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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥Q
Al Levy, a New York player and organizer, reached an aggressive no-trump game in this deal from a senior knockout teams after West had opened one club, playing a strong no trump and five-card majors.
Levy, who was favored with the lead of the heart queen, resisted the temptation to win in hand, take the heart finesse, and rely on the diamonds splitting. (He would always have time for that later on.) Instead, he took the heart ace and ducked a club. East won cheaply and played a second heart. Now Levy ducked a second club. West pressed on with establishing his hearts by leading a third round, and Levy won in dummy and paused for a reassessment. West’s failure to lead a club, coupled with the play in that suit so far, persuaded him that the suit was splitting, so he discarded a diamond on the heart, overtook the diamond king, and gave up a club. When the spade finesse succeeded, he had nine tricks: three hearts, and two tricks in each of the side-suits.
Did you note that the defense had one chance left in the ending? West could have cut communications by leading a spade; but it had to be an honor. Leading a low spade would allow declarer to run the trick to his hand and come home eventually.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♥
When you bid two hearts, you suggested you had a minimum hand and at least three hearts. (You could be forced to introduce a three-card suit here.) Since your hand is very suitable for play in hearts and you have no particular defense to clubs — with no wasted values in that suit, you must compete to three hearts now.
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.
