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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥8
When you are in doubt, the natural defense is to lead partner's suit. That is generally a good idea, but one can take a good thing too far. Today's deal is just such an example. The contract was a tricky three no-trump, and West led the heart eight, guided by his partner's overcall. South rightly put up dummy's king to protect his vital entry, and East played a discouraging two, since his suit was weak and he could see that the best chance for the defense might lie in the club suit.
The diamond 10 was led from dummy, covered with the jack, queen and king. Incidentally, if East had played low, South would still have played the queen, since he could not afford a holdup by West, leaving the lead in the dummy.
The moment of truth had arrived, and West solved the problem when he trusted his partner’s signals and drew the only logical conclusion. Not only did he shift to clubs, but he led the jack, a play that would serve to defeat the contract whenever South held a small singleton or doubleton. As it was, the queen was played from dummy. East took the ace and returned the five, allowing West to win the king and return the two. Thanks to the seven in East’s hand, the contract had to go down two. But note that if West had shifted initially to the club two instead of the jack, the suit would have been blocked, and declarer would have made his game.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
Without the double, you would have rebid three diamonds. But now you have a choice between emphasizing diamonds again and passing, thus letting partner make the next move. With seven diamonds, it seems to me you have enough reason to repeat your suit. Although four hearts may be your side’s best game, you should not introduce hearts – but you can raise them.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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