Hand of the day #145
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff “An umbrella is of no avail against a Scotch...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
For today’s defensive problem, sit West and look only at your hand and dummy’s. You are playing against competent opponents.
Opening Lead: ♥2
Against South’s three no-trump you lead the heart two. Declarer plays the king from dummy and your partner wins with the ace. He then returns the heart 10, covered by declarer’s jack and you win with the queen. What now?
The key to this problem lies in declarer’s play. What card would you usually play from dummy when you had king-third in dummy and a doubleton or tripleton heart jack in hand (with or without the heart nine)? Surely it would be normal to guarantee a trick in the suit by playing low from the dummy, wouldn’t it? So when declarer goes in with dummy’s king, it looks like a desperate attempt to gain the lead. He must have a pronounced weakness in another suit, and that can only be in spades. You should switch to the spade ace and, after an encouraging card from partner, continue with the queen.
One final thought: Was declarer right to play dummy’s king at trick one? It could have been right if you had underled the heart ace. But if he had played low, your partner might have put in the 10, or (on a different day) have won his queen and simply continued the suit. There would have been no reason for him to suspect the urgency of a spade switch. As it was, declarer’s strange play alerted you to the winning defense.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Double
Horrible as it is to make a negative double without four hearts, your hand is simply too good to pass, and raising clubs on three does not feel right. By contrast, it would be clear-cut to raise clubs if the diamond two were in clubs. Just because partner MIGHT have three clubs does not mean he does!
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
What would 2S Qbid show ?