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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♦2
Do not get caught up in the idea that the object of signaling relates solely to your holding in the suit led. When you signal encouragement on the suit led, part of what your signal implies is that you do not want a switch to whatever is deemed the obvious suit, assuming partner shifts. Conversely, discouragement of the led suit is equally about not liking the suit led and wanting the obvious shift.
Today’s deal shows how experts deal with this sort of situation. It comes from a clash between two of the major powers in bridge, a Russo-Polish squad and a top Dutch team.
At one table, East won the diamond ace and shifted to a club at trick two. He was playing his partner for the trump ace or king — in which case he might get a club ruff, but where would the defenders’ third trick come from?
In the other room Alexander Dubinin led his singleton diamond against four hearts. Andrey Gromov won the trick and cashed two more diamonds, on which Dubinin did the right thing by playing discouraging cards in both spades and clubs. Gromov now knew not to expect his side to take any tricks in the black suits, so he played a fourth diamond, promoting the trump queen for down one.
Just for the record, if West has the spade ace and no heart or club queen, he should ruff the third diamond to cash the spade ace, thus avoiding the possibility of an accident.
Lead with the aces
Answer: ♥ Lead
When you are looking at what appears to be a soft trump trick, as here, you probably do not want to play for club ruffs — especially if in so doing you risk giving up a natural trick in the suit. Yes, a heart lead might conceivably give up your side's trick in the suit, but that is considerably against the odds. A heart lead combines aggression and safety as best you can.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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