Bookworm Bridge Conundrums #42
This conundrum was written by Jeff Bayone and was originally published in t...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
This deal comes from the NEC tournament held in Yokohama. When this board came up at upwards of 50 tables during the qualifying stages, many East-West pairs stopped in a spade partscore and made 140, which looks close to par.
But Federico Goded of Spain was full of admiration for his opponents here — not just because of the coup they had achieved in the bidding and play but because of the confidence that they had exhibited in both phases.
Opening Lead: ♠Q
Matt Mullamphy, South, had overcalled three clubs to show the red suits. This was doubled by West to show cards and interest in defending against at least one of the suits. But when Ron Klinger passed three clubs doubled to show a real club suit, Mullamphy let it go as if without a care in the world, even though he was about to be declaring a doubled three-level contract with a trump suit of the doubleton 10!
Perhaps Miguel Goncalves should have seen the impending danger and have led a trump, but he actually led a top spade, and now the shift to a low trump came too late. Declarer ran the trump shift to his hand, crossed to the diamond ace to ruff a spade, and now could not be prevented from taking six club tricks, two diamonds and a spade ruff for an impressive plus 470. As we’ve remarked before — easy game, bridge.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 3♦
You cannot do less than bid three diamonds. Your partner has guaranteed four diamonds and a little more than a dead minimum, so he should hardly find a three-level contract taxing. If he has anything in reserve, he may well be able to make game, and by raising diamonds you make it harder for the opponents to compete to three clubs if your partner has shape but not high cards.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
