ACES ON BRIDGE
“No man is good enough to govern another man without that man’s consent.”
— Abraham Lincoln .....................
Here is another deal from the 2022 Bermuda Bowl. North’s four-spade call was practical, but even with the diamond ace onside, the contract was poor. However, England’s Mike Bell managed to find a way home by exploiting his club spots.
Maybe West should have led a trump, given his heart stoppers and dangerous other holdings, but he chose the club king. Bell won with the club ace and ran the heart king for a diamond discard. He probably could not take three ruffs in dummy, and if he were to score only two ruffs, he would most likely need at least one heart trick.
West won the heart with his ace and now found the trump shift, taken in dummy. This limited declarer to one ruff on the table, as the defense would continue trumps when they took their minor-suit tricks. However, declarer now made the key play of running the club eight to West’s nine before winning the next trump in hand and advancing the club jack to pin East’s 10. After ruffing away West’s king, he pitched a diamond on the heart queen and led a diamond to the king.
How did Bell guess to pin the club 10 rather than lead a low club to ruff out kingqueen-nine tripleton on his left? If West held only three clubs, he would have begun with four hearts in a 4-3-3-3 shape. So, he could not prevent East from taking the diamond ace and granting his partner a club ruff.
Also, East had produced the club five on the second round. He probably would have followed with the club three if he had it.
ANSWER: You must take action with a hand this strong even though there is risk involved. The question is how you should act. Four hearts seems mainstream, but there is much to be said for three no-trump. You have the spades doubly stopped, and your unexceptional shape means you might have the same nine tricks in no-trump and hearts. Will you sit for it if doubled? Watch this space.
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com. Copyright 2023, Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS