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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠3
For 20 years Patrick Jourdain, President of the International Bridge Press Association, presented problems in Bridge Magazine. Prior to that, he prepared problems for UK television. Now over 150 of these have been featured in book form — "Problem Corner," published by Master Point Press of Canada. Here is one of my favorites.
Imagine South is in three no-trump and West leads the spade three. Since the club suit will need to supply four tricks, South assumes that West must hold the ace.
On winning the spade lead in hand, South plays a club to dummy’s king, which holds. One possible continuation is dummy’s low club, playing West for a holding of ace and just one other club. But if West has ace-third of clubs, this play won’t work. To cater for all eventualities, you need to re-enter your hand to play another club toward dummy.
Should you return with a diamond, West will play the ace on the next club, blocking the suit. A spade return will then leave the clubs permanently entangled, with no re-entry to your hand. Instead, you just return to hand at trick three with the other top spade, strange as that may appear at first sight.
The spade lead suggests that spades are breaking 5-4, so the defenders will be able to cash at most three spade tricks. But apart from the club ace, that is all the tricks they will take. Any return can be won in dummy and the clubs unblocked — with the diamond ace still in place as an entry to the clubs.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Double
It may look dangerous to balance here — and indeed it is — but does that mean you should stay silent? No; "too dangerous" is no excuse. The upside of bidding (pushing the opponents up a level or finding your side's fit) is counterbalanced by the occasional large penalty you will run into. Double two spades and let the chips fall where they may.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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