The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠8
Depending on how you look at it, it is either a truism or a cliche that second hand plays low and third hand plays high. Fourth-hand play doesn't really have any such rules, though. You either win or you duck — and normally the question about which to do is easy to answer.
But not always: Today’s deal comes from the 1998 Junior European Championships, declared by Igor Grzejdziak. Igor had reached four hearts, and West led the spade eight, playing third and fifth leads. Note that the spade-six lead would have allowed declarer to cover with the spade seven and avoid a spade loser altogether.
However, on the lead of the spade eight, Igor sized up the position very quickly and played low from dummy. When East also played small, declarer also ducked in his hand. Cashing the club ace could have been a disaster with a slightly different layout, so West continued with the spade six. Declarer took East’s jack with the ace, played three rounds of hearts, and later finessed in spades. This allowed him to throw a club loser on the fourth spade, and a club ruff made a total of 10 tricks, thanks to declarer’s very imaginative deceptive move at the first trick.
Just for the record: Note that on the lead of, or shift to, the diamond jack at trick two, declarer might have ducked THAT trick too!
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1♥
In fourth seat you would not consider passing out the deal. Equally, you do not want to open one diamond if any sensible alternative exists. Here, you do have a highly desirable option — in this case, opening one heart is far more attractive. When you are facing a passed hand, the moment to open a four-card major is when you plan to pass any nonforcing response, and you can direct the lead you think you want.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
