Some things, such as snow and adolescence, will disappear if you ignore them long enough. But making losers disappear may require some serious effort.

When West led the jack of spades against today’s six clubs, South viewed dummy with despair. He took the ace, cashed the A-K of hearts and ruffed a heart. A 3-3 break would have given him two spade discards, but when East discarded, declarer tossed in his cards, conceding down one.

“If you had held one more diamond and one fewer spade,” South told his partner, “the slam would have been cold.”

South could make both his spade losers disappear. After he wins the first trick, he cashes one high trump, takes the K-A of hearts and ruffs a heart. He cashes the ace of diamonds and draws trumps ending in dummy. South then leads a fourth heart — and discards a spade.

When West takes the jack, he must lead a diamond, and declarer ruffs in dummy, discarding a spade. His last spade goes away on dummy’s good fifth heart.

Daily question: You hold: ? A 6 4 ? A 10 8 5 4 ? Q ? Q J 9 5. You open one heart, your partner bids one spade, you raise to two spades and he tries 2NT. What do you say?

Answer: Partner’s 2NT is a try for game, suggesting about 11 points with balanced pattern. Since you have no extra strength, you can’t accept. To pass might be best, if partner has good diamonds. To bid three clubs to show a minimum 3-5-1-4 hand would be quite reasonable. Pick your poison.

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