A senior member of my club — a good player — had begun to wear glasses.

“My eyesight isn’t what it was,” he admitted, “but I can still see through people about as well as ever.”

As declarer at 3NT in a penny game, my friend took the ace of spades and led the four of hearts: deuce, queen ... and East played low smoothly.

“I wasn’t fooled,”; declarer told me. “I led a diamond to my queen next, winning. Next I led a heart to dummy’s ace — no second finesse — and a diamond to my jack. When West followed low, I took the ace, conceded the fourth diamond and had nine tricks: four diamonds, two spades, two hearts and a club.”

South saw through East’s defense. Any competent East would duck the first heart finesse, but West was unlikely to duck the queen of diamonds if he had the king. (East might have J-10-8.) Even if West won the first diamond and led another spade, South could hope that diamonds split 3-3 or dummy’s hearts came in.

This week: which finesse?

Daily question: You hold: ? A K ? 10 4 ? A Q J 6 3 ? A 10 4 3. You open one diamond, your partner responds one spade, you bid two clubs and he jumps to 3NT. What do you say?

Answer: Your hand is worth about 19 points, counting a point for the fifth card in diamonds that may be a winner. Partner could have as few as 13 points but might have 15 or 16. Since slam is possible, raise to 4NT — quantitative, not ace-asking, since no trump suit is agreed.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

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