Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #32
This conundrum was written by Patrick O'Connor and was originally publ...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
The following deal falls under the heading of a technical play, but it also has the elements of an optical illusion. The right play sometimes can be disguised because we are all hedged around with a framework of do’s and dont’s so that we cannot see the forest for the trees.
Opening Lead: ♠3
Four hearts is a difficult contract both to declare and defend. When Piet Jansen reached it in the Cap Gemini Invitation Pairs in 1999, Justin Hackett led a spade in response to his partner’s overcall. Jansen put in dummy’s spade eight, and when Jason Hackett covered with the nine, Jansen ducked.
Had South won the trick, Jason would subsequently have put his partner in with the spade queen to lead a club through dummy’s king, so declarer had kept himself in the hunt nicely.
However, when the spade nine held the first trick, Jason found the essential switch to the club ace and another club, setting up his side’s fourth trick before declarer could establish the diamonds to discard his club losers.
This may seem simple, but less than half the field set the game here. The point is that the rule to break exerted such a sway that even some of the best defenders in the world could not bring themselves to do it. Yes, you are not supposed to lead a potentially well-placed ace and set up a king in dummy. But if you know that there are discards to come for declarer, you may have to bite the bullet.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
Some play a jump by an unpassed hand as strong, others weak, still others as artificial. By a passed hand it can’t be a pre-emptive one-suiter — with a good suit you’d have bid already; with a bad suit, one spade here would surely be enough. It does make sense to play this call as spades with diamond fit; if so, with a minimum hand and no real spade fit you should retreat from two spades to three diamonds.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
Even the best defenders in the world can't do it? You must be kidding. East knows that his partner has Q of spades and cannot have anything else. He needs 2 club tricks to set the contract and he must play clubs now and hope for 3 clubs in the declarer. This should be easy even for beginner.