Hand of the day #641
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: ♣3
In this deal from the final of the Memphis Life Master Pairs, I assume that most of us would fall from grace and open the South hand one heart, thus ending up in four hearts.
At the table, South received a club lead and led a heart to the nine, jack and king. Declarer won the club return, pitching a spade, and played a heart to the ace. He then went to the diamond queen, ruffed a club, and ran the diamonds. West discarded a spade on the fourth diamond, so South simply played for the spade ace to be onside — no dice.
By contrast, Sabine Auken reached four hearts on an auction where East had been able to double an artificial club call. When she got the lead of the club three (third from an even number, low from an odd number), she played for clubs to have been 3-6 originally. After running the diamonds, she exited with the third heart and endplayed West in trumps to lead spades.
Note that East should have put up the heart queen on the first round of the suit. Now declarer could not arrange the endplay no matter what he did.
At another table, when West was stewing over what to lead against four hearts, his opponent asked sympathetically if he would like some help and pulled out a card for him. West accepted the choice — the heart three! This play forced East to put up the heart queen, and now declarer had no chance.
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.
