BRIDGE

LOSING ARGUMENT

“Arguing with my partner is like playing the lottery,” a club player griped to me. “You know you won’t win, but you have to try.”

He had been today’s North.

“My partner — it happens that we’ve been married for 35 years — opened one heart, and West bid three spades. I had three cards in spades, which didn’t leave many for partner, so I tried four hearts. She bid six.”

South took the ace of spades, drew trumps, cashed the K-A of diamonds and ruffed her jack in dummy. She ran her trumps but lost a spade and a club. Overbid

“Partner insisted that my four hearts was an overbid,” North told me. “I thought she might have made the slam, and she said it didn’t matter because my bid was horrible.”

South could succeed. After she draws trumps, she takes the king of diamonds, finesses with the jack (!) and throws a club from dummy on the ace. South then leads the ace and a second club. When East wins, he must lead a minor, letting South pitch her spade loser as dummy ruffs.

Daily Question

You hold: ♠ 10 5 2 ♥ A J 87 6 ♦ K8 ♣J 6 3. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart, he bids two clubs and you return to two diamonds. Partner then bids three clubs. What do you say?

Answer: Your two-diamond “false preference” showed at most nine points, and partner would have stopped there without game interest. His three clubs says he remains interested, and you have useful honors in his suits and a side ace. Bid four clubs or three hearts. South dealer

Both sides vulnerable