The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, February 2nd, 2017
This quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies And Lads and Girls Was laughter and ability and Sighing And Frocks and Curls.
Emily Dickinson
| N | North |
|---|---|
| N-S | ♠ 10 4 ♥ A 10 3 ♦ A K 9 3 ♣ J 5 4 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 7 6 ♥ Q 8 7 4 ♦ J 8 6 4 ♣ A 8 7 |
♠ K Q 9 8 3 ♥ J 6 5 ♦ 10 ♣ K 9 6 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A J 5 2 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ Q 7 5 2 ♣ Q 10 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | 1 ♠ | ||
| 2 NT | Pass | 3 NT | All pass |
♠7
Today’s deal was originally played in the International Championships in Budapest in 1937 and featured the player who would be my (and most knowledgeable people’s) first choice for the best woman player ever, Helen Sobel at her best, as declarer.
South reached three no-trump after a forcing two no-trump response on the lead of the spade seven. You might care to match wits with Sobel by covering up the East and West cards, and seeing if you would have duplicated her line.
Sobel made two winning plays on the first trick; calling for dummy’s spade 10 from dummy and then ducking East’s queen. Had she not put up the 10, East would have followed with the eight. Now whether declarer won or ducked this trick, the defenders would have been ahead in the race to establish five tricks. And had she taken the first spade, the defenders would have had communications in place to set up spades.
At trick two, after taking the continuation of the spade king with her ace, she played the club queen, hoping the club honors were split. East took this with the king and played the spade nine, taken by Sobel’s jack while she discarded a heart from dummy, as West also pitched a heart.
Then came the club 10. West won and exited with a club, taken by the jack. The diamond ace came next, followed by a diamond to the queen, and the fall of the diamond 10 meant the 4-1 split could be overcome.
Don’t insist on playing no-trump here. Start by using the fourth suit, then raise diamonds once you have set up a game force. You can always get to three no-trump later, but if you do not support diamonds at some point, you will never get to diamonds when it is right.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ A J 5 2 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ Q 7 5 2 ♣ Q 10 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♦ | Pass | |
| 1 ♠ | Pass | 2 ♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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HI Bobby,
If South doesn’t put up the S10 at T1, can’t she still duck the S8 anyway? East plays the SK now but South just takes it and plays a club. It would be different if South had a spade less and East a spade more but the 4th spade in declarer’s hand gives extra protection.
Regards,
Iain
Finding it at the table would be tough, Ian, but now east gets to be brilliant. East shifts to a club, and establishes his fourth club for 2 spades and three clubs before Mrs. Sobel can establish her second spade for 4 diamonds, two hearts, one club and two spades. In effect, ducking the first spade gives her the second via a finesse.
Does everyone know about the time, during her partnership with Charles Goren, when some one asked Mrs. Sobel how it felt to play with an expert, and she pointed at Goren and replied “Why don’t you ask him?”
Bob
Hi Bob,
Well spotted indeed, but does declarer have a way round this by feeding east 4 rounds of diamonds after taking the third club and possibly exiting with the long club to squeeze East down to SKQ and HJ alone? Accusations that this is totally double dummy are spot on,of course, and I haven’t checked it properly yet myself. Anyone who could find that defense at the table, I want on my team though.
I love the quote. Reminded me of a cricket quote about Steve and Mark Waugh, twins who played for Australia. Steve (the gutsier but less talented player) greeted an England player on debut with “What are you doing here? You’re nowhere near good enough to play for your country”. The (not totally) innocent reply was “Maybe not, but I am the best player in my family.” For the uninitiated and cynical, cricket (as traditionally played) is a long drawn out rain dance unleashed on foreign countries by the Brits to make them sign away their land in desperation; see also train spotting. No wonder the US jumped ship.
Regards,
Iain
Iain & Bob: You are both wrong. Declarer plays low from dummy, E plays the 8 & declarer ducks. E must now lead a high S, presumably the K. S wins and runs 4 D tricks. E comes down to SQ, HJx, and 4 clubs. Note that the last D trick must be won in dummy. If only S could win the last D in his hand, he could lead a S and still have time to set up a C trick. Unfortunately he can’t, so he must play a C, and he is defeated either by being allowed to win the first C or the third C, since now EW have 3 C tricks, the S won at trick one, and E still has the SQ
HI David,
Thanks for that, and I wondered why you weren’t in more quickly if there was a flaw in the column; as ever, my ability to charge into the minefield (probably without even a hammer) digs me into yet another hole. The point with the S10 and duck is to ensure 2 spade tricks, mess around with communications and to be able to take them when you want. Ducking the S8 (after low from dummy) also blows declarer’s 2nd sure spade trick.
If West had the 4th club, there might still have been chances in some lines of taking two spades and eventually throwing him in with a long club to open up hearts, but even then I was gilding the lily at best. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Iain
Hi Iain (with two encores), Bob and David,
Any one of you adds lustre to any bridge discussion, but when all three join together in cross discussion (shall we say “crossing over the bridge”) we all would do well to listen (and therefore learn) carefully.
My long life and very early entry into the bridge world, had given me the opportunity to play against Helen Sobel several times and while learning to cherish that special experience it also enabled me on one occasion (while playing against her), to hear her partner at that time Howard Schenken (summer of1960 in Los Angeles during the Spingold) ask her several times during that session, if he had bid his hand correctly.
If anyone knew Howard, it is doubtful if he ever had asked that question to anyone else, before or since, mainly because he was thought to be (at that time) and so voted in a Bridge World magazine poll, the best American bridge player ever.
And also especially to Bob, his story (undoubtedly true since way back then it was commonly remembered, the question to Helen referring to Mr. Goren was instead, “How does it feel to be playing with the best player in the world” to which she made her famous reply “of asking him”.
Public relations, like politics today, sometimes creates false images (Charles Goren was, certainly at that time instead, the most famous player around, at least in the USA, as created by the media) which often leads to editorial license sometimes thought, in peripheral facts.
The question Iain, is not whether we want some one who can spot these lines of play on our team. The question is whether they want us on theirs and we are, alas, certain of the answer.
Tell us, Bobby: did Mrs. Sobel figure out the two-way finesse by raising her skirt?
Bob
Hi Bob,
My guess is that Helen, instead of raising her skirt, chose to skirt the issue by rising with the 10 of spades.
Indeed, in her earlier days (before being hooked to bridge) she had been a chorus girl at the Radio City Music Hall where she, no doubt, learned how to take winning finesses.
She, like all of the other bridge greats (at least at that time in the USA and in her era), wasn’t a great bidder, but instead emulated a book she eventually wrote, titled “All The Tricks”.
Doing just that, while always practicing Active Ethics at the table, caused all who knew her, to show great respect, especially Charley Goren who obviously knew, how to pick the right partner.
Hi Bob,
My guess is that Helen, instead of raising her skirt, chose to skirt the issue by rising with the 10 of spades.
Indeed, in her earlier days (before being hooked to bridge) she had been a chorus girl at the Radio City Music Hall where she, no doubt, learned how to take winning finesses.
She, like all of the other bridge greats (at least at that time in the USA and in her era), wasn’t a great bidder, but instead emulated a book she eventually wrote, titled “All The Tricks”.
Doing just that, while always practicing Active Ethics at the table, caused all who knew her, to show great respect, especially Charley Goren who obviously knew, how to pick the right partner.