Hand of the day #142
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff In today’s deal South responded three spades...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Bridge is a complex game, and the pressure on top-level players is enormous. Consequently, the play in world championship finals is often not of the best. Today’s deal is an example. One team stopped in a spade partscore and collected 10 tricks. The other side bid to game, so there was more at stake.
Opening Lead: ♥3
A heart was led to the queen, king and ace. Declarer cashed the spade ace and led a club to the king and ace. East returned a heart, which declarer won in the dummy. He finessed in spades, drew the last trump, and cashed the club queen. In the light of West’s spade shortage, declarer guessed to play a club to dummy’s nine, thus landing his vulnerable game.
An excellent result, but East made a fairly elementary mistake when he covered the heart queen at trick one. His partner would not be underleading an ace here, so declarer had to hold the ace. In such a situation it is nearly always wrong to cover the first honor — and not just because declarer sometimes has the singleton ace.
Suppose East plays low at trick one and dummy’s queen wins. Declarer plays a spade to his king and leads a club as before. East takes the trick and plays a diamond, allowing West to win and play a second heart. Now East covers dummy’s jack; declarer cannot both play clubs correctly and pick up East’s trumps, so must go one down.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Double
My suggested methods when the opponents intervene over your side’s no-trump opening include doubling for takeout. Doing so may let the odd penalty double get away, but more often than not, you will find yourself far better placed to compete. And if opener reopens when he is short in their suit, you will end up penalizing the opponents most of the time that it can be done.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
Am I the only one to see that there is no difference at all? If South can guess right in the black suits, it doesn't matter what East will do. If East plays low on the first trick, and covers when West regains the lead th declarer plays a club to 9, makes a spade finesse, unblocks the club Q and has a trump entry to dummy and the club winner and can easily discardthe heart looser.