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 East you see South try for slam but end in five clubs. You can thus place him with at least six clubs, probably seven. Partner leads the spade six to your 10 and declarer’s nine. With no rush to cash either ace, you exit with a trump, rather than help declarer by broaching hearts.
Opening Lead: ♠6
Declarer wins in dummy and plays a heart to your six (no need to give count!) and his 10, which holds, followed by a club back to dummy as you discard a spade. What is your plan?
Declarer is surely about to take another heart finesse. When he does, you should part with the heart jack or heart king, either of which is a card you are known to hold. This cannot cost and may well gain by misleading declarer as to the heart split. If you were to follow small on the second round, he would know you started with four hearts.
Look at the full hand now and see the effect of your play. Declarer finesses the heart cheaply then runs all his trumps to a three-card ending. What will you keep? It must be two hearts and the diamond ace, and now declarer may have to guess this. If declarer knows you have two hearts left, he will exit with a diamond and endplay you. If he does not have a count, he may well try to split the hearts by cashing the ace. After all, you could have reduced to a singleton heart and the diamond ace-queen. The moral of the story? Do not give the opponents any extra information.
(And note that also applies to West, who ought not to give count in hearts!)
Lead with the Aces
Answer: Show your heart suit
It is essential here to show your heart suit. Partner may have five-card support and jump to a cold game over a two-heart rebid, but pass a two-spade rebid. It is a sound principle to show your second suit unless the disparity makes this unpalatable. And the better your hand the more likely it is that introducing a second suit will help you reach game when it is good.