Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #89
This conundrum was written by Mark Horton and was originally published in t...
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: ♣8
Gertrude Stein’s last words were, reputedly, “What is the answer? . . . What is the question?”
Take that as your mantra for the next problem, set by Kit Woolsey from the second round of the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams. You lead a third- and fifth-best club eight against three spades, to discover dummy has been playing a little joke. His two-no-trump call (simulating invitational values or better) succeeded in keeping your side out of the auction.
Your club lead goes to dummy’s nine and partner’s ace. Back comes the heart nine (which conventionally shows zero or two higher honors) to declarer’s ace. He plays a second club, and you win the king to continue hearts. Declarer wins in dummy, cashes the club queen to discard a heart, then plays a spade.
Partner shows out, discarding the diamond queen, so you take declarer’s spade king with your ace. There seems no point in underleading the diamond ace, since declarer cannot have a guess in the suit, so you cash the diamond ace and play a diamond, locking declarer in dummy. How does South get back to hand safely for the spade finesse? Declarer is going to ruff a club to hand (having registered your club spots and that your partner took the ace at trick one) unless you dropped the club jack under the queen a few tricks ago!
Woolsey found the play and declarer went with the odds when he tried to ruff a heart to hand. The overruff meant he was down one.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
When you hold a 10-count facing an overcall, you typically have a choice between a simple raise and a cuebid, the latter showing a limit raise or better. But not all 10-counts are created equal — and this is a very inferior example of the species. With no controls, and soft cards in the side suits, a simple raise to two hearts will more than suffice here.
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.
