DAILY BRIDGE CLUB Unlucky Louie has a new lament

Unlucky Louie continues to be my club’s chief proponent of Murphy’s Law. Every day brings a new lament.

“He showed up late for our penny game,” Cy the Cynic told me, “and he said that the traffic congestion will always be directly proportional to how late you are.”

Louie was declarer at today’s slam. He took the ace of clubs, drew trumps, cashed the A-K of spades and ruffed his last spade in dummy. Louie then led a diamond to finesse with his queen. West took the king, and Louie lost another diamond at the end.

“Things are never as good as they are bad,” Louie sighed, quoting Murphy.

After Louie takes the ace of clubs, he can ruff a club, draw trumps with the A-K and ruff a club. He cashes the top spades, ruffs a spade in dummy and returns the jack of clubs. When East shows out, Louie discards a diamond — a loser on a loser. When West takes the queen, he must return a diamond to Louie’s A-Q or concede a fatal ruff-sluff.

This week: end plays. DAILY QUESTION: You hold: J4 K98 7 532 AJ53.Your partner opens one diamond, you respond one heart, he bids one spade and you try 1NT. Partner then bids two hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your partner has a strong hand. When he bid a third time despite your non-encouraging 1NT, he maintained an interest in game. If he heldA963,A65,AQ7 6, 7 6, he would pass 1NT since he would have no reason to think a heart contract would be better. Jump to 3NT.