The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 15th, 2015
by Bobby Wolff on
August 29th, 2015
The gods love the obscure and hate the obvious.
The Upanishads
| S | North |
|---|---|
| None | ♠ Q 10 9 8 5 ♥ 9 4 3 ♦ A K 2 ♣ 8 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ K 7 4 3 ♥ 7 5 ♦ 8 6 ♣ K Q 10 9 3 |
♠ 2 ♥ K Q J 10 8 ♦ J 10 9 5 ♣ 6 5 4 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A J 6 ♥ A 6 2 ♦ Q 7 4 3 ♣ A J 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 NT | 2 ♣* | 3 ♠ | Pass |
| 3 NT | All pass |
*Clubs and another suit
♣K
Your partner has elected to follow a cuebidding route rather than using Blackwood. Follow his lead, and because you have a king you can show, bid five diamonds next. With five good trump, you are far too good to sign off, since you have already defined your range quite precisely at your first turn.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ Q 10 9 8 5 ♥ 9 4 3 ♦ A K 2 ♣ 8 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♠ | Pass | ||
| 3 ♠ | Pass | 4 ♣ | Pass |
| 4 ♦ | Pass | 4 ♥ | Pass |
| ? |
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related
In today’s deal from a team game, one table played in three no-trump after West had shown clubs and a second suit, while the other table reached four spades on an unopposed auction
The South in three no-trump received a top club lead. As he did not want a heart shift, he took the lead and crossed to dummy with a diamond to the ace, East playing the jack, then ran the spade 10, which West ducked. A low spade came next and when East showed out, declarer took the ace and led out the spade jack, prepared to overtake if West ducked. West won and shifted to a heart, but South now claimed his nine top tricks.
In the room where South reached four spades, he too received a top club lead. Declarer won the club lead and started trump in the same way. West won the third trump and, mindful of East’s signal, shifted to a heart. Declarer ducked, and when the defense went back to clubs, he ruffed the third one and drew the last trump, squeezing East in the red suits.
Although at double dummy four spades can never be broken (so long as declarer leads trump from hand at trick two), there was a defense to the line chosen at the table which was so unlikely that I can’t blame West for missing it. He must duck the third spade! Now when he wins a spade or club trick he must play another diamond. This breaks up the timing for the squeeze.