Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #30
This conundrum was written by Mark Horton and was originally published...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♥Q
When South played four spades on the lead of the heart queen to the ace and a heart return, he won, cashed the spade ace and king, then played a club. West took the ace, cashed the spade queen, and exited with a club. When East turned up with six hearts, declarer played West for the diamond length and went one down.
Let’s revisit declarer’s play. At trick three it looks far better to lead the club jack. If West ducks, you win and take the top spades, East pitching a heart, planning to ruff a heart and then play a club. If West captures the club jack at trick three and exits with a club, you win and take the top spades, then ruff a heart and exit with a spade.
Either way, West will be on lead and has only minor-suit cards left. He should know that a club would give a ruff and discard, but since declarer has a 4-4 diamond fit, a ruff and discard will do him no good.
So West exits with a club, and declarer needs to guess diamonds himself. But now he has a better count of the East-West hands. While East might have started with 1-6-1-5 shape, his heart discards combined with his play of the club nine and 10 on the second and third round of the suit make it more likely that he had three clubs and thus began life with 1-6-3-3 pattern. If so, declarer should play East for the diamond queen.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2♣
Opinions differ as to whether it is acceptable to introduce a moderate four-card major here. I say no, when the alternative of showing a strong diamond raise exists via the cue-bid of two clubs. If partner has extras and a four-card major, he will bid it now. If he has a minimum, it looks better to stop low in diamonds than to shoot the moon in an optimistic spade game.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
there is an 11 pt hand here if declarer opens with 13 + then 3 diamonds is doable i would have bid 2 spades indicating strength and stoppage
to strong for 2 or even 3D, I would bid 1S to see the development,