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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠K
In today's deal North's second-round double promised three-card heart support. When North decided to leap to game in hearts, you passed, despite knowing that you would have only a 4-3 trump fit. West begins with two top spades and East follows up the line to indicate a three-card suit. How do you plan to make 10 tricks?
If trumps are 3-3, then 10 tricks will be easy. If the trumps are 5-1 or West has four trumps, then there will be no way to make four hearts. So the crucial case is when East has four trumps, as here.
West, a passed hand, has the spade ace-king plus either the queen or the jack. So this makes East a heavy favorite to hold the club king. You should make a plan that will produce 10 tricks when East has four trumps, three spades, and the club king.
After ruffing the second spade in hand, you should draw two rounds of trump with the king and ace, then ruff another spade in hand with the trump jack. Next, you will play a diamond to dummy’s king, followed by the trump queen, and continue with your remaining diamond winners. What can East do? If he ruffs at any stage, he will have to lead away from the club king. If instead East discards on the diamonds, you will score just one club trick but four diamonds, again bringing you to a total of 10.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♣
Facing a takeout double, I'd simply bid three clubs rather than two hearts, trusting my RHO to hold the suit he has bid. If he is an untrustworthy customer, maybe a two-heart call would expose his psych — my failure to double one heart limits the strength of the heart suit I can hold. I'm not keen on introducing the three-card spade suit if I can avoid it.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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