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: ♥9
In the round robin of the U.S. trials to select the international squad to go to Bali for the Bermuda Bowl, the following declarer-play problem came up. It was not accurately solved by any of the participants who were confronted with it.
Say you reach four hearts and receive the lead of the heart nine. It looks best to win the trick in dummy and start to eliminate the club suit by leading a low one from the board, which is won by East’s 10. East now exits with the diamond jack. Since the contract is only in jeopardy if diamonds do not break, it looks simple enough to win the diamond ace, trump a club, and lead the heart queen to the ace.
Declarer should then continue to prepare for the endplay he might need if diamonds do not cooperate. Best is to play the spade six from hand, and duck when West plays his seven. West is allowed to hold the trick and exits with the diamond queen, bringing the bad break to light. Declarer wins his king, plays a spade to the ace, crosses to dummy with another heart, and plays the spade jack, discarding a diamond from hand.
Poor East must win the trick and now has no choice but to lead a black suit. That gives declarer a ruff and sluff, which can be trumped in dummy as declarer discards his last diamond loser — making four!
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
Your diamond length argues for a pass here. Your partner could have raised hearts with three if he was worried about diamonds. Therefore, you should assume that if you play hearts, you rate to be in at best a 5-2 fit, with diamond ruffs threatening you. Your partner hasn't guaranteed club length, but you should assume staying low in one no-trump is likely to be a sensible option.
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.
