The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Follow the play in this deal from the final of the Platinum Pairs and see if you can spot the error.

Opening Lead: ♥6

English international Ben Norton led a safe heart to three no-trump. Declarer, Mikael Rimstedt of Sweden, needs no introduction. He put the nine on, hoping to tempt a lazy cover from an East player with jack-fourth, but all this did was block the suit on this layout. Not the best of starts, but declarer recovered by advancing the diamond eight at trick two, running it to East’s jack. Back came a spade to the ace, followed by the heart queen, a diamond to the king and ace, and a club to the 10. When this forced the king, declarer could claim the rest, making 11.

Norton would have done better to put the diamond king on at trick two, forcing dummy’s entry while the hearts were blocked. With East’s holding the diamond seven-six, declarer would be unable to make four diamond tricks, and if declarer tried a club to the 10 next, West could win and continue hearts, extracting the final entry to dummy. With the clubs blocked, declarer would lose two tricks at the finish even on perfect play.

Could West have worked out to fly in with the diamond king? It could look very foolish if declarer had three hearts, since then there was nothing to gain with the play - the hearts were never blocked - and South could hold the diamond seven. However, putting the diamond king on would probably break even at worst whenever declarer had a doubleton heart; more likely than his holding specifically queen-nine-eight-seven in diamonds along with three hearts. At any rate, we can appreciate declarer’s handling of the diamond suit.

Bid with the Aces

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