Hand of the day #267
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff Against four hearts, West leads the spade king...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
At the table it would be easy to predict what would happen to most declarers in four hearts. They would cover the opening spade lead with dummy’s queen, and East would take his ace and shift to a club.
Opening Lead: ♠J
The defenders can cash their two club winners and would probably exit with a spade. Declarer’s only legitimate chance now would be to find a spade-diamond squeeze. However, West can guard spades while East controls the diamonds, so nine tricks will be the limit.
Curiously, though, the natural lead of the spade jack allows the contract to be made if South concludes that the spade ace is with East. Declarer must duck the first trick in dummy — a play far easier to find on paper than at the table. If East takes his spade ace to shift to clubs, declarer loses only two clubs and a spade since the two diamonds from hand can be discarded on dummy’s spade winners. If the spade jack holds the trick, that leaves West on lead, and he cannot sensibly attack clubs from his side of the table. Best is to exit passively with a trump, but declarer can take a ruffing finesse against the spade ace, then throw a club on a winning spade honor. South can later develop a diamond trick for his 10th winner. In all, he loses one trick in spades and one in each minor.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♣
You have enough values to drive to game here, but you may have a 4-4 spade fit, which you would surely want to play in if it is available. To investigate, you can bid two clubs as Stayman if you play “system on,” meaning that you use the same methods over a one-no-trump overcall as you do in response to a one-no-trump opening bid.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.