The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
John Locke
| North | North |
|---|---|
| East-West | ♠ A ♥ 8 6 5 4 ♦ A 2 ♣ A K 8 6 3 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ K Q J 9 7 5 ♥ Q 10 3 ♦ Q J 7 ♣ 5 |
♠ 4 2 ♥ 9 7 ♦ 10 9 8 6 3 ♣ J 10 9 7 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ 10 8 6 3 ♥ A K J 2 ♦ K 5 4 ♣ Q 4 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | ||
| 1♥ | 1♠ | 3♠ | Pass |
| 4♦ | Pass | 4♥ | Pass |
| 4 NT | Pass | 5♣ | Pass |
| 5♥ | Pass | 6♥ | All pass |
♠K
In today's deal the three little pigs all found their way to a six-heart slam on a top spade lead from West. The pig who made his house out of straw won in dummy, cashed the heart ace, then went to the diamond ace and took a heart finesse. West won his heart queen to play back a spade, forcing declarer to ruff in dummy. Now, with clubs not breaking, declarer could no longer bring home 12 tricks whether he drew the last trump or not.
By contrast, the little pig who made his house out of wood cashed the ace and king of hearts, and when they split, he snorted smugly to himself and turned his attention to clubs. Even though West could ruff away one of his winners, he was safe.
In the post-mortem the pigs were arguing about whose line was best. The third little pig who made his house out of stone, pointed out that he had found a line that guarded against either a 4-1 break in hearts or clubs (or both) and lost only if West had the singleton heart queen. He had won the opening lead and taken an immediate trump finesse.
When it lost, he ruffed the spade return, drew trumps, and set up the clubs with the diamond ace as an entry. Had the heart jack held, the heart ace and king would have followed, and then he could have played on clubs, with two side-entries to dummy available had he needed them.
Facing a two-level overcall one should play new suits by unpassed hands as forcing for one round. With a hand surely too good for a simple three- club rebid, the choices are to bid no-trump, introduce the hearts, or cuebid. Since the latter sounds like better spade tolerance, I'll settle unhappily for the two-no-trump call and hope to be able to muddle back to hearts one way or another.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ A ♥ 8 6 5 4 ♦ A 2 ♣ A K 8 6 3 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♦ | |||
| 2♣ | Pass | 2♠ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
Hi Bobby,
In flippant mood, wouldn’t snow white’s friends (except perhaps sneezy) be worth using for this sort of write up? After all, we can all point to many cases of Bashful, Dopey and Grumpy amongst players we know.
Regards,
Iain
“The third little pig who made his house out of stone, pointed out that he had found a line that guarded against either a 4-1 break in hearts or clubs (or both) and lost only if West had the singleton heart queen. He had won the opening lead and taken an immediate trump finesse.”
I do not believe the Stone Pig line wins when West is long in a 4-1 trump break (unless East has the singleton Q).
I would also note that if Vulnerable West judged a 10-point 7-card spade suit hand too good to pre-empt with, then the Stick Pig line will work while the Stone Pig’s will not when West wins the finesse and leads a second spade.
S KQJ9752 — 4
H Q103 —— 97
D QJ ———-1098763
C 5 ———– J1097
Hi Iain & Jim2,
Grumpy and Dopey, often, but Bashful, never
But hey Doc, Sleepy is a ruse and Sneezy should use a handkerchief, otherwise the handsome prince will keep his distance and keep the story from having a Happy ending.
And Jim2, uppercuts are always in bad taste when pretty ladies are involved, especially when a lesser heart proves equal to the queen herself.
Besides the big, bad wolf is the arch enemy of Red Riding Hood, not the three little pigs nor Snow White, so please try and not dwarf my bridge message.