Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us somebody may be looking.

H.L. Mencken


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

♠2

An avoidance play is declarer's attempt to deny one opponent the lead. This could be because we fear a shift from one opponent but not the other, or equally, as in today's deal, one opponent has winners to cash.

Look at the play today in three no-trump, remembering that your target is to take nine tricks, not 10!

West obediently leads a spade. As declarer, you must duck the first two spades to cut the defenders’ communications. You win the third spade and should work out that you only need four diamond tricks for the contract, but you must keep East off play if he has four diamonds. To do that, you do not mind investing an overtrick.

You cross to dummy by leading a low heart to the 10. Now comes a diamond toward your hand. If East plays low, you insert the eight and have achieved your target of bringing in the diamond suit safely.

If East divines your intention and inserts the 10 on the first diamond, you take the trick in hand and lead a heart to the queen. Then you repeat the process in diamonds, planning again to lead low to your eight, finessing against East’s jack. This insures that you make nine tricks, since if West has a second diamond, the suit must be splitting for you, and you can overtake your remaining diamond honor with the ace and run the suit.


Your choice is an invitational three diamonds – you have too much for a simple two diamond call, or a call in no-trump. You have too much for a one no-trump bid and not quite enough for a call of two no-trump, though it is close. Since three no-trump is more likely to make than five diamonds perhaps the small overbid in no-trump is best.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ 6 3
 A Q 10
 A 7 5 4 2
♣ 5 4 2
South West North East
1 Dbl. 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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.

Thorstein Veblen


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

♣A

In today's deal from a charity game in honor of Arthur Loeb to benefit the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, how do you find out scientifically whether you want to be in slam?

Once hearts are set as trump, North can ask for key-cards (the four aces and the trump queen). If the response is zero or three, or one or four, the cheapest step asks for the trump queen; the response in the trump suit denies it, and a bid in any other suit promises it. If the responder has two key cards, the immediate response either shows or denies the trump queen.

Today, however, slam has two chances, the first being to find the trump queen, the second to discard North’s clubs on declarer’s spades. On a non-spade lead such as the diamond jack, you should cash the heart ace and unblock both spade honors. Only then do you lead a heart to the king, trying to cash South’s spade winners to pitch dummy’s clubs.

However, at a few tables where keycard Blackwood was not in use, West led the club ace against six hearts, and now the diamond jack shift went to the ace, eight and six.

How to play the trump suit now? After the ace and a small heart sees East follow twice, the old adage is “Eight ever, nine never.” However, East’s play of the diamond eight was surely significant, suggesting shortage. Since West appeared to have many more diamonds than East, the heart finesse was the odds-on play, and declarer duly took it to make his slam.


You may look at this 16-count and assume you have extra values. But in a sense, with your doubleton spade honors not pulling their full weight, you have really nothing to spare in high-cards, and certainly nothing extra in terms of shape. Pass two hearts, and be happy to stay low.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ Q J
 A 10 6 5 4
 A Q 4 2
♣ K 4
South West North East
1 Pass 1 NT Pass
2 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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 16th, 2012

Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.

Charles Dickens


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

♠K

How do you plan to make four hearts after West leads the spade king?

The nub of this problem is that you want to avoid losing three diamond tricks, but surely West is the favorite to have the diamond ace.

Your first step is to duck the first round of spades, then win the spade ace, and draw trump in three rounds. Next you cash the club ace, king and queen.

Now lead dummy’s remaining spade and discard a low diamond, forcing West to win the trick. A diamond return gives you a trick with the diamond king, while a spade exit lets you ruff in dummy and discard a second diamond from hand. Thus you will lose only two spades and a diamond, making the contract.

And what would happen if East had followed to the third spade? If he had followed small, you would still discard a diamond from hand to force West to win the trick. If East was clearly going to win the trick (say West had a 5-2-3-3 pattern), you ruff the spade and exit with a low diamond from hand. For the defense to stand a chance, East must win the trick and play a third diamond. Now you put up the king, succeeding whenever the diamond finesse succeeds or West wins the ace but has no diamonds left.

Notice that if you hadn’t ducked the first trick, East could have gained the lead in spades, whereupon the obvious diamond shift would scuttle the contract.


The opening lead here is more about temperament than anything else. Some prefer to go passive and not give up a trick; others go for instant gratification by leading a diamond in the hope of cashing out or setting up that suit. Put my vote in with the diamond leaders; but don't ask me to justify it.

LEAD WITH THE ACES

♠ Q 5 3
 7 4 2
 K 9 5 3
♣ A J 4
South West North East
1♣ Pass 1♠
Pass 2♠ 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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Recently I opened one club and my LHO overcalled two spades, which was passed out, going down two or three tricks. My partner said that because we were playing negative doubles, I was forced to bid. Since I had a minimum opener and flat distribution (two spades, three hearts and four cards in each minor), I could envision many hands where forcing partner to bid at the three-level would be disastrous. Any comments?

Sellout, Dodge City, Kan.

You are NOT forced to reopen, but typically will do so even if minimum IF you have shortage in their suit. So with two small spades I might reopen here, but with the doubleton spade king I'd expect partner not to have the penalty double, so might let two spades go. Then again, I might still bid with anything approaching extra values. Color me hyperaggressive.

We had a recent key-card auction with hearts as the agreed suit and could not locate the trump queen accurately. Can you recommend a pattern of responses after the queen ask? Should any bid other than a bid of the agreed suit promise the queen?

Queen for a Day, Atlanta, Ga.

After the response of the first or second step (whichever way you play these) here are the simplest set of responses possible to the step one relay for the queen – though remember that five of the trump suit by the inquirer implies too many keycards are missing. In response, the lowest level of the trump suit says 'No trump queen'. If you have it, but no king, bid six of the trump suit but if you have the trump queen and additional kings, cue-bid the cheapest king you have.

I play rubber bridge with a group and after a strong two spade opening, responder answered four spades with this hand: ♠ J-10-4-2,  9-4-3-2,  A-7-5-4, ♣ 4. I thought her hand was strong hand opposite a strong two-bid and thought she should bid three spades. She contended it was the right bid because it only made 11 tricks.

Monday-Morning Quarterback, Fremont, Calif.

You are right that a jump to four spades DENIES an ace. Even with a minimum hand, such as this one, you had bette do something else. Here, a jump to four clubs would show a singleton club and a spade raise, but perhaps a slightly better hand than this. (For sure, that would be fine with the heart queen in addition.)

When might you play a genuine line as opposed to playing for a defensive error?

Larkspur, Panama City, Fla.

I hate to give up on a genuine line by playing for nothing but a slip on defense. However, if I can see a line of play that I might fall for myself were I in the defender's shoes, I'd give it a whirl. Quite often a pressure line (making someone decide whether to take an honor or duck it) has far better chances than the percentages associated with the play.

My partner held ♠ J-10-9-4,  K-Q-8-3,  Q-4, ♣ Q-J-4 and heard me open two no-trump. He used Stayman and got a three-spade response. Now he found what I thought was quite an intelligent bid when he jumped to five spades. I thought I should bid slam since I had four spades to the ace-king, but the finesse lost and we also had an ace to lose. Was there a better route?

Inspector Gadget, Worcester, Mass.

One sensible agreement to have in this sequence is that a bid of four hearts over three spades shows the values for a slam-try in spades with four trump. Even this action is not an underbid, given the lack of trump honors and controls. However, this will let opener decide whether he is slam-suitable, in which case he can ask for aces and find out the right level to play at, or sign off in four spades.


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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 14th, 2012

While clearness is a virtue of style, perfect explicitness is not a necessary virtue.

Arthur Symons


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

♣9

In action here against France in the McConnell Cup at the 2002 World Championships is the Netherlands Women's team, that only two months previously had won the European Championships.

Against three no-trump West, Marijke van der Pas, led the club nine, which promised the 10, but no higher honor. Declarer won in hand and played the spade 10, which was allowed to hold. Van der Pas won the spade continuation with the king and switched to the diamond seven, won by dummy’s ace. A third spade was taken by Bep Vriend’s ace, and van der Pas had to find a discard. In their methods, a lead of a low card promised a good suit, and that diamond seven was not particularly low, albeit the lowest she had available. So it was certainly possible that East would do the wrong thing unless helped out by an informative discard.

How to persuade partner to continue diamonds? She solved the conundrum by discarding her heart queen. This could not be a request for a heart return, but instead a warning to switch, with suit-preference overtones. Vriend read the situation perfectly and returned the only card to defeat the contract — the diamond 10. A low diamond would not have been good enough. Declarer would have ducked, and West, forced to win the trick, could not profitably continue the suit.

In the other room the unbeatable four-spade contract was reached, so the Netherlands registered a game swing.


Facing a one-level overcall with a 12-count, you can't be sure your side even has the majority of high points. A jump to two no-trump would suggest a somewhat better hand. (With the spade jack in addition, you might risk the call.) If you bid one no-trump, you'd be showing about 8-12, and with any luck you would hear your partner bid on if he had extra shape or high-cards.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ 10 9
 A 7 6 2
 Q 6 5 4
♣ A Q 5
South West North East
1 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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 13th, 2012

I can find nothing lowly
in the universe.

A.R. Ammons


South North
Neither ♠ 6 2
 7 5 3
 Q 10 8 3
♣ A K Q 6
West East
♠ K Q J 9 4
 6 4
 7 5
♣ 10 5 4 2
♠ 10 8 5 3
 K 9 8 2
 A 9 4
♣ J 9
South
♠ A 7
 A Q J 10
 K J 6 2
♣ 8 7 3
South West North East
1 NT Pass 3 NT All pass

♠K

The true expert pays proper attention to the spot cards, even when there is no obvious reason to preserve them. The idea that you will need to optimize communications and entries is an obvious one, but is often overlooked. Today's deal offers an example.

West leads the spade king against three no-trump. You win the second round of spades and see that you will need four hearts and four clubs to land the contract. How would you tackle the play?

When the cards lie as in the diagram, only one play is good enough. You must lead the club eight to dummy’s ace. The nine falls from East, and you take a successful heart finesse. You continue with the club seven to dummy’s king, noting with interest that East follows with the jack. How do you think the clubs lie after this fall of the cards?

East will produce two middle cards on the first two rounds when he holds J-10-9, J-10, J-9 or 10-9. So, the odds are approximately 3-1 in favor of East’s holding only two clubs. What is more, you are prepared for a finesse against West’s 10 after your thoughtful unblock of the eight and seven!

You take your second heart finesse and lead the club three to dummy’s six. You then play the club queen and finesse a third time in hearts. Contract made!


In standard American, you'd bid four no-trump to invite slam with no four-card major. For an extra wrinkle, if you play Texas transfers (four diamonds and four hearts show six-card heart and spade suits), a four-spade call can be used to show a balanced invitation with both four-card minors — in other words, exactly this hand. So a direct four-no-trump response will suggest a very flat hand.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ 6 2
 7 5 3
 Q 10 8 3
♣ A K Q 6
South West North East
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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 12th, 2012

I can stand a waste of praise.

R.S. Surtees


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

7

Today's deal was reported earlier this year in Le Bridgeur, Philippe Cronier's French language summary of the tournament world. The deal was played by Sylvie Willard, who, along with Benedicte Cronier, has played on all the successful French teams of the last six years.

Their partnership is unusual for its longevity and also — I’m sure not coincidentally — for the fact that both players are universally popular with their teammates and opponents. They are viewed as genuinely nice people and excellent players.

Sylvie demonstrated here that she could outplay her competitors; very few brought home this game by correct technique. She received a diamond lead against three no-trump and realized that her best chance to succeed was to take three heart tricks and four clubs.

In abstract the correct play is to hope East has the club queen (since you cannot negotiate four clubs to the queen with West) and you would start by playing the club ace to guard against a singleton club queen offside. But because of the awkward position with entries to dummy, Willard correctly led a club to the 10 successfully, unblocked the heart honors, then crossed to the club ace and advanced the heart jack. All was well when West won the trick. He could not attack diamonds, so had to play back a spade. Willard took the ace, cashed her heart winner, then finessed in clubs and conceded the rest.


You must distinguish what you should do when your RHO passes over one heart and what you should do if he competes further. You can raise to two hearts in competition — that shows very little extra beyond four trumps. However, if you raise freely when East passes, that would be an ace more than a minimum, with real game interest facing a seven-count, say. So you should pass now.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ A J 2
 J 10 7 4
 Q 5
♣ A 6 5 3
South West North East
1
Dbl. Pass 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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.

Moliere


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

♣Q

Today's problem is a defensive one, so put yourself in the West seat. South is declarer in six no-trump after opening one no-trump. North showed five spades, then offered a choice of small slams with his jump to five no-trump, rejecting South's suggestion of diamonds as a place to play.

You, West, lead the club queen, which declarer wins in dummy and plays a spade to his jack. Plan the defense.

You know that partner has no points at all. If you win the spade ace, you can be sure that declarer will be able to test spades with impunity before examining his other chances. Since the spades do split, declarer will surely come to 12 tricks. However, just because YOU know spades split, does not mean declarer can be as confident of this!

If you refuse to win your spade ace on this round and the next (perhaps even throwing in an echo with your small cards just to try to persuade declarer that things are not going his way), South will not know that spades are breaking. He may decide to test diamonds first. When they fail to break, he will go back to spades (hoping that the spades break and that whoever has the ace was originally short in diamonds), but now you will be able to win your ace and cash a diamond trick for down one.

Ducking the spade is not sure to defeat the hand; winning it is sure to let the slam come home.


There are two attractive choices here. You might jump to three no-trump, suggesting a balanced hand with a good heart stop. Or you can bid two diamonds, natural and forcing, planning to bid no-trump later. I strongly prefer the second choice, since we might find out about an absence of spade stops for no-trump, or we might get to a club or diamond slam.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ J 2
 K Q 6
 K Q 6 4 2
♣ A 7 2
South West North East
1♣ 1
?      

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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Even a sheet of paper has two sides.

Japanese saying


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

♣J

You never know when squirreling papers away will come in handy. In cleaning out my files, I came across a hand I'd cut out from a U.S. Daily Bulletin from the 1970s. Declarer was Robert Lebi of Canada, who has been a regular player on Canadian squads over the last 30 years.

The lead against four hearts was the club jack to East’s king. Next the club ace was cashed, and East now erred by playing a third club, allowing declarer to shorten his hand. Lebi earned a game swing for his team in this Spingold match by ruffing, playing a heart to the ace, and, believing his opponent’s king to be a true card, played for a trump reduction. He took the spade ace, then ruffed a spade. Now came the diamond ace and king, a diamond ruff, and a spade ruff. Declarer was down to the Q-10 of hearts and a master diamond while West held J-9-3 of hearts. The diamond jack completed the coup. West had to ruff and lead into the trump tenace to concede the contract.

The Levi team won their knockout match by less than the swing on this deal, when the other declarer did not ruff a spade when in dummy with the heart ace!

Note that if East shifts to the heart king or a diamond, declarer cannot get home. While the heart play could be expensive, a diamond will almost never cost, and as we have seen, it can gain by preventing declarer from shortening himself for the trump coup.


A simple call of two clubs is reasonable, as is a double. This would not be for penalties, but show the fourth suit, clubs, and tolerance for partner's suit, together with decent values. Your trump support may be on the feeble side, but your opening values probably compensate for that.

BID WITH THE ACES

♠ K 8 6 3
 K
 7 3 2
♣ A K 9 6 3
South West North East
1 1 1♠
?      

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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 9th, 2012

No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts.

Lord Salisbury


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

*Pick-a-slam

K

How good a contract is six spades here? You may be surprised to know that although the contract looks good, best play will result in only a 90 percent chance.

The instinctive line, however, will fail today. Imagine that you win the opening heart lead, draw trump, and play the club king and a club to the jack. East wins to return a club, and unless you follow an inspired line in the diamond suit, you will lose a trick to the diamond queen.

But you can do much better after the lead of the heart king to the ace. Take the spade ace and king, ruff dummy’s losing heart, then cash the club king and lead a low club, intending to cover West’s card. As the cards lie, when East takes the club eight with the nine, he can do no better than lead a low diamond. When the diamond nine forces the queen, declarer claims the rest.

In this variation, had the diamond nine been covered by the 10, declarer would cash his remaining trumps and discard a diamond from dummy. Then a club to the ace would reveal how that suit lay. If the clubs were 3-3, declarer could claim. If West had four clubs, then the diamond finesse would be a certainty as West could have no more than a singleton diamond. And if East had four clubs and had kept them all he would be down to one diamond, so it would be correct to play a diamond to the king.


The spades do not offer much hope, given your weak intermediates and the fact that your RHO has four of them. So the choice is an obedient heart or an undisciplined club. I'm prepared to risk my partner's wrath by leading a club in the hope that I can find partner at home there. You only live once!

LEAD WITH THE ACES

♠ Q 8 5 3 3
 6
 8 2
♣ K J 8 3 2
South West North East
1 1 Dbl.
Pass 3 Pass 3 NT
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 2012. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].