The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣10
There was an element of Ping-Pong in today's deal, which cropped up in the later stages of a U.S. Teams Trials.
South’s two-club bid on the second round was a relay, setting up a forcing sequence. When South emphasized his spades rather than introducing his clubs, the second-best slam was reached. Six spades is not a hopeless spot, but it looks doomed because of the 6-2 heart break.
However, when West led the club jack, declarer won in dummy with the king. He then cashed the spade ace and king before leading a diamond from the dummy. East went in with the ace (perhaps expecting that West would have led a diamond from his actual holding) and declarer ruffed.
Now declarer had 12 tricks; but when he crossed to dummy’s heart king and played the diamond king, he did not yet know that clubs were breaking. So he discarded a club from his hand. Now when his attempt to ruff a heart in dummy was overruffed, he had to go one down.
Do you see where declarer went wrong? It was an error to play the diamond king when he did; he should have played the club ace first. If both opponents follow, he draws the last trump and concedes a club, later crossing to dummy with a club to discard a heart on the diamond king. However, if someone shows out on the club, he plays the heart ace and ruffs a heart before pitching a club on the diamond king.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1NT
Although it might be right to pass (your LHO could have a powerhouse and have missed game), the odds favor reopening the bidding. You have a simple choice: One no-trump shows a balanced 12-15 points, not the 15-17 points it would show in direct seat, while double is takeout. I'd go for the first option since I have a heart stopper that I think requires my hand to be declarer whether we end at a suit or no-trump.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
