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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♣K

To be third in hand at favorable vulnerability after two passes is a delightful position. You know that your left-hand opponent has a good hand so you can make life as difficult for him as you dare.

Here West had a good club suit and virtually no defense, so he opted for the three-level pre-empt, which worked very well. North’s takeout double was clear and South was happy enough to bid his reasonable five-card diamond suit. That ended the auction.

After cashing two rounds of clubs, West had to decide what to do next and he found a good play, the opportunity for which crops up quite frequently if you are on the lookout for it. He switched to the spade THREE.

Declarer won with the ace and no longer had a winning line. As soon as East got in with a red-suit trick, he could play another spade, establishing his own queen, which he could cash when he was next on lead.

Declarer now cashed the diamond ace and played hearts. East took his ace and led a second spade. Declarer won and continued with hearts, hoping that East had four hearts and three diamonds, but West ruffed with his diamond seven, and three diamonds went down a trick.

Note that if West had switched to the spade jack, that would have sunk the defense, for East would not have been able to continue the suit when he got in.

Bid with the aces

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

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