The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
by Bobby Wolff on
June 19th, 2012
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends…
Lennon and McCartney
| South | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ A 10 6 2 ♥ A 9 ♦ A K J 10 5 4 ♣ Q |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ Q 8 5 4 ♥ 5 2 ♦ Q 9 8 7 3 2 ♣ 8 |
♠ K J 3 ♥ K J 10 8 6 3 ♦ — ♣ K 9 5 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 9 7 ♥ Q 7 4 ♦ 6 ♣ A J 10 7 6 4 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | Pass | 1♦ | 1♥ |
| 2♣ | Pass | 2♠ | Pass |
| 3♣ | Pass | 3♥ | Dbl. |
| 3 NT | All pass |
♥5
This is a minimum for a game-forcing jump-shift to two spades, showing five-plus diamonds and four spades. With a singleton heart and doubleton club, I might take the pessimistic decision to rebid one spade. But as it is, I think the jump to two spades gets the whole hand off my chest at one go — never a bad idea.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ A 10 6 2 ♥ A 9 ♦ A K J 10 5 4 ♣ Q |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♦ | Pass | 1♥ | Pass |
| ? |
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related
I apologize in advance for this personal set of deals this week from last year's Senior Trials, but most of them show my teammates in a good light rather than me.
Here is one example. In this deal I played three no-trump after introducing my clubs as a passed hand. I received the lead of the heart five and decided to rise with the ace in case East won the heart king and shifted to a spade, which I thought could set up too many winners for the defenders.
I cashed the diamond ace at trick two to find exceedingly bad news. Hoping for the best, I ran the club queen, which held, then led out the diamond 10 to West’s queen. Back came a heart to West’s king, and the defenders cleared hearts, leaving me with just eight tricks. Although there was no legitimate play for nine tricks, this looked like a depressing result, but fortunately I had teammates to help me out.
In the other room South opened three clubs and North used Blackwood, driving to slam. East, Arnie Fisher, found a Lightner double for the diamond lead, and South (in need of a swing) redoubled. West, Fred Hamilton obediently led a diamond, and Fisher ruffed and returned a trump. Declarer went up with the ace and cleared the trumps, but still had to lose a trick in the majors for a penalty of 1000 and a gain for our team of 14 IMPs.