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: ♦5

The women's match between Europe and the United States at the IOC Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, saw a win for the European team — a squad from four different countries, by a substantial 68 IMPs.

Sabine Auken, who is a German player living in Denmark, has been one of the world’s best women players for several years. Sitting South, she showed her skill on the diagramed deal from that match. Using a strong club, she and her partner climbed to a slightly optimistic three-no-trump contract.

While a club lead would have defeated the game, West had no reason to know that, and after the normal diamond lead, South had plenty of chances. She captured East’s diamond queen with the ace and finessed the spade jack, losing to the queen.

Although South might not have enjoyed a club shift, East returned the diamond 10, and only when this was permitted to win, did she shift to the club king.

Auken held up the ace for one round, then took another spade finesse. When it held, she continued spades, and West won the king and led a third diamond. Dummy’s king won, and when the winning spade was led from dummy in the three-card ending, East had to throw a heart to keep her master club. Now Auken could play off the ace and king of hearts, certain that the remaining hearts were 2-2.

Bid with the aces

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.

Click here to play earlier Hands of the day ▶