DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

Cy the Cynic says that if you're always looking over your shoulder, pretty soon you'll bump into something. Players often adopt safety plays to guard against bad breaks, but "unsafety" plays are common.

If North's spades had been A-Q-x, he might have jumped to four spades over three hearts to suggest strong support. So South should have stopped at six spades instead of bidding a risky grand slam.

When West led a diamond, South took the ace and cashed the A-Q of clubs for a diamond discard. He next led the ace and a low trump, held his breath and finessed with his jack. Good news: The finesse won. But bad news: West showed out, and East had to get the queen.

South's early diamond discard was questionable, after which he perpetrated an unsafety play when he cashed the ace of trumps. He gains if West has the singleton queen but loses when West has any low singleton.

South should take a first-round trump finesse with the ten. He can return a trump to the ace and finesse again to pick up the trumps. DAILY QUESTION You hold: SA32 H965 DA82 C AQ 107. You open one club, your partner responds one heart, you bid 1NT and he tries two spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner "reversed" as responder and promises enough strength for game at least. Since he may have long hearts, bid three hearts. To bid 2NT would be an error, especially when your diamond stopper is primary. A jump to four hearts would suggest three strong hearts.