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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥7
Let's look at how the play rates to go when West leads a heart against three no-trump, going to East's 10 and declarer's queen.
If declarer leads a diamond next, the defenders can afford to duck this, and that will not be enough to let declarer come to nine tricks.
It is a different story if declarer leads either a spade or a club at trick two. Let’s say declarer leads a club. I think it is somewhat more likely that West will duck, hoping his partner has the jack. When the club queen scores, declarer leads a spade to the jack and ace, wins the heart return in hand, leads a low diamond to the jack, comes back to hand with a spade and leads another low diamond toward dummy. West’s ace falls on empty air sooner or later, and declarer scores one club, two spades, and three tricks in each red suit.
Of course, if West flies up with his club ace at trick two and plays on hearts, declarer is dead in the water. Advantage to the defense? No, declarer has a resource, though a somewhat unlikely one, and it comes at trick one. He must duck the first trick — an apparently illogical play with three guards in the danger suit.
That leaves East on play. He will exit in spades, letting West win, and play a second heart. Declarer simply wins and knocks out the diamond ace, then the club ace, and has a painless nine tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
Don't be a point-counter, since not all 10-counts are created equal and this one ranks some way down the pecking order — in fact, almost at the bottom. When you are raising partner, a cue-bid shows a limit raise or better, a simple raise shows somewhat less than 10 HCP normally. But this hand is worth no more than a raise to two hearts, as some of your soft cards will surely prove to be irrelevant to partner.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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