The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 30, 2010
Dealer: East
Vul: N-S |
North | ||||
♠ | 6 4 2 | ||||
♥ | 2 | ||||
♦ | A K 7 5 4 3 | ||||
♣ | J 9 2 | ||||
West | East | ||||
♠ | 10 9 | ♠ | K Q 8 5 3 | ||
♥ | A Q 6 4 3 | ♥ | 9 7 5 | ||
♦ | 10 9 8 2 | ♦ | J | ||
♣ | 10 3 | ♣ | K Q 8 7 | ||
South | |||||
♠ | A J 7 | ||||
♥ | K J 10 8 | ||||
♦ | Q 6 | ||||
♣ | A 6 5 4 |
South | West | North | East |
1 ♠ | |||
1 NT | 2 ♥ | 3 NT | All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♠ 10
“Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.”
— Jonathan Swift
Wales’ two leading teams met in the 64-board final, which featured a husband and wife (Filip and Diane Kurbalija) on opposite sides. The best journalist hand of the match fell to a member of the losing team, Patrick Jourdain, who was declarer.
Against South’s no-trump game, the spade 10 went to East’s queen (yes, ducking might have been a better play), and Jourdain ducked. A switch to the heart nine was covered by jack and queen. Now West switched to a low diamond, attempting to cut communication with dummy.
Jourdain won with the queen and played a high heart, pitching a diamond from the board. West won and played a second diamond (a club would have defeated the contract, but was not easy to find). Jourdain won dummy’s ace and cashed the diamond king, disposing of a club. He then finessed the spade jack and cashed his two hearts, throwing a diamond from dummy.
What could East discard in the four-card ending? If he threw a club, Jourdain would play ace and another club, scoring up the last two tricks in hand with the spade ace and good club. So East came down to a singleton spade. But now Jourdain cashed the spade ace to remove East’s exit card (West throwing a heart), then led a small club. When West played low, Jourdain put in dummy’s nine. East won and had to return a small club, which ran around to dummy’s jack for declarer’s ninth trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
♠ | A J 7 |
♥ | K J 10 8 |
♦ | Q 6 |
♣ | A 6 5 4 |
South | West | North | East |
1 ♣ | 1 ♦ | ||
1 ♥ | Pass | 1 ♠ | Pass |
2 ♦ | Pass | 3 ♣ | Pass |
? |
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].