bridge Questionable advice?

“I look at the bidding advice in your columns,” a reader’s email states, “and I take it with a grain of aspirin. You advocate raising a major-suit response with three-card support. When I do that, I land at a poor 4-3 fit and go down.”

My fan cites today’s deal. As North, he opened one diamond and raised South’s one-heart response to two.

“My partner jumped to four hearts,” my fan writes, “and I can’t blame him. He had four good hearts and 13 points, including help for my diamonds.

“The defenders led spades. Partner ruffed the third spade and led the queen of trumps, and West played low. When he played low again on the next trump, declarer was stuck: If he led a third trump, West would win and cash two spades.

“The best my partner could do was to take his club winners, but West refused to ruff. When declarer led diamonds next, East got a ruff with his low trump, and we went down one. That’s the last time I raise

with three.”

Three-card raises with suitable minimum hands have been a consistent winning tactic for me. Auctions are easier when a trump suit is suggested early. True, sometimes you will play at a shaky fit, but then you may have no better spot.

South might have probed with a bid of three clubs, but the North-South cards are tough to bid to a winning contract. Despite the 27 points, no game is makable. Four hearts succeeds if West doesn’t defend carefully. If he wins the first or second trump lead, declarer can draw trumps and take the rest with minor-suit winners.