The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, March 15th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
March 29th, 2017
Philosophers are people who know less and less about more and more, until they know nothing about everything. Scientists are people who know more and more about less and less, until they know everything about nothing.
Konrad Lorenz
| S | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ Q 4 3 ♥ J 9 6 4 2 ♦ K Q ♣ Q J 5 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ J 9 8 5 ♥ 10 ♦ J 10 9 7 ♣ K 9 8 4 |
♠ A 10 6 2 ♥ K Q 5 ♦ 5 2 ♣ 10 7 3 2 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ K 7 ♥ A 8 7 3 ♦ A 8 6 4 3 ♣ A 6 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 NT | Pass | 2 ♦ * | Pass |
| 3 ♥ | Pass | 4 ♥ | All pass |
*hearts
♦J
The right minimum opener for your partner gives you excellent play for slam – if partner has the missing honors in the red suits for example. That means you should not jump to game; instead start by bidding a forcing three diamonds. If partner signs off in three hearts, give up on slam, but if he shows signs of life, I might risk the five level to explore for slam.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K 7 ♥ A 8 7 3 ♦ A 8 6 4 3 ♣ A 6 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | Pass | ||
| 1 ♥ | Pass | 2 ♥ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
There is nothing I appreciate more than receiving a deal from friends and colleagues – especially one that shows the true experts falling from grace. And my readers should realize that if the top players can err, there is hope for everyone.
David Gurvich was watching a match in the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams match between Mahaffey and the Texan Aces last spring in Reno. At both tables, South declared four hearts on the lead of the diamond jack to dummy’s queen. East’s diamond five at trick one would be true count – but it is of course very hard to read.
Both declarers led ace and another heart, a line that would succeed unless hearts were 3-1 with no singleton honor to the right, and the club finesse was failing. But today was that unlucky day.
A far better approach is to lead a heart from dummy at trick two, covering East’s five. While there are some unlucky lies of the cards where this would fail, in practice West will win the heart 10, and return a diamond. When East follows suit, you can guarantee the contract by leading a heart to the ace.
When West discards, you simply ruff a diamond in dummy. It does East no good to over-ruff, because you have entries back to hand to pitch clubs on the two good diamonds. But if East does not over-ruff, play a third trump yourself. You can win the club return, and again discard both of dummy’s club losers on your good diamonds.