Two bites are tastier than one

Actors usually spend several years doing other jobs to pay the rent — unless nepotism or good fortune lends a helping hand. Spencer Tracy described it thus: “There were times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.”

In bridge, declarer tries for “heads I win, tails you lose” — as in today’s deal.

North’s four-diamond response was a Texas transfer to four hearts, promising at least a six-card suit. When East overcalled four spades, South was tempted to double (and, here, collect 500 from down three). But knowing of at least 10 hearts between the two hands, he decided to go for the vulnerable game. Now North, thinking South didn’t have wasted values in spades, understandably raised to slam.

Declarer won the first trick with the spade ace, discarding a diamond from the dummy. After drawing trumps, South faced the problem of avoiding two minor-suit losers. His first thought was to play a club to dummy’s jack. However, if it lost to East’s king and a diamond came back, as it surely would, South wouldn’t know what to do. Should he finesse, or should he win with the diamond ace and hope that he had three club winners, on the last of which he could discard his diamond jack?

Then South saw that he had a way to avoid this predicament. He ruffed a spade in the dummy, cashed dummy’s club ace and led a club toward his queen. Whatever the lie of the clubs, South could test that suit before, if necessary, falling back on the diamond finesse.