The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠2
One of the all-time classic hands on the theme of whether to duck a trick or take it comes from the only world championship won by Britain against the U.S. You may care to concentrate on West's hand to see the problem he faced.
In the Closed Room the American North opened a very restrained one no-trump (in those days the 16-18 no-trump was far more common than nowadays) and played there on the lead of the spade 10. Declarer put up South’s spade jack and won the trick. Then he played on clubs, and the defenders ducked the first club trick, won the second, then cashed out the spades. North slightly mistimed the play now, and managed to endplay himself in diamonds to lead hearts from hand, all of which led to one down.
In our featured room, though, Adam Meredith responded one no-trump to one diamond and got his side to game. West started off well by leading a spade. Meredith took the second spade in dummy and played the club jack, overtaking in hand! Maybe it was an error for West to win this, but Meredith deserves at least part of the credit for creating an environment in which a mistake could be made. West led a spade to East, who switched to the diamond king. Meredith won, finessed the club nine, ran the clubs, then took the heart finesse, finishing up with one of the world’s more unlikely overtricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: Pass
You showed extras (in shape or high-cards or both) when you doubled two clubs, and your partner, who did not have enough to act initially, took a minimum action. Though you have a nice hand, the fact that you are balanced and have all the high cards lying over you, argues for caution. I would pass now, and would only bid three hearts if my club five were the spade five.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
