"I wish I knew how to improve my partner's memory," a club player said to me. "I'd send her a bouquet of forget-me-nots if I thought that would help."

You can't draw a bidding inference if you can't recall the bidding. Today's West led the king of diamonds against four spades: four, ten, eight. South ruffed West's ace and led a club to dummy's king. East took the ace and returned a club, and South won, ruffed her last club in dummy and led the ten of trumps to finesse.

West took the king and exited with a trump. Later, South lost a heart finesse with her jack to go down one.

SINGLE RAISE

South might succeed if she remembered the bidding: West opened, East offered a single raise. Once East showed the ace of clubs and signaled that he had the queen of diamonds, West had the king of spades and queen of hearts.

After South ruffs a club in dummy, she can ruff dummy's last diamond and lead the ace and another trump. When West wins, he must lead a heart from the queen or concede a fatal ruff-sluff.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: S Q 10 6 4 3 H A 7 5 D J 7 4 C K 8. Your partner opens one diamond, you bid one spade, he jumps to three clubs and you return to three diamonds. Partner next bids three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner's jump-shift promises 19 or more points, and his three spades suggests a singleton heart, hence all your honors, especially the ace of hearts, look good. Slam will be odds-on if he holds A J 7, 2, A K Q 10 6, A J 7 6. Cue-bid four hearts.