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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣9
When an opening lead suggests that an adverse ruff is in the offing, you may need to take quite careful evasive action to sidestep the problem.
In today’s auction from a team game, North was too strong for a direct raise to the spade game, which would have been pre-emptive, so he bid his club suit first. After South introduced his diamonds, North jumped to four spades.
West now guessed extremely well to lead the club nine, threatening the club ruff which would defeat the contract. The first declarer tackled trumps. East won the spade and returned a club. On winning in hand, South played another trump. West rose with the ace, and if East had followed, the contract would have been safe. But East discarded the heart 10. Getting the message, West returned a heart to East’s ace, and the club return saw the game fail.
Declarer was right in recognizing the danger of a club ruff, but wrong in the way he attempted to avoid it. By contrast, the second declarer appreciated the value of the heart suit. He also received a club lead, but at trick two he led a low heart from dummy toward his jack. East rose with the ace and returned a club, but declarer won in dummy, then discarded his last club from hand on the heart king. Only then did he play a trump. East won, but South was able to ruff the club return high in hand and secure his contract.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♥J
The choice between a heart and a diamond is a very close one. The advantage of a diamond lead is instant gratification — it may beat the contract at the first trick. As against that, when you have decent values, the chance you can get partner in twice for the ruffs is very low. The weaker your hand, the more attractive the singleton lead is. Today I'd go for the heart sequence.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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