Hand of the day #729
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: ♣Q
Against four spades West leads the club queen, which holds the trick. West then thoughtfully continues with the club 10 to your ace. Everyone follows when you cash the trump ace. What now?
At the table, after winning the club ace, one declarer drew two rounds of trump with the ace and king, discovering the 4-1 break. Next he played on diamonds, but West held up his ace until the third round, then exited with a trump to the dummy’s 10. The contract could no longer be made, since dummy had no more entries and West was poised to ruff a fourth round of diamonds. Declarer had to try a heart, hoping that East held both honors, but it was not to be, and so declarer could not avoid losing four tricks.
The declarer at the second table showed better technique. The first two tricks were the same, but instead of drawing two rounds of trump, he cashed the trump ace, then played on diamonds. Like his counterpart, this West held up the ace until the third round, then exited with a trump, taken by dummy's 10. Declarer now played a good diamond and threw one of his heart losers. West could do no better than ruff and try a heart. Declarer took East’s queen with the ace and crossed to dummy by playing a trump to the king, drawing West’s last trump. He then cashed the fifth diamond to dispose of his remaining heart and claimed 10 tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
Once you overcall, you can never have a hand good enough to want to play no-trump in a competitive auction if facing a passing partner. So what does your partner have, if the call is not natural? Surely he has both minors with longer clubs, and enough values to want to compete, probably a 4-5 or 4-6 pattern. Bid three diamonds and be prepared to compete to four diamonds if necessary.
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.
