You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣10
This week's deals all come from the Asia Pacific tournament held in Fukuoka, Japan. Today's deal was also my favorite play of the tournament. It came from the women's teams in a match between Australian and Japanese squads. While the Australians had played the North-South cards in three diamonds down one, Junko Tsubaki, sitting South, was more ambitious.
East’s decision not to double the final contract of three no-trump was doubtless based on having seen her partner’s opening bids before. The defenders led three rounds of clubs. Declarer won the third, crossed to the diamond king, then took the percentage play when she finessed the diamond 10, unblocked the diamond ace, went to the spade king, and ran diamonds, pitching a spade and a heart from hand. As the last diamond was led in what was about to be a four-card ending, declarer had produced an intriguing squeeze on West, an ending that Terence Reese has elegantly defined as a winkle.
West had to keep two spades and one club, and when she came down to the bare heart king, declarer led a heart from dummy. East could not rise with the ace and crash her partner’s king, so she ducked and let West cash her heart and club. But that player then had to lead a spade into declarer’s tenace and concede the rest.
It was 12 well-deserved IMPs to the Japanese team, on their way to a 24-6 win.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
Don't be tempted to go looking for the gold at the end of the rainbow by bidding on. Here you cannot afford to invite game, facing a partner who was only able to bid one spade at his second turn. Your partner rates to have a minimum hand — and do not be surprised if he also had an awkward hand with just three spades, unsuitable for a call in no-trump.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
If you’re a BBO+ member, you can now play the Hand of the Day directly on BBO as part of your membership benefits.
Go to the BBO+ section, select BBO+ Games and Events, then click Play Today’s Deal to give it a try and compare your result with the players featured in the article.
