Unlucky Louie’s team had lost a big match, and as usual, he blamed his bad luck.

“Our opponents played better than we did,” Louie sighed. “Nothing is unluckier than that.”

“To win,” I advised, “you mustn’t let them play well.”

Louie and his partner had reached four spades in three rounds of bidding, and West led a trump. On the bidding, he expected dummy to have heart shortness.

Louie won, took the ace of diamonds and led a heart. When East won, he returned his last trump, and West took the ace and led a third trump, leaving dummy with none. Louie tried unsuccessfully to set up dummy’s fifth diamond and fourth club, and ended with only nine tricks: four trumps, a heart, two diamonds and two clubs. “Good opening lead,” Louie shrugged.

At the other table, the auction began one diamond-one spade again, but North raised to two spades and South bid four spades. Since West had little idea of dummy’s pattern, he led a club. South took the ace and led the queen of hearts. East won and led a trump, and West took his ace and led another trump, but South still got one heart ruff in dummy for his 10th trick.

I believe in raising a major-suit response with three-card support and a suitable hand. One benefit is that auctions are easier when a trump suit is set early. Today’s deal shows a further benefit: Auctions that give the defenders less information often lead to winning contracts.

Do you think Louie’s team was unlucky in this deal?