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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦8
Today’s deal is a curiosity – I’m not sure whether the play could ever go as indicated at the end of the article – but I would take my hat off to anyone who found the winning move.
Let’s look at what happened at the table: South reached three no-trump after West had opened with a weak two diamonds. After South showed a strong no-trump, North used Stayman to check back for a 4-4 major-suit fit and settled for three no-trump when South denied a major.
West guessed to lead diamonds, and declarer was forced to hop up with the king from dummy. East followed with the jack in to unblock, preparing for a later finesse. Declarer now had to go after clubs. He led low from the dummy and put in the jack from hand. West won and shifted to a spade.
Reading the position perfectly, declarer won the ace and ran the club nine. When the clubs came in, declarer had one trick each in spades and diamonds, four clubs and three hearts for nine tricks.
It looks as if declarer had timed the play perfectly, and so he had. So what is the point of the deal? Remarkably, the defenders do have a riposte: if West ducks the club queen, declarer can no longer set up the clubs without letting East on lead in one of the black suits, and that will be fatal to declarer.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♥
In my regular partnerships I believe this double should be played as penalty, suggesting a spade stack. Looking at my hand, though, I know that this cannot be the case. Partner must have a light takeout double, and it must therefore be right to remove to two hearts.
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.
“Ran the club nine”. ?