Hand of the day #206
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff All the deals this week come from the Cavendis...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Fold over the East-West cards as we tackle today’s deal from the South seat.
Opening Lead: ♣10
Opening 1♥ would leave you with no good rebid after a 1♠ or 1NT response from partner, so you choose 1NT. Partner transfers to spades then invites game with two no-trump. With three-card support and a powerful source of tricks, you are happy to accept. Four spades it is.
West leads the club 10. Plan the play.
You can see a spade loser, a heart loser and a slow diamond loser. It is unlikely that West has led away from the club king, around to a strong no-trump, so you are also in danger of losing a club trick. Start by assuming trumps are 3-2 else you have no chance. Still, if you play small from dummy at trick one, East will take his king and may well find the deadly diamond shift, leaving you reliant on a favorable layout. You would take two top spades then run clubs, hoping to get your diamond away in time. That fails when clubs are not 3-3 and the hand with shortness holds the missing trump.
It is better to win the first club with the ace, draw two trumps, then knock out the heart ace. You win the diamond shift and play two more winning hearts, disposing of dummy’s diamond. You then ruff a heart if necessary, to establish the long card, and force an entry back to hand with the club queen to shed the long club on the fifth heart. This line needs little more than hearts 4-2, since the diamond disappears on the third round of the key suit, rather than the fourth round as in the case of clubs.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: Double
You do not quite have enough for 2♠, which shows about 10-plus points. Make do with a negative double instead. You intend to convert partner’s two no-trump to three clubs, non-forcing.
