The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 11th, 2013
For men improve with the years;
And yet, and yet,
Is this my dream, or the truth?
W.B. Yeats
| South | North |
|---|---|
| North-South | ♠ A J 8 7 5 4 2 ♥ — ♦ 8 4 3 ♣ J 10 8 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 9 ♥ Q J 6 3 2 ♦ K 6 ♣ A K 7 5 3 |
♠ — ♥ A 10 8 5 ♦ J 10 9 7 2 ♣ Q 9 6 4 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ K Q 10 6 3 ♥ K 9 7 4 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠ | 2♠* | 4♠ | 5♥ |
| Dbl. | Pass | 5♠ | All pass |
*Michaels, promising hearts and a minor.
♣K
Against five spades West leads the club ace followed by the king, which you ruff. How do you plan to make 11 tricks when it is West who has the outstanding trump?
Can you do better than taking the diamond finesse?
A solution that wins whenever West has the heart ace is to crossruff hearts and clubs, coming back to hand with trumps as required. At trick nine, lead the heart king to West’s ace, discarding a diamond from table. West has to concede an extra trick no matter what he plays. If he plays a diamond, then you have two diamond tricks, and if he plays a club or a heart, you will throw a diamond from the table and ruff in hand with your last trump. After cashing the diamond ace, dummy’s two remaining trumps will be high.
However, as you expect West to have 10 cards in hearts and clubs, and thus at most two diamonds, the play that wins against any distribution is to ruff a heart, draw the trump in hand, ruff a heart, ruff dummy’s last club, ruff a third heart, cash the diamond ace, and ruff the fourth heart.
Next comes a diamond, and you put up the queen when East follows low. Here, West takes your queen with his king but has no safe exit card. Whether he exits with a club or a heart, you ruff in hand and discard dummy’s last diamond.
It is reasonable to double to get both majors into play, but my choice would be to overcall one spade, planning to double or bid hearts at my next turn — if there is one — to get both my suits in, in the correct order. The problem with doubling is that if the opponents raise clubs, we might have to overbid considerably at our next turn to compete efficiently.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K Q 10 6 3 ♥ K 9 7 4 ♦ A Q 5 ♣ 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | |||
| ? |
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Hi Bobby,
I like this sort of hand – if the diamond finesse is right, you don’t need to take it! I love bridge’s quirks.
Regards,
Iain Climie
If West had led a heart, declarer would not have had to take the diamond finesse either.
Hi Iain & Jim2,
Iain, just call it an improved way to take a finesse, begetting a quite different and successful result.
Jim2, you are merely referring to an opening lead which allows the declarer a loser on loser play which allows the contract making trick to be assured.
Both of your comments verified Yeats’ wonderful quote, “For men improve with the years and yet, and yet, Is this the dream, or the truth”? The truth, as all high-level players have learned to become.
Um, “merely”?! Huh! [imagine some genteel noise]