The Aces on Bridge: Saturday July 23rd, 2011

August 6th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Heart ace

“To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.”

— Max Beerbohm

Jeff Meckstroth produces breathtaking coups with remarkable regularity — put yourself in his shoes as declarer in the following deal from the Cavendish pairs.

Against three hearts, Tim Cope led ace and another trump after Meckstroth had opened systemically on very light values. Meckstroth could now infer that West held four spades and six diamonds, with a probable singleton club honor (no club lead) and with the diamond honors split (no top diamond lead).

At trick three he led his singleton club, won the return of the spade queen in dummy, and advanced the club queen, covered and ruffed. What next?

Playing on diamonds lets East win and draw a third round of trump. Similarly, ruffing a spade in dummy will bring declarer to eight tricks, but not to nine. Meckstroth found the spectacular coup of leading the spade 10 from hand — be honest, would you have thought of it? If West takes the trick and leads a spade back (a diamond is no better), declarer wins, pitching a diamond from dummy. He plays the diamond ace, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a club, and leads his losing heart to endplay East, who has to lead a club into dummy’s tenace.

At the table West ducked the spade 10, hoping his partner had the king. That simply let Meckstroth cash the spade king to pitch a diamond, then take the diamond ace and a diamond ruff and cash the top club in dummy with a heart trick to come, for nine tricks.

For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday July 22nd, 2011

August 5th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club nine

“Hopes, what are they? — Beads of morning

— William Wordsworth

Appreciating that he could not afford a wrong guess in hearts, the successful declarer in today’s deal remembered the bidding and came to the right conclusion.

Defending against three no-trump, West obediently led his singleton club in response to his partner’s bid. Declarer won with dummy’s ace to preserve the club king as an entry to the blocked spades, then cashed the spade king and considered his next move carefully. Declarer expected that the missing heart honors would be split and, in light of the vulnerable overcall, East was more likely to hold the king than the jack.

If this was indeed the case, declarer could not afford to use his last club stopper to run the spades before broaching hearts. Although East might come under pressure on the run of the spades, the position would be hard to read.

So South made the key play of exiting from dummy with the heart queen at trick three. East took his king and returned a top club. South won, ran the spades, then successfully finessed against West’s heart jack for his contact. In the end declarer emerged with seven black-suit winners and three heart tricks for a somewhat improbable overtrick.

(Incidentally, had the spades broken poorly, with West being 5-4 in the majors, declarer would have been able to run the heart nine and remain in hand to repeat the heart finesse to generate three tricks from the 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: Thursday July 21st, 2011

August 4th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Heart queen

“And none can read the text, not even I;

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Try to familiarize yourself with your opponents’ carding methods. Nevena Senior did so to her advantage on this deal.

The popular contract was three no-trump declared by South, most commonly on the lead of a top heart and continuation. Most declarers correctly won the third heart, then took the spade finesse. Next, they played the club ace and a club to the king, but when it turned out that West had the guarded club jack, eight tricks was the limit.

Senior, too, ducked the first two hearts and won the third, reading the suit to be 4-4 when East encouraged at the first trick but had not produced the jack. She continued with the spade finesse, and next cashed the ace, in case East had started with the doubleton king. When West discarded a diamond on the second spade, declarer paused to regroup.

Had West held five diamonds, she felt that it was at least possible that he would have preferred that attack initially, so she placed him with four of these as well. That left four spaces in West’s hand, which had to be filled by clubs.

So, Senior cashed a top club in hand to cater for a singleton jack with East, then successfully finessed dummy’s club eight. After cashing the king, she returned to her hand with the diamond ace and ran the clubs for nine tricks and her contract, as well as most of the matchpoints.

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, July 20th, 2011

August 3rd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  11 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1 ♦	1 ♥	2 ♥	4 ♥
5 ♦	All pass

Opening Lead: Heart king

“Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought.”

— Alfred Whitehead

Heather Dhondy of the English ladies’ team has the most extraordinary record in the Grandmasters Pairs over the past five years, having finished second, third, first, second and second. For the last four years Heather has played with Rob Cliffe, who read this deal from last year’s event very well.

One note about the auction: North’s two-heart cue-bid showed a limit raise to three diamonds, a fairly standard treatment these days in the tournament world. A raise to three diamonds would have been pre-emptive, not limit.

West, Brian Senior, led the heart king, on which East, Sandra Penfold, played the two, showing an even number (reverse count). West continued with another top heart, ruffed by declarer, who crossed to dummy with a trump, ruffed the last heart, and drew the rest of West’s trumps.

East, who had had to find three discards, had thrown a spade followed by two clubs. It seemed to declarer that she had probably started with a 5-4-0-4 distribution without the club queen. Consequently, declarer cashed the ace and king of clubs followed by the two top spades and exited with a spade to endplay East.

At this point West complained, saying, “I’m not too familiar with these positions, but I think it’s etiquette to endplay the gentleman.”

Indeed, declarer could equally well have endplayed West by exiting with a club, and that endplay would have been obligatory had East kept three clubs.

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, July 19th, 2011

August 2nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1 ♥	Pass	1 ♠	Pass
2 ♥	Pass	4 ♥	All pass

Opening Lead: Diamond six

“On gods or fools the high risk falls — on you —

— Rupert Brooke

As opening leader when you want to protect a vulnerable trump holding against a finesse, you might try to steer declarer off course by leading a card he may think is a singleton. Now he might reject the finesse for fear of allowing the defensive ruff. Sometimes the distraction can be even more blatant.

As East, defending four hearts, you win the diamond lead and should assume that partner has the diamond king, or he would have led a higher spot-card. There is no room for any high card in his hand but that one, so the key to the defense will be to try to take two trump tricks. Your best shot to do that may be to shift to the spade two at trick two. Declarer will win the trick and surely assume that the spades are 5-1.

A likely line for him might be to cash the heart ace and then cross to dummy in clubs to lead the heart 10. When you follow low imperturbably, will he finesse, playing you for a genius, or will he fear that if West wins the second trump, he can give you a spade ruff to set the hand? It may depend on whether you have managed to put one over on him before.

The same maneuver is available if you hold K-Q-x of trump. Simulating a singleton may prevent declarer from taking a first-round finesse with a combined 9- or 10-card trump holding, for fear of running into a ruff.

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, July 18th, 2011

August 1st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		1 ♦	Pass
1 ♥	2 ♣	Dbl.*	Pass
4 ♥	All pass

*Support double, showing three hearts

Opening Lead: Spade king

“I hope our young men will not grow into such dodgers as these old men are. I believe everything a young man says to me.”

— William Jowett

Bridge is full of technical jargon, but some terms are more abstruse than others. For example, does the Devil’s Coup evoke a mental image of the play involved? I thought not.

However, there are some strategies whose names do conjure up the play that needs to be found, such as “avoidance play.” Consider today’s deal in four hearts on the lead of the spade king, where proper technique will see declarer producing two avoidance plays.

As declarer you can see that there is a risk of four losers (one in each major and two in clubs), but that you can almost insure your contract by keeping East off lead for the unwelcome club shift. Hence the need for the avoidance strategy.

You duck the top spade lead to prevent West from underleading his spade queen to East’s jack. You win the spade continuation and cash the heart ace. The play is simple in the extreme if either defender shows out or produces the trump queen. Assuming that does not happen, you must next lead a trump and cover East’s card. That might let West score a trick with his doubleton heart queen, whereupon he can hold you to 10 tricks by cashing the club ace. However, your contract is safe, and you have protected yourself against a layout like the one shown in the diagram, where playing a trump to the king would be fatal.

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, July 17th, 2011

July 31st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, July 17th, 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, July 16th, 2011

July 30th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  8 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 NT	Pass	2 ♥	Pass
2 ♠	Pass	4 ♦*	Dbl.
4 ♥	Pass	4 ♠	Pass
5 ♣	Pass	6 ♠	All pass

*Slam-try with short diamonds

Opening Lead: Diamond jack

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

— James Thurber

With the North cards facing a strong no-trump, one would normally transfer to spades, then bid and rebid hearts to show 6-5 or 5-5 and slam interest. Here, however, the quality of the spades compared to the hearts persuaded North to treat his hand as a single-suited slam-try with spades and short diamonds, essentially ignoring hearts altogether. This slightly unconventional approach worked perfectly, when a subsequent exchange of cuebids got South to what appeared to be a laydown slam, but one that was threatened by the hostile breaks in both majors.

West predictably kicked off with the diamond jack. Declarer ruffed, then drew trump in four rounds, as East came under severe pressure. If he had discarded a heart, it would have been easy to set up and cash out that suit, so he discarded all three of his diamonds, then a low club. Now South led a heart to the queen, prepared to claim 12 tricks. He had to reassess the position when the 5-0 break came to light, but found an elegant solution when he cashed the heart ace and 10.

East had to duck this trick or dummy would effectively be high. But declarer next played the club ace, a diamond ruff to dummy, and the heart jack, discarding the master club! East could win this trick, but now had to give the lead to dummy at trick 12.

Had East pitched his clubs on the trumps, cashing the ace and king of clubs would have created a very similar position.

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, July 15th, 2011

July 29th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  7 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club queen

“Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;

— Walt Whitman

Today’s deal is from the 2007 Round Robin encounter between regular Bermuda Bowl finals protagonists, Italy and USA2. The American South had achieved a coup in the auction, keeping his opponents out of their makable four-spade game. Could he do even better by bringing home 10 tricks himself in the heart game?

When West led the club queen, South won in dummy, and with endplay possibilities in mind, cashed the diamond ace, collecting the king from East. Declarer drew trump with the ace and king, then exited with a diamond. West won, cashed two diamonds, then played a spade. That was a tame one-off.

By contrast, Steen Moller, playing for Denmark in the Seniors Bowl, showed how to make the game. He too received the lead of the club queen. Moller won with the ace, cashed the heart ace, then also continued with the diamond ace. Now Moller drew the last trump with dummy’s jack, then, reading both the club queen and diamond king as singletons, followed with a low club, discarding a spade from hand and leaving East endplayed.

East could think of nothing better to do than take his spade ace and return a spade. Moller won in dummy, discarding a diamond from hand, then ruffed a club.

Re-entering dummy with a heart, Moller now played dummy’s last club, the jack. East covered, and South threw his penultimate diamond. Endplayed yet again, East was forced to give Moller a ruff and discard — and away went declarer’s final diamond. Contract made!

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, July 14th, 2011

July 28th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  11 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: A low club

“Eye Nature’s walks, shoot folly as it flies,

— Alexander Pope

At the Dyspeptics Club the player shown in today’s West seat is regarded as something of a loose cannon. You never know in which direction he is going to be shooting, and as East will tell you, quite often he has been the victim of “friendly fire.” However, in today’s deal it was South who took something of a mortal wound, and despite repeated and loaded questions, was never able to discover if he was the victim of malice or a lucky accident.

Before I tell you precisely what happened, consider the play in three no-trump when West leads a fourth-highest club six.

Declarer takes East’s jack with his king and infers from the spot led that West has four clubs ready to cash as soon as the defenders get on lead. The best chance for the contract will therefore be to run the spades with the aid of a finesse. (This line succeeds whenever West has the spade queen in a two- or three-card suit. Playing for that layout, South would emerge with nine tricks.)

But compare what happened at the table when West kicked off with a deceptive club two. Now declarer believed clubs were breaking 4-3, so it was safe for him to knock out the diamond ace rather than rely on the spades. West won his diamond ace and impassively cashed out the clubs.

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].