“Avoidance” is one of the basic techniques declarer must know. It may be that one defender is “dangerous”: If he gets in, bad things may (or will) happen. The other defender is “safe:” If he gets in, declarer doesn’t care.

Against today’s 3NT, West leads the king of spades: four, ten, five. Knowing declarer has the guarded queen, West shifts to the 10 of diamonds. South must set up dummy’s clubs to succeed; he will probably need a 3-2 break. But if East wins a club trick, bad things will happen.

PLAYS LOW

South takes the ace of diamonds and leads a club. If West plays low, dummy wins, and South returns a heart to his hand and leads a second club. When West’s queen appears, dummy plays low, and South is safe.

If West were to play the queen on the first club, dummy would play low. Note that South must not cash his four heart tricks early; West could defeat 3NT by discarding the queen of clubs.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ? 7 4 ? A J 4 ? K 6 3 ? A K 6 5 2. Your partner opens one heart, you respond two clubs, he bids two diamonds and you jump to three hearts. Partner next bids three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: If partner wanted to play at four hearts, he would have bid it. His three spades is a cue bid to try for slam. Since all your cards are working, cooperate with a four-club cue bid. Even if partner signs off at four hearts, I would bid slam.