The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠K
Today's deal brought back happy memories of sitting opposite Bob Hamman, who made a play very similar to this one, with a very similar result. The difference was that the seven IMPs he won were just enough to win the International Trials for selection for our team.
There was slightly less at stake in the featured deal, since it comes from the semifinals of the NEC tournament, held in Japan. Both pairs played five clubs doubled from the South seat, and both Wests led three rounds of spades, trumped by dummy’s nine. At one table East overruffed dummy to play back a heart. Declarer ruffed this, crossed to the diamond king to finesse in trumps, then ruffed a diamond to hand, and eventually drew trumps to claim down one when the club king put in an appearance. Not a triumph, but not a disaster either.
However when Roy Welland and Sabine Auken were East and West, defending against five clubs doubled, Auken led three rounds of spades. Declarer ruffed the third one with the club nine, on which Welland as East pitched a diamond rather than overruff! Declarer now led a diamond to the king and a club to the eight. Welland won with his jack and played back a club, leaving declarer with an eventual diamond loser.
That led to a penalty of plus 500 and the hardest-earned seven IMPs of the event. Welland’s team went on to reach the final, but lost to a Russia-Netherlands combination.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
This is an easy one. Your call of two hearts here will be natural and nonforcing. Indeed, it denies as much as game interest, since you would have relayed with two clubs (known as New Minor Forcing) with invitational values or better. Whether a jump to three hearts here would be shapely and invitational, or 5-5 game-forcing, is up to each individual partnership.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
