The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 28th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
November 10th, 2017
I have a lifetime appointment and I intend to serve it. I expect to die at 110, shot by a jealous husband.
Thurgood Marshall
| N | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ A K 9 5 3 ♥ 8 4 ♦ A 5 4 3 ♣ J 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ J 4 ♥ K 6 5 2 ♦ — ♣ K Q 9 8 5 4 2 |
♠ Q 10 6 ♥ J 10 9 3 ♦ K Q ♣ A 10 6 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 8 7 2 ♥ A Q 7 ♦ J 10 9 8 7 6 2 ♣ — |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♠ | Pass | ||
| 4 ♦ | Pass | 5 ♦ | All |
| pass |
♣K
If you play 2/1 game forcing, you are already in a game force, of course. The two heart bid suggests weak length with no convenient call. You cannot bid no-trump without a stopper, and raising clubs would show three, so all that is left is a two spade call. This does not guarantee six, and at least your main values are here.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ A K 9 5 3 ♥ 8 4 ♦ A 5 4 3 ♣ J 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♠ | Pass | 2 ♣ | Pass |
| 2 ♦ | Pass | 2 ♥ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
This deal might represent some kind of record. I frequently used deals played by the giants of the game, but it is relatively rare to receive a deal that was played 80 years ago.
Tony Priday of England died a few years ago, having dominated the international scene in England through the seventies and eighties, and having then become a much respected non-playing captain. When he learned bridge at school the pupils used Mahjongg tiles in place of cards, regarded at that time as ‘the devil’s playthings’.
In today’s deal splinters were 30 years away from being invented. When North opened one spade, Priday was able to jump to four diamonds, natural and pre-emptive, and was raised to five diamonds.
When West led the club king, East made a thoughtful but catastrophic play when he overtook with the ace, hoping that he could lead a heart through declarer. However, Priday could ruff with the diamond six, then lead the trump seven to the ace, to find the bad news.
Undaunted, Priday saw that he would still be able to make his game so long as he could keep East off lead till spades were established. So he advanced the club jack and discarded a spade from hand. Since West was unable to attack hearts successfully, Priday could ruff out the spades, using a high trump again, then knock out the master trump. Now he could cross to the diamond three and discard two hearts from hand on the spades.