Hand of the day #211
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff This column aims to amuse, as well as to educa...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
As West you witness your opponents blast into four spades. Dummy could have a spade void on this auction, and you would prefer not to pick up partner’s trump honors for declarer, so you kick off with a diamond, to the five, 10 and ace. Next comes a club towards dummy, catching you somewhat off-guard. How should you defend?
Opening Lead: Diamond three
Declarer surely has seven spade tricks and at least two diamonds. If he has the club king, you are toast. Assume partner holds that card along with the heart king, and now you are in the game. Still, it looks like declarer is angling to take club ruffs on table. You are naturally going to switch to trumps to prevent this.
Some players would look no further and plonk the club queen on the table at this juncture. Say you do that. A trump shift is won by dummy and another club led. If partner wins the king, he cannot continue trumps, so you win the second round and return a trump to kill the ruff. Declarer draw the last trump and leads a low club to fell partner’s king. South’s club nine scores the game-going trick.
Having placed the club king with East, you can afford to play small on the first club (yes, second-hand low -- quite the curveball!). Partner wins the trick while he has a trump to play, and you are now free to take the second club and press on with trumps. Now your ace-eight of clubs represent the setting tricks.
One last thing; be sure not to signal count with the eight on the first club!
Lead with the Aces
Answer: 4♠
You have too much for a three-spade overcall as you need virtually nothing from partner to make game: just the spade queen and either club length or the diamond king should be enough. Take the pressure off by jumping to four spades, which will leave partner in the know about your hand type, should West push on to five hearts.