Hand of the day #145
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff “An umbrella is of no avail against a Scotch...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
At South’s second turn he had to choose between no-trump and hearts. He opted for hearts, reasoning that North had only two spades and so was more likely than usual to have some heart support.
Opening Lead: ♠7
When West led the spade seven -- top from three small in a supported suit – South regretted his decision, since he was had two diamond losers, a club loser and at least two trump losers.
South embarked on trying to set up a diamond trick for a club pitch by winning the spade queen and playing a diamond towards hand, intending to insert the nine if East followed small. In practice, East grabbed the diamond king and switched to the club jack, taken by South, who next set up his diamond trick.
Declarer won East’s club continuation and thoughtfully ruffed his spade winner in order to park the club four on the diamond jack. Left with five trumps in hand facing dummy’s singleton queen, he next tried to score a small ruff before exiting in trumps. Confident that West held the club queen, he called for a club from dummy. East tried his best by ruffing in with the heart jack, but declarer overruffed then exited with a heart. West won his ace, but he was left with 10-six-four while South had the nine-eight-five, and had to concede two tricks, and the partscore.
Had East found the immediate trump shift and continuation, it would have extracted the entry to dummy’s diamond jack prematurely and left declarer with a club loser.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: Raise to 2NT
Make do with a raise to two no-trump, showing 18-19. This keeps the three-level open for further investigation, or if partner wants to sign off in a minor. You do not necessarily have enough for game, especially if partner has a very weak hand with heart support. Note that three no-trump should show a source of tricks in hearts.