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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥8
In the quarterfinal of the Olympiad from Lille, Italy met Poland, and this was the last board of the third segment. Put yourself in the position of Giorgio Duboin. Your partner, the effervescent Antonio Sementa, has forgotten that you are playing teams, not pairs, and has thus put you in seven no-trump rather than seven spades. The good news is that the opponents lead hearts. When you play the queen from dummy, East contributes the four. How do you continue?
You can see that seven spades would be easy to make with the heart king onside. But how to make seven no-trump? Finessing for the diamond king is at best a 50 percent chance. Is there a way to take 13 tricks when the diamond finesse does not work?
Duboin found the solution: a double squeeze. He cashed the spade queen, and both opponents followed. Now he cashed the heart ace – maybe the king would be doubleton. Then he led a spade to the ace and a diamond to his ace.
Now Duboin ran the spades to reduce to a three-card ending in which he had kept three clubs in hand. Dummy had a diamond, a heart and a club, and each defender had to retain a red king against the threat in dummy. This in turn meant that when the club ace and king were cashed, declarer’s club 10 would be good for the 13th trick.
Despite this, Poland went on to win the match by a single IMP.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
This is a minimum in high-cards for a simple raise to three diamonds, but it is a call that you must make. First of all, you really want a diamond lead against West's final contract. Second, with ruffing values in your hand, you have to assume that you will be offering your partner a trick or two if he becomes declarer.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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