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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦K
Today's deal is a defensive problem for East, but it features a convention my readers often ask me about. Although I am not a great fan of Bergen raises, this is a good opportunity to explain them.
Marty Bergen, one of the biggest innovators in Standard American, was responsible for the idea that when holding four-card support for partner’s major and less than an opening bid, your hand could be immediately and accurately described in one of three ways. A double-jump is pre-emptive (say 2-5 HCP), while a jump to three clubs shows a mixed raise, with 6-9 HCP. And a jump to three diamonds, as here, shows a limit raise with 10-11 HCP.
The underlying logic is that whenever you have four-trumps, you are prepared to compete to the three-level sooner or later, and acting at once makes your opponents’ life far harder.
Against four hearts, West led the diamond king, won by declarer’s ace. South now played a heart to his ace and another heart. As East, you win the heart king, but what do you do next?
If you play a second diamond, partner might not realize that you want a diamond overruff. He might play you for the ace-queen of spades and shift to a spade — after all, that is how you would defend if this were the case. Help him to do the right thing by cashing your spade ace before leading a second diamond; then there will be nothing else for him to try but a third diamond.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♣8
It would be nice to shuffle your cards and pick one at random — nothing looks attractive. I'll opt for the most passive lead I can find, the club eight, but since I hate all the options, I am not convinced I'm doing the right thing.
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.
