I asked Dr. Ed Fitch, our club president, whether he had found time to put up his Christmas lights.

“I never took them down from last year,” he admitted. “I kept putting it off and finally I said forget it. Besides, they looked really nice on the pumpkin.”

Procrastination can be beneficial if you do it now. In today’s matchpoint duplicate deal, West leads the queen of diamonds against four spades. Suppose declarer takes the ace and leads the queen of trumps to finesse. East wins and returns a diamond, forcing out South’s king, and when West takes the ace of clubs, he cashes a diamond. Making only four.

South is in danger of three losers, but he can hope to discard a diamond from dummy on a club winner. He should procrastinate in trumps and instead try for that discard promptly; if he loses an early trump finesse, time will be on the defenders’ side. At Trick Two, South leads a club to dummy’s queen, then a club to his ten and West’s ace.

South can win the diamond return and discard dummy’s last diamond on the king of clubs. Then he can start the trumps.

Daily question >> You hold: ? A 10 7 6 ? A K 6 3 ? 8 5 2 ? Q 3. You are the dealer. What is your opening call?

Answer >> You have 13 high-card points and three Quick Tricks: a mandatory opening. Hold your nose and open one diamond. Granted, even in a “five-card majors” style, some players would be willing to try one heart. Some partnerships agree that a one-diamond opening bid promises at least four diamonds; they might open one club. My opinion about opening in a two-card “suit”: that way, madness lies.

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