Hand of the day #200
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff When you have reached game after a defender ha...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
East clearly had enough to bid game after his partner’s pre-emptive four-card raise here, but he enlisted his partner’s help with a natural four diamonds.
Opening Lead: ♥J
South took the push to four spades and East could happily complete his description by showing extra values with a double.
The heart jack lead went to the ace and East paused to count. West would surely have bid on with a void spade, a fifth heart or four-card diamond support, so it seemed he was 1=4=3=5. In that case, dummy’s clubs could not be established.
So East shifted to a trump, won with the seven, and declarer made the mistake of playing on clubs. East won and continued trumps, after which there was no way back for declarer. East could play a third trump when in on the diamond ace to hold declarer to one ruff. South was left with a slow loser in a red suit; down one.
Establishing the clubs required an unlikely 3-3 break. It was far better for declarer to hope both diamond honors were onside. He should play a diamond to the jack at trick three, then ruff a heart (avoiding the temptation to pitch a diamond on the heart queen) and lead another diamond to East’s ace. Declarer can win the next trump in hand and ruff his diamond loser. It would not help East to grab the first diamond here either. A trump lead would have beaten the contract legitimately. Might West have found it, given that he had the clubs sewn up and his partner had shown the red suits?
Bid with the Aces
Answer: 2♦
You should raise spades with this shape as a default with a minimum opening, but you have a bit much for that here. Three spades would show four-card support, so a better plan is to rebid two diamonds, intending to support spades later. In doing so you will show extras with this pattern.
nice hand in the article.
For the problem hand, kaplan interchange over 1h would fix the problem with confusion between 4 and 5 spades by responder. 1h - 1nt shows 5 or more spades, 1h - 1s is like a forcing 1nt denying 5 spades. Opener re-bids 1nt to show 4 spades. 1h - 1s (like forcing 1nt) - 1nt shows 4 spades. By giving opener 1 more space using 1s instead of forcing 1nt it gives opener room to show a spade 2nd suit.
Benefits include:
1. no confusion about 4 or 5+ spades (4-4 spade fits are found by 1h - 1s - 1nt, letting opener show the 4 spades first).
2. Tends to right side the contract after the auction 1h - 1nt (showing 5s) - 2s
3. No confusion whether responder has 4 or 5+ spades.
Also the problem hand I would open 1nt. Here your lucky partner bids 1s instead of forcing 1nt. When partner likely corrects to hearts you can bid 2s which shows invite with 3 spades. Had he bid 1nt and auction went 1h - 1nt (standard not kaplan) - 2d - 2h. You have to pass and possibly miss a game opposite a 10 count. 2/1 sucks at showing 14-bad 16 counts. Look for excuses to open 1nt even if slightly off shape.