The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, March 1st, 2014
Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves.
Arthur Rimbaud
| West | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ K Q 9 6 ♥ — ♦ A 9 4 3 ♣ A Q 10 6 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ J 5 ♥ J 8 6 5 3 ♦ 10 7 6 5 2 ♣ 3 |
♠ 7 3 ♥ A K 7 ♦ Q J 8 ♣ K J 8 5 4 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A 10 8 4 2 ♥ Q 10 9 4 2 ♦ K ♣ 9 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass | 1♣* | 2♣ | |
| 2♠ | Pass | 4♠ | All pass |
*Strong
♣3
Sometimes your contracts appear to play themselves; in such cases all declarer has to do is go with the flow and keep track of the cards being played and tricks being taken. Surprising things may then happen at the denouement.
Per-Ola Cullin was declarer on just such a deal. At matchpoint pairs he played four spades, winning the club three with his ace. A diamond to the king was followed by a heart ruff, then the diamond ace and diamond ruff. The next heart ruff brought the king down and a diamond from dummy was ruffed by East with the spade seven (the fatal error) to be overruffed with the eight.
When the heart king fell on the third round of the suit, Cullin played off the spade king, then led a club and ruffed it with the spade ace, on which West was caught in an unusual squeeze. If he discarded a heart, declarer would next play the heart queen and 10. This would either win the trick or promote the trump 10 to declarer’s 12th trick. At the table, West discarded his diamond, but was then thrown in with the spade jack and had to lead away from the heart jack into declarer’s tenace.
East’s ruff with the spade seven was the defenders’ fatal error, since it was virtually impossible for the play to promote anything for partner. Had East retained his trump, West could successfully have discarded a heart at the critical moment.
Your extra shape plus high cards compel you to make a try for game here despite your void in partner's suit. A call of two diamonds suggests diamond length (typically three, not four) since you would raise hearts if you could. From here on, you have done enough; partner must take control now.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K Q 9 6 ♥ — ♦ A 9 4 3 ♣ A Q 10 6 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♥ | Pass |
| 1♠ | Pass | 2♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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Bridge-related
HBJ : Hi there. Being me on this hand I would have settled for 11 tricks.
Hop up with the Ace of clubs, followed by two rounds of trumps.Then I would let East score his Jack of clubs to take declarer’s 9, but on a ruffing finesse in clubs I would be bound to make the queen or the 10. This brings the trick count to 2 spades, 5 ruffs, 2 clubs, 2 diamonds.
The question I have is whether I should be looking for and recognising a way to make 12 on this type of hand ?
Hi HBJ and Bobby,declarer’s play of this hand is influenced by the fact that he felt compelled to do something with the heart suit before drawing trumps,and in the ensuing ending the play develops into a sort of trump elopement,and as the cards lay(defensive error by East,though hard to spot),emerges with 12tricks in the imperfect world of pairs play.As I see it,there seems to be more plus than minuses by not drawing trumps so as to see how green the valley is..a much more fluid position,and if trumps are 4-0 or 3-1(held by West),declarer’s play is vindicated,even more so.I stand to be corrected by our host.This hand may trigger Jim2’s TOCM,where is he? 🙂 regards~Patrick.
Hi HBJ,
You pose a different way to both go about a hand and also, beginning almost at trick one, think about the number of tricks to eventually be taken.
Obviously, since you have contracted for ten tricks, you need to adopt a line which, if possible, is likely to succeed. However, since the game is match points, with a premium on besting the field for number of tricks, it sometimes involves in difficult thinking indeed, to predict which line can safely offer a maximum choice.
Your proposed line is probably not a percentage line since the bold bid by your vulnerable opponent probably makes a 2-2 trump break, (according to the percentage tables about 40% in spite of East having only at most, 5 clubs) likely less than 10% instead since he rates to be short in spades and the club position is fraught with danger. The good news is that ruffing diamonds appears to be much safer since with West marked with a singleton club he is likely to have at least 4 diamonds, allowing declarer to have safe entry back to his hand.
When the end position becomes marked, helped along greatly with East’s untimely (for his side) silly ruff with his seven enabled South’s brilliantly executed end play.
Sometimes (more times than any of us realize) exact, (card for card) play cannot even be begun to be predicted very early in the hand, but, at least I think, declarer took the best line, although your line may be at least just as good as long as 10 tricks is all that mattered.
Again, match points to me is just too difficult a game where luck plays such a large (and unnecessary) role in the end result, which in itself is not a fault, except that there is usually very little skill required, just the randomness of chance, which determines it. Sure matchpoints is very challenging and many times downright fun, but since luck, not skill is the predominant factor it is no wonder, at least to me, that our world’s top players demand IMPs, not MP’s to determine who are the world’s top bridge teams.
Thanks for your comment, which allowed me to rant primarily about a concept, not an exact line of play.
Hi Patrick,
Again, we both have been writing at the same time and therefore the last finisher (this time, me) has repeated points already made by you.
Again, thanks for your wise words and between the three of us we have added some grist for the mill of common thinking of would be declarers as to what is involved in the early stages of planning the play, especially in IMPs when the planning (at least to me) is more rational than the “great gambling game” of the most tricks to be gleaned in matchpoints.