The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
by Bobby Wolff on
August 15th, 2012
As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
Samuel Johnson
| North | North |
|---|---|
| Neither | ♠ J 6 2 ♥ A K 4 2 ♦ 2 ♣ A K J 6 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ K 9 8 4 ♥ Q J 5 ♦ Q 9 6 4 ♣ 10 9 |
♠ A 5 ♥ 10 9 8 6 3 ♦ K 8 7 ♣ 7 5 4 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ Q 10 7 3 ♥ 7 ♦ A J 10 5 3 ♣ Q 8 3 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | ||
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♥ | Pass |
| 2 NT | Pass | 3♠ | Pass |
| 3 NT | All pass |
♦4
Your choices are to raise spades to whatever level you think appropriate, to cuebid in hearts to show a limit raise, or to jump in diamonds. This last call in a competitive auction should be a fit-jump suggesting precisely this amount of spade support and a source of tricks in diamonds. So it would be my choice.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ Q 10 7 3 ♥ 7 ♦ A J 10 5 3 ♣ Q 8 3 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | 1♠ | 2♣ | |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
It is unusual if there is no Zia coup to report from a tournament in which he is participating. At the 2008 Buffet Bridge Cup he did not let us down.
The hand is from the Individual, and the scoring was by Point-a-Board. That meant that overtricks and undertricks were just as important as bidding to the best contract. In turn, this led to players going for the jugular.
A word on the auction: Nowadays many players introduce a major before a minor, even when the minor is stronger — or even longer — on hands worth just one bid. That is why Zia preferred one spade to one diamond as his initial response.
The no-trump game can be beaten by a heart lead. The defenders can set up hearts before a spade trick can be established. However, since North was marked with a singleton diamond at most, there was little reason for West to look further for a lead. The diamond four went to the two and king, and now nine tricks are available if the ace is played. But Zia ducked, following with a deceptive diamond five!
A heart return would still have seen the defense win out. But East saw no reason to switch, given the relative strengths of dummy’s red suits, so he returned a diamond to the 10 and queen. Fully taken in, West continued with diamonds rather than cashing out spades, enabling Zia to wrap up an overtrick to secure the full point.