dummy and throws a heart on the queen of diamonds. He has 10 tricks.

If West shifts to a heart at Trick Two, Cy takes the ace. He cashes his ace of diamonds and reaches dummy with trumps to ruff the Q-J of diamonds. Cy then leads a club, and when East takes the ace, he is end-played.

Answer: Partner has shown long clubs but minimum values for a two-level response. (Even in a gameforcing two-over-one style, many pairs treat this sequence as not forcing.) To pass is possible, but most players would try 3NT. If partner has 4, 4 3 2, K 8 5, A Q J 8 3 2, that contract will usually succeed.