Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #54
This conundrum was written by Eddie Kantar and was originally publishe...
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦10
partner to bid most aggressively when you have to play the contract? That happened to George Steiner playing with Gaylor Kasle.
The heart game was no shoo-in here: It was missing the A-J-x-x-x of trump, with two sure diamond losers — and what about the clubs?
West led the diamond 10 in response to his partner’s lead-directing double. East won the king and switched to a low spade. Steiner took the spade in dummy and called for a low heart. Up popped the jack; That was one hurdle cleared.
West took the heart ace and played a second round of diamonds to East’s king. Back came the club 10. Steiner won with the ace, picked up trumps with three more rounds (as East discarded three diamonds), then played a spade to the king and ruffed a spade. It wasn’t a sure thing, but it looked as though East had started with four spades. This meant that his original shape appeared to be 4-1-5-3.
If so, Steiner realized that he could catch East in a show-up squeeze. When Steiner played the last heart from dummy, East had to find a discard from the spade queen and the club 9-7. East discarded a club on the heart, and Steiner threw his spade.
When Steiner played a club from dummy and East produced the nine, Steiner was confident that the queen would drop under the king. It did, and Kasle’s aggressive bid paid off with a near top.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
Although you have a maximum hand for your first call, the combination of the negative double on your left (suggesting spade length), coupled with your partner's silence, argue for caution. I don't think you are likely to get badly hurt if you bid two spades now, but I believe you should pass and hope your partner will be able to balance if he has values and the two-diamond bid comes back to him.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
pass