Hand of the day #224
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff I do not want the readers of this column to th...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
At the Dyspeptics Club the player shown in today’s West seat is regarded as something of a loose cannon. You never know in which direction he is going to be shooting, and as East will tell you, quite often he has been the victim of “friendly fire.” However, in today’s deal it was South who took something of a mortal wound, and despite repeated and loaded questions, was never able to discover if he was the victim of malice or a lucky accident.
Opening Lead: 3♣
Before I tell you precisely what happened, consider the play in three no-trump when West leads a fourth-highest club six.
Declarer takes East’s jack with his king and infers from the spot led that West has four clubs ready to cash as soon as the defenders get on lead. The best chance for the contract will therefore be to run the spades with the aid of a finesse. (This line succeeds whenever West has the spade queen in a two- or three-card suit. Playing for that layout, South would emerge with nine tricks.)
But compare what happened at the table when West kicked off with a deceptive club two. Now declarer believed clubs were breaking 4-3, so it was safe for him to knock out the diamond ace rather than rely on the spades. West won his diamond ace and impassively cashed out the clubs.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
It would be reasonable to bid two spades, looking for no-trump facing a heart stop. But your spades are not quite good enough for that. (You might play game off the spade suit now, but Q-10-2 of spades might be enough for that action, by the way.) Better is to raise to three diamonds and hope your partner can show a major-suit stopper or bid no-trump himself.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
I would try 2 sp, looking to play at 3 nt if partner has a heart stopper, as little as doubleton jack of spades.
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2 diamonds passing is better. We have 9 diamond trump, but the two Q in my hand as well as a flat hand are negatives in the absence of more information from my partner.
5D
Very optimistic, don't you think? Especially not knowing the vulnerability.