Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, February 11th, 2018

I picked up ♠ Q-6-4-2,  Q-9-2,  K-5, ♣ A-10-8-3 and elected to pass in third seat. When my LHO opened one club and my RHO responded one heart, should I have stuck with my initially pessimistic judgment and passed, or would you double here to show a maximum pass?

Silent Stephen, Durango, Colo.

Passing in third seat when you don’t really have an opening bid or a suit that you want partner to lead does make sense, I suppose. Opening one club is fine by me, though. But having passed and heard partner fail to overcall, you shouldn’t back in unless you have a reason. With only two diamonds, you do not have a good reason to bid nor any guarantee of a fit. You made your bed; now lie in it.

I have just started learning Keycard Blackwood. When my partner answered my inquiry to show zero or three aces. I had one keycard, so I signed off. My partner then passed with three, thinking I should already know he could not hold zero key-cards because he had opened the bidding. Does this make sense?

Slamma Jamma, Houston, Texas

Your partner should never assume you know he has three key-cards — unless he has either shown extras or initiated or co-operated in slam ventures earlier in the auction. Normal practice here would be to bid on with three by answering whether he has the trump queen. He can raise the trump suit to deny the queen, or cue-bid a king if he has the queen.

I picked up ♠ Q-9-8,  K-4,  A-Q-J-8-5-4, ♣ K-7, and in third seat decided that for tactical reasons this hand looked like a strong no-trump. When my partner transferred into hearts with a call of two diamonds, I was tempted to pass. This would have worked well, but I didn’t think I should risk my partner having a heart attack. What are your thoughts?

Swinging from the Rafters, Macon, Ga.

The no-trump opening bid is a perfectly sensible strategy in third chair (and there are plenty who might extend that strategy to other seats, too). Since the call is hardly a psych, I would respond to it as if I had a regular opening bid. Passing in mid-auction is no way to encourage partnership trust.

I may be out of touch with modern expert thinking in many areas, but one that particularly confuses me is the use of doubles and redoubles these days. Where would you advise me to look to read up on these subjects?

Red Card Ralph, Woodland Hills, Calif.

I would advocate the general rule about doubling that, facing a passing partner or when the opponents have explicitly or implicitly agreed a suit, almost all low-level doubles are primarily for take-out. I recommend Mike Lawrence’s Complete Book on Takeout Doubles as a good place to start your reading. For beginners, bit.ly/AoBTakeoutDoubles is a simple online resource as well.

Vulnerable and facing a fairly sound bidder, my LHO opened one spade, and my partner overcalled two clubs. When the next bidder pre-empted to three spades. I was looking at a somewhat unusual hand: ♠ —,  A-K-2,  A-J-9-4, ♣ A-K-10-4-3-2. What is the most sensible tactical or strategic approach here?

Grist to the Mill, New Brunswick, Canada

If the opponents promised to stay silent, I would bid four spades and then, over the likely five-club response, a case can be made for bidding five no-trump. Since you would cue-bid an ace in a red suit if you had one but not the other, this call must focus on the secondary controls. I would not be amazed if we were close to a grand slam but the opponents had a cheap save. Playing six clubs might be our best possible result.


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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, February 10th, 2018

To live means to finesse the processes to which one is subjugated.

Bertolt Brecht


E North
Both ♠ J 10 2
 K 10 3
 Q 7 4
♣ K 9 6 4
West East
♠ 8 6 5 4 3
 7 6 4 2
 J 2
♣ 3 2
♠ A 9
 Q 9 8
 A 10 9 3
♣ Q J 10 8
South
♠ K Q 7
 A J 5
 K 8 6 5
♣ A 7 5
South West North East
      1
1 NT Pass 2 NT Pass
3 NT All pass    

♠4

I’m guessing many of my readers will be only slightly familiar with the concept of an intra-finesse.

Even straightforward finesses are not always easy. Intra-finesses can be quite complex, in that they are a combination of finessing followed by pinning a vulnerable doubleton, in a sense creating bricks with very little straw.

I’m sure today’s deal isn’t a record (maybe some reader with more time than me can find the minimum position for creating an extra trick), but the hand does feature an elegant example of the theme. It occurred in the Common Game, played all over North America.

The auction was revealing, in that declarer knew East had length in diamonds, so West had either a singleton or doubleton. Against three no-trump, West led a spade to the ace, and East returned his second spade. Declarer won in hand, tried the diamond five and let it run to East, who won cheaply with the nine to return a top club. Declarer won the club in hand and now tried a diamond to the jack, queen and ace.

When a top club came back, declarer ducked; now East could do no better than play a diamond, allowing declarer to finesse. That got declarer up to eight tricks; he cashed the top club to find the bad break, confirming that he needed to find the heart queen to make his game.

Since East had shown only 11 HCP outside the heart suit, it was clearly the percentage line to play East for the heart queen, and the game duly came home.


Your partner has shown 22-24 or so. Your choice is to let him stew in two no-trump, to transfer to spades or — my choice — to use Stayman and then show your major-suit pattern. You can do this if you use Smolen, which I recommend, by bidding three of your four-card major over a three-diamond response, showing 5-4 in the majors. This way, you transfer declarership if you locate a 5-3 fit.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ 8 6 5 4 3
 7 6 4 2
 J 2
♣ 3 2
South West North East
    2 ♣ Pass
2 Pass 2 NT Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 9th, 2018

Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man’s upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.


S North
E-W ♠ 9 8
 9 6 4
 A 9 7 2
♣ A J 4 2
West East
♠ Q 10 7 5
 K Q 10 7 3
 Q 8 6
♣ 6
♠ K J 6 4 2
 2
 K 10 5 4
♣ 8 7 5
South
♠ A 3
 A J 8 5
 J 3
♣ K Q 10 9 3
South West North East
1 NT Pass 3 NT All pass
       

K

Cenk Tuncok gave the daily bulletin at the NEC tournament some analysis on this deal. It is a defensive problem, so look at just the West and North cards, and see if you can work out what to do.

South has opened a strong no-trump, and you have decided to let discretion be the better part of valor because of the vulnerability. When you lead the heart king against three no-trump (requesting the unblock of an honor or otherwise a count signal), partner contributes the two and declarer the jack. The position seems very straightforward, so why am I posing it to you as a problem? It looks obvious to continue with a heart — though whether you play a high or low one doesn’t seem critical.

But what if you play upsidedown count and attitude? Now partner’s two and declarer’s jack appear to be incompatible; someone has mis-sorted their hand or is playing a very deep — or clueless — game.

If playing standard signals, I do not see how you can do anything but continue hearts, and that would be fatal. As you can see, declarer has the doubleton spade ace and very little hope for a ninth trick unless you continue hearts. However, if you do fall into his trap, he can win his ace and play back a third heart to build the heart eight into his game-going trick.

Should you work this out if partner’s heart two is inconsistent with three small? I think you should — and especially from now on if the declarer is Cenk Tuncok!


This hand is worth an immediate three-spade bid, not just because of the fifth spade, but also because of the honor location and the singleton heart. You want to encourage partner to bid on over the opponents’ likely call of four hearts. If four hearts is passed around to you, you will have an interesting decision, though. I’d favor bidding on, however undisciplined that might appear.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ K J 6 4 2
 2
 K 10 5 4
♣ 8 7 5
South West North East
  1 Dbl. 2
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, February 8th, 2018

One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak.

G.K. Chesterton


S North
N-S ♠ J 7
 Q J 2
 A Q 9
♣ K Q J 7 6
West East
♠ 10 9 8 5
 K 3
 10 6 5 4
♣ A 9 2
♠ A 6 4 3 2
 9 8 5
 J 8 7
♣ 5 3
South
♠ K Q
 A 10 7 6 4
 K 3 2
♣ 10 8 4
South West North East
1 Pass 2 ♣ Pass
2 NT Pass 3 Pass
4 All pass    

♠10

When West leads a spade against four hearts, East comes in with the ace, while declarer follows with the queen. East must decide on his defense at trick two without knowing whether his partner has the spade king.

In view of the strong dummy, East can see that the least West will have to produce to give the defense a chance to beat the game is a trump trick plus at least one more winner from spades and clubs. Without two top cards, the defense surely has no chance to succeed, whether partner has a diamond winner or not.

In theory, a prompt attack on the diamonds might knock out the ace and queen before declarer can clear both the trumps and clubs. But what does that give declarer in the way of an opening bid? At most a nine-count if partner has a high heart, club and diamond!

But the ace of clubs and a high trump in the West hand would enable the defense to defeat game by means of a club ruff — assuming that South has any three small clubs. This hope requires far less to come to fruition, since it does not involve placing a third high card in the West hand such as the diamond king. East should therefore switch to a club at trick two, which West will win to return the suit. Then when West gets in again with the king of hearts, he can lead a third club, and East can ruff to set the game.


A quick reality check for those who think they have extra values, so should therefore bid on for fear of missing game: Your partner heard you ask him to bid hearts if he could. He did so, and indicated he was not interested in game. You have poor shape, only three hearts, and about a queen more than a minimum double. How likely is your side to make game? Not at all, I’d say. Pass and hope to go plus.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ J 7
 Q J 2
 A Q 9
♣ K Q J 7 6
South West North East
      1 ♠
Dbl. Pass 2 Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, February 7th, 2018

The main function of a pseudo-promotion is to deceive people outside the hierarchy. When this is achieved, the maneuver is counted a success.

Laurence Peter


E North
N-S ♠ Q J 6 5 3
 3 2
 A K J
♣ A K 9
West East
♠ 8 7
 10 9 5 4
 6 5 4
♣ Q 10 6 5
♠ 9
 K Q J 8 7 6
 Q 10 9 2
♣ 7 2
South
♠ A K 10 4 2
 A
 8 7 3
♣ J 8 4 3
South West North East
      2
2 ♠ 4 5 ♠ Pass
6 ♠ All pass    

10

As South, you overcall two spades over two hearts without much enthusiasm, and at your next turn, your partner insists you bid slam if you have a heart control. How can you resist with such a perfect heart holding, even if the rest of your hand is uninspiring?

When dummy comes down, your slam appears to have excellent chances; you just need to hold your minor-suit losers to one. After winning the heart, you play the spade king and another spade to dummy, East pitching a heart. How should you plan the play from there on in, assuming East to have precisely six hearts?

The best sequence of plays is to cash the club and diamond aces, then ruff a heart to hand and lead a club to the nine, assuming West follows suit with a small club.

This line of play wins in every case when West has three clubs, since you have a discard coming eventually. It also works when he has four clubs, since when East wins the second club, he will be endplayed.

It also wins outright if West has the doubleton club queen or 10, or any singleton. And even if East had four clubs to the queen-10, then all he could do would be to return a club. At that point, the finesse for the diamond queen would be heavily favored to work. So you can cross to hand in spades and take the diamond finesse.

This line of play loses only when East has a 1-6-2-4 pattern with both minor-suit queens and the club 10.


The most accurate description of your hand is to treat it as a balanced 18-19 and rebid two no-trump, which invites your partner to bid game. The small doubleton heart is not a positive feature of your hand, but you never promised your partner a rose garden. Rebidding two clubs here would be too likely to miss a game if your partner should pass.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ Q J 6 5 3
 3 2
 A K J
♣ A K 9
South West North East
1 ♠ Pass 1 NT Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, February 6th, 2018

There is no mistake; there has been no mistake; and there shall be no mistake.

Duke of Wellington


S North
Both ♠ 7 6 4 3
 A J 9 7 4
 7 2
♣ A 2
West East
♠ J 10 9 2
 —
 K J 8 3
♣ 10 9 8 6 4
♠ Q 8
 Q 10 5
 A Q 10 6 5
♣ Q J 3
South
♠ A K 5
 K 8 6 3 2
 9 4
♣ K 7 5
South West North East
1 Pass 3 NT* Pass
4 All pass    

*Raise to 4 plus some defense

♠J

Four hearts was an excellent contract here, essentially cold unless trumps were 3-0 offside. That happens no more than one time in seven, but today was that day.

Declarer was doubly unlucky that West had a natural spade lead; on any other defense, declarer can arrange to strip off two rounds of spades plus all the minor-suit cards. Then he can endplay East with the master heart to give him a ruff-sluff.

However, when West led the spade jack, declarer won and played the heart king (since he could protect against West having queen-third of hearts). When trumps refused to cooperate, his chances were down to slim and none, and slim appeared to have left the building. But South refused to give up, and found an ingenious way to come home.

He ducked a diamond, won the spade shift and led a club to the ace. When East neglected to unblock an honor, South played a club back to his king and led a third club, discarding dummy’s last diamond. East won the trick, perforce, and exited with a diamond, but that merely postponed the evil hour. South ruffed the diamond in dummy, took the heart ace and exited in trumps to East, who was now well and truly endplayed.

For the record, had declarer held the club 10 instead of West, the defenders would have been helpless here, so maybe East should have worked out what to do. But it is a great deal easier to pass that judgment when one can see all four hands.


The heart intermediates argue for a two-heart rebid here. Although one time in a hundred your partner will have a singleton heart and 3-1-4-5 shape, you are more likely to find that the 5-2 or 5-3 heart fit plays better than no-trump. Terrence Reese argued that a 5-4-2-2 pattern is best played in a suit, and my experience supports this theory.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ 7 6 4 3
 A J 9 7 4
 7 2
♣ A 2
South West North East
    1 ♣ Pass
1 Pass 1 NT Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, February 5th, 2018

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender.

T. S. Eliot


S North
Both ♠ A 7 2
 8 6 2
 Q 10 8 3
♣ K J 8
West East
♠ K Q J 9 6
 7
 K 7 2
♣ 9 6 4 2
♠ 10 5 4 3
 10 9 4 3
 A 6
♣ 10 7 5
South
♠ 8
 A K Q J 5
 J 9 5 4
♣ A Q 3
South West North East
1 1 ♠ 2 2 ♠
4 All pass    

♠K

In today’s deal, three no-trump would be the easiest game to make, since you have nine fast winners. However, you would appear to have excellent chances of overtricks in four hearts after a top spade lead.

South should win the spade ace and commence drawing trumps. The play would be straightforward if trumps broke 3-2: Declarer would draw them all, then play on diamonds. But when West shows out on the second round of hearts, South must change tack immediately.

Instead, South must turn his attention to diamonds, leaving dummy’s last trump as a bulwark against the enemy’s spades. The opponents are welcome to take their two top diamonds and one diamond ruff.

Not surprisingly, West continues the force on declarer when he wins the first diamond. South must ruff, but then can knock out the second top diamond. The next spade ruff leaves him with one fewer trump than East, but declarer simply leads a third diamond, allowing East to ruff in. Now whether East plays back a club, spade or trump, declarer has the rest.

Note that if South draws all of East’s trumps at once, the defenders would force him on winning the first diamond. They could then take the rest of their spades when they regained the lead. South would go down in similar fashion even if he drew only three rounds of trumps. The same defense would mean that South would run out of trumps before he could set up the diamond trick he needed for his game.


The opponents’ auction suggests they have few values to spare. Should you lead aggressively with a club intermediate, or the top of a doubleton diamond, or go passive with a spade from your four small? I’m going to go passive here, worried that a club or diamond lead could cost the setting trick too easily. The spade two seems like the right card here.

LEAD WITH THE ACES

♠ 10 8 6 2
 Q 10 3
 J 8
♣ Q 10 9 2
South West North East
      1
Pass 2 ♣ Pass 2 NT
Pass 4 All pass  

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, February 4th, 2018

I’m a near-beginner, and I have heard people talk about jump shifts, jump overcalls and jump raises. I cannot work out if there is a rule to say which sequences are weak and which are strong. Please help!

Fast Learner, Hartford, Conn.

Jump overcalls of the opponents’ opening bids are weak, though jump overcalls of their weak opening bids such as preempts are strong. If our side opens the bidding, a simple way to play is that in a non-competitive auction, jump raises are invitational and jumps in a new suit are strong. However, if the opponents come in, play weak jumps. I’ll cover the subject of jumps by passed hands in another letter later this month.

When my opponents opened a suit, my partner passed and the next hand bid one no-trump (announced as forcing). If I cue-bid their suit here, should this be natural or a Michaels Cue-bid, and is it alertable?

Twofer, Orlando, Fla.

Yes, this should be Michaels showing the majors, or the unbid major plus a minor, as appropriate. After they open a minor, you don’t need to be able to bid that minor naturally, since one opponent has shown that suit and the other implied it by virtue of not having the majors. Even if this does not require an alert (the bid carrying its own alert, so to speak) I would alert as a matter of courtesy.

I was taught not to ask for aces when holding a void or two losers in an unbid suit. However, jumping to slam without an ace-ask may alert the opponents to your void. So would it ever make sense to go through the motions of Blackwood when you are bidding a slam, regardless of the outcome?

Locked-up Louie, Queens, N.Y.

Al Roth, the apostle of sound bidding, once did precisely that, to make his opponents assume he did not have a void in their suit — and thus not to sacrifice. There is a place for psychology in bridge. Of course, this approach may also give the opponents space for a double or further action, so it may be a double-edged sword.

At matchpoints, when you hear your partner open one club and raise your one-spade response to two, would you invite game with ♠ A-Q-6-4-2,  9-2,  Q-7-5, ♣ K-9-3, or would you drive all the way there directly?

Steady Eddie, Manchester, N.H.

Game isn’t necessarily cold here — though many would indeed jump to four spades. If you invite game, there are two ways to go. A help-suit try of three clubs would allow your partner to look at their hand and their club suit. If a rebid of two no-trump is forcing (as some do play), then that call also allows you to find out if partner has three or four trumps, and whether he has a minimum or maximum.

When playing two-over-one, if your partner sets up a game force at his first turn by responding with two of a minor, should you repeat a six-card suit or bid two no-trump at your second turn, or does it depend on suit quality?

Storyteller, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.

If you play two-over-one game forcing, then repeat a good suit with an unbalanced hand (or an open suit). Rebid two no-trump with 12-14 or 18-plus HCP and a balanced hand, or a quasi-balanced hand with shortage in partner’s suit and no convenient alternative. A jump to three no-trump suggests a strong no-trump with doubleton support for partner’s first-bid suit. And a new suit at the three-level is extra shape or high cards. A raise is almost undefined in terms of range, though new-suit jumps show shortage.


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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, February 3rd, 2018

If it were not for the presents, an elopement would be preferable.

George Ade


S North
None ♠ 10 9 8 4
 A 4 2
 6
♣ A 6 4 3 2
West East
♠ Q J 6
 K Q J 7 5
 8 5 3
♣ K 9
♠ 3 2
 10 3
 A K 10 7 4
♣ Q 8 7 5
South
♠ A K 7 5
 9 8 6
 Q J 9 2
♣ J 10
South West North East
1 1 Dbl. Pass
1 ♠ Pass Pass 2
2 ♠ All pass    

K

In today’s deal, East had a chance to prevent declarer from executing a neat maneuver in the trump suit. Put yourself in his shoes and see if you can do any better than he did.

On the heart king lead against two spades, declarer ducks, then wins the heart jack with the ace to lead a low club to the jack and king. West takes his heart queen — and you pitch the diamond seven to encourage. Back comes the diamond eight, so you win the king. What next?

At the table, East returned a spade. South won and cashed the second top trump before leading a club to the ace and ruffing a club. What was West to do? She could not over-ruff, or South would have had enough entries to dummy to be able to set up the long club. So she discarded a diamond, and now declarer trumped a diamond and ruffed out the clubs. Again, if West over-ruffed, dummy would be high, so she discarded a heart. But now South could lead a diamond at trick 12 and score the spade 10 in dummy for the eighth winner.

There was just one chance for the defense, but it was a fairly hard one to spot: Rather than leading a trump, East had to return the club queen at trick six, smothering the 10 and locking declarer in dummy. Declarer can try to ruff a club to hand, but now West can over-ruff and return a diamond. That leaves declarer unable to ruff out the clubs without losing another trump trick to West.


Are you going to land on the head of a pin and stop in three hearts by inviting game, or are you going to drive to game and hope your partner can make it? Here, your ruffing value rates to be pulling its full weight; unless partner has queen-third or queen-doubleton of clubs, it is hard to imagine game not having a chance. So I would bid four hearts and let partner figure out how to bring it home.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ A K 7 5
 9 8 6
 Q J 9 2
♣ J 10
South West North East
  Pass 1 Pass
1 ♠ Pass 2 Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 2nd, 2018

The splendid achievements of the intellect, like the soul, are everlasting.

Sallust


E North
N-S ♠ Q J 10
 9 4 3
 A 3 2
♣ K 10 8 7
West East
♠ 9 7 3 2
 A K Q 10 5
 7 5
♣ Q 6
♠ 8 5
 8 7 2
 J 10 9 6
♣ J 5 4 3
South
♠ A K 6 4
 J 6
 K Q 8 4
♣ A 9 2
South West North East
      Pass
1 1 2 Pass
2 ♠ Pass 3 ♠ Pass
4 ♠ All pass    

K

At his first turn, North felt his hand was inappropriate for a negative double and that he could not bid one no-trump without a heart stopper. While his partner could have been 4-4 in the majors, he took a reasonable shot to raise diamonds. Then he produced an imaginative raise of his partner’s two-spade call, sensibly noting that his own failure to make a negative double at his first turn had limited his spade holding to three cards. That got his side to the best game, four spades.

West started the defense by leading out three top hearts, of course. How was declarer supposed to tackle the hand?

The problem with ruffing the third heart and drawing trumps is that in the (somewhat unlikely) event that West has four spades, declarer will be left with an inevitable club loser and will have to lose a trick to the long trump. Even if East has the long trumps, 10 tricks will not be assured. It is far better to discard the almost inevitable club loser at trick three.

When the defenders shift to trumps, declarer should try to draw trumps in three rounds. If they split, declarer will either attempt to ruff out the clubs, or must fall back on diamonds behaving. If trumps are 4-2 as in the diagram, four rounds of spades will almost certainly squeeze East in the minors. Since West has nine cards in the majors, the minors will run for six tricks unless West also has honor-third in clubs.


Were you tempted to treat this hand as worthy of an invitation to game? Despite your fine intermediates, this hand is nothing more than a maximum raise to two spades — and that is especially true if you play the forcing no-trump, where a simple raise is already a constructive hand. There are many ways to go minus when you should be going plus. This is one of the more common!

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ Q J 10
 9 4 3
 A 3 2
♣ K 10 8 7
South West North East
    1 ♠ Pass
?      

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 2018. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].