The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠K
Against four hearts West leads the spade king, which when dummy comes down with the queen and length, is clearly asking East to give count in the suit. When East indicates either a singleton or an even number of spades by playing the eight, West continues with the spade ace, everyone following. How should the defense continue?
The defense has been facilitated for West by the auction. If West counts his own hand and dummy, he comes to the grand total of 19 HCP. South has opened with a forcing two-club call. How many defensive tricks can one reasonably play partner for? I’d say zero would be a realistic number!
However, giving up now would be unduly pessimistic. If you can arrange for East to cooperate, you might find him with just enough in the way of trump spots to come through for you. Lead a third spade — in this position I’d play the highest of my spades to ask partner to ruff high — and keep my fingers crossed.
If East can ruff in with the heart 10, it ensures that West can make not one but two trump tricks from his heart K-9-4. Declarer must overruff, of course, or he is down at once, and now South’s trump holding has been weakened so that the nine is promoted to a second natural winner. This maneuver is called the uppercut and is almost as painful to the recipient as its boxing equivalent.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♦
You are far too good to sell out to two clubs, though I admit it might be your last chance to go plus on a really bad day. The simple way to balance here is with a two-diamond call. The intellectual choice is to bid two spades, suggesting this sort of hand, or you would have bid spades first. I prefer the simple route.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
