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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦9
When South heard his partner show a strong hand he had a way to make a mild slam try in spades, and North was happy to accept.
Declarer won the opening diamond lead and drew two rounds of trump, then crossed to a top heart and ruffed a diamond, stripped off the hearts and exited with a third spade, hoping to receive a club shift. However, West had a safe exit with his fourth heart, and declarer had to concede a club trick in the end.
Instead of exiting with a trump at trick eight, declarer should ruff another diamond in hand. Now West must pitch a club — if he overruffs he is endplayed, either to lead a club, or to give declarer a ruff and discard.
At this point declarer finesses in clubs and ruffs the last diamond, and now West is caught in an unusual squeeze. While West has no real need to retain his last heart, if he discards it, declarer exits with the last spade. West is endplayed and must lead clubs round to declarer, and the defense’s sure trick has vanished.
West’s only chance here is to bare his club king instead of throwing the 13th heart — now South may misread the position, by leading his last trump and trying to endplay West with his trump trick. Then West would have the 13th heart to cash.
Of course declarer may not misguess the position, but you have to give him the chance to go wrong!
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
While you would not have considered any action other than a one heart call had East passed, here you should not introduce a weak four-card suit when you are distinctly at the lower end of the range for a response. I'd suggest passing initially, with a view to balancing with one no-trump if the opponents come to rest in one spade.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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