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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♠2

In the trials held to determine the second USA Open Teams spot, the squads captained by Seymon Deutsch and Rose Meltzer met in the quarter-finals. On the deal that followed, Bart Bramley and Sidney Lazard for the Deutsch team came off better.

Bramley and Lazard are one of the few pairs who have stuck with a version of Standard American more common in the 60s and 70s; but they have no shortage of inspiration in both the bidding and the play. Against three no-trump, Bramley led the spade two (standard fourth-highest leads) and Lazard played the spade king, which held. West’s lead, coupled with the bidding, suggested that South held four cards in each major, and dummy’s diamond suit looked likely to provide six tricks.

Any guesses as to which card Lazard played back at trick two? Yes, it was a club — but which? He chose the king, and when that held, followed up with the club eight. To declarer, it appeared that for his club-king switch, East must also hold the ace. So she rose with her queen, and now the game ended two light, courtesy of four club tricks plus the two top spades.

Lazard’s play could hardly cost. With any needed finesse in the red suits working for declarer, a shift to clubs might cost overtricks, but it was virtually impossible for it to cost the contract.

Bid with the aces

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

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