October 25th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments 
| Dealer: West
Vul: Neither |
North
♠ A J 5 2
♥ A K 10 6 2
♦ 7
♣ 6 4 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 8 3
♥ Q 9
♦ A K 9 4
♣ A 9 8 5 |
 |
East
♠ 9 6 4
♥ J 7 5 3
♦ 6 3 2
♣ J 10 3 |
| |
South
♠ K Q 7
♥ 8 4
♦ Q J 10 8 5
♣ K Q 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♦ |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
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| |
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|
Opening Lead: Club Five
“Low at my problem bending,
Another problem comes…”
— Emily Dickinson
This week’s deals all come from the world championships held this time last year in Philadelphia. The swing that arose on this board from the teams event was somewhat random in nature, since a lot depended on the minor suit opened by West. If West opened one club and South ended up in three no-trump without having bid a suit, then it was natural for West to lead either a high or low diamond at the first trick. It did not really matter which card West chose. It was then easy for South to establish diamonds and bring home nine tricks.
By contrast, if declarer received an unhelpful club lead, as happened when Tarek Sadek was declarer in three no-trump in the Rosenblum, there was considerably more work to do. He won the lead in his hand, knocked out one high diamond, then took the spade shift and knocked out the other top diamond. When a spade came back, he could see that he needed to achieve an endplay on West, which in turn required that player to have only two hearts.
So he cashed both top hearts and just two more rounds of spades, ending in hand, then drove out the diamond nine, endplaying West to lead clubs to him for the ninth trick. In the end Sadek took only three spade tricks, but he also scored two hearts, three diamonds, and a second club trick for his contract.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K Q 7 |
| ♥ |
8 4 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 8 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
2 ♣ |
2 ♦ |
3 ♣ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The fact that you have five chunky diamonds outweighs your defensive club holding. Both sides rate to have a nine-card fit here, so you should bid three diamonds and compete to the level of your total trumps, a theory espoused by Larry Cohen and the Law of Total Tricks. When in doubt, bid on with trump, as opposed to high cards.
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].
October 24th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: Neither |
North
♠ 6
♥ A K J 8 4 2
♦ 10 7
♣ Q J 10 5 |
|
| West
♠ 7 5 4
♥ Q 10 6 3
♦ 8
♣ K 8 6 4 3 |
|
East
♠ K 10 8 2
♥ 9 5
♦ J 9 6 2
♣ 9 7 2 |
| |
South
♠ A Q J 9 3
♥ 7
♦ A K Q 5 4 3
♣ A |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
| 3 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♦ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5 ♦ |
Pass |
| 5 NT |
Pass |
6 ♦ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: Club Three
“To live happily with other people one must only ask of them what they can give.”
— Tristan Bernard
All the deals this week come from last October’s world championships, held in Philadelphia. In the women’s knockout, both tables reached today’s diamond slam. Not surprisingly, neither West found the killing trump lead.
At one table Sandra Rimstedt of Sweden took an early ruffing spade finesse, which lost. She subsequently ruffed one spade in dummy to pitch her second spade on the top heart, conceding down one when trumps did not behave.
Sylvie Willard of France guessed better. She won the heart lead and took an immediate spade finesse. She then arranged to ruff two spades in dummy. When they split, she had more than enough trumps and entries to come back to hand and run the top trumps, then play on spades for 12 tricks.
This line was successful, gaining 17 IMPs, but was it best? In the Rosenblum Teams event, where the same boards were in play, both declarers in the match between Zimmerman and Camberos made the slam on a club lead. They won, took the spade ace, and played to ruff two spades in dummy and two clubs in hand. Then they played on trumps, and when the bad diamond break came to light, they cashed the two top hearts, ruffed a heart, and thus scored their last small trump en passant.
This line is better than taking just one spade ruff in dummy (it loses only to spades 5-2 with the short hand having the diamond jack). And it has the merit of being successful, too!
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 9 2 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 3 |
| ♣ |
A 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♦ |
1 ♠ |
| 2 ♥ |
3 ♠ |
4 ♥ |
4 ♠ |
| Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
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| |
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ANSWER: The most likely way declarer will score tricks here is on a crossruff. Lead a trump and plan to continue the suit unless it becomes clear that you need to cash out.
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].
October 23rd, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 9th, 2011
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Why is it a good idea to play two-suit transfers into the majors? Would four-suit transfers be better, so that you have a bid to show each of the minors? I rarely have hands with which I want to play a partscore in the minor facing a no-trump opening bid.
— Luddite, Orlando, Fla.
ANSWER: While there is no single best transfer scheme, using a two-spade response to one no-trump to show clubs, and using three clubs to show diamonds, keeping a two-no-trump call as natural, is both simple and easy to remember. What you do after that may require considerably more discussion, of course. But one employs these methods to improve bidding to slam and game — not to find a way to play the best partscore.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What would you bid with SPADES K-10-3-2, HEARTS 10-4, DIAMONDS J-9, CLUBS A-Q-7-3-2 if your partner opens one club and the next hand overcalls one spade? Is this hand worth a club raise, or a no-trump bid — or something else?
— Tea Strainer, Levittown, Pa.
ANSWER: If you gave me just one guess, I’d say it was right to bid one no-trump but to compete in clubs if the opponents bid a red suit. The attraction of bidding one no-trump is that you hope partner will be able to act again if he has either shape or reasonable extras, or both.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Are there some simple rules that will help me master the general principles of how suits break?
— Numbers Nut, Mitchell, S.D.
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|
ANSWER: Leaving aside the rule that when you are missing two cards, it is a toss-up whether you play for the drop, the simple rule is this: An even number of cards are most likely NOT breaking evenly (call the even break a one-third chance). An odd number of cards rate to break as evenly as possible — this has a two-thirds likelihood. Everything else follows from there.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I was playing with a very strong partner, who sometimes assumed I knew (or remembered!) more than I did. How would you cope with SPADES J-7-4-2, HEARTS A-2, DIAMONDS K-10-8-6-2, CLUBS A-4 after you opened one diamond, yout LHO overcalled one spade, and partner bid three spades?
— Mister Memory, Portland, Ore.
ANSWER: A jump cue-bid here should have a very precise meaning. It is a raise in diamonds with a singleton spade — in other words, a splinter raise. Your hand is not suitable for no-trump, but it is very suitable for diamonds. (Imagine partner with the heart and club kings, plus five diamonds to the ace.) Cue-bid four clubs now — don’t even think of bidding three no-trump or closing out the auction at five diamonds.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What would you respond to a two-heart opening if you held: SPADES Q-J-7, HEARTS A-9-7-3, DIAMONDS K-9-2, CLUBS Q-10-4? How would you rate passing, raising, or inquiring with two no-trump?
— Moving Up, Madison, Wis.
ANSWER: I have enough values to expect the opponents not to make game anywhere. The choice is to raise to three hearts at once (maybe that will suck my opponents in?) or to pass and bid up to three hearts if necessary. Either approach makes sense. I favor the latter, but it is close. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
October 22nd, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 8th, 2011
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North
♠ A 10 7 6 5 4
♥ K 5
♦ K 6
♣ 10 8 2 |
|
| West
♠ K 9 3
♥ J 9 3 2
♦ 3 2
♣ K Q 9 7 |
|
East
♠ J
♥ Q 7 6
♦ Q 10 9 8 7
♣ 6 5 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 8 2
♥ A 10 8 4
♦ A J 5 4
♣ A J |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
4 ♥* |
Pass |
| 4 ♠ |
All Pass |
|
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| |
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| |
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| *Texas transfer to spades |
Opening Lead: Club King
“I pledge you — I pledge myself — to a new deal for the American people.”
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Today’s deal is a new venture for me — and possibly for you too! South rates to take 11 tricks in four spades after a top club lead by cashing the spade ace early, and would feel that his side has bid quite high enough. However, you are asked to look just at North’s and South’s 26 cards, then arrange the opponents’ cards to allow your side to bid and make seven no-trump!
West leads the club king against the grand slam. Since South’s only hope of not losing a spade is to find the singleton jack with East, (the bare king with West will not suffice), he takes his club ace and leads the spade queen from hand. West covers, and South next takes three tricks in the diamond suit via the finesse.
When West shows out on the third diamond, South can now guarantee the contract. The fourth diamond will serve as a threat against East, and the club 10 acts as a menace against West, so that when the heart king and all the spades are run off, neither defender can guard hearts without throwing a master in one of the minor suits.
In the three-card ending, North holds a spade, a heart and the club 10; South holds a small diamond and the doubleton heart ace. When the spade is led, East has to discard a heart to keep the master diamond, South throws the diamond from hand, and West is squeezed in hearts and clubs.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 7 6 5 4 |
| ♥ |
K 5 |
| ♦ |
K 6 |
| ♣ |
10 8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
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|
ANSWER: The auction has somewhat reduced the likelihood that your side can make game, since your partner’s pass at his second turn suggests he is minimum balanced without spade support. That being so, I suggest a call of two spades should suffice now. With slightly better spade intermediates, you would risk a jump to three 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 2011. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 21st, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: East-West |
North
♠ J 9 2
♥ A Q J 8 4
♦ Q 8 3
♣ A 5 |
|
| West
♠ 8 7 5
♥ 9 7 5 2
♦ J 10 9
♣ 8 7 4 |
|
East
♠ Q 10 6 3
♥ 10
♦ 5 4 2
♣ K Q J 9 3 |
| |
South
♠ A K 4
♥ K 6 3
♦ A K 7 6
♣ 10 6 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 2 ♥ |
Pass |
3 NT |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
All Pass |
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Opening Lead: Diamond Jack
“The fascination of what’s difficult
Has dried the sap out of my veins…”
— W.B. Yeats
You don’t need to be a great bridge strategist to play an obscure squeeze. Recently I showed you a deal from the Cavendish Bridge Club in New York where drawing trump and cashing winners produced a vise squeeze. You think that is exciting? Here is a deal from the same club where the simple act of drawing trump and cashing winners produced a ruffing squeeze. What’s that, you say? Well here goes.
As South you stay out of a thin slam. (After transferring to hearts, North might have advanced with a quantitative four-no-trump call over the transfer response, but nobody did anything unreasonable.) You win the diamond lead in hand — and yes, as a technical matter, you should unblock dummy’s diamond eight, but never mind.
Now you draw trump in four rounds, pitching a spade from hand. Next come three more rounds of diamonds (you’re guessing well today, so you play for the suit to be 3-3 and do not finesse against East), throwing dummy’s club.
At this point everyone is down to five cards. What would you suggest for East to keep? If he pitches a revealing club honor, declarer unblocks the club ace, comes back to hand with a spade, and ruffs out the clubs, taking tricks 12 and 13 with a top spade and a club. If he pitches a spade instead, declarer cashes the two top spades, dropping the queen, and dummy is good.
The same line of play also works on a club lead — the defenders are defenseless.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A K 4 |
| ♥ |
K 6 3 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 6 |
| ♣ |
10 6 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
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| |
|
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|
ANSWER: Most partnerships these days have switched to playing takeout doubles by both responder and the no-trump opener as their first action after an overcall of a one-no-trump opening. So you could reopen with a double here; but even though you have a maximum hand, your heart suit is completely wrong for that action. Pass and assume that your partner would have acted if it was right for your side to compete.
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].
October 20th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: North-South |
North
♠ J 10 6 3
♥ K Q J 4
♦ —
♣ K Q J 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 8 7
♥ 6 2
♦ J 10 9 8 7
♣ 6 4 |
|
East
♠ 5 2
♥ A 10 9 8
♦ A 6 5 3 2
♣ 7 3 |
| |
South
♠ A 9 4
♥ 7 5 3
♦ K Q 4
♣ A 10 9 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
5 ♣ |
All Pass |
| |
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|
Opening Lead: Diamond Jack
“Avoid running at all times.”
— Satchel Paige
In today’s deal three no-trump would have been easy, as the cards lay. The final contract (five clubs) gave the defenders more than one chance to succeed.
The opening diamond lead was not a good idea. Dummy was surely short in diamonds, and South was known to have diamond strength, given the two-no-trump rebid. So a trump lead would have been a better idea.
If South ruffs the opening diamond lead and drives out the heart ace after drawing a couple of trumps, East will return a spade and, with hearts breaking 4-2 and both spade honors offside, declarer is doomed.
So how about discarding from dummy at trick one? Even if East wins and returns a spade, South wins the ace, draws trump, discards two more spades from dummy on the diamond K-Q, and winds up losing two red aces but no spades. But what if East doesn’t rush to play the diamond ace at trick one, but instead ducks? Remarkably, the contract can no longer be made. South still has to lose two spades and one heart.
From declarer’s point of view, it is definitely right to discard a spade from dummy at trick one with these combined spade and diamond holdings. Most Easts will grab the diamond ace, thinking they have just been given a gift. However, a strong East player who knows what you are up to will play low at the first trick, exchanging his diamond ace for two spade tricks. That is a play worth adding to your repertoire.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 4 |
| ♥ |
7 5 3 |
| ♦ |
K Q 4 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
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| |
|
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|
ANSWER: When a weak two comes back to you in the balancing seat, you will struggle to reopen the bidding if short (or at any rate not strong) in the opponents’ suit. Here a double is reasonable in an attempt to contest the partscore. Admittedly, one time in 10 you will walk into a penalty double, but more frequently you will make a contract your way or push the opponents up.
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].
October 19th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
| Dealer: East
Vul: Neither |
North
♠ A Q 6 5
♥ 10 9 7 3
♦ A K
♣ A 9 3 |
|
| West
♠ 10 8 7 2
♥ 2
♦ 10 4
♣ J 7 6 5 4 2 |
|
East
♠ 9
♥ K Q J 8 6 4
♦ J 8 7 6
♣ Q 10 |
| |
South
♠ K J 4 3
♥ A 5
♦ Q 9 5 3 2
♣ K 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
2 ♥ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
| 3 ♠ |
Pass |
5 ♠ |
Pass |
| 6 ♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart Two
“We ne’er can be
Made happy by compulsion.”
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In today’s deal your partner’s jump to five spades is specifically looking for a control in the danger suit, hearts. Had one of you cue-bid hearts to show a control there, a jump to five spades would have asked about trump. Here, with the heart ace, you can simply bid slam if minimum, or cue-bid hearts to suggest first-round control with extras and interest in a grand slam.
On West’s lead of a singleton heart, the only real danger is a bad trump break or a very bad diamond break. After winning the heart ace, which trump honors should you play? The answer is that you must cash dummy’s spade ace and queen, then after unblocking the diamond honors, you can cross to hand with a club, should trumps not have broken, and lead a low diamond from hand.
If West, the hand long in spades, has three or four diamonds, you simply ruff, come back to hand while drawing the last trump, then run the diamonds and concede trick 13. If West has only two diamonds, what can he do? If he discards, you ruff in dummy and make the same 12 tricks as in the previous line. If he ruffs high, you pitch a heart from dummy, then arrange to regain the lead, draw the last trump, and pitch both of dummy’s remaining hearts on your two winning diamonds. You can now ruff your last heart in dummy for your 12th trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K J 4 3 |
| ♥ |
A 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 5 3 2 |
| ♣ |
K 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The bid of two clubs is the fourth suit, setting up a game-forcing auction and asking you to describe your hand further. With a weak diamond suit and only two hearts, you do not want to emphasize either of those features in your hand. Better is to bid two no-trump; partner will have room to repeat his hearts or show support for one of your suits now — if he wants to.
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].
October 18th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 6 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: Both |
North
♠ 8 2
♥ Q J 8 5 3 2
♦ 5 3
♣ J 10 9 |
|
| West
♠ 10 3
♥ A K 9
♦ A K J 10 4
♣ K 6 2 |
|
East
♠ 6 5
♥ 7 6 4
♦ 9 7 6
♣ 8 7 5 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q J 9 7 4
♥ 10
♦ Q 8 2
♣ A Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♦ |
Pass |
Pass |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
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| |
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Opening Lead: Diamond King
“They studied at the self-same schools,
And shaped their thoughts by common rules.”
— Thomas Hardy
Working out declarer’s likely holding was the key to Kyle Larsen’s brilliant defense on this hand, originally reported by Alan Truscott. His victim was Jill Meyers, whose team nevertheless went on to win the match. The deal was short-listed for defense of the year about a decade ago. The deal is particularly satisfying because it goes against all the rules of defense by setting up tricks for declarer, not your own side.
Against three no-trump Larsen led a top diamond, and when dummy appeared, he paused to take stock. Declarer’s double, followed by her jump to game, showed a very strong hand, one likely to have a long running suit, which, judging from West’s hand, could only be spades.
South was marked with queen-third of diamonds for her final bid, and if she held seven spades, that left only three cards in the rounded suits.
So Larsen cashed his heart ace and king, and South was squeezed. Had she discarded a minor-suit card, West would have continued with that suit.
In fact, South chose to discard a spade. As a spade switch would have been fatal, giving declarer access to dummy’s now established hearts, Larsen cashed the diamond king and continued with the jack. This gave declarer her eighth trick, but she was unable to engineer the ninth.
Even if declarer had started with just six spades, West would still have needed to cash the top hearts now to prevent being thrown in with them later.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A K Q J 9 7 4 |
| ♥ |
10 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 2 |
| ♣ |
A Q |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
1 ♦ |
1 ♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You are never going to stop short of game here, so it would be simple just to bid four spades. However, just in case your partner has good diamonds (in which case slam might make) cue-bid two clubs first. If your partner jumps in diamonds, you might consider going beyond four spades. If not, you can bid four spades at your next turn.
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].
October 17th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, October 3rd, 2011
| Dealer: South
Vul: East-West |
North
♠ 10 9 5
♥ Q 6 2
♦ K Q 8 6
♣ K 4 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 7 6 2
♥ J 4
♦ J 10 4 2
♣ A 6 2 |
|
East
♠ K 8 4 3
♥ A 10 8 7
♦ —
♣ J 10 9 8 5 |
| |
South
♠ A Q
♥ K 9 5 3
♦ A 9 7 5 3
♣ Q 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
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| |
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|
Opening Lead: Spade Two
“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”
— Homer
My friend Billy Clegg, a multiple winner of the Ace of Clubs award, was the CEO of an elite office supply house in San Antonio, The Clegg Company, and he and his wife, Terri, were among the best players in town.
Clegg believed strongly in opening one no-trump when at all possible to conceal suits and have the opening lead come up to the strong hand. Sixty years ago it was frowned upon to take liberties with one-no-trump openings — there were those who believed it was verboten with 5-4-2-2 shape or with a suit completely unstopped.
Years later, the expert community is now echoing the advantages of opening one no-trump whenever possible, but Billy was there before them.
In this deal from a team game, Clegg reached no-trump from the South seat, whereas in the other room that South opened his hand one diamond. Three no-trump was played by North, down immediately on a club lead.
On a spade lead Clegg won in hand and carefully played diamonds in the recommended way by cashing the diamond ace first, since he knew he could not guard against 4-0 diamonds with East having the length. After finessing the diamond eight, he saw East pitch a spade and a heart, so he led a heart to his hand, setting up the hearts before the clubs.
He won the spade return, repeated the diamond finesse, and led a club toward his queen. The defenders had two spades and two aces, but that was all.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 6 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K 6 |
| ♦ |
9 7 6 |
| ♣ |
7 5 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
4 NT |
| Pass |
5 ♦ |
Pass |
6 ♥ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: I would not lead a diamond (partner had a chance to double a diamond bid and did not do so). The choice is a spade, hoping to set up a winner before declarer develops one of the side-suits for discards, or a club, hoping to give partner a ruff when in with the heart king. Both plans are perfectly reasonable; I tend to favor the second approach.
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].
October 16th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
How should I value 10s, and five-card suits in deciding whether to open the bidding? Are there 14-counts I can upgrade to a one-no-trump opening, or 11-counts I should open at the one-level?
— Stretch, Little Rock, Ark.
ANSWER: When in doubt, trust your instincts to evaluate balanced hands. I upgrade 14-counts or downgrade 18-counts to open one no-trump when sensible. Equally, with a decent five-card suit and a little shape in an 11-count, and particularly if I have an easy rebid, I will open the bidding. It is important to try to get partner off to the right lead. Whoever said “Thrice blest is he who gets his blow in first” knew what he was talking about.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I held SPADES J-9-6, HEARTS J-9-2, DIAMONDS 3-2, CLUBS A-Q-10-4-3, and passed. My LHO bid one spade, my partner overcalled three hearts (intermediate), and my RHO bid three spades. Did I have enough to bid now?
— Head-First, Sacramento, Calif.
ANSWER: I would bid, but I would not raise to four hearts. As a passed hand I can bid four clubs, meaning it as an unequivocal call in support of hearts. This gets my partner off to the best lead against four spades if the opponents decide to bid on over our four-heart contract.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Are there advantages to leading fourth highest as opposed to third and lowest against suit contracts? Is it worth changing from the former method to the latter?
— Looking for an Edge, Midland, Mich.
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|
ANSWER: The advantages of one method over the other are pretty small. You tend to find out more about suit length when you lead low from three or five cards and third highest from four. You sometimes find out more about honors if you play fourth highest and second from four small. So long as you don’t lead MUD from three cards, any method of leading is fine by me.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In second seat, holding SPADES Q-J-9-4, HEARTS A-Q-7-3, DIAMONDS K-10, CLUBS 9-6-4, I elected to double a one-club opening bid. I heard one heart on my right and two diamonds from my partner. Was I wrong to try to improve the contract by bidding two no-trump? I did not achieve my target!
— Fallen Oak, Great Falls, Mont.
ANSWER: A double is normally shape-suitable for the unbid major(s) with opening values. If off-shape, you should have real extras. When balanced with a stopper in their suit, pass with a minimum, unless you have the right shape. But with 15-17, bid one no-trump; with 18-20, double then bid no-trump. Here doubling is fine, but you must pass the response. You gambled and lost — don’t make it worse!
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What is the best way to learn about advanced card play such as squeezes? What are the best books on the subject?
— Advanced Placement, Boise, Idaho
ANSWER: Without wanting to sound too revolutionary, I strongly advise you to focus on drawing trumps, taking finesses and cashing winners. I promise you that most declarer-play errors at the top level fall into those areas and not squeezes. The basic squeeze is well covered in a book called “Squeezes Made Simple” by Marc Smith and David Bird — but don’t say I didn’t warn you! |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
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