Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #85
This conundrum was written by Eddie Kantar and was originally publishe...
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: ♠10
In today's deal from the NEC tournament in Yokohama, five diamonds is a contract that looks hard to bring home with the club honors split.
At our featured table both the Indonesian and Japanese ladies played five diamonds on the defense of two rounds of spades. They ruffed and drew trump, then played three rounds of hearts early, ruffing in hand. When the Indonesian declarer next ran the club jack, the Japanese west failed to cover and declarer came home easily. The other declarer led a club to the 10, and now a club return killed any chances of a squeeze.
With the sight of all four hands, declarer does best to lead a club to the eight, 10 and queen after drawing trumps. East can later be caught in a simple heart-club squeeze.
So far so good — but what about East-West? Could they bring home four spades doubled if allowed to buy the hand? Three pairs did collect 10 tricks in spades – if you can get there from East, to avoid the heart ruff, the game is extremely hard to beat.
After a diamond lead, you ruff and draw trump, eliminating diamonds en route, then lead a heart to the 10. To defeat you, North must win cheaply and return a low heart. That is far from easy to do, especially if playing regular signals, since South cannot afford to play the heart nine on the first round of the suit, or North is truly endplayed on winning the heart queen!
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
When opener jump shifts, he should know where he is going — whether it is to raise partner, bid no-trump, or repeat one of his suits. Do not get in his way; give preference to his first suit with no clear-cut second action, as here. By supporting to three diamonds, you give him the maximum room to tell you why he forced to game. A three-spade rebid should really be six, or a better five-carder.
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.
I don't think 4S can be beaten if played from West. After drawing trump and eliminating diamonds, declarer can play a club to Q and another to finesse the J. North can cash 2 clubs but then will be endplayed, either giving up a heart trick or a sluff-ruff. Another heart goes on the 13th club.
What's so wrong with 3H bid (4th suit) in the bidding problem that the author even did not consider it?