Bridge Combining chances “I heard you’re

writing about combining chances as declarer,” a club player said to me. “I learned long ago what to do ‘if at first I don’t succeed’: I just need to do it the way my wife told me to in the first place.”

My friend said he held today’s rockcrusher South hand.

“I knew from the bidding that my wife had the ace of spades and king of diamonds,” he said, “so I bid a grand slam, figuring it would depend on winning a finesse at worst. I won the trump lead, drew trumps and took the A-K of hearts.

“When the queen didn’t fall, I cashed three spades to discard my last heart and led a club to my jack. Down one. My wife has always told me not to rely on finesses.”