Hand of the day #451
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: ♠10
Today’s deal sees South time the play perfectly to make his three no-trump, reached after North had shown real extras by his second double. Start by covering up the East-West hands and have a try yourself.
West led the spade 10 to the queen and ace. Declarer then played a club to dummy’s ace and was not so happy to see East show out. Plan the play from here.
Realizing that if West had five spades and four clubs, he was going to be short in the red suits, South cashed the heart ace and played a heart to his king before playing another club. When West split his honors, South ducked.
What could West do? His best shot is to play the diamond ace and queen, but declarer simply won in dummy and conceded another club, losing just one spade, one diamond and two clubs.
Had West cashed the spade king, South would have pitched a club from dummy. Now, on a spade continuation he would have won in hand, pitching a diamond from North, and run the clubs. On the defense of ace and another diamond, he would duck a club and convert to the same winning position as above.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
You may have a decent hand for the auction so far, but you should almost never compete to the three-level with only three trumps. These auctions are always about competing with shape, not high cards, since if partner has a balanced hand, your best shot to go plus is to defend. If partner has shape, he can bid on for himself.
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.
