The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, March 10, 2010

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

 

South	West	North	East
		Pass	Pass
4♠	Pass	Pass	4 NT*
Pass	5♣	5♠	Pass
Pass	Dbl.	All Pass

*Two-suited takeout including diamonds

Opening Lead:♥K

“We’ve trod the maze of error round,

It only shows us where we strayed.”

— George Crabbe

Eddie Kantar, in his book “Kantar on Kontract” (at kantarbridge.com) remarks that when almost every player in a championship event makes the same defensive error on the same hand, you begin to realize the game cannot be played mechanically; there is still a premium for clear thinking.

When this deal was played in the Blue Ribbon Pairs one year, many Souths bought the contract in four or five spades and invariably made five, even though there are three inescapable heart losers. What happened?

Apparently every West player who saw partner play the heart 10 at trick one couldn’t wait to cash the ace and try to give partner a ruff. What partner was supposed to ruff with remains a mystery. Surely South has seven spades for his vulnerable pre-empt, which leaves East with a void. If West leads any card other than the heart ace at trick two, the hand can be defeated, as South cannot avoid three heart losers.

There is a lesson here. Think before you play, and if the bidding tells you that partner is void in trumps, it is probably not a great idea to try to give him a ruff. Yes, partner might have had the Q-10 of hearts in a long suit, but where are declarer’s heart losers going? If declarer has four small hearts, he will not be able to discard all his losers on winners from dummy, so you can sit back and wait to collect your heart winners at the end of the hand.

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.