DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Though Unlucky Louie constantly blames his bad results on bad luck, he’s not unaware of his shortcomings.

“You know,” Louie told me in the club lounge, “if I could kick the person most responsible for my troubles, I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a month.”

Louie is right about that. When he was declarer at four spades, West led the king of hearts. Playing with customary haste, Louie took dummy’s ace, came to his ace of diamonds and led another heart.

Alas for Louie, West was Ed, the club expert. He took the queen and, after a brief pause for thought, led the KING of trumps. That play gave Louie six trump tricks but cost him more. He couldn’t ruff a heart in dummy or get the K-Q of diamonds. At the end, he lost a club and two more hearts. Down one.

“If only you would play slower,” I sighed.

Louie succeeds easily by ducking the first trick, preserving an entry to dummy. West is helpless. Unless he leads a low trump, Louie can make an overtrick.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ K64 ♥ KQ109

◆ 843 ♣ K 9 3. Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart, he bids two hearts and you try 2NT. Partner then bids three diamonds. What do you say?

ANSWER: You tried for game and partner declined. His three diamonds suggests a minimum hand with five or six diamonds and three-card heart support. Pass. A return to three hearts would be defensible.