Dorothy Thompson, a journalist and radio broadcaster who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential woman in America behind Eleanor Roosevelt, said, “There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings.”

Good bridge players analyze the calls and plays. The better their conclusions, the more accurate will be their actions.

In today’s deal, look at the South hand. He opens one heart, West overcalls one spade, North responds two hearts, and East raises to two spades. What should South do now?

Initially South started with four spade losers, but how many spades does North hold? Given the opponents’ bids, it must be one or zero. South can ruff most of those losers on the board. This makes his hand much stronger than the basic 14 high-card points. He might jump to four hearts, but perhaps North has values wasted in diamonds. It is better for South to rebid three clubs, a game-try.

Here, North, with all of his points in the rounded suits and that useful-looking spade singleton, should have no qualms in jumping to four hearts, despite holding only six high-card points.

West leads the spade ace, then shifts to a trump. South can win in his hand, ruff a spade on the board, and, if greedy, cross to his hand with a club, ruff another spade, play a club to his hand, draw trumps, and claim an overtrick.

It is tough, but East-West would do well to sacrifice in four spades doubled, which costs only 500.