Unlucky Louie blames his constant bad results on bad luck, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
“Louie is trying to change his luck,” I told Cy the Cynic. “he’s been in his back yard looking for four-leaf clovers.”
“He won’t find any,” Cy growled. “I happen to know he can’t count as high as four.”
Cy said that Louie had been today’s East in a penny game.
“I was West,” the Cynic said, “and led a heart against four spades. Louie took the ace and shifted … to a trump.”
Declarer drew trumps and forced out Cy’s ace of diamonds. Cy led a club to Louie’s ace, but declarer had took the rest.
LIMIT
“We needed four tricks,” Cy said sourly. “Counting to three seems to be Louie’s limit.”
Louie must assume that Cy has either a trump trick or the ace of diamonds; still, the defense will need two club tricks. At Trick Two, Louie must lead the ten of clubs. South wins in dummy, draws trumps and leads a diamond, but Cy wins, and his club return sinks the contract.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: S 6 4 H K 9 7 5 2 D A 7 C J 5 4 3. Your partner opens one spade, you respond 1NT and he bids two hearts. The opponents pass. What do you say?
ANSWER: To approach a problem such as this, don’t count points; visualize possible hands for partner. If he has a minimum such as AK532,AQ64,32,86, he will be a favorite for 10 tricks at hearts; if the trumps break 2-2, game will be cold. Since he may have even more strength, bid four hearts.
East dealer
Neither side vulnerable
NORTH
S J 10 9 2
H 3
D K Q J 10 6
C K Q 7
WEST
S 6 4
H K 9 7 5 2
D A 7
C J 5 4 3
EAST
S 8 3
H A Q J 10 4
D 9 8 4
C A 10 9
SOUTH
S A K Q 7 5
H 8 6
D 5 3 2
C 8 6 2
East South West North
1 H 1 S 3 H 4 S
All Pass
Opening lead — H 5
©2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Originally published at Frank Stewart