Counting all four is luckily rare

Terry Pratchett wrote 41 fantasy novels about Discworld. In “Men at Arms,” he claimed, “Sham Harga had run a successful eatery for many years ... realizing that most of his customers wanted meals properly balanced between the four food groups: sugar, starch, grease and burnt crunchy bits.”

The four food groups for bridge players are spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. (No-trump is a condiment.) Not often do you need to track all of them in every player's diet ... I mean, hand. But on some deals, it helps.

How should South plan the play in five clubs here? West cashes his two top spades, then shifts to the heart two.

South couldn't risk a takeout double over East's threeheart opening, because he had too few spades. Four hearts doubled would have gone down one, but North went for game.

South needs the rest of the tricks, so has to find the diamond queen. Since East is known to hold seven hearts to West's three, there is a natural reaction to assume West holds that key card. But South should first go on a trip of further discovery.

South draws trumps ending on the board and ruffs the last spade. What has he learned?

Declarer knows that East began with two spades, seven hearts (from the auction) and one club. So, he has three diamonds, and West holds only two.

The odds have spoken. South leads the diamond jack from his hand, encouraging West to cover if he does have the queen; but when he plays low smoothly, declarer puts up dummy's king and returns a diamond to his 10.