The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠J
There are some people for whom the word “counting” at bridge has the same effect as the sight of a spider. They throw up their arms and run screaming from the room. I exaggerate a little, I confess, but you get the picture. One cannot hope to become proficient at bridge without a modicum of hard work. And one of the most challenging aspects of the game is the need to count every single hand (unless you are dummy — and even then…).
Today’s deal is a fine example of a hand where your first reaction as declarer is that you can claim your grand slam, but if that were the case, I would not have given it to you as a problem, would I?
You win the spade lead and draw trump in three rounds, discovering that East has the length — the first clue but only a small one — as West discards a club. Then you play a club to the ace and trump a club, lead a spade to the king and trump another club, finally cashing the spade ace and leading to the spade queen, on which East discards a club. Bingo!
If you go back and do the arithmetic, you will see that West has followed to three clubs and discarded one, and thus started with five spades and two hearts. He cannot have four diamonds, so cash the diamond ace and lead to the queen, prepared to finesse against East if necessary. And today it is necessary.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♥ Lead
Dummy rates to have a near Yarborough and you have no stand-out lead, so you may have to decide if your personal philosophy argues for aggression or passivity. At one end of the spectrum is the club lead; I'll vote against that on the grounds that the risk of surrendering a trick unnecessarily is too high. At the other end is the choice of majors; I have a slight preference for hearts over spades.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
