Bridge

“Frank Stewart’s Bridge Club” is a book of stories about his local club membership. He always finds a joke to lead off with and generally manages to find an indirect way to tie it in to the hand of the day. Today’s deal is an unusual example of a safety play — I have to admit I am not sure I would have found it at the table.

As Stewart puts it, Unlucky Louie showed up at the club, looking as if his hair had tangled with an angry string trimmer. He announced: “We’re trying to cut expenses, and my wife bought me a do-it-yourself haircut kit. It paid for itself right away.”

Stewart is unimpressed: “You saved $12 at the barber shop?”

“And my wife canceled all our dinner reservations for the next three weeks,” said Louie.

Louie had a hair-raising experience in this four-spade contract. He ruffed the second heart, led a diamond to dummy and returned a trump. East played the 10.

Louie had the jack out of his hand and on its way to the table when he paused. West was marked with the spade ace for his opening bid, and if East had the queen, a finesse would work just as well later. So Louie replaced his jack with the three.

When West had to take the ace, Louie was safe by a hair. He took the diamond return in dummy, led a trump to his jack, cashed the king and claimed his game, losing one more trump.

Bid with the aces

South holds:

Answer: Double, for takeout. As usual, you hate to sell out to the opponents when they have a good fit and have stopped low. This double shows extras and is for takeout, letting your partner pick a minor or give preference back to hearts if he sees fit.