Hand of the day #211
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff This column aims to amuse, as well as to educa...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
In today’s deal South plays in four hearts after West has opened one club. The club king is led and South should win the club ace — but what next?
Opening Lead: ♣K
The simple player will draw two rounds of trump and find the bad news, then lead a diamond to the king and ace. West will win and press on with clubs at every turn. Eventually declarer will run out of trumps — he has to ruff three clubs — and so East will be able to trump the fourth diamond and set the game.
By contrast, would a more thoughtful approach be to take the ace and king of hearts, then duck two diamonds, hoping the ace was doubleton with West? Probably, but as the cards lie, that would be equally unsuccessful.
So what can declarer do? The answer is simple only if you realize that the danger of a bad trump split can be overcome by not drawing trump, instead using dummy’s trumps to ruff clubs.
Declarer wins the opening lead and ducks a diamond, ruffs the next club, and ducks another diamond. When a third club is played, he ruffs and plays a third diamond. West wins the ace and must return a trump or spade (either of which gives declarer a critical tempo) or cede a ruff and discard. In the latter case declarer ruffs in dummy, plays the remaining high trump, then crosses to his spade ace. He can now draw trump and score his long diamond in peace and quiet.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♠
Jump to two spades to suggest four trumps and a little extra in high cards. This sequence is encouraging but nonforcing. (Since partner could have as little as four spades in a six- or seven-count, there is no need to go overboard.) Wait for your partner to do more if he has extras.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
I for one (as partner) would Expect a matewrially better hand for the suggested 2s. What is wrong with 1s?
Nothin is wrong with 1 spade if you and partner know that you would bid only one with 16 points (counting distribution now that a fit has been found). Also, you have a 5 loser hand. Decades ago Mike Lawrence wrote a small book=-"Partnership Understandings". In it, you and your partner have to answer what is the least---and the most--that you could have for various bids. (Best to get 2 books and fill them out without pard seeing your answers. Then compare. I believe most players would bid 2Spades with openers hand.
Thank you for the question.