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
Some readers have claimed that column deals must be the product of a fevered imagination, rather than the humdrum affairs that come up at the club or the rubber bridge table.
Possibly true, but the deals in this column, whether from real life or not, try to convey a message. Sometimes that message is brought home by the striking nature of the route to success, as in today’s deal. As South, you opened four spades in third seat. Plan the play on the lead of the diamond ace.
Opening Lead: ♦A
At the table most players would probably ruff and draw trumps, then take the losing club finesse. Now comes the second critical moment in the deal. If East thoughtlessly shifts to a low heart, declarer can duck, and the danger in hearts has passed. If East switches to either the heart jack or nine, the defenders take their three heart tricks and set the contract.
Alert readers will note that I said the second critical moment had been reached; can you see what the first was? At trick one declarer can almost insure the contract by discarding a club from hand! He wins the continuation, draws trumps, and cashes the club ace and king. If the queen has not dropped, he plays the club jack from dummy, discarding a heart unless East plays the queen. This gives him seven spade tricks and three club tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
You have a surprisingly good hand but no obvious prospects of game. I suppose you might raise two diamonds to three, your high cards perhaps making up for your lack of trumps. However, at the table I would simply pass two diamonds. While a bid of three clubs would show a club stopper and ask partner to bid three no-trump with a heart guard, this looks like a big overbid to me.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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