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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦5
There is a lot to be said for the idea that playing bridge against opponents you can trust (either to play well or badly!) makes your life considerably easier.
Today’s deal came up in the later stages of a national knockout competition, so it was logical for declarer to assume that his opponents would not have done something dramatically inferior in defense.
Put yourself in South’s seat. You have reached four spades, and your chances do not seem so great on a low diamond lead, but when dummy’s diamond king holds, things look up. Also, you can tell that you are playing against resourceful opponents — just from the opening lead!
You draw two rounds of trump, ending in hand, and lead a heart to the jack and king. East cashes a diamond and returns the heart 10, on which West unblocks the queen. You ruff the last heart, cross to dummy in trumps, and lead a low club, intending to put in the seven. Naturally, East thwarts you by playing the club eight, so you try the queen, losing to the king. West returns a low club. What now?
Well, restricted choice might suggest playing low — but there is a much sounder argument for putting in the six, the winning play at the table. The reason? East, a fine player, would have broken up the endplay earlier on by shifting to a club when in with the heart king had he started with three small clubs.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1♠
Let's talk about the art and science of overcalling. Although I strongly advocate keeping your two-level overcalls up to strength, preferably on six-card suits, I am equally strongly in favor of overcalling at the one-level when given the chance. That means bidding when I have values, or a chunky suit, regardless of vulnerability. Yes, we'd all prefer better spades, but beggars cannot be choosers.
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.
