It looks hasty, but what else?

Tacitus, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire who died circa A.D. 120, said, “Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”

At the bridge table, if you are uncertain of the best final contract, try to progress slowly up the bidding ladder. But that won’t always be possible. Look only at the South hand. What should he do after pass - one diamond - three spades?

East bid one more than normal primarily because his partner was a passed hand, and it worked well. Over two spades, South would have bid a gameforcing three hearts. Now, though, a four-heart response rated to end the auction.

In a duplicate, no one reached seven diamonds. One West opened three clubs! When North overcalled three diamonds, South raised cautiously to six diamonds. I would have used Roman Key Card Blackwood and bid seven opposite the diamond king-queen, expecting to establish the heart suit.

At my table, South jumped straight to six no-trump (a popular contract). West led the spade eight. Declarer won and ran the minors. East held two spades and two hearts, declarer retained four hearts, and West brilliantly kept her remaining spade, two hearts and one club. South, thinking East had seven spades for his overcall, placed West with 1=3=3=6 distribution, so exited from the dummy with a club, thinking he would endplay West for a lead away from the heart queen. However, West took that trick and led her last spade, resulting in down two.

Finally, one East sacrificed over six notrump in seven spades, dropping a trick in the play to go down nine, minus 2,300!