The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 5th, 2015
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And, baffled, get up and begin again.
Robert Browning
| South | North |
|---|---|
| East-West | ♠ Q 10 4 ♥ K 7 2 ♦ J 10 9 5 ♣ Q 8 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 9 8 6 3 ♥ A Q J 10 9 ♦ A 6 ♣ 5 4 |
♠ 5 ♥ 8 5 4 3 ♦ 8 7 4 3 2 ♣ A 9 6 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A K J 7 2 ♥ 6 ♦ K Q ♣ K J 10 3 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♠ | 2♥ | 2♠ | 3♥ |
| 4♠ | All pass |
♥A
In today's deal the slip that declarer made was an elementary one, but the play seemed so straightforward that many players would relax, expecting to have 10 tricks on top, and would not see the significance of their mistake.
Against four spades West decided to go for a forcing defense by leading the heart ace then queen. It looks normal for South to take this with the king and discard a club from hand, assuming that he would simply lose the two minor-suit aces in the fullness of time.
This was what our declarer did, but he paid for his carelessness by going down. He drew two rounds of trump to find the bad news, then advanced the diamond king, and West won the first diamond (if he ducks, declarer reverts to clubs and survives unscathed) and played a third heart to reduce declarer to trump equality with him. Now declarer tried the club king. When East ducked, declarer played a second club and East won and gave his partner a club ruff. Had declarer drawn trump before playing a second club, the defenders could have run the hearts when in with the club ace.
The correct discard at trick two is a diamond. Declarer then draws trumps and continues by playing on clubs. The defenders can take their ace and force declarer again, but he runs his winners and concedes trick 13 to the diamond ace. In retrospect it is hard to imagine why one would take any other approach…and yet, the mistake is hardly an unreasonable one.
You might look for an alternative to leading a doubleton honor into a hand that has promised at least one heart guard. But here any choice looks just as dangerous, and the one thing you know about a heart lead is that you are planning to set up a long suit, to which partner will have an entry. So lead the heart jack.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
| ♠ J 7 2 ♥ J 4 ♦ Q 7 5 2 ♣ 8 5 4 3 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | 1 NT | ||
| All pass |
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related
Funny how everyone would get it easily right if they did not have the D Q. I am quite sure I would have tripped at the table.
Hi Arun,
You make an important psychological point and I’ll even carry if further. What if (those two key words again) declarer possessed the Qx of diamonds instead of the KQ?
Now his side will have started life (at least bridge and on this hand) with 4 obvious losers, would there be any doubt as to his discard at trick 2? Heavens no, after the defense started with 2 rounds of hearts, declarer would sit up in his chair, discard a losing diamond and make his opponents feel as bad as he could make them, with the result alone, not his triumphant behavior, shouting out.
Perhaps this hand should be a beacon, to all who do not have the natural instincts, in acquiring them. Yes, often hands are cold, whichever way we go, especially when suits split (trumps in this case 3-2 instead of 4-1).
However, I, justifiably or not, playing the mentor’s role, will state that numeracy is the trait which makes this hand easy for some but not so for others.
True, clubs could be 5-0, but that is very unlikely, especially considering the defense, so that the winning play should stand out, and when you so candidly admit that you might have tripped, you now know what you need to work on and, like riding a bike, once learned, never forgotten, and barring concentration lapses you will forever be a more effective player.
Arun, you, my good friend, by virtue of your honesty, may have begun to turn corners making your bridge future shine much more brightly. And with it, our wonderful game will soon take you over with much pleasure and less anguish, happily in store for you.
Hi Bobby,The wheel came off on this last hand tonight(pairs),in the bidding~Ewvul dealer E,playing 4card majors,weak NT,South 7 AK93 AJ85 Q854~North QJ5432 74 7 KJ63.E pass S 1H W pass N 1S,E pass S 2C(2D possibly?),W pass N 3C(?),E pass S 3N W pass N 4S-2 bottom,costs us first place.I think North could have bid 2S or pass 2C,is it hindsight?2S shows extra in our system,3C 10-11(I thought)pard thought he had shape..to bid 3C.If 2S opposite 1H is weak,would you have bid it? 2S n 2C makes.Regards~Patrick.NB 2C11-16 or bad 17 possible.
Hi Patrick,
How about: South 1 heart, P North 1 spade, P
South 2 diamonds, P, N 2 spades, all pass. If South rebids 2 clubs instead of 2 diamonds, then it is perhaps a tossup whether North rebids 2 spades (does not show club support) or 3 clubs, but if he does, South should pass either bid.
Especially at pairs all partnerships should try and go plus at the low levels, once in a while missing a good game, but more times than not, playing in a final conservative contract with a hoped for make.
I do love a good 4 card major system and believe that it is the best way to play, both for immediate preemption when a fit is found and for flexibility by being able to get better leads after opening strong suits, e.g 1 heart on AK93.
Suspect minor suit openings are often poor for opening lead purposes, but of course the big advantage is the higher ranked suit bid early leads to difficulty for the opponents and tactical advantage to the opening bidder.
Sorry you lost first place, but both N & S overbid on that last hand.
There is another line of play that works just fine: S ;ruffs the 2d H & draws trump, exhausting all hands of trumps. Now he leads C. If someone wins either of the first 2 rounds, no problem, the play is similar to what you describe as what declarer should have done. If the opponents don’t play CA on either of the first 2 leads, S now plays D & contract rolls home. I don’t think there’s any real difference between the 2 lines, but it is useful to note.
Hi Bobby,Your comments are much appreciated,sometimes one can try too hard and frustration takes over,at the end of the day our health is more important..Thanks again for your helpful comments.Best Regards~Patrick.
Hi David & Patrick,
Thanks David for your useful analysis, which is more than just window dressing, and in reality often occurs, consequently a learning reinforcement, emphasizing that a winning line
can and does sometimes appear in slightly different forms, all of which gets the job done.
And to Patrick, truer words are not spoken often enough, and we all have to be careful not to over play our emotional involvement, since 100%, our health is more important than even a bridge game, and though sometimes the task of the moment becomes paramount to life or death ranking, in actuality it is better to relax and live to fight another day.
Your conscientiousness drives you too far and while I will always choose you to steer my space ship, the secret is to lessen the space travel and just enjoy daily living with more laughs and less dread. God Bless!