Hand of the day #136
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff You might think that best defense to a slam is...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
The jury is still out on whether you can be a champion if you focus solely on playing well, as opposed to making your opponents play badly. Whatever the case, learning the basic elements of deception cannot be a bad idea. Witness today’s deal, from “25 Ways to Be a Better Defender” by Barbara Seagram and David Bird.
Opening Lead: ♣3
West leads the ♣3 against 3NT, and declarer’s cause looks hopeless. But say South takes the first trick and cashes the ♠K and ♠A, then plays the ♦Q.
If East believes that declarer has a doubleton ace-king of spades, he will duck, to keep declarer out of dummy, and South will run for home having stolen his ninth trick. Note that ducking might well be right if declarer had a 2-4-4-3 shape with two club stops. So West must tell East he has 2♠ by echoing in that suit. Then East can suspect the ruse and win the first diamond to cash out.
Since we are trying to take a fair and balanced approach, note that on a different day, if West had 10-fourth of spades, he might be reluctant to echo in spades. This would be in case declarer had king-third of spades, and worked out to finesse on the third round of the suit. In reality one cannot make an omelet without breaking the odd egg or two. If West’s spades are better (or worse), the echo will surely not cost.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: 1♠
How painful can it be to bid one spade here? After all, your partner asked you to bid. Although you do not exactly have a monster, you do have four spades and six more points than you might. Yes, you are at the bottom of your range, but the safest time to come into this auction is right now and not later.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
Why not double to show4 spares? Woundt bidding spades show 5?
I agree considering we are not in red zone so even if the partner has 12 pp (minimum) he can have also 4 spades so we can have fit on the line. In this case 18 points are enough to play 1s and maybe also 2s
Why not double? Doesntbidding spades show 5?