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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥2
Against four spades West leads the heart two, his conventional agreement being partner leads low from any three-card holding. How should you plan the play?
At the table declarer put up the jack, and East won his king and shifted to the diamond jack. South tried for an endplay by playing three rounds of diamonds after drawing trumps, but West won and played the heart eight through. Whether declarer covered or not, the defenders had safe exits in the heart suit. In the end South could do no better than take the club finesse for his contract. It lost.
Declarer can do better — but he must play low from dummy at trick one. East wins the heart nine and shifts to the diamond jack. Declarer takes the ace and king, East unblocking the 10 and indicating an original two- or three-card diamond suit in the process.
Next, declarer cashes the spade king and queen, then exits with the diamond eight. West wins and has no palatable choice. A trump to dummy’s ace sees declarer win and then endplay East with the heart queen by discarding a club from hand. Declarer makes the same play if West shifts directly to hearts. A diamond by West gives a ruff-sluff, while a club is no better. If he plays a low club, dummy also plays low and East is endplayed. If he shifts to the club jack, dummy’s queen is played and East wins his king, but must then concede the 10th trick.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
This is a forcing auction, and you have no reason not to bid your four-card suit. A double by you would now be takeout and might work if partner wanted to play for penalties, but would not be a good idea if your partner played you for four hearts.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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