Hand of the day #330
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the...
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: ♠8
Qualified for the Senior Bowl in Veldhoven, we needed to beat the very strong Lynch team in the finals. Our team went down 50 IMPs early on, then recovered to win by a landslide. This deal occurred in the set where we pulled back almost all of the deficit, and it demonstrates that when in doubt, one should bid one more. You never know what the consequences might be!
At our teammates’ table, Arnie Fisher (East) and Fred Hamilton bid to four hearts after East had made a weak jump overcall of two spades over one club. The defenders made no mistake: They cashed two spades and shifted to a diamond, setting up the defense’s fourth winner before the clubs could be established.
At my table my partner Dan Morse (East) made a simple overcall of one spade over a Precision one-diamond opening, and South made a negative double. I guessed to jump to four spades as a calculated overbid, in the hope that something good would happen — and it did!
No one had anything more to say, and the defenders tried to cash two heart tricks, letting Morse ruff, draw trumps, and establish the diamonds to get his two club losers away.
Yes, a club shift at trick two would have defeated the game, but can you blame South for misreading the position? A club switch might be right if partner discourages at trick one – but I must admit I too would probably have got this wrong.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
This is a sequence where you would have been happy to bid one heart over one diamond, but now would be forced to introduce hearts at the two-level. To make this call you need to have the values associated with a reverse (about an ace more than this hand). That being the case, you have to pass now and rely on your partner to reopen with extra values.
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.