The story may be apocryphal, but who knows? A junior high school English teacher asked her students to use “defense, defeat” and “detail” in a sentence. One response she got was “When a horse jumps defense, defeat go over first and detail comes last.”

Today’s deal was a sad tale, at least for East-West. Against 3NT West led the deuce of spades: three, king, ace. Declarer then led the queen of diamonds, and West took his ace and led the jack of spades, forcing out South’s queen.

West still had a diamond stopper, but he forgot one detail: Declarer could, and did, lead a second diamond and duck West’s ten to keep a link with dummy. After the defense took two spades, South had three diamond tricks and nine in all.

It’s not a difficult feat to defeat 3NT; West must not let South use the long diamonds. When South leads the queen of diamonds, West mustn’t get cold feet. He must play low and play low on the next diamond also. South wins only two tricks in each suit.

Daily question: You hold: ? 5 3 ? J 6 2 ? K 8 7 3 2 ? 6 5 2. Your partner opens two clubs (strong, artificial), you respond two diamonds (negative or just waiting) and he bids two hearts. What do you say?

Answer: Some players might raise to three hearts, but I would prefer at least a slightly better hand for that action. Bid 2NT, still negative, or use a conventional second negative if one is part of your system. If partner bids three hearts next, raise to four hearts.

South dealer

N-S vulnerable

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