Hand of the day #756
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Patrick Jourdain presented the following deal from the the Crockford's Plate in England as an example of clear thinking.
Against three no-trump the lead of the club six went to East’s king. When the club two came back, South had a choice of hands in which to win it. Before you read on, you might care to consider how you would advance.
Opening Lead: ♣6
At the table declarer took dummy’s ace, preserving the queen as a later entry to hand. He then cashed his top spades in hand and dummy’s two top diamonds. On the second of these, West pitched a heart rather than a club. Declarer now decided to cash the spade ace, cross to hand with the diamond king, and exit with the fourth round of diamonds to East to force a heart play. Alas, with spades 5-3, East had two spades to cash and the heart ace was the setting trick.
If you judge that clubs are likely to be 5-2, you can avoid having to rely on the heart suit. You need to win the second club in hand and play four rounds of diamonds. With no club to return, East can do no better than exit with a spade. Having taken your spade and diamond winners in hand, the two black aces in dummy will give you nine tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♣
Your partner's sequence does NOT promise extras — he could have been planning to rebid one spade over a red suit with a minimum hand and a little shape. So you certainly need do no more than bid three clubs now and let partner decide where to go next.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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