The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣10
Almost a complete top swung on a rather subtle point of defense in this deal from the open pairs at Saint Louis.
As East, you feel obliged to compete again when the opponents come to a stop in two spades. You bid two no-trump as takeout with four hearts, which shows your shape nicely — if perhaps suggesting a somewhat better hand than you actually have.
Your partner apparently takes you seriously when he doubles the opponents in three spades, then leads the club 10 against this contract. You can cash two clubs, everyone following. What should you do next? It seems normal enough to play a third club winner, doesn’t it? On this trick, South pitches a heart, while your partner also discards a heart, the eight, playing standard signals. Now what should you do?
The answer is that you’d better lead a fourth club! Declarer can ruff with the spade queen or 10, but West will complete his partner’s good work by establishing a trump promotion when he discards on this trick.
At this point West’s spade K-9-6 will be good for two trump tricks once East produces that invaluable spade jack. But note that if West overruffs at his first turn, he has undone all his partner’s efforts; the second spade trick now vanishes. This maneuver of building an extra trump winner by forcing declarer or dummy to waste a high honor, then refusing to overruff, is one of the most satisfying forms of trump promotion.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥ or 2NT
It may be very tempting to jump to three no-trump, but you cannot really be sure of the right strain or level here. If you play two-over-one, you can bid a forcing two no-trump. If not, temporize with a call of two hearts, the fourth suit, to set up a game force. You can then rebid no-trump to leave the door open for a possible club slam.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
