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
A top pair finished in the middle of the field that year, but one member of the partnership still produced what many considered the best-played hand of the entire event.
Against the heart slam West led the club queen. After East’s double at the three-level, vulnerable, facing a passed hand, declarer correctly placed him with a void in hearts, the black kings and some combination of the diamond honors. Even at double-dummy it’s not easy to see how the hand should be played.
After a long pause—so long that it resulted in a time penalty on the deal—declarer found the remarkable play of a small heart to dummy’s seven. As anticipated, East showed out, discarding the diamond two. Declarer continued with the club 10, discarding a diamond when East followed small. West won the club jack and returned a heart to dummy’s 10. Now came the club nine, covered by the king and ruffed with the heart queen.
The rest was relatively straightforward: the heart ace, a heart to the king, the two established clubs for the discard of another diamond and a spade, and a claim on the spade finesse. (East had already been squeezed, but that did not matter.)
It was no surprise that declarer was the only player in a strong field to bring home the six-heart contract. The first-round heart finesse may seem unnecessary, but if declarer starts with the heart ace and follows with the heart five, West can ruin his plans by inserting the heart jack, killing a vital entry to dummy.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
Partner has four hearts and five or six diamonds in a good hand. How high should you go? I don’t think you have enough to bid three hearts – I might do that with either red queen in addition to what I have. My plan is to bid two hearts, then compete to three 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.
