The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 1st, 2018
by Bobby Wolff on
January 15th, 2018
Heaven is for thee too high To know what passes there; be lowly wise: Think only what concerns thee and thy being.
John Milton
| W | North |
|---|---|
| N-S | ♠ A Q 9 7 3 ♥ K J 6 2 ♦ 9 ♣ Q 8 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 5 4 ♥ 9 8 4 ♦ K 10 7 6 2 ♣ A 4 3 |
♠ K J 10 8 2 ♥ 7 ♦ J 8 3 ♣ K J 9 2 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 6 ♥ A Q 10 5 3 ♦ A Q 5 4 ♣ 10 6 5 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♠ | Pass | |
| 2 ♥ | Pass | 3 ♥ | Pass |
| 4 ♥ | All pass |
♥4
I do not see any reason to steer clear of my five-card suit. The club queen is too likely to cost a club trick, and if there is any chance we can set this contract, I will surely have time to get back on lead and shift to clubs. I can see a case for a low trump lead, but my heart suit may be lying too well for declarer for that to be right.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K 5 4 ♥ K 5 2 ♦ J 9 6 3 2 ♣ Q 5 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | |||
| Pass | 1 ♥ | Pass | 1 ♠ |
| Pass | 2 ♠ | All pass |
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Bridge-related
Today’s deal should lead in a straightforward fashion to a contract of four hearts, but North’s rebid does raise a question of theory. After opening one spade and hearing a response of two hearts, should North make a splinter jump to four diamonds, showing heart support and a singleton diamond, or does that call promise some extras, either in shape or high cards? You can certainly make the argument that North should simply raise hearts and is not worth the splinter raise, but either way, South should avoid going past four hearts.
In four hearts, declarer’s best play is a simple crossruff. He needs only eight trump tricks besides the two major aces, and even if West leads a trump he can make his game — but he needs to be careful.
After the low heart lead, declarer needs to ruff with his small trumps. The ruffs in dummy (on the second and third rounds of diamonds) are relatively safe, but the spade ruffs in hand carry more jeopardy. So declarer must play the heart jack or king at trick one.
The play continues with the diamond ace and a diamond ruff low, then the spade ace and a spade ruff low. Then comes a diamond ruff with the heart six, and finally declarer can play a high cross-ruff to come to 10 tricks.
Try running the lead to your hand, or fail to take the first two diamond ruffs plus first spade low, and you will go down. So the hand is not as easy as you might think.