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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♠Q

The auction in today's deal is worth a second glance. Playing standard methods, and whether or not two diamonds is a game force, it would be a mistake to assume that the rebid of two hearts promises six hearts. It suggests either six hearts or a rebidabble five-card suit with no better alternative. With a minimum hand opener strives to make a descriptive call at his second turn, which could be to raise partner, bid no-trump, or introduce a second suit economically. Bidding three clubs should show extras or a good second suit.

Hence North cannot raise hearts immediately, but his indirect route suggests a doubleton honor — perfect from South’s perspective.

Against four hearts West leads the spade queen and continues with a low spade. After declarer ruffs the third round of spades, he could simply draw trump now, planning to duck a diamond if trumps were 3-3. But if he does so, the 4-2 trump break will leave him reliant on diamonds splitting, and today is not his lucky day.

So the question is whether declarer can do any better by tackling the side suits before drawing trump. The answer is yes: Declarer can improve his chances by leading a club toward the queen at trick four. This is almost without risk, as neither defender has shifted to a club. What it does is to give him a third chance for his contract. Now if West wins the club king to play another spade, declarer can take the ruff in dummy and retain trump control.

Bid with the aces

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

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