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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠Q
Against three no-trump West leads the spade queen, and, as expected, East has to discard; he chooses a heart. Is there any way to make nine tricks against the best defense?
You need East to have begun with three clubs headed by the king and jack. At trick two, you should cash the club ace. East’s best defense is to unblock the king. You then cross to dummy with a diamond to the ace to lead a club. If East plays the jack, you will play low from hand. After winning the red-suit return in hand, you will cash the club queen and claim nine tricks: a spade, two hearts, three diamonds and three clubs.
You should note that it would not have been a good idea to cross to dummy at trick two to lead a club. East would play the jack, forcing you to play the queen. Now, when you played the club ace, he would drop the king, and you could not set up your third club trick without letting West on lead.
Incidentally, on the club-10 lead, you would have set about clearing the club suit at once. Then you would have cashed three diamonds and two hearts, hoping to exhaust West of red-suit cards. Finally, you would have ducked a spade to West, forcing him to give you a ninth trick in spades.
Finally, did you spot the winning defense? West begins with the spade ace and queen, allowing East to unblock the club king and jack!
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
My instinct is to pass, though I admit that since a call by partner of three clubs at his second turn would have been game-forcing, partner could easily have up to a 16-count. There is something to be said for giving false preference to two diamonds, but surely a 4-4 club fit will play much better than a 5-3 diamond fit, since you may be able to discard losers from either major on diamonds.
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.
