The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Twenty-four teams were invited to play in the 20th Bonn Nations Cup. Joining in was John Carruthers of Canada — to whom I am indebted for this hand – who formed a partnership with the Swedish international P.O. Sundelin. The journalist team proved to be an exception to the bridge rule that those who can do, those who can’t, write.

Opening Lead: ♣A

Against four spades, West found the useful lead of the club ace and, encouraged by East’s signal, continued the suit. After a third club was ruffed in dummy, Sundelin drew trumps in three rounds, then led the diamond jack. He was surprised to see East capturing this with the ace. Because modern players usually strain every sinew to get into the action, failing to overcall with a six-card suit headed by the K-Q plus an outside ace is a rarity.

East passively returned a club, which took out Sundelin’s last trump. Declarer now cashed the king and queen of diamonds. When East showed out, his original 2-3-2-6 shape was revealed.

Surely East would have entered the bidding if he held the queen of hearts in addition to his other assets. Sundelin certainly thought so, and thus ruled out taking the straightforward finesse of the heart jack. Instead, he led out the heart jack. West covered, dummy’s ace won, then a backwards finesse of the heart eight gave declarer his game.

Bid with the Aces

This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.

Click here to play earlier Hands of the day ▶