Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, November 5th, 2011

by admin on November 19th, 2011
Dealer: East

Vul: North-South

 North

♠ J 9 3

♥ 10 9

♦ K 7 6 4 3 2

♣ K 5
West

♠ K Q 6

♥ K J 6 3 2

♦ 10 9

♣ A 7 6

 East

♠ A 10 8 7 5 4

♥ 7

♦ Q 8 5

♣ Q 10 8
South

♠ 2

♥ A Q 8 5 4

♦ A J

♣ J 9 4 3 2

 

South West North East
      2 ♠
3 ♥ All Pass    
       
       

Opening Lead: Spade King

“Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

— Thornton Wilder

Today’s deal comes from the Manhattan Bridge Club heat of the New York sectional this summer. East-West were playing an announced hyperaggressive weak-two style where they opened five-card suits almost regardless of suit quality. Hence, West’s decision not to compete to three spades — though maybe if playing this style, East should have balanced with a double of three hearts.

 

Barry Rigal, playing with Jacqui Slifka, ruffed the second spade, led a club to the king, cashed the diamond ace and king, and led a low club from the board. East, caught napping, ducked and the jack forced West’s ace. That player got off lead with a third spade. (A club is probably a better play, but it does not work as the cards lie.)

 

Rigal ruffed, ruffed a club, and had reached a five-card ending where he needed three tricks to make his contract. He led a diamond from dummy, and when East followed suit, he knew that player’s precise shape, and therefore that West was down to five trumps. So he discarded a club, and West was forced to ruff his partner’s winner and lead a trump (thus extracting his partner’s last trump). Dummy’s 10 won the trick, and declarer led another diamond to pitch another club.

 

West was forced to ruff again and, as a final indignity, was now endplayed for a second time, conceding the last two trumps to declarer: contract made!

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ J 9 3
♥ 10 9
♦ K 7 6 4 3 2
♣ K 5

 

South West North East
    1 ♣ Pass
1 ♦ Pass 1 ♠ Pass
2 ♦ Pass 2 ♥ Pass
?      
ANSWER: Your partner’s sequence shows a strong hand, somewhere in the range of 16-18 with five clubs and four spades. He is looking for a heart stop or some other feature of your hand. My instinct would be to give delayed spade support with a two-spade bid. It is economical and gives your partner room to advance.

 

For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

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