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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦9
We are taught in our cradles that "Second Hand Plays Low" and "Third Hand Plays High," but all rules are made to be broken. Today's deal demonstrates a situation that arises quite frequently where it is right for 'Second Hand to Play High'. It might have been better for North to raise two no-trump to three, given his balanced hand and honors in all the outside suits. However, then South would not have been put to the test in four hearts.
West led the diamond eight, and declarer correctly deduced that both the ace and jack would be with East. The reflex action would have been to play low on the diamond, but our South decided to make life difficult for East by rising with dummy’s queen. In with the ace, East had to decide what suit to switch to. In the event, he chose a trump, saving declarer a guess that he would probably have got wrong. West won his heart king and, for want of anything better to do, continued with a second trump to the queen and ace.
All declarer now needed was to find the spade queen, but again he gave the opponents every chance to find it for him. He drew the last trump, West discarding a diamond, and exited with king and another diamond. With little to guide him, East was in the hot seat yet again, and this time he chose to exit with a spade, ending declarer’s problems.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♣ (Drury)
The conundrum this deal presents if you are not playing Drury is an almost insoluble one. Do you jump to three hearts and find yourself too high for no reason, or raise to two hearts and miss a game? Sixty years ago Doug Drury suggested that a two-club response by a passed hand shows fit and a maximum pass. What you lose in the ability to bid clubs, you gain in much more accurate passed-hand bidding.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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