The Aces on Bridge: Friday, August 28, 2009

Dealer: East Vul: E/W		North
		♠	J 10 4 3
		♥	A K 8 3
		♦	8 4
		♣	10 6 3
West				East
♠	—			♠	A 9 7 6
♥	6 4			♥	Q 10 9 5 2
♦	A J 10 7 3			♦	5 2
♣	A K 9 7 5 4			♣	J 8
		South
		♠	K Q 8 5 2
		♥	J 7
		♦	K Q 9 6
		♣	Q 2

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1♠	2 NT	3♠	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣K

“Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at becoming incompetent.”

— Laurence J. Peter

To commemorate the Bermuda Bowl now being held in Sao Paulo, today’s deal comes from last year’s World Championships.

Results for this deal from the quarter-finals were all over the place. One East bought the hand in two clubs (don’t ask!); one West drove to five clubs down 200; one West was doubled in four clubs, also for minus 200.

One North-South pair played four spades, down two; but the most interesting popular contract was three spades, a Goldilocks contract — not too low, not too high, just right! Where I was watching, the Italian World Champions were defending. West led three rounds of clubs, ruffed and overruffed. That neutralized East’s potential trump trick. Declarer could arrange to ruff hearts low in hand and diamonds high in dummy, making nine tricks.

In another room the Chinese West also overcalled two no-trump and balanced with a double of three spades, which his partner passed as a gamble. After three rounds of clubs, ruffed and overruffed, declarer played the side-suits, ruffing diamonds high and spades low for plus 530.

In England vs. Romania, both Wests led three rounds of clubs against three spades, and both Easts ruffed in and were overruffed. In each case declarer handled the trump spots sensibly to bring home nine tricks.

In retrospect it is a little surprising that none of the Easts noticed they had a sure-fire way to set three spades. Discarding a diamond on the third club allows them to collect their ruff.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact theLoneWolff@bridgeblogging.com. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact reprints@unitedmedia.com.