The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠K
There was a wide range of systems in use at the NEC tournament in Japan.
Perhaps the most exotic of the methods in play was that of Martin Reid and Peter Newell. I have slightly expurgated their sequence to make it look less unusual to an American’s eye, although the auction basically went as shown below. But whatever the peculiarities of the auction in today’s deal, it produced arguably the most spectacular declarer play of the tournament.
When David Beauchamp led out two top spades against five diamonds, Reid ruffed and led a low heart to West’s ace and East’s upside-down-count heart eight, which suggested an original odd number of cards in that suit. Back came a third spade and Reid ruffed, cashed a second heart as South completed his echo, then ruffed a heart in dummy as both opponents followed.
At this point in the deal, Reid knew from the auction that East had only three spades and he appeared to have only three hearts. Declarer cashed the club ace and, when no honor appeared from West, it seemed reasonable to play him for a doubleton. If so, East would hold three clubs. So ruffing out the clubs and playing for diamonds to be 3-2 would not work; East would be left with the long trump.
So Reid cashed the second top club, ruffed a club with the diamond eight, and when it held, was able to score a high crossruff for the last four tricks. Very nicely done.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 4♦
Your partner is looking for a spade stopper to play three no-trump, though he may be about to bid on, looking for slam in one of the red suits, with a spade control. You don't have to know which yet; rebid four diamonds, since in context you have no real extras for your opening bid. Let partner decide where to go from here.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
