Hand of the day #136
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff You might think that best defense to a slam is...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
In today’s deal, it did not hurt that West could not see through the backs of the cards, but declarer did earn his good result.
Opening Lead: ♥9
Against four spades doubled, West led the ♥9, to the five, jack and 10, then discarded a small club on the ♥A continuation. South correctly ruffed the ♥K with the trump 10. West did well not to overruff, discarding a second club.
Now declarer needed trumps to break, and he decided that East was likely to hold the ♠J because West might have overruffed with that card. While the diamond finesse was likely to work, there was a real risk of a 4-1 split. Trying to avoid letting the defenders get a cheap ruff, he cashed the ♠A. When both defenders followed, he advanced the ♦Q, hoping for the reflex cover by West, and got it. Then a trump to the jack, queen and king left West on lead.
That player innocently exited with the ♣10 (a diamond would have been more testing), and declarer captured this with the king as East followed with his five. The ♣A drew the jack from East, and now declarer tried to count out the hand. East’s original shape was now known to be either 2-7-2-2 or 2-7-1-3, and declarer inferred that the play in clubs suggested he had the queen-jack.
Accordingly, diamonds were 4-1, so South boldly led a low diamond to dummy’s seven and claimed the rest when East showed out.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: Pass
You would normally raise to two spades here, but consider that your entire hand is in the opponents’ suits, and you do not want partner to lead a spade from a broken suit if West becomes declarer. I would have bid two spades if I thought this might be our hand or if I had a spade honor, but here a discrete pass seems best.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
