The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦Q
In today's deal it is unclear what North's correct call should be at his second turn, after his partner shows a strong hand with hearts. A jump to four hearts would be hugely premature, so maybe North should bid a natural two no-trump, then follow up with four hearts. South clearly expected a little more in the way of shape for the raise in hearts, but then again, had North's king been in any of the side-suits, slam would have been very playable. As it was, after the lead of the diamond queen against six hearts, the slam looked virtually hopeless. Not only would declarer need a very favorable lie of the black suits, but he would also need to handle his entries very carefully.
For want of anything better to do, declarer ducked in dummy at trick one. West held the trick and continued diamonds, letting South ruff high. He followed up with the heart ace and king, then carefully led his heart four to dummy’s seven.
Now declarer needed to take two spade finesses and remain in dummy to play clubs. South was up to the task: he led the spade queen, and when East defended well by ducking,.declarer unblocked the spade jack from his hand, and the spade 10 held the next trick, leaving South in dummy. When the club finesse succeeded, declarer had his 12 tricks. Yes this was lucky, but to a certain extent South had made his own luck.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 4♠
Here, your partner's jump to four clubs suggests big spade support, with 6-4 pattern, game-forcing values and good clubs. You have no interest in higher things, so sign off in four spades and hope you can make it. For the record, with the spade four to the ace, you would have enough to cue-bid four diamonds now, since your partner has shown a really good hand.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
