Hand of the day #462
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the...
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣8
In today's deal you have bid to what looks like an excellent no-trump slam. North's jump to six may seem precipitous, but he has so many high cards that it would be pessimistic not to drive to slam.
Since you have nine tricks outside hearts, three tricks from that source will give you your contract. However, while it might appear that all you need to do is find one heart honor onside, you will need to exercise considerable care in managing your entries. Can you see why?
The point is that you may need to take three finesses in hearts, so you should arrange your play of the spade suit with this in mind. After winning the club lead, you play the spade king and overtake with the ace. The first heart finesse loses to West’s queen and you win the club return. You then lead the spade 10, overtaking with dummy’s queen when West follows low.
If spades break 3-2, you can afford this double overtake; the spade jack will draw West’s last spade. If instead East began with a singleton spade, you will have cleared the way for a finesse of dummy’s spade eight! Let’s say that East does indeed show out on the second spade. You take a second heart finesse, which wins, and return to dummy with a marked finesse of the spade eight. After cashing the spade jack and spade three, you finesse for the third time in hearts and mark up your slam.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass first, then jump in spades
How many points are there in this deck? Since it is very common nowadays to use a jump to two spades as semi-pre-emptive (the same hand but with, say, ace-fifth of spades), it is not easy to show a limit bid in spades. Best is to pass — which initially indicates nothing to say — then to jump in spades to show a real spade invitation.
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.