You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠10
At the end of the 1999 Cavendish, David Berkowitz and Larry Cohen were in serious contention for major honors, along with Michel Abecassis and Jean-Christophe Quantin. This board decided the minor placings.
With eight top tricks in three no-trump, South, it seems, would be able to find a ninth trick somewhere, especially given that West’s natural lead is the spade 10 or a club.
When Cohen led the spade 10 to the jack and queen, ducked, Berkowitz did well to find the heart shift. Abecassis won and cashed three diamonds ending in dummy (West pitching a club, East a spade), leaving a diamond entry to dummy, then led the heart 10 to Berkowitz’s jack.
East exited with the club queen, covered by the king and ducked by Cohen, to keep declarer from being able to cash his nine winners. If Cohen wins and clears clubs, that is declarer’s ninth trick.
At this point Abecassis cashed his diamond winners in hand (Cohen throwing hearts) and led a club, but Cohen claimed the rest with three club winners. South needed instead to cash the spade ace, then lead his low diamond to dummy to achieve a four-card ending in which he has cut himself off from his fifth diamond, but gets back two tricks by squeezing West. If Cohen pitches a heart, dummy’s suit comes in, but if West instead discards a club, declarer exits with a club and collects two heart winners in the end on West’s forced play at trick 12.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 4♥
When your partner as opener produces delayed support facing a hand that has shown minimum responding values, he guarantees a good hand and three trumps — say 15-17 in high cards. So your double fit means you have an easy jump to four hearts.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
If you’re a BBO+ member, you can now play the Hand of the Day directly on BBO as part of your membership benefits.
Go to the BBO+ section, select BBO+ Games and Events, then click Play Today’s Deal to give it a try and compare your result with the players featured in the article.
