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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♥K

In today's six-spade contract, the dummy comes down, you could justifiably echo the words of Ronald Reagan when he wakes up in bed and can't find his legs: "Where's the rest of me?"

How will you justify partner’s trust in you when the heart king is led?

Five tricks in each black suit and the two red aces will bring the total to 12. The club suit is blocked, though, so the question is how to untangle your tricks.

One possibility is to win the heart lead, draw two rounds of trumps with the king and queen, then try to cash the three top clubs. If the last trump is in the hand with three or more clubs, you can cross to the spade ace and score two more club tricks for the contract. This will not work today; East will ruff the third club, and you will be one trick short.

The answer is a spectacular one — and once you’ve seen the theme, you will not forget it. All you have to do is to lead the heart two at trick two, discarding your club ace! (If you don’t have a flair for the dramatic, you can throw the club queen instead.) On any return you will be able to play the king and queen of trumps, followed by your two remaining winners in the club suit. You can then cross to the trump ace and score three more club tricks, throwing all your losing diamonds.

Bid with the aces

This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.

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