Hand of the day #242
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff The old-fashioned textbooks tell you to lead k...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
I have seen my fair share of bridge problems during a long and misspent life. As a result I can generally work out the right approach to a declarer-play problem. So on today’s deal I followed what I considered to be the normal bridge-player’s approach. If you want to enjoy the problem fully, cover up the East-West cards.
Opening Lead: ♦J
Declaring four hearts, I won the opening diamond lead in hand and cashed the heart ace. All followed, so I cashed the second top heart and discovered West had the heart length. I took dummy’s top diamond, ruffed a diamond, then exited with a heart. West won and played back a spade. Dummy’s queen won, but when I took the club finesse, it lost. Now I was forced to guess spades to make the game. Unfortunately, I got it wrong.
My inquisitor smugly remarked that I was not the first person to go down on the deal. Can you see my mistake?
After the second top heart, I should have led a spade to dummy’s queen. Then I take the diamond ace, ruff a diamond, and play a second spade. Let’s say I misguess and put the 10 in. East wins and shifts to a low club to the eight, 10 and king. Now I play a third spade, and West is in with his ace. He can cash a heart, but must now lead from his club queen into my ace-jack.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: 6♣
Your miserable 12-count has suddenly blossomed after the opponents guarantee a big heart fit and partner shows a good hand with both minors. My guess is to jump to six clubs. I would like to cue-bid four spades, but that might inconveniently set diamonds as trump.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
overbid 6c!
Why not 6 diamonds