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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦3
Six diamonds was obviously a fair contract in this deal from rubber bridge, with several chances. But when South did not select the best route, the slam failed.
First. a word about the auction. North was playing two-over-one, so his raise to three diamonds was forcing. (Had the call not been forcing, North would have used the fourth suit, then supported diamonds.) In the actual auction, when South cue-bid in clubs, North placed his partner with a singleton heart and pushed on to six diamonds.
West led a trump against the slam (doing well to avoid the heart lead that would probably have solved South’s problems), and declarer elected to start by drawing trump. Then he tested the spades, throwing a heart from dummy, and, when they proved to be 4-2, tried his luck with the clubs. When that went wrong as well, it was all over, and South ended up with just 10 tricks.
East and West were delighted with the outcome, and North remained calm and polite — after all, he had to stick with the same partner for the rest of the rubber!
Note, though, that if declarer had tested the clubs first (before drawing trump), he could have established the suit even against the 4-2 break. Then dummy would have been high except for two hearts, at least one of which would go away on the spades. In short, the contract would have been easy if either black suit had divided 3-3 but, if both were 4-2, it was essential to play on clubs first.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1NT
I do not tend to open one no-trump with 5-4-2-2 shape, but it is sometimes the only sensible call. You'd normally upgrade any 17-count with a 5-4 pattern into a reverse, and almost all hands with five of a major and four of a second suit should open the major. But open one no-trump when you hold 15-16 with a long minor where you do not want to reverse, and you also hold stoppers in both your short suits.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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