Houston Chronicle

ACES ON BRIDGE

- By Bobby Wolff

Do you like South’s response of three no-trump to the opening one-club bid? I cannot say I’m too enthusiast­ic about it, myself. The point is that your heart holding suggests that partner might be better off as declarer. And when your RHO passes over one club, wouldn’t you want him on lead rather than LHO — who might have a better idea of what to lead against a final contract of three notrump? I’d prefer to respond one diamond here and let partner get no-trump in at his own convenienc­e. After a spade lead by West, declarer finds himself distressin­gly short of straw from which to put together some bricks. He plays the spade jack from dummy, and the first blow comes when East covers with the queen. South cannot afford to duck, for fear of losing four heart tricks on the go. If clubs break 3-3, declarer needs only three diamond tricks. But if they don’t, he will need some help in that suit, both from a friendly lie of the cards and friendly opponents. When South leads the diamond queen from his hand at trick two, West must not cover with the king, for that would allow dummy to win the ace and declarer to successful­ly finesse the nine. If West ducks the diamond king, then although declarer can set up three diamond tricks, he cannot do so without losing a trick in the process. The defenders simply set up spades, and declarer has just eight tricks when clubs do not behave.

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