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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦K
In this deal from the Morehead Grand National Teams Championship Flight at Philadelphia, both defenders found the same winning play (both ducking). The featured defenders are Chris Compton and Bart Bramley.
Against four hearts Compton started with the diamond king, switching to the spade three at trick two. Declarer won in hand and played the diamond nine. Compton covered with the 10, knowing his partner was going to ruff. Bramley did so, returning the heart jack to dummy’s ace. Now declarer played the club ace, fetching the king from Compton, followed by the club seven. Bramley, with no trumps left, inserted the club eight, and when South covered, Compton ruffed and played his last trump to defeat the contract.
A trump lead always defeats the contract, but declarer could have succeeded after Bramley ruffed and returned the heart jack. After winning the heart ace in dummy, declarer should play as follows: ruff a diamond, play a spade to the ace, ruff a diamond, lead a club to the ace, ruff a spade, exit with a low club. From there, declarer cannot be prevented from taking three trump tricks in dummy for the contract.
However, once declarer embarked on the losing line by cashing the club ace and continuing the suit, Compton needed to get in to play a second round of hearts. Bramley made it easy for Compton by not trying to win the critical trick. Protecting your partner from error is never a bad idea.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♠
It looks natural to bid two spades, but when your partner doubles for takeout, suggesting extras, that is not really enough. Your partner has at least three spades in this auction, so your choice is a jump to three spades, or going all the way to game. I choose the former, mainly because I don't want to discourage partner from reopening light in the future.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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