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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♦K

At matchpoints, once a major-suit fit has been found, it is hardly ever right to change directions and head toward a minor suit or no-trump. But at the slam level, however, it may pay to abandon a 5-3 major fit in favor of a 4-4 minor, and no-trump could be selected, either for matchpoint reasons or because it may survive a weakness in the major.

Both these factors influenced one of my readers, Barton Bloom, in bidding seven no-trump in today’s deal. He was not using Keycard Blackwood, a convention that allows you to locate the subsidiary trump honors. He had visualized better spades in the dummy and saw little advantage in playing spades rather than no-trump.

Unfortunately, the hole in the spade suit meant that any grand slam was virtually hopeless. But Bloom did not give up. He began by winning the opening lead of the diamond-king with the ace and cashing four heart winners.

Even though South had begun with only 10 tricks, with an 11th trick to come from a club finesse, he was able to exert huge pressure on West. When he led the last heart, he could turn 11 tricks into 13. At the table West threw a club, and now the club finesse brought home the grand slam. A spade discard would have been equally fatal, and throwing the diamond queen would have been only a temporary salvation. The diamond 10 would have put West through the wringer again.

Bid with the aces

This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.

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