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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff

Opening Lead: ♦3

The world is full of stories of bridge deals where a ridiculous play succeeded, or the correct play failed. In today's example West was not only a fine player, but also a practical joker. Moreover, he was playing against two of his least favorite opponents, both of whom could be relied on to bid accurately, but neither of whom possessed a detectable sense of humor.

A competitive auction saw North-South reach four hearts after flirting with a slam-try. When West led his singleton diamond, he could see prospects of defeating the game would hinge on whether his partner had both the ace and king of diamonds. If so, the defenders could surely take two diamonds and two trump tricks.

Alas for West, when East won his diamond ace and continued with the diamond queen, it was South who had the diamond king. It was easy for the defenders to take three tricks, but where would the fourth come from? East surely had no more than one trump.

Inspiration dawned! The defenders might prevail if East had the singleton heart king. West ruffed the second diamond with his heart ace and led his small trump to his partner, giving him the entry to cash the diamond jack for one down.

At the end of the deal West leant forward and apologized for accidentally wasting his heart ace. “If I had ruffed low, would we have beaten them two tricks?” he asked, and was rewarded when South started banging his head on the table.

Bid with the aces

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

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