The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 1st, 2011

October 15th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠	Pass
2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
3 ♦	Pass	4 ♣	Pass
4 ♥	Pass	4 ♠	Pass
6 ♣	All Pass

Opening Lead: Diamond Queen

“You, for example, clever to a fault.”

— Robert Browning

We all have the chance to be brilliant when we have plenty of time at our disposal. However, the problem in real life is not only to find the deception, but also to produce the play in perfect tempo. If we find the right false-card, but break tempo to produce it, declarer can normally see through our little game. With that advance warning, can you see how it might have been possible to deflect declarer from the winning path in today’s deal?

North’s decision to cue-bid facing short spades might have been ill-advised and encouraged his partner to look for the club slam. As it was, when West led the predictable diamond queen, declarer found himself in a horrid spot. He won the diamond king at trick two, crossed to the heart king, played a club to the queen, then crossed his fingers and laid down the club ace. When the king and jack appeared, he had his slam in the bag.

So who could have done better? West had a shot to deflect declarer from the winning line, if he had dropped the club jack under the queen. Declarer would surely have played West for a singleton club now. He would try to cross to dummy in hearts to repeat the trump finesse — disaster! West would ruff in and lead a third diamond, promoting the club king in East’s hand for down two. So much for a friendly trump break!

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 30th, 2011

October 14th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 30th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
2 ♠	Pass	3 ♣*	Pass
3 NT	Pass	4 ♠	Pass
6 ♠	All Pass

*Artificial, second negative

Opening Lead: Heart Jack

“Although I enter not,

— William Makepeace Thackeray

In six spades you appear to need a 2-2 trump break or the bare spade jack, in which case 13 tricks rate to be available. If they do not break, you might think you need a miracle in clubs, or a defensive error. In fact, though, once trumps break 3-1, the contract is safe against any lie of the cards.

On the lead of the heart jack to the ace, declarer cashes the spade ace as both defenders follow. It would be easy (but very foolish) to play a second top trump and cross your fingers. Essentially you would be playing for an overtrick and risking the contract in the process. The key point of the deal lies in the quality of dummy’s spade intermediates.

Instead of taking a second top spade, cash the diamond ace, king and queen. As soon as either defender ruffs in, declarer can regain the lead, draw the last trump, then cross to the spade 10 to pitch the two club losers on the remaining diamond winners.

Suppose instead that East discards on the third top diamond. Then declarer leads the spade nine to dummy’s 10. The best East can do is to take the trick and play back a club, but declarer wins the ace, goes to dummy with the trump seven, and takes his discards on the diamonds again.

The play works in exactly the same way if it is West who has the spade length.

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 29th, 2011

October 13th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 29th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Pass	2 ♠	Pass
3 ♣	Pass	4 ♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: Heart King

“Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.”

— Samuel Johnson

At the Dyspeptics Club there are many players who would buy into Gore Vidal’s comment that it was not enough that they should succeed. Additionally, others must fail. Of course, it is almost impossible for both sides to be happy at the end of any deal, but today East and West’s pleasure was certainly increased by North’s visible discomfort when play was over.

The action in four spades proceeded speedily. The heart king was led to dummy’s ace, and declarer drew trumps ending in dummy. Then he passed the club 10, and when it held the trick, he irritated his partner even further by a premature comment that finally a finesse had worked for him. South repeated the club finesse, leading to his jack, but the 4-1 club break meant he still had a club loser since he could no longer reach dummy to repeat the finesse. There were three inevitable red-suit losers, so the game had to go down.

South airily remarked that there was nothing he could do; North riposted that indeed there was nothing South could have done — but a bridge player might have stood a better chance of making the game. Do you see what he meant?

Best play after winning the heart ace at trick one is to lead the club two to the queen. Then comes the spade ace, spade queen, and a spade to dummy’s king. After all the trumps are drawn, then running the club 10 produces a painless 10 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: Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

October 12th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♥	2 ♥*	4 ♥	All Pass

*Spades and a minor, 5-5 pattern

Opening Lead: Spade King

“To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.”

— Miguel de Unamuno

Today’s deal, reported by Tim Bourke of Australia, features Bill Jacobs, declarer in four hearts. If you were South, knowing that West held at least 10 cards in spades and diamonds, wouldn’t you be inclined to play East for the club queen? So would I, but at the table Jacobs found a better approach.

Against four hearts West led the spade king, which Jacobs ducked. He won the spade continuation and ruffed dummy’s last spade to hand, eliminating the suit. Now he led a heart toward the king, won by the ace.

West was endplayed (since a spade would let declarer pitch a club from dummy and ruff clubs in the North hand). West elected to get off play with a diamond. South won his jack, cashed the diamond king, then played three rounds of hearts to East.

At this point, declarer was able to claim the rest. Since West had shown five spades and five diamonds, it was a sure thing that East had nothing left but clubs in the three-card ending and was thus endplayed, forced to open up the clubs for declarer.

It is always entertaining to endplay both of your opponents, even though superior guesswork would also have sufficed. More to the point, it should also aggravate them both — no bad thing to accomplish on a single deal!

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 27th, 2011

October 11th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1 ♥	1 ♠	3 ♥	3 ♠
4 ♥	All Pass

Opening Lead: Spade King

“Immortal patriots! Rise once more:

— Joseph Hopkinson

In today’s deal you had to decide whether to take the push to four spades or sit back and try to beat your opponents’ game. With no extra spade length, the key may be whether partner has short hearts (and the opponents are bidding on shape) or whether he has two or three hearts, when you may be able to set their game and the sacrifice would prove expensive. On balance it seems right to pass.

Against South’s four hearts you lead the spade king, partner plays the six (suggesting an odd number) and declarer the seven. How do you hope to take four defensive tricks?

You need to place partner with the diamond ace and a top club, or both top clubs. Accordingly, it looks important to switch to a club now.

If partner has both minor-suit aces, or both top clubs, any small club will probably suffice. However, if partner has the club king without any intermediates and declarer has the club A-9, a switch to the club eight will not be good enough. Declarer will play low from dummy and hold his club losers to one.

To cover every possible situation, you must switch to the club 10. If declarer plays low from dummy, so will your partner, and your 10 will force declarer’s ace. However, if he covers your 10 with the jack, your Q-8 will be poised over his 9-2 when partner gets in with the diamond ace and leads clubs again.

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 26th, 2011

October 10th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♣	2 ♠	Pass	Pass
3 ♣	Pass	4 ♣	Pass
5 ♣	All Pass

Opening Lead: Spade King

“That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions, and were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions.”

— George Santayana

Knowing which cards to keep as a defender may sometimes depend on what declarer doesn’t do.

Today’s hand comes from “Planning in Defence” — part of the excellent Bridge Technique Series (Master Point Press), written by David Bird and Marc Smith. Put yourself in the East seat and walk through the play until you come to the critical moment.

West leads three rounds of spades against five clubs. Declarer ruffs the third round, then continues with four rounds of clubs. You are in the East seat and have discarded one heart on the third spade and another on the third club. This means that you are down to heart Q-J-9, and diamond 10-9-7-3 and must make yet another discard. So what do you choose?

(Incidentally, in the real world, you might be able to rely on some suit-preference clues from your partner. But let’s assume you are playing with a player whom you do not trust.)

In these situations it is usually right to retain the same suit length as dummy, or as declarer, if his length in the side-suits is known. Therefore it looks best to retain four diamonds. However, there is a more accurate pointer.

Declarer made no attempt to ruff a heart in dummy. Therefore you can conclude that he had no need to do so. Accordingly, he holds no more than a doubleton in the suit. Hence, he has four diamonds, so you must retain that suit.

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 25th, 2011

October 9th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, September 25th, 2011 

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 24th, 2011

October 8th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade 8

“Obtruding false rules pranked in reason’s garb.”

— John Milton

Rules are made to be broken, they say, and both tables missed their chance to break the textbook rules in the following deal, when Norway took on Finland in the Junior European Championships.

Both Souths ended up in three no-trump on the lead of the spade eight. In a fairly desperate situation, they started well enough by winning dummy’s spade queen and guessing to play a heart to the king. Then the plays diverged.

The Norwegian declarer turned his attention to diamonds, dislodging West’s entry, and now he could duck a spade and kill the suit. West shifted rather desperately to clubs, but declarer finished up with 11 tricks when he subsequently brought the hearts in as well.

The Finnish declarer sneaked the diamond 10 through at trick three and then went back to hearts. He guessed that suit correctly for nine tricks.

Both declarers must have thought they had done well — and indeed they had. But both Easts had mechanically followed the normal rules without giving the matter proper thought — second hand low is all very well, up to a point. If either defender had risen with the heart ace at trick two to play a spade through, the contract would have had no play. And why duck the first heart, since your heart nine means that declarer cannot misguess the suit?

Rising with the ace would also have been right had West’s honor trick been the heart king, of course, since it would again have preserved his entry.

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 23rd, 2011

October 7th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 23rd, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club Queen

“Once I passed through a populous city, imprinting my brain, for future use, with its shows, architecture, customs, and traditions.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Over the years, the Junior European Championships have formed a showground of the players who are likely to supplant their elders in the future. All four players in today’s deal have indeed gone on to represent their respective countries at the open level.

Today’s deal features a play known as the dentist’s coup. It arose in a match between the Hungarians and the Irish. The Irish North South had made three diamonds comfortably enough, but in the other room the Hungarians competed to three spades over East’s three-heart bid. The best defense is a low club lead, but Tommy Garvey for Ireland naturally led the club queen to East’s ace. A second club came back, on which declarer, Tamas Szalka, threw a heart.

West took the jack, cashed the heart ace, and returned another heart. Now declarer cashed dummy’s club 10 to throw his last heart, then played the spade queen, followed by the spade 10, both ducked by John Carroll. This was nice defense; if the defenders take the trump ace early, declarer has no further problems with the timing of the hand.

Now came the dentist’s coup: if declarer carelessly crosses to hand with the diamond king to play a third trump, East wins and returns a diamond, locking him in dummy to concede a diamond ruff. Szalka carefully played the diamond ace and a second diamond to his king before playing the third round of trumps, leaving the defenders helpless.

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 22nd, 2011

October 6th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♠	Pass	3 ♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: Heart 8

“The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Junior World Championships has zonal tournaments all over the world to determine the qualifiers for this event. When Poland took on Sweden in a Junior European Championships, the Polish declarer demonstrated a proper understanding of one of the more complex areas of the game — namely, that of the theory of restricted choice.

In one room the Swedes ended up three down in an optimistic four-spade contract when declarer misguessed diamonds early and ran into a ruff. But Bartosz Chmurski, who is now an international player on Poland’s open team, reached the more decorous contract of three spades. The lead was a low heart to East’s ace, a club back to West’s ace, and a low diamond switch. It now seems as if declarer has a straight guess in diamonds, but Chmurski got it right when he hopped up with dummy’s king to make his contract.

I think he made the right theoretical play too; the reason was that he inferred that West found an awkward lead from K-x-x in hearts at trick one. (Because the defenders did not try to take a ruff, the suit must surely be 3-3.)

Since West might have preferred to lead a diamond rather than a heart had he held the diamond queen, but was relatively unlikely to find an opening diamond lead away from the ace, this made it more likely that the diamond ace was in West’s hand.

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].