The Aces on Bridge: Friday, August 12th, 2011

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.

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, August 11th, 2011

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.

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, August 10th, 2011

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.

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, August 9th, 2011

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.

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, August 8th, 2011

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.

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, August 7th, 2011

August 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, August 7th, 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, August 6th, 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,

— 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.

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, August 5th, 2011

August 19th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♥	Pass	2 ♣	Pass
2 ♥	Pass	3 ♥	Pass
4 ♥	All pass

Opening Lead: Spade six

“I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,

— Constantine Cavafy

Sometimes, even when you can envision the general thrust of the defense, the finer point of the play may escape you. In today’s deal from a team game, the defenders followed general principles at one table, but looked a little deeper at the other.

Both Souths declared four hearts on the lead of the fourth-highest spade six, each West wisely deciding that they should not go after club ruffs. Declarer put up dummy’s ace, led a club to his king, then advanced the diamond king. Both Easts won the diamond ace and cashed the spade king as West followed with the four, making it clear that no more spades would stand up.

In both rooms East could see that declarer planned to discard a diamond loser on the clubs. To prevent ruffs in dummy, one defender played a trump. Declarer won the ace, ruffed a diamond, and pitched his last diamond on the club ace. Although West could ruff in, the remaining trumps fell and declarer claimed the balance in due course.

In the other room East decided to play West for three decent trumps. By continuing with a third spade, he set the defense up for a trump promotion. Declarer ruffed the spade, ruffed a diamond in dummy, then threw a diamond on the club ace. The difference was that when West ruffed in and played a fourth round of spades, East ruffed with the jack. This promoted West’s heart queen to the setting trick.

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, August 4th, 2011

August 18th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♦	Pass	1 ♥	Pass
3 ♦	Pass	3 ♠	Pass
5 ♦	All pass

Opening Lead: Club queen

“His thinking does not result in smoke after the flashing fire, but in light emerging from the smoke.”

— Horace

North-South did well to avoid three no-trump today, but East, the venerable comedian George Burns, playing with me as his partner, could have spoiled his opponents’ good work. Can you see how?

At the table East won his club ace at the first trick, and when the king appeared, he played a forcing game by continuing the attack on clubs. Not surprisingly, this line of defense was doomed to failure. Declarer drove out the trump ace, ruffed the next club, drew the rest of the trumps, ran the hearts, and did not even need to take the spade finesse for his contract.

At the end of the first trick, East can tell from the auction that declarer rates to have a singleton club and either five or six cards in the majors, together with almost every missing high card. A spade return can hardly help; instead, East should try to disrupt declarer’s communications in case South has his actual hand-pattern.

At trick two, Easts shifts to a heart, hoping that declarer only has a doubleton heart. Declarer wins the heart king and plays the diamond queen. East wins the ace and plays a second heart, leaving declarer unable to run the hearts because there are still trumps out.

The best chance he has for his contract is to try to cash a third heart, then take the spade finesse. But East can ruff in at once, and there is an inevitable spade loser now.

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, August 3rd, 2011

August 17th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			1 ♣
1 ♦	1 ♠	Dbl.	Pass
3 ♥	Pass	4 ♣	Pass
4 ♥	All pass

Opening Lead: Spade three

“If only a single rose is left,

— George Barlow

Unless there is no other obvious choice, I am not a big fan of singleton opening leads, although plenty of players swear by them. It seems to me that all too often they set up tricks for declarer, or else partner cannot get the lead to give me my ruff. Sometimes, even when they should work, something else goes wrong.

Today’s deal comes from a recent world championship in Portugal. North’s double of one spade showed at least four hearts along with some measure of diamond support. When his partner jumped to three hearts, he had hopes of a slam, but South was not interested.

At one table West, not unreasonably, led his singleton diamond. Declarer won in the dummy and played a heart. East, who could read the lead as a singleton and knew from the bidding that his partner held only two trumps, went in with the ace to give his partner a diamond ruff. Good idea, but wrong hand!

At another table West began with a spade to East’s ace, and a spade was returned. The defense might seem worse placed now, but appearances are deceptive. Declarer won the spade king, and crossed to dummy with a diamond to discard a spade on the club ace. He now played a trump. West won the king and played a low spade for East to ruff with the heart ace. A diamond back allowed West to score his ruff after all, so four hearts went one 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].