The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, March 24th, 2015
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
William Blake
| South | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ J 6 ♥ A 8 6 4 ♦ A 7 ♣ K Q 9 8 5 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 5 3 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ J 10 8 5 2 ♣ A 10 2 |
♠ K 8 2 ♥ J 10 7 ♦ K Q 9 4 ♣ J 6 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A Q 10 9 7 4 ♥ Q 5 3 ♦ 6 3 ♣ 7 4 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2♠ | Pass | 4♠ | All pass |
♦J
When you bid them up you have to play them well. A pushy bidding sequence (North is really worth no more than an invitation to game) saw South arrive in four spades, against which West led the diamond jack.
Declarer rose with dummy’s ace then ran the spade jack, which held. East did well to break the rules by not covering, as the chances of West having the spade 10 was relatively low. A finesse of the trump queen was also successful, and declarer pulled East’s last trump before leading a club to dummy’s king. However, he now had no convenient way to exit dummy.
He tried a heart to the queen, but West took the king then played a diamond to East’s queen. East played the heart jack, ducked by declarer, then astutely returned a club for West to take with the ace – on any other return South’s club loser vanishes on the 13th heart.
Having won the diamond lead South should have played the spade jack, and have overtaken with the queen, then led a club towards dummy. If West ducks, the king wins, and another spade finesse puts South back in hand, ready to lead another club, after cashing the trump ace.
The best West can do is duck smoothly, but declarer has no real option but to go up with the queen, hoping that the ace is onside. Assuming he does so, he will mae his contract in comfort.
An easy one this morning. Rather than rebid a five-card club suit, however chunky it might appear, it is almost always better to rebid one no-trump, and since you do have a quasi-balanced minimum with stoppers in both red suits, that shouldn’t be too painful. And just for the record, a call of two hearts is a reverse, since it forces partner to the three-level to give preference to clubs, and shows 17+ with this shape.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ J 6 ♥ A 8 6 4 ♦ A 7 ♣ K Q 9 8 5 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♠ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
Hi Bobby,
Nice play problem (for my level) in the column hand. On the BWTA hand, is a 2S raise reasonable if the D7 was S7, so South’s hand is now:
J 7 6
A 8 6 4
A
K Q 9 8 5
I’m still not clear when is it OK to raise responder’s major on three cards.
Hi Mircea1,
You’ve hit a subject in which, I am very biased.
Whenever possible and faced with a choice, I am in favor of raising a major suit with only 3 trumps. While most tend to shy away from playing a 4-3 fit, that fear IMO is vastly overrated.
However to allay those fears of having to do so, the only 4-3 fit you will have to endure is playing at the 2 level, since, once the opener has raised one to two, the responder, except in very rare cases, will not rebid his raised major suit if he continues on, but rather offer his partner a choice of contracts if a higher level is sought. Examples: A10x, KJxx, QJxx, xx after partner opens 1 club and raises 1 heart to 2, merely bid 2NT, NF and only holding 4 hearts, then passing a return to 3 hearts or instead a raise to either 3NT or jump to 4 hearts (which would, of course, show 4 trumps).
The one exception against immediately raising would be: AQxx AKx, xx, Jxxx, when holding 4 spades, prefer rebidding 1 spade over a 1 heart response to your 1 club opening, otherwise an 8 card fit (spades) may get lost in the gloaming.
On the hand in question, since partner should respond 1 heart when holding both 4 card majors, nothing will be lost by rebidding 1 spade with 4-3 in the majors. However, if the bidding continues, you will definitely support partner’s hearts next round unless partner immediately supports spades (which would always show at least 4).
Like a trial judge would cry out in a divorce case: “Support, support, support” if for no other reason than it making your partner happy and when given a choice, is almost always the most constructive bid.
Good luck!
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Bobby. Just a quick follow up question, if I may: would you still raise if the 3 cards are all small?
Hi Mircea1,
Any three will do ya! As you get deeper and deeper in learning high-level bridge, the values one have help in almost all suits, but in trumps, while still sometimes important, it is the length that matters, even without any honors.
Especially so, when tricks with trumps demand cross ruffing while still not losing the battle in the side suits because of strength. Every hand is usually somewhat different, but the more trumps the better, even without much strength.
My telling you this is not nearly as valuable as your upcoming experiences will be.
Cheers!