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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣10
Ken Barbour of Arizona had already represented Great Britain at bridge at the age of 25 before coming to the United States and retiring from the game. Happily, after a 20-year hiatus, Barbour took up the game seriously again. Playing with another expatriate, Alan Truscott, he perpetrated the following coup at the Miami Nationals in 1996. Put yourself in the East seat to appreciate the full beauty of it.
Barbour and Truscott had followed an optimistic sequence (slightly edited here) to arrive at six diamonds, which we will charitably attribute to a fit of youthful enthusiasm. This was particularly the case since three no-trump was a likely final resting spot at the other table, so there was perhaps no need to go looking for slams.
With a blind opening lead, West tried the club 10, and, perhaps without giving the matter sufficient thought, East followed with his small card, which systemically encouraged the lead. This was the natural thing to do — but it might well have been better to overtake the trick, though the reason for that was hardly obvious.
However, Barbour now played for his only chance by ducking the first trick — setting West an almost impossible problem. It was natural for him to continue with a second club. Now Barbour could win in hand, draw trump, then throw away his spade loser on the fourth round of clubs. When the heart jack cooperated by putting in a timely appearance, another impossible contract had come home.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3NT
Your partner, who has denied a four-card major, has bid three spades to indicate spade values. (He is either worried about hearts for no-trump or is about to cue-bid in support of diamonds.) You should bid three no-trump now, since if he is angling for three no-trump, you have the danger suit under control, but do not have enough to head to slam until you find a fit.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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