The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 8th, 2011

May 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club king

“Martin, if dirt were trumps, what hands you would hold!”

— Charles Lamb

In the duplicate game at the Cavendish Club in Manhattan, the following hand produced much discussion. The computer analysis showed that four spades can be made — but the play is especially entertaining.

After West leads two rounds of clubs, declarer can succeed by ruffing, drawing precisely one round of trumps, then crossing to dummy with a diamond and playing on hearts. But imagine declarer takes the more normal line of playing both top trumps as East discards a discouraging heart.

Now declarer plays the diamond queen and a second diamond. If West ruffs in, the defense is over. If he takes his last trump and then plays a third club, declarer can ruff, run the diamonds, and take a heart finesse. If West plays back a club immediately, declarer can ruff and lead his third diamond to bring about the same ending.

But there is a defense. West must discard, let’s say a heart, on the second diamond. Declarer now takes the heart finesse and cashes the heart ace. If West ruffs in, he can only collect his trump tricks.

So West discards a second time, and South tempts him again by leading a low heart, and West must discard a third time. Declarer ruffs his heart loser in dummy, but when he exits with a top diamond, West can ruff in, cash his spade queen, and lead a club. South ruffs, but must concede trick 13 to East’s heart king.

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, May 7th, 2011

May 20th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Pass	2 NT*	Pass
3 NT	Pass	4 ♠	All pass

*Game-forcing spade raise

Opening Lead: Club three

“The serpent, subtlest beast of all the field.”

— John Milton

Sometimes imagination is called for when your contract seem hopeless. Some positions are difficult unless you have seen them before, so maybe reading about this one will help you make an apparently impossible hand in the future.

Cover up the East and West hands before reading on.

You, South, reach four spades after electing to open one spade (a strong no-trump is a viable alternative despite the small doubleton heart). You don’t expect to have any problems making your game,since your partner responded two no-trump to your opening spade bid, showing a game-forcing hand with primary spade support.

West leads a club, which you win in hand. However, when you play a spade toward dummy, West shows out, discarding the club two. It now looks as if you are going to lose one trick in each suit. Can you think of any way to avoid this?

Would you be surprised if I told you that, assuming clubs to be 5-2 (which West’s discard has strongly suggested), all you need is for East to hold the heart ace?

Win the spade ace and duck a diamond, the idea being to cut the defenders’ communications. Say East wins and plays another club, which is as good a defense as any. You win and play a heart. East wins and continues with, say, another heart. You win, cash your red-suit winners, and play ace and another spade. East must win and give you a ruff and discard.

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, May 6th, 2011

May 19th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade queen

“We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence.”

— Charles Darwin

The trump coup is a way to recover from a bad trump split by reducing your own trumps. Consider declarer’s line from a match between two U.S. teams in a recent Bermuda Bowl — and what the defense might have done about it.

Declarer for the USAII team ducked the top spade lead against four hearts. West now led a diamond to East’s ace and East continued the suit. Declarer won his king, then drew two rounds of trump to find the bad news.

The winning line is now to cash the top clubs (pitching a diamond), ruff a club, then go to the spade ace to ruff a diamond. Declarer exits with his spade loser at trick 11 and is left with the A-10 of hearts for the last two tricks.

In fact, declarer tried to ruff a diamond at trick six before ruffing a club, and East, Nick Nickell, astutely pitched his spade king. Nickell could now ruff away the spade ace, leaving declarer with a spade loser at the end.

Even if Nickell had reverted to spades at trick three, thus removing an entry from dummy, declarer could still have succeeded by playing three rounds of clubs at once, then cashing the diamond king and drawing two trumps to finish in dummy. Now declarer ruffs another club and exits with his spade loser, taking the last two trump tricks.

A spade continuation at trick two might have been more challenging, but declarer could still have prevailed with perfect play.

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, May 5th, 2011

May 18th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 5th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			1 ♦*
1 ♠	2 ♥	4 ♠	All pass

*Precision

Opening Lead: Diamond seven

“The line, often adopted by strong men in controversy, of justifying the means by the end.”

— Saint Jerome

The overcall made by Jovanka Smederevac of Austria in today’s deal might not have been strictly textbook, but it did guide her side to a very playable contract.

But once there, she needed to find an elegant play in four spades for at least two reasons. First, she had to justify her rather sporting bidding; second, she was seated opposite Maria Erhart, not the most tolerant partner of less than perfect play.

Put yourself in the South seat and consider what your secret weapon is going to be.

(Incidentally, her opponents did not look to sacrifice in five diamonds because East’s opening bid guaranteed only two diamonds, but West’s final pause before passing did not escape declarer.)

On the lead of the diamond seven to East’s ace for a spade return, Smederevac took two trump finesses. The 3-1 trump split meant that she had only six trump tricks, and thus needed both the heart ace onside and something nice from the clubs. But her gut reaction was that West had five diamonds, and thus only two clubs. Accordingly, she led a low club to the eight, nine and jack. She then won the heart return in dummy with the king, cashed the club king, and led to the club seven. When that held the trick, she had her 10th winner.

This maneuver, known as an intrafinesse, combines taking a finesse with a subsequent pin of the card against which you originally finessed — one of the most elegant trick-generating plays in the book.

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, May 4th, 2011

May 17th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade five

“Syllables govern the world.”

— Sir Edward Coke

One of my favorite collections of deals this year comes from the fertile imagination of Patrick Jourdain, who is president of the International Bridge Press Association.

For many years he has written sets of problems for Bridge Magazine in the U.K. and contributed a weekly problem for Teletext on Channel Four Television. I shall be running some deals from his book “Problem Corner” all this month. In today’s deal, consider how you should play three no-trump on a spade lead.

If clubs split, you have no problem, so you have only to protect yourself against a 4-1 break. One solution is to lead the club king, then the jack, which works fine if West has length. But if East has the length, he may duck the jack, just as he would if you had started by running the jack as your first play in the suit. Now you have only three club tricks and few chances to get the hearts going.

A better line is to win the spade, play the club king, and (unless East shows out) lead a low club from hand to dummy’s eight! If the defense wins the second club, you can later overtake the club jack to ensure nine tricks. If, on the second club, dummy’s eight wins, but either defender still has the guarded queen remaining, then take a heart finesse. You will later use the club ace as your entry to dummy to take a second heart finesse.

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, May 3rd, 2011

May 16th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, May 3rd, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade king

“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”

— Benjamin Franklin

We all know a few more-than-senior citizens who love to play bridge. But few couples have grown old as gracefully as Sidney and Lillian Matthews. A few years ago Sidney celebrated his 100th birthday in Marbella. At that dinner Sidney, still an enthusiastic golfer, announced his retirement as a bridge tournament director, but gave no indication he was ready to stop playing for the foreseeable future.

Matthews had recently played this hand in a duplicate pairs, which he was also directing. West led the spade king against six hearts. Matthews won with his ace, then led two rounds of trump to discover that the overcaller had started with three.

Having escaped a diamond lead, declarer appreciated that as long as clubs broke no worse than 4-2, he could discard his five losers in hand on dummy’s clubs. But Sidney thought that he should secure his slam against a 5-1 break, even at the expense of an overtrick. How right he was, for after cashing the club ace, then ruffing a club high in hand, he saw West discard a diamond.

A heart to dummy drew the last trump, and Sidney was home in a slam that few pairs had bid, and even fewer had brought home. The logic behind the successful line is that if making your contract will secure you a good score, the merits of playing for an overtrick are strictly limited.

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, May 2nd, 2011

May 15th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, May 2nd, 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, May 1st, 2011

May 14th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 1st, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Heart 10

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”

— Horace

Vincent Demuy of Canada, who is just out of the junior ranks, has achieved some spectacular results in national and international events.

He was in action on this deal from the 2005 Cavendish Teams. When Demuy ventured a balancing action of two spades over West’s weak two, he quickly found himself in game.

The lead was the heart 10, and since declarer thought he needed to find a home for his club loser (not knowing that West had a doubleton queen), Demuy ducked the opening lead to his queen.

At this point the hand hinged on losing no more than one trump trick, so Demuy set about locating the positions of the outstanding honor cards. He started with a diamond to the jack and king. Back came a club to the jack, queen and ace. Declarer exited dummy with a diamond to his queen and West’s ace. The heart return was taken by dummy’s ace, and declarer assembled the clues.

West had opened with a weak two-bid and had already shown up with an ace, a king and a queen. If West also held the spade king, he would have opened one heart, not two. So Demuy led the spade queen from dummy, hoping for an even trump split or for a significant spade singleton in West. When the spade 10 put in an appearance, Demuy had held his trump losers to one and made his 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].

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 30th, 2011

May 14th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		2 NT	Pass
6 ♠	All pass

Opening Lead: Heart ace

“We are not downhearted. The only trouble is, we cannot understand what is happening to our neighbors.”

— Joseph Chamberlain

In today’s deal from the Junior Europeans held last year, no slam is exactly tempting. When Israel played Poland, the Israelis did not consider slam. They stopped safely in three no-trump and took 11 tricks. By contrast, the Polish pair had an accident after North’s one-club opening and propelled themselves into six clubs. The club slam was almost hopeless; the best chance was to play either defender for the doubleton Q-J of clubs or to play East for the doubleton club eight. Neither line succeeded.

But how about the contract of six spades, which might be easy enough to reach, assuming North lies about his high cards and treats his 19-count to be worth an opening bid of two no-trump?

Remarkably, the defense needs to lead clubs twice to defeat that slam. On the lead of the heart ace or a passive trump lead, for example, declarer can take both red-suit finesses and play off four trumps, three diamonds, two hearts and one club. He will finish in dummy, having reached a three-card ending where North is left with one top club and two small hearts, while declarer holds a trump and two small clubs.

East will have been forced to come down to only one card in either hearts or clubs. If it is clubs, declarer must take North’s top club and ruff a heart back to hand to cash a club at trick 13. If hearts, declarer ruffs a heart and crosses to dummy’s top club to cash the last heart.

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].</span

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 29th, 2011

May 13th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  9 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			1 ♠
4 ♥	4 ♠	5 ♥	Dbl.
All pass

Opening Lead: Diamond three

“All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.”

— John Locke

Most of the success in card play comes from doing the right thing, but there is a special joy in deception — persuading your opponents to do the wrong thing. One important precept to keep in mind is that dropping what you know to be a vulnerable honor may convince declarer that suits are breaking badly.

One of my favorite examples of dropping a high card to mislead declarer comes from the ever-fertile mind of Pietro Forquet, playing with Benito Garozzo in a tournament in Naples.

I’m not sure why Forquet led the diamond three against five hearts. It was a rather surprising choice, but one that allowed the position to develop nicely. Garozzo won the diamond ace, cashed the club ace (on which Forquet discouraged with the four), and then tried to give Forquet a diamond ruff.

Declarer won in hand and appears to need trumps to be 2-2 since there were no longer any entries to dummy. So he cashed the heart king, on which Forquet dropped the queen! Declarer now saw the chance to be brilliant. He overtook with the ace and played diamonds, waiting to overruff Garozzo and then get back to dummy with the heart 10 to run the rest of the diamonds. This plan did not succeed as well as he had hoped, leaving the words of the Hideous Hog to Papa ringing in my ears: “Maybe if you didn’t try to be so clever, you wouldn’t end up looking so stupid.”

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].