The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Against four hearts West did remarkably well to start with the diamond 10 rather than a spade, which would have simplified declarer’s task immeasurably.

Opening Lead: ♦10

Declarer counted eight top tricks, with prospects for one in diamonds and another from an endplay. He also saw that if he covered the lead with dummy’s diamond jack and East had the ace and queen of diamonds, the contract would surely fail. That would point to West’s holding both black-suit kings, and since East would shift to a spade after winning the first diamond, there seemed little prospect of success.

Conversely, if the lead was from the diamond queen, South could always take the finesse later. So declarer made the counterintuitive play of ducking the first trick, which gave the defenders a problem. East overtook the 10 to play a spade, but declarer rose with the ace, then drew trumps. A diamond to the eight then set up two winners on which to dispose of the club losers.

The result would have been the same if East had ducked the opening lead. On a low diamond continuation to the eight and queen for a spade through, declarer would rise with the ace. After drawing trumps and taking a ruffing finesse against the diamond ace, he could play another trump to dummy to shed a club on the established diamond. Finally, a spade exit would endplay West for the 10th trick.

When nothing else seems likely to work, consider ducking the opening lead, even when there are trumps outstanding.

Bid with the Aces

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

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