The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, September 20th, 2014
The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.
Bette Midler
| West | North |
|---|---|
| East-West | ♠ 3 2 ♥ 7 3 2 ♦ K 10 8 3 ♣ 9 8 6 5 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 8 ♥ Q J 10 8 4 ♦ A Q J 5 2 ♣ Q 10 |
♠ J 9 6 5 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 9 7 4 ♣ J 7 4 2 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A K Q 10 7 4 ♥ A K 6 ♦ 6 ♣ A K 3 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | Pass | Pass | |
| Dbl. | Pass | 2♣ | Pass |
| 4♠ | All pass |
♥Q
Today's deal seems to be a simple enough declarer-play problem, but there are hidden depths that make the problem more challenging than it first appears.
South has no good way to make a slam-try below the level of game. Doubling, then jumping to four spades, sounds like a moose. However, North has no reason to contemplate moving beyond game, which is just as well today.
When dummy comes down on the lead of the heart queen, South should assume that he has 10 tricks unless trumps do not break, but he needs to plan what to do in case of bad splits. He wins the heart ace, then plays the spade ace andking to reveal the bad news. Now the secret is to find a way to turn the unpromising prospects in the North or South hand into an extra trick.
First South cashes one top club (in case East has Q-J-third of clubs and forgets to drop an honor), then plays a diamond. West wins the ace and exits with a second top heart. Declarer must win and continue with the club king, followed by the club three. When East wins, he can do no better than force South with his remaining club winner. After ruffing the fourth club, South plays his remaining top spade and another spade to endplay East. That player has only diamonds left, and so declarer’s heart loser disappears on dummy’s diamond king.
Your partner set up a game-force with his two-spade call. Since you have decent club support in context and spade shortage, I think you have just enough for a call of four spades, but a simple raise to five clubs could not be faulted either. Make one of your red queens a king, and I would definitely cue-bid four spades here.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ 8 ♥ Q J 10 8 4 ♦ A Q J 5 2 ♣ Q 10 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | 1♠ | 2♣ | Pass |
| 2♦ | Pass | 2♠ | Pass |
| 3♦ | Pass | 4♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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Hi Bobby,
A minor point, but I think the C10 needs to be moved from West to East and replaced with a small one for the column description to work. As the cards lie, the CAK drop the Q10 and East is endplayed in 3 suits when he wins the third club – does he give up his trump trick, give dummy the DK or lead a club to the now-established C9? If anything, this is more fun, although I’m surprised to be this awake (albeit picky) on a Saturday morning!
Regards,
Iain
I also wondered what “club winner” East was using to force South in the fourth round of clubs, but Iain always seems to post before I do! As he noted, East gets endplayed in three suits before being endplayed in one.
Declarer may inadvertently make the contract other ways, also. For example, win the heart lead, cash the three remaining side suit tops, and then exit with something red. Now, it’s West who is endplayed in three suits!
(Note that moving Iain’s 10C does not prevent that!)
Hi Iain,
Thanks for being awake, since it is more than we were, when, as you deftly pointed out, East was in no position of having the high club with 2 of those from his partner already having fallen, leaving his jack, but not his seven for him to arrive in bridge heaven.
Of course, we did this supposed gaffe purposely, just to emphasize the various ways sometimes available which arise. If you believe that, then whether playing bridge or buying bridges is your game, but having me wrongly represent you is my name.
However, the honest good news is that often the end game offers opportunity, but it usually requires a keen and/or resourceful declarer to seek it out.
Please forgive me, as I know not what I do.
Hi Jim2,
Leaving West’s hand: s. Jxxx, h. QJ10xx, d. AQ, c. Qx, as much a possibility as any other (as long as EW were not playing Flannery), but what if, West held s. Jxx, H. QJ10xx, d. AQJ, c. Q10 or Qx, declarer must get out with a heart not a diamond.
The Empire Strikes Back!
Regards,
Darth
Hi Jim2,
Don’t forget I’m the other side of the Atlantic; if you take account of the time difference, you’re probably far more of a morning person. My post was only 9:33 a.m. UK time, so you can probably claim a moral victory there. Which zone are you in, and what is the current difference?
Regards,
Iain
I did not recommend the line of play I offered. I merely noted that declarer might make the contract inadvertently by using it in the column hand.
In the actual column hand, West would have to win declarer’s red exit and have no club as an exit. He could cash a winner in the red suit declarer had not used as an exit, but then would have to lead either trump into declarer’s tenace, a diamond to the KD, or a heart that would allow dummy to ruff ahead of East in either a ruff-sluff or East could over-ruff and lose the trump trick as declarer over-ruffs in turn.
Iain –
I am US East Coast, and I would never pretend at victory!
🙂
Beginner’s question: on the BWTA hand, is 2S showing diamond support and 4C a control bid or 2S merely GF and 4C setting the trump suit?
Hi Mircea,
Answering first, 2 spades is only a game force and is not necessarily showing diamond support, however I am talking generally and thinking educational rather than specific.
Four clubs, while not 100% setting the trump suit, strongly implies great clubs (made longer by our holding both the Q and the 10) which now implies an average of 6+ and very likely at least 7, obviously including the AK and probably the J.
Therefore partner’s inclination well could be to raise to 5 clubs with only a singleton, if only to choose the least valued hand. Therefore, in spite of the lack of high cards the club support and above all the singleton spade along with, has raised the value to a 4 spade response, now agreeing 100% on clubs.
The psychological problem of learning the high-level game:
1. Don’t overrate the ability to have enough language available (the bidding) to pinpoint as much as we want and then narrow it down to a perfect bid, which, in fact almost never exists.
2. Every bid made by your hand, needs to represent your best choice at that time. Another way to explain it is that once a bid is made in error, the whole bidding sequence becomes irreparably flawed.
3. Finally, every bid needs to be based on experienced reasoning (not always present) and under the circumstances needs to be judged on what the bidder thinks will best further describe his hand to what partner is likely wanting to know.
4. The results are only a composite of what those two partners are capable of imparting to one another, meaning in truth that two very good bidders with chemistry between them are far better than the greatest bidder of all time playing with a very good player, but from different bridge backgrounds with different cultural or, at least, original bridge learning.
The woods are full of failures between partner’s otherwise attracted to each other, but have, in fact, different views of what the game is all about.
That’s all……. folks!