Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #29
This conundrum was written by Patrick O'Connor and was originally publ...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Today’s deal cropped up at the Senior Pairs at the 2006 World Championships.
Opening Lead: ♣8
On winning the club lead with the queen, declarer cashed the top three hearts, then played a fourth to West, establishing the fifth heart. Back came the diamond three to the nine, queen and ace. South cashed the last heart, and to keep the clubs intact, East was forced down to the king-doubleton spade.
When declarer continued by running dummy’s clubs, West had to retain the diamond king and thus came down to to two spades. This meant that when declarer successfully finessed the spade queen, then cashed the ace (her last spade), the eight, was her 12th trick.
At another table, defending against the same contract, Paul Hackett had the West cards. The play also replicated that of the other table for the first five tricks. In with the heart nine, Hackett returned a spade instead of a diamond, and South ended one down.
The logic of the spade switch is that declarer can take the spade finesse for himself if necessary. But Hackett’s switch to a spade might (and indeed did) cut communications for a squeeze.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♠
Jump to three spades, which is pre-emptive, not a limit raise. You could always cue-bid two clubs with a good hand, so your call suggests four trumps and fewer than nine high-card points. It is important to emphasize your fourth trump early on, so partner can sacrifice if necessary over four hearts.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
