Hand of the day #342
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣3
England’s Gunnar Hallberg is a Swedish expatriate who has won two world titles since moving 20 years or so ago. He participated in the senior events with a Swedish partner of his from a few decades ago, Hans Gothe, and was full of praise for the defense his partner had encountered in today’s deal.
Against Gothe’s contract of three no-trump Wlodzimierz Ilnicki led the club three, and his partner Stefan Cabaj smoothly inserted the jack.
When Gothe took the trick, the contract could no longer be made. Declarer had six diamonds, one club and one heart, but when South crossed to the diamond 10 to lead a spade toward his king, Cabaj went up with the ace and ran the club suit.
In the other room three no-trump made nine tricks on a spade lead. But note that if East wins the club ace at the first trick and continues with the jack, declarer can duck and needs simply to guess the spades to make his game.
Of course, in a perfect world South would have ducked the club jack at the first trick –far easier with all four hands on view!
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♦2
Your LHO might have jumped to slam with a void, figuring Blackwood would not help. or he may simply be gambling, not wanting to give anything away to the opening leader. Either way, a small-diamond lead looks right. When in doubt, go active against small slams.
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.
Declarer ducking a club doesn't look too bright when East switches to a spade and clubs were 4-4 all along.