DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Here’s another deal from my monthly game in Birmingham with old friends and former teammates.

I was South, and West led the jack of diamonds against my three spades. I won in my hand and led a trump to dummy’s ace and a second trump. When East discarded, I took the king and led the jack to West’s queen. Then West shifted to hearts, and East played three rounds, promoting West’s nine of trumps. West also got the ace of clubs: down one.

I have written that contracts that look easy need extra care, and I should have taken my own advice here. If I cash the king of trumps at Trick Two and let the jack ride, I’m safe. No trump promotion could occur.

True, I might go down if East had Q-9-x-x in trumps. He could get in and force me to ruff a heart, threatening me with loss of trump control. I would fail if a defender had four or more hearts and the ace of clubs.

I was unlucky to go down on the line I chose, but having thought about it, I believe I misplayed.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ KJ1052 ♥ J6 ◆ A K6 ♣ K Q 3. I held this hand, as per today’s deal, and opened one spade as the dealer. Do you agree with my action or would you have opened 1NT?

ANSWER: In my judgment, the good five-card suit made the hand too strong to open 1NT, even with a range of 15 to 17 highcard points. Many players would be reluctant to suppress a five-card major suit under any circumstances.