The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠K
In every major tournament there is always at least one instance of David defeating Goliath. At the Olympiad in Beijing, the giant was Italy and they were beaten 16-14 by Albania, playing international bridge for the first time. This was one of Albania's triumphs.
The Italian South found himself in three no-trump, against which West led the unbid suit, hearts. Declarer won in hand with the queen and played a heart back to dummy’s nine. He now played a diamond. East went up with the ace and continued hearts. Declarer misjudged now when he ran the heart around to dummy’s king, and played a club to his 10. When this lost to West’s jack, South was doomed.
The Albanians reached four hearts. West led a top spade and switched to a club. Declarer won in dummy, played a diamond, and East won and returned a club. Declarer won in dummy again and led a spade, ruffing in his own hand since his singleton had gone at trick one. The crossruff was now under way, and cashing his third club along the way, declarer scored seven trump tricks to bring the contract home.
Even a trump lead would not have hurt declarer. Suppose West leads a trump at trick one. Dummy wins, plays a diamond, and East plays another trump. Declarer wins in hand, ruffs a diamond, crosses to hand with the club queen, draws the last trump, and plays a top diamond. This establishes two more winners in the suit, allowing South to make five trumps, two diamonds and four clubs.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♥
Your partner's double shows a maximum pass, and suggests a heart suit that is not good enough to bid, together with diamond tolerance. With four-card heart support, you should jump to three hearts, not so much because you think your side can make game but to take away bidding space from your opponents.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
