Hand of the day #324
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the...
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♣K
In today's auction North's three-club call was a second negative. It makes sense to use three clubs, not two no-trump, as the negative, because you don't want to get no-trump played the wrong way up. When North showed four-card heart support, South proceeded to the heart slam, nevertheless.
Put yourself in declarer’s position. You win the club-king lead with the ace and play a top trump, West following with the heart eight. How would you continue the play?
West’s high spot-card is a warning that the trumps may break 4-1. You should follow with dummy’s heart seven on the first round of trumps, clearing the way for a later finesse of your heart six. When you play a second high trump, West does indeed show out. You follow with dummy’s heart nine, unblocking once more.
It is time to develop the spade suit. You play the spade ace and king, and lead a third spade, West producing the queen of the suit. There is no point in ruffing in dummy, because East would overruff and return a club. Instead, you throw dummy’s remaining club.
You win the diamond switch with your ace and lead the club10, which you ruff with the heart 10. This ruffing unblock is your third such move in the trump suit. Now comes the reward for your foresight. You lead the heart three and finesse the heart six. It remains only to draw East’s last trump and claim the contract.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
Without the intervention you would have bid one heart (an action you would still take if you had five hearts, or a slightly better hand, or even a chunky four-card suit). But here you have minimum values with a bad suit. You are better off passing and doubling one spade for takeout when the auction comes back to you. If the opponents bid a red suit, you can balance with one no-trump.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
You can now play the hand of the day on BBO+ and compare how you get on with the players in the article.
