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: ♦7

West leads the diamond queen against your spade game and you must somehow avoid the loss of three hearts and one club. While East might hold the heart ace, what would be a 50 percent chance for anybody else is a far smaller chance for someone with your bad luck. What can you do about it?

You win the diamond lead with the ace and draw trump with the ace and king. You then lead the club queen from dummy. East plays low and the queen holds the trick. What now? At this point you could cross to dummy and take the heart finesse, but why not hope that West has both the club 10 and nine – in which case he can be endplayed?

If you continue with ace and another club, East will win the third round and a switch to the heart queen will sink you. But since you hope to throw West on lead with the third round of clubs, you should play the club jack next. East has to cover with the king and you win with the ace.

You cross to the diamond king and ruff a diamond in your hand, eliminating that suit. When you exit with the club eight, West has to win the trick. Now a minor-suit return will give you a ruff-and-discard and a heart return will allow you to make the heart king sooner or later. If East had won the club, you would still have been able to take the heart finesse.

Bid with the aces

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.

Click here to play earlier Hands of the day ▶