Hand of the day #181
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff One of my main concerns with the administratio...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣Q
After a club lead, careful play might have landed South his diamond slam today. He should ruff the lead, draw trumps, and play a heart toward his eight. If East plays low, the eight loses to West’s king, and it is now a simple matter to take a ruffing finesse against East’s ace. Better defense would be for East to go in with the heart ace at once. Now declarer needs to guess which defender has the king. Should he try to ruff it out or play for the drop? In the event, declarer played a heart before drawing trumps, and now a spade ruff beat the slam.
At the other table East decided to bide his time and passed North’s takeout double of three clubs. South bid three diamonds, and North showed his five-card suit and extra values by bidding three hearts. Now when East bid five clubs, North and South were in a forcing auction, so a pass by South would have been more encouraging than bidding. South, with a singleton in his partner’s suit, decided to discourage by doubling, and North saw no reason to argue with that decision, perhaps hoping that his partner had a club trick.
North led a top spade, which declarer ruffed. Later in the play North was squeezed in the majors and West made an overtrick.
Think of how the South player from the first room must have felt. He went down in a slam he might have made — and so gained only 13 IMPs!
Bid with the aces
Answer: Double
When your partner passed your takeout double of two diamonds, it suggested that your side should not let the opponents play undoubled. With four trumps it looks logical to double two hearts, without worrying about the quality of your hearts. You have nothing to be ashamed of here, with quick tricks and trump length.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.