Hand of the day #137
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff At the Dyspeptics Club neither North nor South...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
The record may sound stuck by now, but it is nonetheless true that you must plan your play of the hand at trick one. If you do not, it may well be too late by the time you stop to think.
Opening Lead: ♥10
To take just one example, when you are planning to ruff losers in dummy, ask yourself how many hand entries you need and make appropriate provisions.
In today’s deal, you have reached the giddy heights of 4♠ and West leads the ♥10. You plan to ruff 3♦ in dummy, eventually conceding two clubs and a spade. Win the opening lead in DUMMY, play to your ♦A and ruff a diamond, return to the ♥K, and ruff another diamond. Now for the key play. Ruff the♥J with the ♠A and ruff your fourth diamond in dummy. This way you will lose 2♣ and 1♠, but have guaranteed your contract.
There are two easy mistakes you might make here. The first is to win the opening lead in your hand; if you do that, you can kiss your game goodbye.
The second pitfall is to fail to appreciate your trump spots when planning to take ruffs in one hand or both . If you have all the middle cards, as here, you may elect to ruff a loser with a high trump (here, the ace) to avoid the embarrassing overruff by West followed by the trump return that would reduce 10 tricks to nine.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: 3♣
This double is for takeout, suggesting both minors and a good hand. In context, you have an excellent hand for your initial pass. Maybe you are worth more than a jump to three clubs, but the bad trump spots should persuade you not to go past the three-level. A bid of two clubs would be an enormous underbid.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
great hands