The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, February 25th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
March 11th, 2017
Once lost, Jupiter himself cannot bring back opportunity.
Phaedrus
| S | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ 10 7 2 ♥ K 5 3 ♦ K J 10 9 4 ♣ 8 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ A Q J 8 6 ♥ J 10 8 7 4 ♦ 8 ♣ J 2 |
♠ K 5 4 3 ♥ Q 6 ♦ 6 5 ♣ K Q 5 4 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 9 ♥ A 9 2 ♦ A Q 7 3 2 ♣ A 10 9 6 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | 1 ♠ | 2 ♣ * | 3 ♦ ** |
| Pass | 4 ♠ | Pass | Pass |
| 5 ♦ | Pass | Pass | Dbl. |
| All pass | trump |
*Diamonds
**limit raise in spades with four
♠A
You have far too good a hand to pass. While repeating diamonds is possible, it feels better to ask partner to describe his hand by cuebidding three spades. You would plan to raise a call in either minor or to pass a bid of three no-trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ 10 7 2 ♥ K 5 3 ♦ K J 10 9 4 ♣ 8 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♠ | Dbl. | Pass |
| 2 ♦ | Pass | 3 ♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
The following deal from the final of last year’s Gold Coast Pairs tournament produced both a good story and a missed chance.
Playing five diamonds, on the lead of ace and another spade, Liam Milne found the best way to put pressure on his opponents. Having trumped the second spade he crossed to dummy with a diamond and led a club towards his hand.
At his table East split his club honors. So Milne won and drew a second trump, then led a second club towards his hand. At the table East went up with his remaining honor and when his partner’s jack fell, declarer had the discard he needed. Incidentally, had West discarded the heart jack on the second trump, East might have worked out to duck the second club.
Against the same contract Barbara Travis (who had shown 5-5 in the majors) led the spade ace and shifted to the club jack, giving South the chance to be a hero.
The winning line is to take the club ace, lead a trump to dummy to ruff a spade, then repeat the process. Having stripped the spades you take the heart ace and king,
Now you lead a club from dummy, and when East wins the trick he is endplayed. If he plays a spade, declarer ruffs in one hand and pitches the losing heart from the other hand. If he leads a club whether it is a high or low one, declarer can set up a club winner and cross to hand with a trump to take the rest.