The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

September 28th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 14th, 2011 

Dealer: South Vul: East-West	North ♠ K 10 4 ♥ K ♦ A Q J 9 8 ♣ A 10 7 5
West ♠ Q 7 ♥ A Q 4 2 ♦ 5 4 3 ♣ K J 9 3		East ♠ 6 2 ♥ J 9 8 7 6 5 ♦ K 7 6 ♣ Q 4
	South ♠ A J 9 8 5 3 ♥ 10 3 ♦ 10 2 ♣ 8 6 2

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♠	Pass	4 ♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: Club 3

“I accept refreshment at any hands, however lowly.”

— W.S. Gilbert

You might care to plan the play in four spades by South, since at the table some experts found it harder than they should have.

Any West who led the heart ace at trick one gave declarer an easy task. West then switched to a club, but declarer ducked the first club, won the continuation, drew trumps, then took the diamond finesse, losing just one club, one diamond and one heart.

An opening club leads makes it much harder. Superficially, four spades seems to depend (after getting trumps right) on the diamond finesse. Because it was wrong, declarer had to go down.

South was in too much of a hurry to take that diamond finesse. Once declarer has avoided a trump loser, he will have no problems if the diamond finesse is right. The correct line is to duck the first club, win the club continuation, and cash the two top spades. If the spade queen is still outstanding, then declarer must take the diamond finesse; if it is right, he rates to be able to discard all his losers on the diamonds.

However, if trumps are 2-2, South does not need the diamond finesse. He simply plays another club. He knows that clubs are either 3-3 or that they lie as they do. (West would have led the jack from an original jack-doubleton.) West can go in with the king and switch to a diamond, but declarer rises with dummy’s ace and discards his losing diamond on dummy’s club 10.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

September 27th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

Dealer: East Vul: Both	North ♠ K Q 7 6 4 ♥ Q 10 3 ♦ K 6 3 ♣ K 2
West ♠ A 9 8 ♥ A K 7 6 2 ♦ 9 8 5 ♣ 7 4		East ♠ J 5 ♥ J 9 4 ♦ 7 2 ♣ Q J 9 6 5 3
	South ♠ 10 3 2 ♥ 8 5 ♦ A Q J 10 4 ♣ A 10 8

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1 ♦	1 ♥	2 ♦*	Pass
2 ♠	Pass	3 NT	Pass
4 ♠	All Pass

*Spades

Opening Lead: Heart King

“If you give to a thief he cannot steal from you, and he is then no longer a thief.”

— William Saroyan

Today’s deal comes from this year’s trials to select the Australian team for the Asia-Pacific Bridge Championships. Both teams declared four spades, but at one table it was played by North. Despite his partner’s overcall, East thought it might be a good idea to lead from his club sequence. He knows better now!

Declarer simply won in dummy and led a spade to his hand, then crossed back to dummy with a diamond to play a second spade. He made 10 tricks with the minimum of fuss.

Where the auction was as shown, North-South were playing transfers after intervention, so had an artificial way to show spades after the one-heart overcall. That put West, Bruce Neill, on lead, and when he saw dummy hit with a full opening bid, he decided his best chance to set the game was to find his partner with the spade jack. He pressed on with two more rounds of hearts, letting South win dummy’s heart queen and lead a club to hand to play a spade up. Neill hopped up with the ace and played a fourth heart, leaving declarer to guess whether to ruff high and try to drop the spade jack, or whether to discard from dummy in the hope that West had the spade jack. He guessed wrong — and regardless of whether he followed the percentage line or not, I think West deserved to set the game because he had at least given declarer the chance to go wrong.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 12th, 2011

September 26th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 12th, 2011 

Dealer: South Vul: North-South	North ♠ Q 6 ♥ A J 3 2 ♦ K J 10 4 ♣ 10 5 4
West ♠ 7 5 ♥ K 10 6 ♦ A Q 9 8 2 ♣ K Q J		East ♠ J 9 2 ♥ 8 ♦ 7 6 5 ♣ 9 8 7 6 3 2
	South ♠ A K 10 8 4 3 ♥ Q 9 7 5 4 ♦ 3 ♣ A

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Dbl.	Rdbl.	3 ♣*
3 ♥	Pass	4 ♥	Pass
4 NT	Pass	5 ♦	Pass
6 ♥	All Pass

*Pre-emptive

Opening Lead: Club King

“Dear hope! Earth’s dowry, and heaven’s debt!

— Richard Crashaw

You might have avoided playing an anti-percentage heart slam today if you had been using Keycard Blackwood, when the trump king counts as an ace. But once you are there, you’d better make your slam!

The play of this hand revolves around the trump suit. Had there been no bidding, the normal play in hearts would be low to the jack. If both follow low, the ace is played, and on a good day the suit will be 2-2. If East plays the 10 under the jack, the closed hand can be re-entered for a lead of the queen through West’s king.

However, West’ takeout double of one major pretty much guaranteed support for the other. So you should play West for at least three hearts. If he has four hearts or the K-10-8, you are a dead man walking. However, if West has the heart K-10-6 or the K-8-6, you are alive and well.

Lead the heart queen at trick two, which will surely be covered. If East plays the heart six, you have no recourse. However, if East produces the heart eight or 10, re-enter the closed hand to lead the heart nine, repeating the finesse and almost certainly picking up the suit for no losers. As an added bonus, after drawing trumps, you will make an overtrick if spades break 3-2 or the jack is singleton. You can pitch four diamonds from dummy on four spades, eventually ruffing your singleton diamond in dummy!

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, September 11th, 2011

September 25th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, September 10th, 2011

September 24th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

Dealer: West Vul: Both	North ♠ J ♥ A J 9 7 6 ♦ A 9 8 5 ♣ J 7 6
West ♠ 10 9 8 5 3 ♥ Q 8 ♦ Q 7 4 ♣ 9 8 5		East ♠ A K 7 6 ♥ 10 5 4 3 2 ♦ 2 ♣ A 4 2
	South ♠ Q 4 2 ♥ K ♦ K J 10 6 3 ♣ K Q 10 3

 

South	West	North	East
	Pass	1 ♥	Pass
2 ♦	Pass	2 ♥	Pass
2 NT	Pass	3 ♦	Pass
3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: Spade 10

“Good families are generally worse than any others.”

— Robert South

Michael Seamon of Florida is part of one of the most distinguished families of bridge, four of his family having participated successfully in world championships. Seamon found a fine play in this deal from a recent U.S. trial — based on a second-degree assumption of how he needed the cards to lie.

Seamon’s call of two diamonds was forcing to game, so his quiet two-no-trump bid on the second round did not end the auction. North’s failure to raise diamonds directly had suggested that he had only three diamonds — hence the decision to play the inferior no-trump game.

West led the spade nine to the jack and king, and East returned a low spade to Seamon’s queen. Declarer had a spade trick now, but was still a long way from home. He needed to find the diamond queen and also to negotiate the heart suit for three tricks — a fairly unlikely combination of events.

However, his first move was to cash the heart king, noting the fall of West’s eight. Needing this to be from shortness (specifically the queen-doubleton), Seamon inferred that all the probabilities in that case would indicate that West would have longer diamonds than East. He backed his judgment by cashing the diamond king and finessing West for the queen on the next round. When the heart ace brought down the queen, he had nine tricks without touching clubs — a game swing. It was a hand for us all to admire.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 9th, 2011

September 23rd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

Dealer: South Vul: East-West	North ♠ K 10 8 4 3 ♥ 8 6 ♦ 9 6 4 ♣ A K 6
West ♠ Q 9 2 ♥ 9 5 4 ♦ A Q 5 2 ♣ J 9 2		East ♠ 7 6 ♥ J 7 2 ♦ J 10 8 7 3 ♣ 10 7 4
	South ♠ A J 5 ♥ A K Q 10 3 ♦ K ♣ Q 8 5 3

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♥	Pass	1 NT*	Pass
3 ♣	Pass	3 ♥	Pass
3 ♠	Pass	4 NT	Pass
5 ♥	Pass	6 ♠	All Pass

*Spades

Opening Lead: Diamond Ace

“Speech was given to the ordinary sort of men whereby to communicate their mind, but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.”

— Robert South

As a defender, whenever you hold the trump queen, you look for ways to protect it. Similarly, when you can infer that declarer is trying to find the trump queen and you know your partner has it, go out of your way to suggest that you have that card. Surely one of the most imaginative ways to put declarer on the wrong track came on the following deal from the European Championships between Iceland and Romania. It arose over 20 years ago — a highly relevant fact, in a curious way.

North-South reached the small slam in spades after South had shown a strong 3-5-1-4 shape. Gudmundur Arnarson led the diamond ace, which dropped declarer’s king. He could have continued with another diamond, in which case declarer would surely have guessed trumps correctly (since even 4-1 trumps onside might be negotiable via a trump coup).

But instead, Arnarson found the deeply devious shift to the spade nine at trick two. Declarer hopped up with dummy’s 10 and then decided to play a spade to his jack — can you blame him? This protected against the 4-1 splits — although it severely underestimated Arnarson, who would surely have pressed on with a diamond at trick two, had that been the case.

Had the Romanian declarer encountered the deal after Arnarson won the Bermuda Bowl in 1991, I doubt if he would have followed such a deeply unflattering line…

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 8th, 2011

September 22nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  15 Comments 

Dealer: North Vul: Neither	North ♠ K 10 8 7 3 ♥ Q ♦ A 10 3 ♣ A J 5 2
West ♠ 5 4 ♥ 7 5 3 ♦ K J 6 2 ♣ K Q 10 8		East ♠ A Q J 9 2 ♥ A K 9 8 ♦ Q 8 5 ♣ 3
	South ♠ 6 ♥ J 10 6 4 2 ♦ 9 7 4 ♣ 9 7 6 4

 

South	West	North	East
		2 ♠*	Pass
3 ♣	Pass	Pass	Dbl.
All Pass

*Spades and clubs, 11-15

Opening Lead: Heart 3

“Though I beheld at first with blank surprise

— William Wordsworth

Twenty years ago Tony Forrester wrote a bridge tip about the power of the closed hand, and how declarer can generate tricks if he conceals his assets well. One of my favorite closed-hand stories deals with what I am convinced will be close to a world record when it comes to stealing tricks.

North-South had got themselves into their best fit, albeit a level or two too high, and East had done well to find a takeout double, converted to penalties by West.

As the auction had shown, East was a thoughtful and competent player. But West was a weaker player, and instead of leading the obvious trump against three clubs doubled, he decided to lead a heart. East won this to switch to his singleton club. South took this in dummy and decided to try for a crossruff. Since East was clearly stacked in spades, he led a low spade from dummy, hoping to give East a problem.

Everyone followed in tempo, but South was more than a little surprised to find his six taking the trick! East, who knew that declarer had at most one spade for this line of play, had gone with the percentages, hoping his partner had the spade six so that he could continue the attack on trumps. Unluckily for him, his play not only allowed declarer to steal a trick, but also to establish a heart trick. Now a mini-crossruff saw him escape for two down.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

September 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

Dealer: South Vul: Both	North ♠ — ♥ 8 7 6 ♦ K J 9 6 5 4 3 ♣ A 10 7
West ♠ A J 10 9 8 5 ♥ — ♦ Q 10 7 2 ♣ K 5 3		East ♠ 6 3 ♥ A Q 10 4 ♦ — ♣ Q J 9 8 6 4 2
	South ♠ K Q 7 4 2 ♥ K J 9 5 3 2 ♦ A 8 ♣ —

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♥	1 ♠	2 ♦	3 ♣
Pass	5 ♣	5 ♥	Dbl.
All Pass

Opening Lead: Club 3

“World is crazier and more of it than we think,

— Louis Macneice

What do you think the result of a heart contract for North-South might be on this deal? With trumps 4-0 and a foul spade break, it seems you would be struggling in game however you play it, but appearances are sometimes deceptive.

Both tables in a USA-Netherlands match competed to five hearts, and were doubled. When Bob Hamman and I were defending, Hamman led a club. Declarer took the ace in dummy and played a heart to the king, followed by the diamond ace. I ruffed, cashed my top trumps, and then exited with a spade. Hamman won the ace and thoughtfully continued with a diamond, breaking up any pressure in the endgame and collecting two more spade tricks for a penalty of 800.

By contrast, in the other room our teammate Richard Freeman won the club ace and chose to play a heart to the jack. Such a small difference, but now he could advance the spade king from hand, covered and ruffed, and then lead a second heart from dummy. With the defensive spade communication cut, all East could do was win his ace and play a second spade. Freeman took the queen and played the heart king and another heart; East got his two trump tricks, but had only clubs left to lead. Freeman ruffed and led his last trump, and West was painfully squeezed in spades and diamonds. Whatever he did, declarer had the rest, for plus 850 and 17 IMPs to the USA!

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

September 20th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

Dealer: North Vul: East-West	North ♠ K J 6 5 4 ♥ J 7 ♦ 8 7 4 ♣ A 4 2
West ♠ Q 9 8 7 2 ♥ K Q 8 3 ♦ A Q J 6 ♣ —		East ♠ — ♥ 10 9 6 ♦ 10 5 3 2 ♣ Q 10 9 7 6 5
	South ♠ A 10 3 ♥ A 5 4 2 ♦ K 9 ♣ K J 8 3

 

South	West	North	East
		Pass	Pass
1 ♥	1 ♠	Pass	Pass
Dbl.	2 ♦	Dbl.	Pass
2 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: Diamond Queen

“The superior man is distressed by his want of ability.”

— Confucius

One of the frequently debated questions in bridge is whether technical skills are more important than table presence. For what it is worth, my view is that you can aspire to be a very good player by doing nothing more than master the percentages. But to excel at the top level, you need that indefinable ability to play against the percentages, and also to be able to encourage your opponents to play badly.

Today’s deal is from the qualifying round of a world championship. North and South were playing a weak no-trump and four-card majors; hence, the opening bid. When West overcalled, North could not make a penalty double of the one-spade overcall, so passed for the time being, and South, Kitty Teltscher, reopened with a takeout double.

West chose a good moment to rebid two diamonds, and now North doubled to show a penalty double of spades and some diamond length. Teltscher judged well to remove this, rightly fearing that declarer might be able to make a lot of tricks on a crossruff. Thus North-South reached a normal game, but had been armed with considerable additional information.

West led a helpful diamond queen, but even so, it was hard to see any hope of a ninth trick. However, declarer spotted a chance. She won the diamond king and played the spade three. West sleepily played the two, so dummy’s four won the second trick! After that, it was a simple matter to finesse in clubs and spades to arrive at nine tricks.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 5th, 2011

September 19th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

Dealer: South Vul: North-South	North ♠ K 4 2 ♥ Q 10 7 3 ♦ 9 8 2 ♣ J 7 3
West ♠ Q 9 ♥ A J 8 4 ♦ K 6 4 3 ♣ 6 4 2		East ♠ 10 8 6 3 ♥ K 9 2 ♦ J 10 7 5 ♣ 8 5
	South ♠ A J 7 5 ♥ 6 5 ♦ A Q ♣ A K Q 10 9

 

South	West	North	East
2 NT	Pass	3 ♣	Pass
3 ♠	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: Club 6

“The thirteenth generation —

— Abbie Farwell Brown

Would you open that South hand one club or two no-trump? With such an easy rebid, I think one club is impeccable, but at one table in an international multi-teams event held in The Hague, South opened two no-trump. Now a revealing auction in which South showed spades and North implied hearts saw South arrive in three no-trump on the lead of the club six — which could have been from just about anything.

Declarer’s approach was to win in dummy and lead a low spade to the jack and queen. Back came a second club, and South ran the clubs, played the spade ace and a spade to the king, and when that suit did not behave, he took a diamond finesse. When this lost, he considered himself unlucky. Do you agree with his assessment?

South was not unlucky; he had simply overlooked the textbook solution to maximize his chances for nine tricks. Win the first club in hand and play the spade ace, followed by a spade to the king; then play a third spade toward the jack. As the cards lie, this makes nine tricks easily.

You might object that this line gives up a trick unnecessarily if the spade queen were onside, with the suit 3-3, but the point is that you only need three spade tricks for the contract. You can afford to let the opponents get away with an overtrick from time to time — as long as you make all the contracts that you can.

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].