“I’ve told you before about my hypochondriac husband,” a fan’s email reads. “He has an annual checkup monthly. If he gets a good report, he wants a second opinion. And yes, he still postmortems deals.”

My fan’s husband played at today’s slam. He took the ace of clubs, drew trumps, cashed the ace of diamonds and finessed with dummy’s jack. East took the queen and led the ten of hearts: jack, queen, king.

“My husband then cashed the king of diamonds,” my fan writes. “When West discarded, my hubby lost a heart. He still mutters about the play — in between telling me how he wants to be buried next to a doctor.”

South needs to consult a book on dummy play. He can ruff his low club in dummy at Trick Two, draw trumps and lead dummy’s deuce of diamonds. If East follows low, declarer plays the eight.

Even if West won with the ten, he would have to concede the 12th trick. If West led a club, South would get a ruff-sluff; if a red card, South would get a free finesse.

Daily question >> You hold: zzzSpadezzz 4 zzzHeartzzz Q 7 6 zzzDiamondzzz 6 4 zzzClubzzz K Q J 8 7 4 3. Neither side vulnerable. You deal and open three clubs, and your partner bids four clubs. The opponents pass. What do you say?

Answer >> Partner’s raise is not invitational but a further preempt, meant to get in the opponents’ way. Your three clubs was supposed to describe your hand, so partner would have had an idea whether you could make five clubs. If he thought so, he would have bid it. Pass.

North dealer

N-S vulnerable

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