Hand of the day #318
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: Your choice!
The deal come from the trials that allowed my team to qualify for the Senior Bowl in Veldhoven. We fell behind in the early going, then recovered with the aid of deals like the following one.
At our table, the developments were unremarkable after West dealt and passed. With an awkward hand and marginal opening-bid values, I opened my long suit, clubs, and a contested auction saw us play five diamonds. My partner, Dan Morse, was at the helm, and since East had shown long spades, he tackled trumps by playing the diamond ace first, and now had no problem bringing home 11 tricks. That looked like a normal result, one that was likely to be duplicated at the other table if the contract was five of a minor.
However, the auction was as shown, with South declaring three no-trump. But look at how the cards lie for declarer: if West leads a heart, there are nine top winners; and on the lead of a low spade, declarer will come home in his game because of the spade blockage.
However, cometh the hour, cometh the man. Fred Hamilton on lead selected the spade king as his opening salvo! When Arnie Fisher encouraged with the 10, Hamilton played the spade jack to Fisher’s ace, and that let the defenders take the first six tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♦
Whenever the opponents come to a stop at a low level and you have unexpressed high cards or shape, you should consider bidding on. Despite the fact that West's sequence suggests length in your suits, you should bid two diamonds. I can't guarantee that you do have an eight-card fit, but it just feels right to bid here.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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