Hand of the day #558
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the...
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: ♠5
The three little pigs came back from their bridge class, where they had been tested by a deal from "A Bridge to Inspired Declarer Play" by Julian Laderman (Master Point Press).
The Big Bad Wolf, who just happened to be in the vicinity, asked them if they had done well. The first little pig brought out the diagramed deal and said that it had caused him fits. Declaring four hearts on a spade lead, he had won in hand, drawn three rounds of trump, then played diamonds from the top. When diamonds did not break he was down like a stone (inappropriate, I know, for someone building his house from straw).
The second pig did better. He won the spade lead, took a heart finesse, then played three rounds of diamonds at once. Alas for him, the hand long in diamonds won the third round of the suit and led a fourth, promoting the heart king to the fourth trick for the defense. (There was still an inevitable heart and club to come.)
The Big Bad Wolf may have thought to himself, “I woodn’t have played the hand that way,” but he would never have uttered such a bad pun out loud.
The third little pig had grasped the theme. After winning the heart queen, he ducked a diamond. He could win the return, draw a second trump, then ruff the fourth diamond at his leisure.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♠10
On this auction you should always lead a trump, as partner needs very good trumps to pass the double. There will be time to tackle the side suits, but your prime target is to prevent declarer from scoring his small trumps.
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.
