Hand of the day #687
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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: ♦3
It has frequently been said that there are more ways to kill a cat than by drowning it in a saucer of cream. In today's deal, two Wests each found a different devious defense to pose a problem for declarer in three no-trump.
When Neville Eber held the West cards, his opening lead was a diamond against the no-trump game. Geoff Hampson put up dummy’s king, as Bosenberg followed with the eight, strongly suggesting four. Declarer now played a club to the king and Neville calmly dropped the queen under it. He knew declarer was 5-2 in spades and diamonds, and whether he had three or four clubs, he could be sure that the club queen was dead in the water.
The play worked better than he could have hoped. Declarer took the card at face value and elected to go after spades (in other words needing both the spade and heart finesse). He tried to cross to the heart jack and the roof fell in: down three.
But it is well known that there are more ways to kill a cat than by choking it with cream. For example, Migry Campanile was on lead after one no-trump was raised directly to three. She kicked off with a spade — none of this fourth-highest nonsense for her. Michael Barel returned the suit, and now Campanile shifted to a diamond. Declarer ran the spades now, and Campanile had to find two discards. She pitched a heart, then the club 10. Declarer now elected to cross to the heart ace and lead a club to the nine. Oops!
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♠
You seem to be too good to pass, but you do not have enough to drive to game. Since new suits would be nonforcing, the simple invitational choices are a two-no-trump call (right on values but potentially wrong-siding no-trump) or a raise to three clubs, which might lead to an awkward 5-2 fit. A cuebid of two spades allows you to pass a three-club call and raise a two-no-trump rebid to three.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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