DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

“Ninety percent of all mental errors are in your head.” — attributed to the late Yogi Berra, who insisted he didn’t really say all those things he said.

Today’s South got to 3NT. Had North-South used a style where South’s two diamonds was gameforcing, they might have reached four hearts, an even better spot. (The “2/1” style has drawbacks as well as benefits.)

West led the nine of clubs, and when dummy played low, East put in the 10. Declarer won and led the jack of hearts: queen, king, five. He then cashed the ace ... and East pitched a spade.

South wasn’t eager to concede a heart to West, so he let the jack of diamonds ride. He went down when West won and led another club, and East took four clubs.

South made a mental error. He missed an “avoidance” play. He needs to set up nine tricks without losing the lead to West. After dummy wins the first heart, South should lead a spade to his king and a heart to dummy’s eight. He would be safe even if East won.

Daily question

You hold: ♠ KJ9 ♥ J4 ♦ AQ10974 ♣ K 3. You open one diamond, your partner responds two clubs, you rebid two diamonds and he tries two spades. What do you say?

Answer: Any of three actions might work well. You could rebid three diamonds with your strong sixcard suit or bid three clubs to show a tolerance for partner’s first suit. My choice, imperfect though it is, would be to raise to three spades with the chunky three-card support. North dealer N-S vulnerable