The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 15, 2010
Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North | ||||
♠ | K 10 9 | ||||
♥ | A 6 5 3 | ||||
♦ | K 7 5 2 | ||||
♣ | K 2 | ||||
West | East | ||||
♠ | 7 6 5 4 | ♠ | A Q 3 | ||
♥ | Q 8 7 2 | ♥ | 9 | ||
♦ | J | ♦ | 8 4 | ||
♣ | J 9 7 3 | ♣ | A Q 10 8 6 5 4 | ||
South | |||||
♠ | J 8 2 | ||||
♥ | K J 10 4 | ||||
♦ | A Q 10 9 6 3 | ||||
♣ | — |
South | West | North | East |
2♣* | |||
2♦ | 4♣ | 5♦ | All Pass |
*Clubs, 11-15 points |
Opening Lead: ♥2
“At every word a reputation dies.”
— Alexander Pope
On this deal from the 1999 Cavendish Pairs, three no-trump by North is as good a spot as any (if the opponents let you play there), assuming the auction has marked East with both black aces. On a passive diamond lead, you can run the heart jack to establish a ninth winner painlessly.
If you are going to play a suit game, reaching four hearts may not be all that easy, particularly if East-West can pre-empt actively in clubs, as happened at our featured table. And of course the five-club sacrifice would be extremely cheap.
Fred Gitelman found a great extra chance in five diamonds, giving East the missed opportunity for an equally fine defense. West led a heart, providing declarer with a helpful start. Gitelman won in hand, crossed to dummy with a trump to ruff a club, drew a second trump, and then cashed the heart ace to get the bad news that he had a slow heart loser. Now he found the neat maneuver of leading the club king, on which he discarded a low spade from hand. East won his club ace (ducking does not help) and had to avoid giving a ruff-sluff.
So he cashed the spade ace and led another spade, playing his partner for the spade jack, and now Gitelman had a home for his heart loser on dummy’s spade winner — contract made. To beat the game, East had to find the unusual play of underleading his spade A-Q. That would have left declarer with an inevitable loser in each major.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
♠ | K 10 9 |
♥ | A 6 5 3 |
♦ | K 7 5 2 |
♣ | K 2 |
South | West | North | East |
1♦ | 1♥ | 1♠ | 2♥ |
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].