Hand of the day #281
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff In action here against France in the McConnell...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
How do you plan to make four hearts after West leads the spade king?
Opening Lead: ♠K
The nub of this problem is that you want to avoid losing three diamond tricks, but surely West is the favorite to have the diamond ace.
Your first step is to duck the first round of spades, then win the spade ace, and draw trump in three rounds. Next you cash the club ace, king and queen.
Now lead dummy’s remaining spade and discard a low diamond, forcing West to win the trick. A diamond return gives you a trick with the diamond king, while a spade exit lets you ruff in dummy and discard a second diamond from hand. Thus you will lose only two spades and a diamond, making the contract.
And what would happen if East had followed to the third spade? If he had followed small, you would still discard a diamond from hand to force West to win the trick. If East was clearly going to win the trick (say West had a 5-2-3-3 pattern), you ruff the spade and exit with a low diamond from hand. For the defense to stand a chance, East must win the trick and play a third diamond. Now you put up the king, succeeding whenever the diamond finesse succeeds or West wins the ace but has no diamonds left.
Notice that if you hadn’t ducked the first trick, East could have gained the lead in spades, whereupon the obvious diamond shift would scuttle the contract.
Lead with the aces
Answer: Lead with diamond
The opening lead here is more about temperament than anything else. Some prefer to go passive and not give up a trick; others go for instant gratification by leading a diamond in the hope of cashing out or setting up that suit. Put my vote in with the diamond leaders; but don't ask me to justify it.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.