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: ♥5
Sometimes the easiest-looking hands are the most treacherous. In today's deal declarer assumed that he would have no problem making his no-trump game and took his eye off the ball. Once he had done that, he had endangered his contract and was unable to recover from his first mistake — though he did have a chance to do so.
When West tried to find his partner by leading the heart five, South assuming that the lead was from length, finessed by playing low from dummy. East won his queen and returned the suit, then took the club king and played a third heart. Had hearts not been 5-2, declarer would simply have been able to drive out the spade ace for his nine tricks. However, once the bad heart break came to light, South had to guess whether to take the diamond finesse or play on spades. When he guessed to take the diamond finesse, East won and cashed out for two down. This was probably the wrong play by South. Going after diamonds needs both the finesse and the break, while playing on spades simply needs the ace well-placed.
However, the critical play error came at trick one: Declarer must refrain from finessing in hearts immediately. By winning the ace and crossing to the diamond ace to advance the club jack, nine tricks can be guaranteed. Although, as the cards lie, the contract could be secured by other lines of play, the indicated line is the only one that can never fail.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♦Q
In situations like this, I tend to lead from my honor sequence for two reasons: It may be the last chance to lead diamonds through dummy, and my partner will never believe I have a holding this good if I don't tell him at once. There will probably be time to get around to hearts later if a diamond doesn't look likely to work.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
If you’re a BBO+ member, you can now play the Hand of the Day directly on BBO as part of your membership benefits.
Go to the BBO+ section, select BBO+ Games and Events, then click Play Today’s Deal to give it a try and compare your result with the players featured in the article.
