Hand of the day #150
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff It takes most beginners a while to master the ...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
We saw yesterday that there is rarely any hurry to take a finesse. If it can win at the start of the deal, it is likely to be winning later on. And sometimes there are better things to do than risk a 50-50 play.
That said, how would you set about playing four hearts today on the lead of a top diamond?
Opening Lead: ♦K
The best play is to take the diamond king with the ace and play off your two top hearts, rejecting the finesse. The point is that you cannot afford to surrender the tempo if the finesse loses to a doubleton or tripleton queen. Your priority is to dispose of your losing diamonds without running into a ruff.
Next, take four rounds of spades, pitching diamonds from the board. It would do neither defender any good to ruff in on the fourth round of spades, even if he could. Of course, West will still be hoping to win his club king and draw two trumps for one. But you will disappoint him again. You ruff a diamond in dummy, come to hand with the club ace — rejecting a finesse for a second time — then ruff your fourth diamond.
You can now concede a club and a heart trick, making your contract with an overtrick. But had you taken an early heart finesse, you would have gone down. Had you taken a club finesse, you would have made only 10 tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 2NT
Your partner’s auction shows 18-20 or so. With a little less, he would have bid one no-trump at his first turn, and with a balanced 12-14 he would have passed after doubling, or not bid at all. Your decent intermediates make you just worth a game-try of two no-trump, although a pessimistic pass (especially if your partner’s calls or card-play can’t be trusted) would be understandable.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.