Once upon a time there were Three Little Pigs, each declaring 3NT in a duplicate game. West, a Big Bad Wolf, led a low spade. (All the Wests in this game were Big Bad Wolves.)

The First Little Pig put up dummy’s jack and led the queen of diamonds. East correctly grabbed his ace to return a spade, and West set up his suit with the king of diamonds as an entry.

South went down one, and West ate up the Little Pig out of sheer contempt for his dummy play. (South’s play would have been right had West held the A-K of diamonds and K-Q of spades, but he was a passed hand.)

Pig #2 played low from dummy on the first spade, won with his ten and led a diamond. East won and returned a spade. The contract failed again, and South was eaten up.

The Third Little Pig didn’t want to be West’s lunch. He played low from dummy on the first spade and let East’s eight win. When South ducked the spade return to West’s queen, the East-West communication was broken. Making three.

Daily question>> You hold: ? J 6 ? A 10 8 ? Q J 9 8 3 ? K J 7. The dealer, at your left, opens one club. Your partner doubles, and the next player passes. What do you say?

Answer>> Though your partner may have a distributional hand light in high-card strength, you have too many points to stop below game. Bid 3NT. It will pay to be aggressive in this situation because the play will be easier when you will know where most of the missing points lie.