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
The true expert pays proper attention to the spot cards, even when there is no obvious reason to preserve them. The idea that you will need to optimize communications and entries is an obvious one, but is often overlooked. Today's deal offers an example.
Opening Lead: ♠K
West leads the spade king against three no-trump. You win the second round of spades and see that you will need four hearts and four clubs to land the contract. How would you tackle the play?
When the cards lie as in the diagram, only one play is good enough. You must lead the club eight to dummy’s ace. The nine falls from East, and you take a successful heart finesse. You continue with the club seven to dummy’s king, noting with interest that East follows with the jack. How do you think the clubs lie after this fall of the cards?
East will produce two middle cards on the first two rounds when he holds J-10-9, J-10, J-9 or 10-9. So, the odds are approximately 3-1 in favor of East’s holding only two clubs. What is more, you are prepared for a finesse against West’s 10 after your thoughtful unblock of the eight and seven!
You take your second heart finesse and lead the club three to dummy’s six. You then play the club queen and finesse a third time in hearts. Contract made!
Bid with the aces
Answer: 4♠
In standard American, you'd bid four no-trump to invite slam with no four-card major. For an extra wrinkle, if you play Texas transfers (four diamonds and four hearts show six-card heart and spade suits), a four-spade call can be used to show a balanced invitation with both four-card minors — in other words, exactly this hand. So a direct four-no-trump response will suggest a very flat hand.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.