I suspect that if today’s declarer had it to do over again, he would play differently. When West led a heart against four spades, South finessed with dummy’s queen. East took the king and led his jack of diamonds, and West took the ace and returned the queen. East ruffed dummy’s king and led a club, and West won and cashed his ten of diamonds. Down two.

SECOND HEART

West surely has the ace of diamonds for his vulnerable two-level overcall, so South can count 10 winners. But West probably has a six-card diamond suit, so South should take the ace of hearts at Trick One, draw trumps and lead a second heart.

East wins and leads a diamond, and West takes the ace and leads the queen to force out the king, but South reaches his hand with a trump to discard dummy’s last diamond on the jack of hearts. He loses one heart, one diamond and one club.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ? K 10 5 2 ? A Q ? K 8 3 ? Q 7 4 2. Your partner opens one spade, and you respond 2NT, a conventional forcing raise. He next bids three clubs. What do you say?

ANSWER: After your 2NT response, partner’s bid in a new suit shows a singleton there. The idea is to let you judge whether you have fitting honors. Your queen of clubs is “wasted,” but you can still encourage slam. Cue-bid three hearts. Partner may hold AQ964,K82,A742,3.