August 29th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, August 15th, 2011 
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: South |
North
♠ A J 3
♥ 7 5 2
♦ K 7 6 3
♣ J 9 4 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 9 5 2
♥ Q 9 3
♦ Q J 10
♣ 5 2 |
 |
East
♠ 10 8 6 4
♥ 8 4
♦ A 9 5 4
♣ Q 8 7 |
| |
South
♠ 7
♥ A K J 10 6
♦ 8 2
♣ A K 10 6 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
1 NT |
2 ♠ |
| 3 ♣ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade king
“Put all your eggs in one basket and — watch that basket.”
— Mark Twain
Two chances are not always better than one, but in general you would like to take your chances in a contract in correct order, rather than trying to put all your eggs in one basket.
See if you can spot the relevance of that adage when planning the play in four hearts on the lead of the spade king. In essence, the contract is highly likely to make if the diamond ace is well placed for South. But if it isn’t, declarer needs a good break in hearts and clubs, and for one of the finesses in those suits to work. As the cards lie, if declarer takes the heart finesse first, he will lose a club later. (Even though the club finesse is onside, declarer will no longer have an entry to the board to take it.) Compare what happens if declarer tries for two chances to make his game. Say that at trick two, declarer runs the club nine from dummy. If the finesse loses, South can cash the heart ace to guard against a singleton heart queen, then re-enter dummy with the club jack to try the heart finesse.
Today, the club nine would hold the trick, so declarer next plays a heart to the 10. West wins the queen and shifts to diamonds. Declarer ruffs the third diamond and cashes the heart ace. Next he plays the club ace, in case the same hand has one club and two hearts. When clubs split, he simply draws trump and claims the rest.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
J 10 9 5 2 |
| ♥ |
J 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 3 |
| ♣ |
8 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
3 ♠ |
| Pass |
4 ♣ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
| All pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The opponents have implied slam interest, but have stopped low because they have no diamond control. If you are going to lead a diamond, leading the queen gives you more chances of cashing three diamond tricks on the go. (Imagine partner with three or four diamonds to the A-J, for example.) I admit that the results might well make you look foolish!
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].
August 28th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, August 14th, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
Say you open one diamond and the next hand overcalls one spade. Partner doubles, and RHO raises to two spades. What would jumps by you to four clubs or even five clubs be? What jumps are available to agree hearts?
— Frogger, Troy, N.Y.
ANSWER: In the given auction, no suit has been agreed, so both club calls are natural. Four clubs sounds natural and forcing to me. (Some might argue strong but not forcing.) A five-club bid might be 6-6 without many extras in high cards. By contrast, a jump to four spades seems clearly — to me — to be a cuebid for hearts, probably with short spades.
Dear Mr Wolff:
When your RHO intervenes with a specific two-suiter over your partner’s opening call, what respnses do you have? What if he shows a two-suiter, but only specifies the major, together with an unspecified minor?
— Returning the Favor, Bay City, Mich.
ANSWER: If only one suit is specified, co-opt the cuebid of that suit to show a high-card limit raise for partner, with simple raises being weaker than that. If both suits are specified, one cuebid should be the limit-raise, the other should show a good hand with the fourth suit. Meanwhile, bids of the fourth suit are limited to invitational values.
Dear Mr Wolff:
Are you in favor of Flannery as opposed to a weak two-diamond opening bid? I don’t see either coming up more than twice a night — even if the weak hand is slightly more common. Secondly, is Flannery always used as an opening bid, or can it be a response as well? If my partner opens one club, would a jump to two diamonds be Flannery?
— Flannery Flummery, Janesville, Wis.
ANSWER: I like Flannery. I enjoy the fact that a one-spade response to one heart shows five, and a one-no-trump response may contain four spades. But the weak two-diamond opening is much more popular, in general; it does come up more often than Flannery, I think. Incidentally, a two-diamond response to one club should not be played as both majors, but as diamonds, weak or strong — depending on taste.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
Holding SPADES K-7-4, HEARTS Q-J, DIAMONDS A-K-9-5-3, CLUBS K-3-2, my partner responded two clubs, game-forcing to my one-diamond opener. We ended up in the par spot of three no-trump, but was my partner’s bid correct? We do not play inverted minor raises (we limit the strength of the raise to two diamonds to 10-12, while three diamonds would show 6-9), so he was too strong for either action.
— Minor Fudging, Newport News, Va.
ANSWER: The French play this way (no inverted minors, so they lie in the other minor with a forcing raise). It seems to work for them, though it would not be my choice. And yes, your partner told the least lie here. Making your inverted minors forcing for one round would solve the problem, of course.
Dear Mr Wolff:
In response to an opening strong no-trump, is a bid of three clubs acceptable when you hold SPADES 9-8, HEARTS —, DIAMONDS A-K-4-2, CLUBS J-10-7-6-4-3-2? Would you consider bidding five clubs?
— Gone Clubbing, Muncie, Ind.
ANSWER: There is no easy answer here. A forcing club bid might work (or a call to show both minors short in hearts — some use jumps in the majors over the no-trump opening for those hands). That would be better with a spade honor, though, because spades could be the weak suit if your partner declares no-trump. Maybe just bidding clubs rates to work out best, after all, but I prefer three clubs instead of the jump to game.
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
August 27th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ Q 10 8 4 3 2
♥ 9 2
♦ K J 4 3
♣ Q |
|
| West
♠ A 9 7 6
♥ 10 6
♦ 10 9 8 5
♣ 9 7 2 |
|
East
♠ K
♥ Q 7 4
♦ A Q
♣ K J 10 8 6 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ J 5
♥ A K J 8 5 3
♦ 7 6 2
♣ A 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
3 ♣ |
| 3 ♥ |
4 ♣ |
4 ♥ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Club two
“Beware, I say, the failure and the shame
Of losing that for which you now aspire
So blindly, and of hazarding entire
The gift that I was bringing when I came.”
— Edwin Arlington Robinson
Today’s deal saw a missed opportunity of sorts. Do you think that South might have found the winning line in his delicate contract?
Having climbed to the precarious heights of four hearts, declarer won the club lead in his hand with the ace, ruffed a club, then took a trump finesse. He drew all the trumps, then ducked a spade to East, ruffed the club return, and played a second spade. West won the trick and shifted to a diamond, and declarer could not avoid losing at least two further diamond tricks when the diamond queen was offside.
This was a perfectly reasonable line of play — in a sense. But as the cards lie, the contract could have been made. The auction strongly suggests that East has seven clubs, since he had jumped to the three-level when vulnerable, facing a passing partner. Once East turns up with three trumps, it must surely be right to go after diamonds before spades. And best is to duck a diamond completely, then repeat the process if the first diamond play loses to anything but the ace, playing East for a bare spade honor plus the doubleton diamond ace, or the bare diamond ace.
Note that even if East has (say) the doubleton diamond A-9, losing the first diamond cheaply will not be fatal. East can unblock his spade honor and play a club, but you ruff and duck a second diamond, later finessing in diamonds to pitch your spade loser.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 7 6 |
| ♥ |
10 6 |
| ♦ |
10 9 8 5 |
| ♣ |
9 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Dbl. |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Although you appear to be very weak, bear in mind that after your first two calls, your partner already knew that and still invited game. Without wanting to appear to be too much of a mastermind, I think this hand is very close to a try for game. If so, a bid of three diamonds would be natural and suggest this sort of hand. However, a lot depends on how much you trust your partner.
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].
August 26th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: West |
North
♠ 8 2
♥ K J 3
♦ A Q 8 6 3 2
♣ J 7 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 10 7 4
♥ 5
♦ 10 9 4
♣ A Q 10 3 |
|
East
♠ J 9 5 3
♥ A 10 7
♦ J 7 5
♣ K 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ A 6
♥ Q 9 8 6 4 2
♦ K
♣ 8 6 5 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♠ |
2 ♦ |
2 ♠ |
| 3 ♥ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade king
“The best you get is an even break.”
— Franklin P. Adams
In competitive bidding, when one side has hearts and the other spades, it is often a good idea to keep on bidding to four spades over four hearts. Even if your contract fails, theirs may make. And sometimes both contracts can come home.
At one table, the contract was four hearts, and the spade king was led. Declarer had little choice but to win, overtake his diamond king with dummy’s ace, and cash the diamond queen, pitching a spade. He now ruffed a diamond and played a heart to dummy’s jack. East ducked this, but declarer accurately ran winning diamonds from the dummy. Whenever East ruffed in, declarer could overruff and play a second trump, ultimately reaching dummy via a club ruff.
It might appear that East could have done better by winning the heart ace and forcing the dummy with three rounds of clubs. However, declarer simply ruffs the third club in dummy and plays a winning diamond as before. East ruffs and declarer overruffs, ruffs a club high in the dummy and plays more winning diamonds.
In the other room, hearts were never mentioned when East initially treated his hand as a raise to three spades — something of an overbid — and West declared four spades. Here North led a club, which declarer won to play a trump. When South won the spade ace and played the diamond king, North missed his only chance to beat the contract. When he failed to overtake, four spades could no longer be beaten.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
8 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 3 |
| ♦ |
A Q 8 6 3 2 |
| ♣ |
J 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Determining what to open hands with 10 or 11 high-card points with a moderate six-card suit is often a problem. I upgrade to a one-level opening bid if I can. Factors such as decent controls and guarded side-suit honors, as here, persuade me to open one diamond. If I had a queen in both hearts and clubs instead of my king and a jack, you might tempt me to open two diamonds — but only if vulnerable.
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].
August 25th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: South |
North
♠ 2
♥ A J 6 5
♦ Q 9 8 7 6
♣ K 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ Q 5 4
♥ Q 8 7
♦ A 5 4
♣ Q 10 8 4 |
|
East
♠ K J 9 8 7 6
♥ K 10 9 2
♦ 2
♣ J 7 |
| |
South
♠ A 10 3
♥ 4 3
♦ K J 10 3
♣ A 9 6 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 ♠ |
4 ♦ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Diamond ace
“It is a silly game where nobody wins.”
— Thomas Fuller
In today’s deal, South had a minimum but normal opening bid, and North at his second turn felt too good to bid only three diamonds, which would have been consistent with a hand that was purely competitive without any game interest. Hence the partnership reached the Goldilocks level of four diamnds — not too low, not too high, just right.
Since North-South had avoided a no-trump contract and North had shown an unbalanced hand, West guessed to lead the diamond ace and a second diamond. If South had made the mistake of going for spade ruffs in the long trump hand, he would have found that that there was also a fourth club to look after, and that this could not be ruffed without letting West on lead to play a third round of trumps. Declarer found a better solution by ducking a heart into East’s hand at the third trick.
Then he could play to take two heart ruffs in his own hand, losing one heart, one diamond, and one club. In total, the tricks he scored were four tricks in aces and kings, two heart ruffs in hand, and four trumps in dummy.
It is worth noting that if declarer plays the spade ace and ruffs a spade at tricks three and four, then leads out the club king and another club, ducking when East’s jack appears, then West must overtake to be in position to play the third diamond. Otherwise, declarer’s crossruff succeeds.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
2 |
| ♥ |
A J 6 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 7 6 |
| ♣ |
K 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It is an excellent and almost unbreakable rule that when both players pass at their first turn to speak, they can’t sensibly want to play game in no-trump. Here, your partner’s two-no-trump call suggests two or three places to play and asks you to bid your lowest playable minor. So bid three diamonds and await developments, if any.
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].
August 24th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: North |
North
♠ A Q 6 5
♥ —
♦ Q 8 6 5 3 2
♣ Q 9 7 |
|
| West
♠ K J 10 9
♥ 10 7 5
♦ J 10 4
♣ K 10 8 |
|
East
♠ 8
♥ Q J 9 8 6
♦ K 9
♣ A 6 5 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ 7 4 3 2
♥ A K 4 3 2
♦ A 7
♣ J 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
1 ♠ |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
3 ♥ |
3 ♠ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart five
“Time, it is well known, sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a worm; but man is wont to be particularly happy when he does not even notice whether it passes quickly or slowly.”
— Ivan Turgenev
Understandably, once today’s 4-4 fit was identified in an uncontested auction, the Danish North chose to play in the spade game at one table of their Venice Cup match against France in the 2007 World Championships. But the suit game stood no chance against the 4-1 trump break, along with a plethora of losers in the plain suits, and it finished down two.
However, in the room that we are focusing on, things were very different; there was no way here that North-South could find their spade fit. Equally, it was undeniable that Catherine D’Ovidio of France did not exactly underbid her hand when she headed to the no-trump game facing a passed partner.
If West had led a club, or even a spade, d’Ovidio’s game might have been defeated. But in response to her partner’s opener, West led a heart, which South won. Reaching nine tricks seems to require West to have the spade king, and for the diamond suit to produce five tricks. But with so few lines of communications between the North and South hands, how do you come to nine tricks without setting up too many tricks for the defenders — especially since South’s only entry is the diamond ace?
D’Ovidio found the solution — she ducked a diamond in both hands at trick two. Then, with the diamond king dropping doubleton, she was able to cross to her diamond ace, take the second heart winner, finesse in spades, and run dummy’s four diamond winners to make her contract.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
7 4 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A 7 |
| ♣ |
J 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If your partner’s one-no-trump call is nonforcing or semiforcing, you have no problem in simply passing. But if the call is forcing (potentially concealing a minimum balanced game-drive), passing may be an error. You may feel obligated to bid two clubs, pretending you have three of them. Personally, I would pass blithely, breaking partnership discipline and taking the blame if 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].
August 23rd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 6 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: North |
North
♠ A 4
♥ A 9 7
♦ J 5 2
♣ A Q J 8 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 8 3
♥ J 10 6 4 3
♦ A 8 3
♣ 3 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 5
♥ K 5 2
♦ 7 6 4
♣ K 9 7 5 |
| |
South
♠ K 7 6 2
♥ Q 8
♦ K Q 10 9
♣ 10 6 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣* |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
*16 or more HCP, any shape
Opening Lead: Heart four
“The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
One of the most challenging yet apparently simple themes for declarer in no-trump play is to identify the danger hand and to try to plan things so as to isolate that player. The following deal shows a relatively simple example of the technique. It is nonetheless worth a little careful analysis.
The normal contract of three no-trump was reached in very short order after North’s artificial opening bid. On a heart lead, declarer naturally plays low from dummy and takes his heart queen at trick two. How to proceed? To make nine tricks, declarer must generate five tricks from the minors. Consider the consequence of taking the club finesse at once. If the finesse is wrong, the defense might be able to take the club king and clear the hearts. If that suit splits 5-3, with West retaining the diamond ace as his entry to the long suit, the defense must prevail. So the right play is to attack the diamonds first. If West takes his ace, declarer can later finesse clubs into the safe hand. If the club finesse is right, declarer has plenty of tricks, and if it is wrong, East has the lead and cannot hurt you.
By contrast, if it was East who had shown long hearts, you would win the heart queen and take the club finesse first to try to knock the entry out of the East hand.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q 9 5 |
| ♥ |
K 5 2 |
| ♦ |
7 6 4 |
| ♣ |
K 9 7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
| 1 NT |
2 ♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s double shows extras and tends to be relatively balanced, since with real shape he would have bid a second suit. Despite that, your club length and relatively weak hearts should persuade you to bid three clubs. You have already shown 7-10 points, so partner can bid on if interested in game.
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].
August 22nd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 17 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ J 8 2
♥ Q J 10 5 2
♦ 8 6
♣ K 9 2 |
|
| West
♠ 9 7
♥ 9 7
♦ Q J 10 9 3
♣ 8 7 4 3 |
|
East
♠ A Q 6 5 4 3
♥ K 8 4
♦ 4
♣ Q 6 5 |
| |
South
♠ K 10
♥ A 6 3
♦ A K 7 5 2
♣ A J 10 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
2 ♠ |
| 3 NT |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Spade nine
“His biting is immortal; those that do die of it do seldom or never recover.”
— William Shakespeare
Today’s deal is a declarer-play problem in three no-trump, although four hearts by North would be far easier. Let’s see how to get to the right spot after East opens one spade. South is too heavy for a one-no-trump overcall, so he doubles. North bids two hearts, planning to compete to three hearts if necessary. Now East should not bid two spades — he has nothing extra but a sixth spade. But whether East joins in with two spades or not, South should bid two no-trump, and North should explore delicately with three spades — pick a game, partner. When South sensibly opts for four hearts, 11 tricks should be the result.
However, what is the best play in three no-trump by South, after the less sophisticated auction shown here? West leads the spade nine, and East must duck the trick, even if declarer carefully puts up dummy’s jack. After all, if declarer has K-10-7 of spades, nothing will stop him from taking three tricks; and by ducking the first spade, East may preserve communication in the spade suit.
Let’s say declarer misses the point and plays low from dummy, winning the first spade in hand with the 10. He must now go to dummy with the club king and run first the heart queen, then the heart jack. East sensibly ducks twice to block the suit, so now declarer abandons hearts and simply takes the club finesse. When it succeeds, declarer has three hearts, three clubs, two diamonds and one spade.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
J 9 7 4 |
| ♥ |
A 9 5 3 |
| ♦ |
7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
| All pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: When the opponents’ strength is limited, as here, your choice of leads should be, in order of preference, your long suit, a passive lead, or declarer’s shortage. Only then should you fall back on a broken suit of your own. You have no long suit or an obviously passive lead, so I’d guess to lead a diamond, without any conviction.
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].
August 21st, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, August 7th, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
My partner opened one diamond, and over my RHO’s bid of one spade, I bid two clubs, holding SPADES J-9-4, HEARTS A-3, DIAMONDS Q-4, CLUBS A-J-9-5-3-2. The next player overcalled two hearts, and my partner bid three hearts. What sort of hand would that show and what would you do now?
— Richie Rich, Dodge City, Kan.
ANSWER: It is a good idea to play that when your side opens and the opponents show a two-suiter, you bid the suit you have stopped. So you may be missing a spade stopper for no-trump. You can show half a spade stopper here by bidding three spades, relying on partner to bid three no-trump now with any top spade.
Dear Mr Wolff:
With neither side vulnerable, I dealt and opened one diamond with SPADES A-10, HEARTS J-10-2, DIAMONDS K-J-6-5-2, CLUBS K-4-3. My LHO overcalled one spade, and my partner made a negative double. What would you bid now? I chose to respond two hearts and my partner jumped to four hearts with her four hearts and 15 HCP. This went down, with the no-trump game a far better contract. Do you have any comments?
— My Heart’s in the Highlands, Pottsville, Pa.
ANSWER: Responding in a three-card major to a negative double is generally limited to auctions where you don’t raise the level (one spade over a double of one heart, and occasionally two hearts when you have opened one spade, after a double of an overcall of two of a minor suit). With your hand your response was ill-advised. A call of one no-trump looks to be more accurate.
Dear Mr Wolff:
Playing two-over-one, partner opens one heart in first seat. You hold SPADES K-J-9-8-3-2, HEARTS A, DIAMONDS A-Q-9, CLUBS Q-10-7 and respond one spade. Your partner now bids two hearts. What next?
— No Fit Yet, San Antonio, Texas
ANSWER: Before I answer, can you guess which game should be best? I cannot; it might be spades, hearts or no-trump. Committing your side to any of these might be fatal. So don’t do that. Explore with three diamonds, suggesting values in that suit, planning to raise spades or hearts and pass three no-trump.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
If Right Hand Opponent opens with a weak or kamikaze (10-12) no-trump and you have two little spades, four cards to the ace-king in both red suits, and king-third of clubs, I assume you would double. But what should your continuations be? What if you play that your partner’s bids are as if you had responded to one no-trump and your partner transfers to spades?
— In the Mix, Augusta, Ga.
ANSWER: By agreement (it is not entirely standard) I DO play transfer responses after penalty doubles of the opponents’ weak no-trump. Equally, if the opponents run, I play the same methods as if I had opened one no-trump and the next hand had bid. If you play your partner’s two-heart call as a transfer, I’d obediently bid two spades now. Bidding two no-trump here would show 18-21 or so.
Dear Mr Wolff:
Recently I’ve been arguing about whether it is correct to respond to a possibly short minor bid with one of a suit if you have six points. I had been taught that the response should be one no-trump with any minimum hand and that you can only bid a new suit with a decent hand. Have the rules changed and I’m behind the times?
— Left in the Lurch, Columbia, S.C.
ANSWER: The standard approach is to make the response to either minor in your longer major suit, which shows six or more points, rather than 10. A response of one no-trump shows 6-10, without a four-card major. Culbertson agreed with you — but times have changed!
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If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
August 20th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ A K 9 8 5 2
♥ 6 5 2
♦ K 9
♣ 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ 7 4
♥ A K Q 10 8 3
♦ 10 7 2
♣ 9 7 |
|
East
♠ J 6 3
♥ J 9 7
♦ A Q J 6 3
♣ A 4 |
| |
South
♠ Q 10
♥ 4
♦ 8 5 4
♣ K Q J 10 8 6 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 NT* |
| 4 ♣ |
4 ♥ |
4 ♠ |
Dbl. |
| 5 ♣ |
Dbl. |
All pass |
|
*12-14
Opening Lead: Heart king
“From low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sink from high to low, along a scale
Of awful notes, whose concord shall not fail.”
— William Wordsworth
This deal is from the England-France Open Teams encounter at the 2002 European Bridge Teams Championships held in Salsomaggiore, Italy.
Danny Davies and John Armstrong, East and West, judged sensibly enough to defend. True, five hearts would have made when the diamonds behaved, but when bidding space has been pre-empted, going plus is always sensible at teams.
Duplicated boards were in use, so it was possible to work out, after the fact, that five clubs doubled was a popular contract, going two light in all the other matches where it was attempted — losing two diamond tricks, plus one club and one heart trick.
However, Danny Davies found a devilish defense to take the contract three off. John Armstrong led the heart king and, on receiving a count signal from his partner, switched to a diamond to the king and ace. East now found the killing return — the club four. See the effect of this: declarer wins in hand, but try as he might, he cannot avoid the loss of two further diamonds and the club ace.
If South plays another diamond, the defense wins, cashes the club ace, then can take a further diamond trick. Equally, if South tries to discard a diamond on a spade, West ruffs the third spade, and there are still a diamond and a club trick to come. The effect of leading the low trump is to prevent the diamond ruff, while retaining control of the hand.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
7 4 |
| ♥ |
A K Q 10 8 3 |
| ♦ |
10 7 2 |
| ♣ |
9 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♦ |
Dbl. |
2 ♦ |
| 4 ♥ |
Pass |
5 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
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ANSWER: In auctions of this sort, where the opponents have bid a suit in which your side may not have a control, a bid of five of the trump suit by your partner asks for a control there. So his five-diamond bid should focus on your trumps (imagine him with a strong 4-4-1-4 but four small trumps). Bid the small slam — and don’t be surprised if the grand slam hinges upon a finesse at worst.
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].
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