The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, November 4th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
November 17th, 2017
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
Willie Nelson
| S | North |
|---|---|
| E-W | ♠ K J 10 9 7 ♥ K 7 5 ♦ 9 2 ♣ 7 6 4 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 8 5 ♥ Q 9 4 ♦ J 8 5 3 ♣ Q 10 8 2 |
♠ A Q 4 2 ♥ J 6 2 ♦ Q 10 7 ♣ J 9 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 6 3 ♥ A 10 8 3 ♦ A K 6 4 ♣ A K 5 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | Pass | 1 ♠ | Pass |
| 2 NT | Pass | 3 ♣* | Pass |
| 3 ♥ | Pass | 3 ♠ | Pass |
| 3 NT | All pass |
*Checkback
♣2
As a passed hand, you have more than enough to join in with two spades here. Because you passed rather than pre-empting on your first turn, you have already indirectly limited your hand and suit strength. The call of two spades here suggests a reasonable five-card suit and a moderate hand, and you have both, in that your three-card club tolerance gives partner an escape route if necessary.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K J 10 9 7 ♥ K 7 5 ♦ 9 2 ♣ 7 6 4 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♦ | 2 ♣ | 2 ♦ |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
Part of Goldilocks’ rent payment, apart from an extended duty cleaning dishes, is listening to the convoluted stories that the Three Bears bring back from the bridge club.
When this deal was played at their club, all three were sitting East, so they had the chance to compare results over the next morning’s porridge.
Papa Bear had seen nothing of interest in the deal at all. “I was a little surprised to score below average here. My partner found his only decent lead of the night — a small club. I won my jack and continued the suit, then took the spade jack with my queen and continued the attack on clubs, but declarer won and eventually drove out my spade ace. Since there was no way to reach my partner’s hand, South came to nine tricks easily enough.”
Mama Bear told her story next. “If I had been lucky enough to win the first club, I would have known to shift to hearts to try to kill dummy’s entry, or even shift to diamonds. My declarer took the first trick and ducked the next club, and now it was too late for the defense.”
“Not at my table!” interrupted Baby Bear. “My partner also led a club. Declarer won the trick and led a spade to the jack, which I ducked. He crossed to hand in hearts and led a spade up, which I won and reverted to clubs. Declarer could set up a long heart, but still had only eight tricks, since he did not have the entries to establish spades.”