The Aces on Bridge: Monday, July 24th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
August 7th, 2017
Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles and doubt.
Dorothy Parker
| W | North |
|---|---|
| None | ♠ Q 10 9 2 ♥ 5 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ A K Q 6 4 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ J 8 5 ♥ Q 9 8 7 6 ♦ 6 5 ♣ 5 3 2 |
♠ 3 ♥ A 4 3 ♦ A K 9 8 7 3 ♣ J 9 8 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A K 7 6 4 ♥ K J 10 2 ♦ J 10 ♣ 10 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♣ | 1 ♦ | |
| 1 ♠ | Pass | 2 ♠ | Pass |
| 4 ♠ | All pass |
♦6
You should expect that declarer will have an unbalanced hand with about 15 HCP, dummy four hearts and 6-8 points. It feels wrong to play for diamond ruffs to me; instead maybe try to set up tricks in a black suit. This hand is a toss-up, but I’d go for clubs rather than spades, since partner didn’t raise the overcall.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K J 6 5 3 ♥ A 10 2 ♦ Q ♣ 10 7 3 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | |||
| 1 ♠ | Dbl. | Pass | 3 ♥ |
| All pass |
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Bridge-related
It is a cliché (and not an especially accurate one) that rules are made to be broken. What is more to the point is knowing when to apply a rule and when external events should persuade you to vary from a principle.
Today’s deal comes from last Summer’s Nationals in Washington. Everyone knows that missing four cards to an honor, it is right to play for the drop. This is based on the phrase ‘Eight ever, nine never’. But this statement about what to do when missing four trumps is only true in a vacuum. The concept is based on the vacant space principle, which gives you very slight odds of playing for the drop. However, when you get a count of a side suit, it may affect your decision one way or the other, and this hand exemplifies that theme.
When the field played four spades by South, West obediently led a diamond, in response to his partner’s overcall. This would have been a splendid moment to find the false-card of leading the five, but in real life everyone would lead the six, top of a doubleton. East cashed his three red-suit winners, and led a third diamond.
Without the clues from the auction the way forward for declarer would not be clear. As it is, though, the auction strongly suggests that declarer should ruff high, cash the other high spade and play a spade to the 10. This is because the 6-2 diamond break makes West rather more likely to have three trumps than two.