Hand of the day #619
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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥4
Good technique was rewarded on this deal, where the field reached three no-trump on a heart lead.
The auction put West on lead with an easy choice of the heart 10. With the heart suit lying as it does, it is necessary to consider your first move carefully. If the heart suit splits 4-3, it is irrelevant whether you win the first or second round of the suit. But as the cards lie, look at what happens if you take the first heart and drive out the spade ace (it is clearly more attractive to go after spades because of the intermediates in that suit, though playing on clubs might work, as the cards lie).
When East takes the spade ace and returned the heart jack, West overtakes and can clear the suit while retaining the club ace as an entry. Once spades do not behave, you are very short of tricks, and will have to let West in to cash out his hearts.
By contrast, if you duck the first heart and win the second in hand, then drive out the spade ace, East will have no hearts left to lead, and will have to exit passively, letting you drive out the club ace at your leisure.
Ducking trick one makes the difference between an undertrick and an overtrick.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♦J
Despite the fact that your partner has bid and rebid hearts, I don't think you have to lead the heart ace here. Your partner could easily be competing on a hand with five hearts and extra side-suit shape, or a weak six-card suit. With a decent alternative in the form of your diamond sequence, I think you should opt for that.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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