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
In today's deal North first showed a limit raise, then indirectly defined his hand by suggesting three no-trump as a final contract. Notwithstanding that, South felt he was worth a slam try of four clubs, and as soon as he found the heart control opposite, he drove to slam, assuming that his partner must have a top spade for his no-trump call at his second turn.
The small slam certainly looks like a fine spot, but the bad trump break complicated matters somewhat. However, South was equal to the task.
The opening lead of the heart queen was taken in dummy, and a low trump was led to South’s queen, disclosing the bad split.
When West discarded, South led out the diamond king and surrendered the trick to West’s ace. Back came a spade, which declarer won in dummy. He next ruffed a diamond low, then had to take the risk of crossing to a second spade in dummy to ruff another diamond. Now came the club ace and two more rounds of trump, extracting all of East’s clubs. This produced a three-card ending, in which dummy had the spade three and diamond jack, plus a small heart, while South discarded his spade ace to retain three hearts. West could not discard his spade jack or diamond queen without setting up a winner in dummy for a repeating squeeze on himself, so he pitched a heart. Declarer now led to his heart king and cashed his two remaining hearts to bring home the slam.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
Had you doubled in direct seat and heard partner respond one heart, you would surely have passed now. With the diamond king not pulling its full weight, you would be unwise to indicate you had real extras. But your partner could easily have up to a 10-count and might do no more than bid one heart when facing a balancing double. So you should make a mild invitation to game by raising to two hearts.
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.
