DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Like some teens, one of Unlucky Louie’s daughters has trouble with math.

“She’s having a test today,” Louie told me, “and she said she has only a 40-40 chance of passing.”

Maybe the problem is hereditary: Louie isn’t the greatest at numbers himself. When he was today’s South, he made the honors-based decision to bid five clubs instead of passing 3NT.

At the second trick West shifted to the jack of hearts: king, ace, deuce. Louie won the heart return and drew trumps. He next took the ace of diamonds and led to his jack. The finesse won, but when Louie took the king, West discarded. East got his queen, and Louie went down.

Louie’s diamond play was mathematically challenged. Louie would gain when West had the singleton queen but lose when he had any low doubleton.

Louie should lead a diamond to his jack at Trick Four. He draws trumps, goes to the ace of diamonds and returns a diamond to his 10 to land the contract.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ J 10 9 6 3 ♥ KQ5 ◆ A42 ♣ 5 2. Your partner opens one heart, you respond one spade and he bids two clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: You temporized with a response of one spade because no direct heart raise was right. Jump to three hearts now to invite game. If your jack of spades were the ace, you would bid four hearts yourself. In fact, to commit to game on the actual hand would not be a bad gamble.