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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣10
As West in today's deal you have wisely resisted the temptation to compete to two spades over two hearts. (It is partner's responsibility to do that with four spades.) It is not uncommon for the one-spade rebid to be based on three spades without a convenient alternative action, because opener is missing a heart stopper for no-trump.
Against two hearts you lead the club 10, and East wins the first trick with the ace. Next he plays the king and jack of clubs, declarer ruffing and West overruffing. What should West do next?
Whenever a defender is giving his partner a ruff, he should do his best to signal suit-preference at the same time. On this occasion East has played his highest club possible at every turn of the first three tricks, so is marked with the spade king. However, if you play a spade now and he wins his king, he may try another club, trying to promote a trump trick. You know that is the wrong defense, since your remaining trumps are small (though if you had begun with queen-jack-third of trumps and no diamond jack, this would indeed be the defenders’ best chance).
To avoid giving your partner the chance to go wrong, play a trump now. When East gets in, the possibility of a trump promotion will have disappeared, so he will know to play a diamond instead. This way, your side scores two tricks in each minor suit, and one in each of the majors.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♦
Without the double it would have been quite clear to bid one spade (even though it is an honorless suit), both for tactical and constructive reasons. After the double it is equally clear to raise to two diamonds, both to make it slightly harder for the opponents to compete, and to establish the right lead for your partner, if your LHO becomes declarer.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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