Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #53
This conundrum was written by Barbara Seagram's and was originally published in ...
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥2
Today's deal comes from an English tournament called the Tollemache — the county teams of eight championships, with one weekend of qualifying and a six-team final.
South was correct to start with two no-trump with his balanced 21-count, despite the five-card heart suit. One of the problems with the call is that the partnership may need to unearth a 5-3 fit (not easy when playing regular Stayman).
To solve the problem, as is not uncommon in the tournament world, North’s three clubs asked for five-card majors, and thus the eight-card fit was found (though it is far from clear that four hearts is any better a contract than three no-trump).
With an awkward choice of opening lead, West led a low trump to the jack and ace. Declarer could see that he would succeed regardless of the position of the diamond king if the club honors were split, provided he could create two entries to dummy. He could clearly reach dummy with either the heart queen or nine, but where was the other entry to come from?
Declarer found the solution when at trick two he led the diamond queen. West had no counter to this gambit. If he won this trick, declarer could later reach dummy with the jack, while if he ducked, declarer would be able to ruff his third-round loser in the dummy. Now he would no longer mind that he had to lose two club tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1♠
Although a decent case could be made for redoubling, you will find it almost impossible to catch the opponents for penalty in both hearts and clubs unless your partner has length in both suits (in which case spades may play well enough for your opponents). Simply ignore the opponents and bid one spade, which in no way limits your high cards.
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.
