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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦9
With great intermediates and excellent honor combinations, South evaluated his hand to be worth at least 15 points and thus opened the bidding with one no-trump. However, even if South had chosen not to open no-trump, six no-trump would still probably have been reached on this sequence: one club — one heart — one no-trump –four no-trump — six no-trump. North's four-no-trump bid is not Blackwood, but invites South to bid six no-trump with a maximum for his previous bidding.
The key to the play in the slam is that South needs to bring in either the club or the heart suit without loss. In theory each suit involves a finesse, but there is more to it than that. The play of the honors is usually critical, but today South must be cautious about the possible waste of his valuable intermediate cards. There is no merit in leading the club queen or heart 10 on the first round of the suit in order to take either of the finesses. Instead, declarer must lead a low card toward his honors at every opportunity.
Note that South can make four club tricks if he leads low from dummy twice, but only wins three club tricks if he leads the queen for East to cover. In hearts, declarer should cash dummy’s ace or king before taking a finesse, but when he does attempt the heart finesse, he should lead low from his hand.
This way he emerges with 13 tricks, not 11.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3NT
Your spade guard strongly argues for bidding no-trump here. There are two clear downsides to that action: The opponents may be able to cash out hearts against you, and if partner has real extras, you may miss a slam. But you cannot cover every eventuality. When three no-trump looks like a sensible contract, just up and bid it.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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