Hand of the day #355
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥10
Today's deal saw North produce an old-fashioned strong jump shift on a spade suit that would normally be regarded as subminimum, but he wanted to support diamonds next and get across the strength of his hand. The results were entirely satisfactory as regards the auction, since eventually South took control, finding out about the missing aces and trump queen. He could now bid seven diamonds with some confidence.
Alas for him, his play did not measure up. When the bad trump break came to light, he played to ruff a heart in dummy, but East could overruff. As Whitier said, “Of all sad words … the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.'” What declarer should have done on a club lead is to cash dummy’s two high trumps, then take the second top club and the heart ace, come to hand with the spade king, cash the club queen to pitch dummy’s small heart, and ruff a heart in dummy. Now he can draw the last two trumps, and his hand is high.
This line of play will go down only if the clubs break 6-2, while the unsuccessful line goes down when hearts are 5-2, a far more likely eventuality. (For those of you interested in the percentages, a 5-2 break comes up almost one time in three, a 6-2 break one time in six.)
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2NT
This hand has the values for a jump to two no-trump, which is natural and encouraging, but not forcing. If you decide you want to play game facing anything but a rank minimum overcall, you can cuebid, then bid two no-trump, which is all but forcing. I'd make that call with the club 10 instead of the two.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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