Do you lose or win the trick?

Lyndon Johnson said, “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.”

In other words, if you have a bad result on one board, forget about it when the next one starts and concentrate on getting the points back. If you fret about the previous deal, you will make another costly error on this one.

Similarly, if you realize that partner — not you! — has made a defensive mistake, do not be distracted; keep fighting hard to break the contract.

How should South avoid feeling glum at the end of this deal? He is in four spades. West cashes his two top diamonds, then plays a third round, which East ruffs with the spade nine.

In the auction, North’s three-diamond cue-bid showed three-plus-card spade support and at least game-invitational values. South signed off in three spades, but North had 13 points, so went on to game, despite knowing that he had a lot of losers and the dreaded 4-33-3 distribution. If you smell a game, bid that game.

There appear to be just three losers: two diamonds and one club. Since East had only two diamonds, surely he has two or three spades. If so, South can overruff at trick three, draw trumps and claim.

However, here, he would be in for a nasty surprise when West turned up with three spades. Suddenly, South would have four losers: one spade, two diamonds and one club.

Let our elusive friend the loser-onloser play ride to the rescue. Instead of overruffing, South should discard his inevitable club loser.