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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♥4

Two of the original ACBL Life Masters were players whose surnames differed by a single letter. We saw a deal earlier this month defended by Sam Fry; time, therefore, to credit Richard Frey, who was the fifth member of the Four Aces, the first team to take on Eli Culbertson. He collaborated with Howard Schenken in a daily column for over 30 years. Here is a deal that he defended expertly.

Against three no-trump, Frey (West) led the heart four. Declarer played low from dummy, and East won the trick with his king and returned the heart nine, declarer following first with the heart seven, then with the queen.

Declarer now attacked diamonds, and Frey could see that he would be able to win the diamond ace and clear hearts. But what were the chances that he would regain the lead with the spade ace before declarer had cashed nine tricks?

It is very easy to focus on your own hand and you own plans without considering what declarer might do to combat them. Here, Frey correctly concluded that he had little chance of success by clearing the hearts. Since he could also see the danger of ducking even one diamond trick if declarer had six clubs, he took his diamond ace at once and shifted to the spade jack. Since East had the spade king, with length, this ensured that the defenders could take three spade tricks and set the contract.

Bid with the aces

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

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