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“It’s a lost cause,” the Queen of Diamonds told Alice as the players at the Mad Hatter’s took a tea break. “My cousin the Queen of Hearts will never abide being captured.”
“But Your Majesty knows that losing a trick can be better than winning one,” Alice sighed.
“Deal and you’ll see,” the Queen said. So Alice dealt and opened 1♥. The Dormouse and the Hatter, North-South, then bid to 4♠.
| Dlr: West | ♠ A K 9 3 | |||||||||||||
| Vul: N-S | ♥ 9 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ K 7 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ K 10 7 4 | ||||||||||||||
| ♠ 7 | ♠ Q 6 4 | |||||||||||||
| ♥ A K Q 7 3 | ♥ J 10 6 4 2 | |||||||||||||
| ♦ A Q 9 4 | ♦ 10 6 3 | |||||||||||||
| ♣ 8 5 2 | ♣ 9 6 | |||||||||||||
| ♠ J 10 6 4 2 | ||||||||||||||
| ♥ 8 5 | ||||||||||||||
| ♦ J 8 5 | ||||||||||||||
| ♣ A Q 3 | ||||||||||||||
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Alice carefully led the ♥Q, winning. When dummy hit, Alice saw that the March Hare, East, would have to produce a trick for the defense to have a chance, but they would also need two diamonds.
THIRD CLUB
Giving the Queen of Diamonds a nod, Alice shifted to the ♦Q. The Hatter took dummy’s king, cashed the A-K of trumps and started the clubs. The Hare ruffed the third club to return a diamond, and Alice took the nine and ace. Down one.
“See what I mean?” the Queen of Diamonds murmured.
Only the queen-of-diamonds shift beats 4♠.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: ♠A K 9 3 ♥9 ♦K 7 2 ♣K J 10 7 4.
You open 1♣, your partner bids 1♠, you raise to 3♠ and he tries 4♦. What do you say?