DAILY BRIDGE CLUB

“When I dropped my toothpaste on the bathroom floor, I was crestfallen.” — graffiti

I imagine that South was upset after today’s deal. He jumped to 3NT, expecting North to have a six-card diamond suit for his bidding. In fact, North had rebid two diamonds with a five-carder — his alternative was to bid 2NT with three low hearts — but South was still in good shape.

West led the jack of spades, and South won with the king, cashed the ace of diamonds and led a diamond to dummy’s king. He was crestfallen when East discarded.

Since South could get only three diamond tricks, he took the queen and next tried the A-K and a third club. He had no luck there either.

East won and shifted to a heart, and South finished with only eight tricks.

South erred. On the second diamond, he can play safe by inserting dummy’s ten. If East could win, the suit would be split no worse than 4-2, and South would be sure of four diamonds, two spades, two clubs and one heart.

DAILY QUESTION You hold: S K 5 3 H A

9 4 D A 2 C K 7 6 3 2. You open one club, your partner responds one heart, you raise to two hearts and he bids three clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner’s three clubs is a try for game. You have a sound opening bid and can cooperate, but you can’t jump to four hearts with three-card support. Bid three diamonds or 3NT. Some players would have bid 1NT at your second turn. I believe the raise to two hearts was correct.