Hand of the day #24
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff In this deal from a multiple teams event, Nort...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
On the diamond queen lead against four hearts, declarer could see at least four potential losers.
Opening Lead: Diamond queen
One way to make the hand was to hope for both diamonds and hearts to split. South could then set up the fourth diamond for a club pitch having cashed the heart ace-king. He would then be able to ruff a club in dummy.
However, the problem with knocking out the club ace after releasing the heart tops, was that a defender might draw dummy’s last trump. If declarer played a club at once and misguessed which honor to lead to, a second club might doom him.
So declarer played to ruff three spades in his hand, to avoid needing a club ruff in dummy.
South won his diamond king, to preserve dummy’s entries, then crossed to the spade ace to ruff a spade. He intended to enter dummy with the diamond ace for a further spade ruff, then give up a diamond. He would subsequently set up a club trick, cash the heart tops ending on table, ruff another spade, then play the 13th diamond.
Alas, East ruffed the diamond ace and returned a trump. However, South’s last chance was to bring in clubs in for one loser. He drew two rounds of trumps ending in hand and played a club to the king. When East sneakily withheld his ace, it gave declarer a losing option. Can you blame him for ducking the second round, playing West to have started with ace-doubleton?
West won cheaply with the jack and declarer had a diamond and club still to lose for down one.
Lead with the Aces
Answer: Double a minor-suit
You can double a minor-suit opening for take-out with a suitable weak no-trump. This is a fairly safe way into the bidding, allowing your side to compete the partscore or perhaps bid a game if partner is strong. Passing may freeze you out or force you into an uncomfortable guess later on.
