"I've written before about my hypochondriac husband," a fan says. "He's worse: He won't stay in the same room with someone whose enthusiasm is contagious. And yes, the best part of his game is still the postmortem."

My fan played today's slam. She took the king of hearts, drew trumps, and led the A-K and a third diamond, hoping to set up dummy's fourth diamond.

"Unfortunately, West won and led another diamond," my fan writes. "I ruffed, led a trump to dummy, threw a club on the ace of hearts and tried the club finesse. West snickered when he won, and my hubby must have thought West's laugh was infectious since he fled the table."

LAST DIAMOND

Maybe North felt ill at South's play. After South wins the first trick, she takes the ace of trumps and the top diamonds. She leads a trump to dummy, pitches her last diamond on the ace of hearts and ruffs a diamond.

East discards, but South leads a trump to dummy and throws a club on the last diamond. West wins but is end-played.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S 5 4 H Q J 10 9 D J 9 8 7 C K 7 6. Your partner opens one club, and the next player overcalls one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER: Modern bidding overemphasizes conventions and systems, but some conventions are hard to do without. Experts would handle this common situation with a "negative double," showing a few values and length in hearts. Without that convention, you can't describe your hand and risk being shut out of the auction.