The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 26th, 2017
by Bobby Wolff on
November 8th, 2017
There is endless merit in a man’s knowing when to have done.
Thomas Carlyle
| E | North |
|---|---|
| None | ♠ 10 9 4 2 ♥ Q 10 9 ♦ 8 4 ♣ 9 5 4 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ J 7 5 3 ♥ 8 5 2 ♦ Q J 10 9 2 ♣ A |
♠ K 8 6 ♥ K 7 4 3 ♦ K 7 6 3 ♣ 6 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A Q ♥ A J 6 ♦ A 5 ♣ K Q J 10 8 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | |||
| 1 ♣ | Pass | Pass | Dbl. |
| Rdbl. | 2 ♦ | 3 ♣ | Pass |
| 5 ♣ | All pass |
♦Q
The jump to three clubs sets up a game force, so there is no need to bid more than three diamonds now. Let partner produce his heart raise or probe for three no-trump at his next turn without taking away any space. Jumping to four diamonds might leave him awkwardly placed.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K 8 6 ♥ K 7 4 3 ♦ K 7 6 3 ♣ 6 3 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1 ♦ | Pass | |
| 1 ♥ | 1 ♠ | 3 ♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
In today’s deal South was not downhearted by his partner’s failure to respond to his opening bid, and still found a way to drive to game. The contract was not hopeless, but the real problem was to get to dummy and to maneuver to lose no tricks in the majors. South saw he could only get to dummy with the club nine but would then have to use this single entry to take two heart finesses and one spade finesse. Before you read on, can you see the precise sequence of plays necessary to achieve this?
Declarer wins the diamond ace, knocks out the club ace, loses a diamond, and wins the next trump in dummy. He must next lead the heart queen from dummy and unblock the jack from his own hand. This allows dummy to retain the lead for the next heart finesse. Finally, South can take the spade finesse.
Note that South would fail in his contract if he started by leading the heart nine or 10 from dummy as his initial play in that suit. East would play low and would save the heart king, for when declarer advanced dummy’s queen. This would force South to win the second heart in his own hand, and now there would be no entry to dummy for the spade finesse.
It would be equally unsuccessful to lead the heart queen and forget to throw the jack. Again, South would have to win the second heart in his own hand and kiss goodbye to dummy.