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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♦Q

Today's deal saw West with a comfortable diamond lead against four hearts, and South was realized that he was faced with a distinctly uphill struggle when North revealed a disappointing dummy, with the spade king worth little or nothing.

From declarer’s perspective, there was a certain loser in each of the side suits, as well as further potential ones in trump and clubs. After winning the lead in dummy with the diamond king, East doing his best to encourage, declarer led a trump to the queen. When that held, South led a spade. West took his the spade ace and continued with a high diamond, setting up a trick for his side. South took the diamond with his ace, ruffed a spade, and led a second trump, crossing his fingers as he did so. When East’s king appeared, South’s potential trump loser had disappeared. After winning the heart ace, declarer ruffed his last spade, and now had to resist the temptation to relax.

Rather than play clubs himself, a 75 percent line, but one that might be fatal if West had both clubs and East a diamond entry, South completed the elimination by playing a diamond. East was able to win and shift to a club, but West then had to concede the 10th trick, either by conceding a ruff-and-discard or by playing on clubs to declarer’s advantage.

Note that if declarer plays clubs prematurely, West can win and lead a diamond to his partner, for a second club through declarer’s gizzard.

Bid with the aces

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

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