July 7th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, June 23, 2011 
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: North
Send, Dealer: North
|
North
♠ A 10 7 4 2
♥ A 3
♦ Q 5 4 2
♣ 8 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 9 6
♥ K J 6 2
♦ —
♣ K J 10 7 5 2 |
 |
East
♠ K Q 8 5
♥ Q 8 5 4
♦ 9 7
♣ Q 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ 3
♥ 10 9 7
♦ A K J 10 8 6 3
♣ A 6 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 ♦ |
2 ♣ |
3 ♠* |
Pass |
| 4 ♣ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5 ♠ |
Pass |
| 6 ♦ |
All pass |
|
|
*Good spades and a diamond fit
Opening Lead: Heart two
“But what is this
— D.H. Lawrence
Somewhere in a Monty Python sketch someone exclaims “Oh no! Not the comfy chair!” As you play this diamond slam, the same thought may occur to you.
The best contract in this deal from last year’s European Championships might have been for South to play five diamonds, but a few players were sufficiently carried away to attempt slam on the auction shown. That was a lot of bidding, but if as declarer you can justify your overbidding by overplaying the cards, all will be forgiven.
A heart lead appears to remove an entry from dummy, but allows you to win the ace, play the spade ace, and ruff a spade (but not with the three), cash the diamond ace, and lead a low diamond (but not the three) to the queen, ruff a spade (but not with the three), then give up a heart. You can win the club return, ruff a heart, ruff a spade (but … you’ve guessed it!), and finally lead that carefully preserved diamond three to the four in dummy to cash your spade winner and discard the heart loser.
On an initial club lead the same approach of using the heart ace, diamond queen and diamond four as the three entries needed to ruff out and enjoy the long spade will see you home.
Of the 64 tables in play, six bid and made the slam. Our sympathy to the Welsh ladies who also reached slam and made 12 tricks … but they tried seven diamonds.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 7 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
8 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
2 ♦ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
? |
|
ANSWER: This hand is too strong to jump to three spades to show an invitational hand — you’d make that call with one fewer spade. The right action here is to jump to four spades, bidding what you think you can make. Incidentally, cuebidding then bidding spades suggests a stronger hand in high-card terms.
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].
July 6th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: North
Send, Dealer: North
|
North
♠ 8 7 6 5
♥ J 10 7
♦ A K 2
♣ 8 6 4 |
|
| West
♠ K
♥ K Q 4 3 2
♦ J 9 8 7 4
♣ Q 2 |
|
East
♠ A J 3 2
♥ 8 6 5
♦ 10 6 3
♣ 9 7 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 10 9 4
♥ A 9
♦ Q 5
♣ A K J 10 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
2 ♥* |
Dbl.** |
3 ♥ |
| 3 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
All pass |
*♥ and a minor
**takeout
Opening Lead: Heart king
“Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
— Lord Byron
Pony Nehmert was one of the few declarers to survive in four spades, played in last year’s European Championships, from which all this week’s deals come.
North led the heart king, and declarer won with the ace and played three rounds of diamonds, disposing of her losing heart. She next ran the spade eight to West’s king and ruffed the return of the heart queen.
Declarer now asked herself: why West was forcing declarer to ruff. Nehmert decided that there was a strong indication that trumps were 4-1, so rather than play a spade, relying on 3-2 trumps and a winning guess in clubs, she cashed the top clubs, felling West’s queen. She continued with the club 10, and when West discarded, declarer played a fourth club, ruffing with dummy’s spade five. East could overruff, but there was only one more trump trick available for the defense. Whatever East led, declarer could arrange to finesse against the trump A-J.
Four spades failed at the other table, so Nehmert’s play had earned Germany a big swing.
(Incidentally, West had missed a difficult chance at trick five — that of leading a diamond, offering up a ruff and discard, which would have allowed East to discard a club. Then, if declarer plays a trump off dummy, East can go up with the ace and play a heart, which secures trump control for the defenders if declarer ruffs. If South discards, West wins the heart queen and plays a club to leave East with two trump winners.)
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q 10 9 4 |
| ♥ |
A 9 |
| ♦ |
Q 5 |
| ♣ |
A K J 10 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You have too many values and too much shape to pass now. It looks best to try for game, rather than go all the way on your own. The choice is to reraise to three ♣ (which typically shows six) or to use the fourth-suit call of two ♦, which is more flexible but might get you to no-trump from the wrong side. Nevertheless, I prefer the latter course of action.
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].
July 4th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 6 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: East |
North
♠ K Q J 4
♥ K 8 3
♦ A K Q 8 3
♣ J |
|
| West
♠ 8
♥ A
♦ 10 9 7 6 5 2
♣ Q 10 5 3 2 |
|
East
♠ 7
♥ Q J 10 9 7 2
♦ J 4
♣ A K 8 7 |
| |
South
♠ A 10 9 6 5 3 2
♥ 6 5 4
♦ —
♣ 9 6 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♥ |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
5 ♥ |
| 5 ♠ |
6 ♥ |
6 ♠ |
Dbl. |
| All pass |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: The $64,000 question
“‘Thou art a fool,’ said my head to my heart,
‘Indeed, the greatest of fools thou art,
To be led astray by the trick of a tress,
By a smiling face or a ribbon smart.'”
— Paul Dunbar
This week in Poznan, Poland, the open European Championships begin. To mark this, my columns this week come from last year’s event.
Attempting to qualify for a World Championship is a serious matter, but it can have its lighter side. Germany’s Sabine Auken tried the poker player’s equivalent of a bluff in today’s deal from the match against Russia.
Auken sat North and when her partner Danielle von Arnim made a weak jump overcall in spades she wondered if there might be a slam on the cards. Could partner have two aces for her weak jump overcall? Perhaps, but using Blackwood would not be a great idea, as the lead would have been coming through her heart king.
My first reaction is that she might have considered a jump to four clubs, a splinter, hoping her partner might have been able to cue-bid four hearts. That would have been reasonable, were it not for the fact that in this particular case a jump to four clubs would have by agreement been a fit-jump, showing long good clubs and a spade fit.
Another route might have been to bid four diamonds to see if partner had a heart control. However, Sabine found a third way: She jumped to four hearts, ostensibly a splinter in hearts! From her point of view, the auction then developed in an ideal way.
When East doubled six spades, do you blame West for reading this as Lightner, based on an unspecified void, and leading a diamond? Contract made!
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
5 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 5 3 2 |
| ♦ |
6 5 |
| ♣ |
A Q 9 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
| All pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Neither clubs nor hearts seem to be lying well for declarer. Maybe his best chance to make tricks is on a crossruff; so lead trumps at every opportunity, unless the sight of dummy makes that seem an unrewarding option.
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].
July 3rd, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, June 19th, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
If you have honors, when are you required to claim them to receive them as part of your score? Some maintain you can wait till the entire hand is played and then announce it — if, indeed, everyone else hasn’t already discovered the fact.
— Prevailing Wisdom, Kingston, Ontario
ANSWER: You can announce honors or claim them up to the end of the rubber or the Chicago, when the score is agreed. This is in law 78 of the rubber bridge laws. (The contract laws are somewhat different — which may explain why you didn’t find it.)
Dear Mr Wolff:
Having been dealt the following hand, I did not know how to open as dealer. I held eight solid spades missing the king, A-Q-2 of hearts and the doubleton ace of clubs. I opened one spade, and when my partner responded two diamonds, I jumped to three spades. When raised to four, I bid six spades. The grand slam was on the heart finesse ( it was offside), but we could easily have been in a hopeless contract or even missed a grand slam. Any advice?
— A Bridge Too Far, Nashville, Tenn.
ANSWER: I suppose you might open two clubs and bid spades repeatedly. Since you cannot handle the auction after a one-level response, you might as well start with two clubs and get the power of the hand across.
Dear Mr Wolff:
My partner and I have fully embraced the Law of Total Tricks as described by Larry Cohen. The Law (bidding to the level of the total number of trumps held by the partnership) seems to work very well at the three- and four-level, but not quite so well at the five-level. Am I imagining it, or does it not work so well past the four-level?
— Range-Finder, Salinas, Calif.
ANSWER: Yes, you are absolutely right. It works best for deals where there are eight, nine or 10 trumps. It also works best when the high cards are close to evenly split. And please don’t use the Law as a substitute for judgment; you need to look at the location of your minor honors (queens and jacks), not merely plug a number into a formula.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
Holding SPADES —, HEARTS A-K-Q-5-4, DIAMONDS Q-3-2, CLUBS A-K-9-7-6 you would probably open one heart and be raised to two hearts. What do you think is the best way now to get to six, facing a hand with a 3-3-6-1 pattern with the spade king, heart jack, and diamond king-jack?
— Scientific Advances, Cartersville, Ga.
ANSWER: There is no choice for the opening bid: you must open one heart, not two clubs. Now your two main choices are to bid either three clubs or three diamonds as a help-suit try. (Splintering to three spades with a void is generally not a good idea.) If your partner bids three diamonds over three clubs, or raises three diamonds to four, you might well reach slam scientifically. I know that six diamonds is safer than six hearts because of the possible diamond ruff, but I don’t think that I could find that.
Dear Mr Wolff:
When should one lead fourth-highest, as opposed to leading from an honor sequence headed by two touching honors, with the third card somewhat lower? For example, what do you lead from Q-J-8-6 against a suit contract or no-trump?
— Attack Plans, Hartford, Conn.
ANSWER: Against suits it may not always work to lead a top card from sequences such as your example, but nonetheless I’d always lead a top card. (Who wins the third or fourth round of a side-suit at a trump contract matters less than at no-trump.) At no-trump I’d lead a low card from your example unless opener has shown a strong no-trump or better — and is thus likely to have the ace and king in this suit.
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
July 2nd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 11 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: East |
North
♠ 5 3
♥ 9 7 5 3 2
♦ K 6 5
♣ Q 10 9 |
|
| West
♠ 2
♥ J 10 6
♦ A 9 7 3 2
♣ A 8 5 4 |
|
East
♠ A 10 9 7 6 4
♥ Q 4
♦ J 4
♣ 7 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ K Q J 8
♥ A K 8
♦ Q 10 8
♣ K J 6 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
2 ♠ |
3 NT |
| All pass |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: Diamond three
“The desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.”
— Cornelius Tacitus
In this deal from a decade ago, Lorenzo Lauria opened a weak two, and I leapt to my favorite contract — three no-trump.
When Alfredo Versace led a diamond, it was clear that East would have the spade ace, and therefore West would be likely to hold the club ace. It was essential to play a club before the diamonds were established, but I would need to go after spades next, so after winning the lead in hand, I followed with the club jack, overtaking in dummy when West sensibly withheld his ace.
Now came a spade off dummy. Lauria accurately rose with the spade ace and continued diamonds, Versace winning and clearing the suit. I had only eight tricks, but cashing the long suit (spades) put West through the wringer.
West could pitch two small clubs, but if next he threw a winning diamond, I could safely set up a club as my ninth trick. Accordingly, he threw a heart, relying on East to stop the suit. And so I was able to cash the hearts and make an overtrick.
Just for the record, if East had put in the spade nine on the first round. I would have won and followed with the club king. If West ducked this, I could have cleared the hearts and used the diamond king as my entry to dummy. If West had won and cleared the diamonds, I would have won in dummy and played a spade to my eight to set up my ninth trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 9 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 4 |
| ♦ |
J 4 |
| ♣ |
7 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: On this auction it is just possible that your partner has a singleton club in a 4-4-4-1 shape. But even then, the hand may play better in spades than in no-trump. The odds heavily favor playing the spade game, and in my view a jump to four spades is terminal, not a slam-try, so I would simply bid game 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].
July 1st, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ A K 9 8
♥ Q 9 8
♦ 6 5
♣ Q 9 4 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 7 6 3
♥ J 6 3 2
♦ 10 9 7 4
♣ 6 |
|
East
♠ 10 4 2
♥ K 10 7
♦ K Q J 8 3
♣ A 5 |
| |
South
♠ Q 5
♥ A 5 4
♦ A 2
♣ K J 10 8 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♦ |
| 2 ♣ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 3 ♦ |
Pass |
3 ♠ |
Pass |
| 4 ♣ |
Pass |
5 ♣ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Diamond 10
“More ways of killing a cat than choking her with cream.”
— Charles Kingsley
Finesses come in all shapes and sizes. Today’s five-club contract appears to hinge on the finesse for the heart queen, and with the king over dummy’s queen, declarer looks to be in trouble. Not so, so long as he is careful.
On the opening diamond lead, declarer wins his ace and takes the three top spades before drawing trump — some things just can’t wait. When both opponents follow, declarer discards his diamond loser, ruffs a diamond, then plays a trump. If East had the bare club ace and no more spades, he would have to concede at once, but as it is, he can exit with his remaining trump.
Declarer now wins the trump in dummy and leads the fourth spade, ruffing it in hand when East discards. Then he leads a low heart from hand and has reached the crux of the deal.
If West follows small, as would most of the civilized world, declarer puts in the eight from dummy, allowing East to win with the 10 and forcing him now to concede a ruff-sluff or lead a heart around to the queen.
Of course, a diabolical West might work out to put the jack in on the first round of the suit, confronting declarer with a dilemma. If West had the J-10, declarer would have to duck this trick and endplay West instead of East. With the cards lying as they do, declarer must cover the jack and finesse against the 10 on the second round of the suit.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
J 7 6 3 |
| ♥ |
J 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
10 9 7 4 |
| ♣ |
6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
2 ♣ |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your action here depends a little on the vulnerability and maybe also on the form of scoring (and your partner’s sense of humor!). My instincts are to bid five diamonds at once, robbing the opponents of Blackwood and making my LHO guess whether to introduce his clubs at once. Even if he has a balanced hand, the penalty may not be so extreme.
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].
June 30th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: South |
North
♠ Q 9 3
♥ Q J 3
♦ K Q 4
♣ A K 10 6 |
|
| West
♠ 7 6 5
♥ 8 7 2
♦ 9 7 6 5 3
♣ 4 2 |
|
East
♠ 10
♥ A K 10 9 5 4
♦ 10 2
♣ Q 8 7 3 |
| |
South
♠ A K J 8 4 2
♥ 6
♦ A J 8
♣ J 9 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
2 ♥ |
| 3 ♠ |
Pass |
5 ♠ |
Pass |
| 6 ♠ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart two
“When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.”
— Thomas Paine
We all suspect that the true expert will always follow a line that results in a squeeze rather than take the pedestrian 50 percent chance. Certainly, a good player will know when what at first appears to be a 50-50 chance has been reduced by the bidding or play to a much less attractive option than that.
Consider the play in today’s six spades on a heart lead. North’s jump to five spades asked his partner to bid slam with a heart control, by the way. Declarer puts in the jack, losing to the king (and yes, if East intends to shift, he should win the first trick with a deceptive heart ace). East duly switches to the diamond 10 at trick two. Declarer wins the king, cashes the top spades, then takes the two remaining high diamonds. This discloses that East began with two diamonds and one spade, and since West would have led the top of a doubleton heart, that East has six hearts. So East began with four clubs and West has just two clubs, making the club finesse irrelevant.
Declarer now simply plays off two more trumps, pitching clubs from the table to reduce to a four-card ending. East is down to the guarded heart king and three clubs. If he throws a heart away, declarer cashes the club king, ruffs a heart, and dummy is high. If he pitches a club, declarer takes both top clubs and ruffs a heart to score his club jack at trick 13.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q 9 3 |
| ♥ |
Q J 3 |
| ♦ |
K Q 4 |
| ♣ |
A K 10 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♥ |
| 1 NT |
2 ♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Any time the opponents have bid and raised a suit at a low level, it makes sense to play takeout doubles. Here, your partner rates to have exactly four spades and approximately invitational values. While you could bid two no-trump, you can see the danger in the heart suit. Better is a simple call of 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].
June 29th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 14 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: West |
North
♠ Q 10 9
♥ 9 5
♦ Q 8 7 6 2
♣ A 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ A J 6 3 2
♥ —
♦ J 10
♣ K Q 10 6 4 3 |
|
East
♠ 8 7 4
♥ A J 6 2
♦ 9 5 4 3
♣ J 7 |
| |
South
♠ K 5
♥ K Q 10 8 7 4 3
♦ A K
♣ 9 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| 2 ♥ |
2 ♠ |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Club king
“Who drives the horses of the sun
Shall lord it but a day;
Better the lowly deed were done,
And kept the humble way.”
— John Vance Cheney
Some cards are easy to cover; some are not. This is surely about as low as one can go (in all senses of the word) when it comes to avoiding the cover.
At the U.S. Trials in 1997 both tables reached four hearts, but where Martel for the eventually successful Deutsch team was declarer, he had heard his LHO bid only the black suits. He won the opening club lead with the ace in dummy and played the heart nine immediately. Sitting East, I took the ace and returned a spade. Martel put up the king, but Bob Hamman, sitting West, knew better than to take the trick and provide an entry to dummy. He ducked the trick, and when Martel exited from hand with a club, Hamman won the trick, cashed his spade ace, and exited with a third club. Now the defense could keep declarer out of dummy for a further heart finesse, so Martel lost a second heart trick — one down.
Where Nick Nickell was declaring four hearts, East had bid hearts in the auction shown. Nickell took the club lead and innocently played the heart five from dummy. Be honest; as East would you have remembered to cover this with the six? When East did not do so, Nickell played low from his hand as well, and the heart five held the trick. Now the lead remained in dummy for declarer to repeat the heart finesse, and with only one heart trick to lose, made the contract.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q 10 9 |
| ♥ |
9 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 7 6 2 |
| ♣ |
A 8 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♦ |
1 ♠ |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| 3 ♣ |
Pass |
3 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has shown a very good hand (a better hand than if he had jumped to three diamonds over one spade). Since you have a perfectly good spade stop, you should bid three no-trump now, expecting your partner will know you are not loaded for bear in spades, since you did not bid no-trump at your previous 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].
June 28th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: East |
North
♠ 6 5
♥ J 6 5 2
♦ Q J 10 9 3
♣ A 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 4 3
♥ —
♦ 8 7 4 2
♣ K Q J 10 8 |
|
East
♠ 9 7 2
♥ A K 10 9 7 3
♦ 6 5
♣ 5 4 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q 8
♥ Q 8 4
♦ A K
♣ 9 7 6 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
2 ♥ |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Club king
“Rarely, rarely, comest thou,
Spirit of Delight!”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley
Today’s deal is one of the nicest constructed hands I’ve seen in a long while. When you’ve solved it, give it to your friends as a puzzle, and see how long it takes them to spot the theme.
After East has opened a weak two, you play the predictable no-trump game and receive the lead of a top club. To cut the defenders’ communications as best you can, you duck the trick, win the next club, and take stock of the situation. With six top winners and only one heart trick to establish, how can you bring the diamonds in without the aid of Houdini?
The answer is both elegant and simple, once you see the trick, but the solution certainly does not jump off the page. You cash all your diamond and spade winners, reducing East down to his six hearts. Leading the heart queen won’t work now — East ducks. Similarly, if you run the heart eight, East ducks that, AND the heart queen when you play it next! At that point you will have to give the last four tricks either to East or to West, no matter what you lead.
Instead, you must lead the heart four to the five in dummy. East must win that, after which he can do no better than cash the heart king, under which you unblock the queen. East can take his heart ace, but then must give the lead to dummy, which is now high.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
6 5 |
| ♥ |
J 6 5 2 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 9 3 |
| ♣ |
A 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♠ |
| Dbl. |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Passing now would be reasonable, but it is tough to give up on diamonds when the opponents have found a fit. You could double for a second time, which is takeout, suggesting extras beyond what you showed with your first call, or you can simply bid three diamonds (my choice). This action is not strong, since you would have bid two diamonds at your first turn with invitational values.
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].
June 27th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: South |
North
♠ J 8 5
♥ K 3
♦ A Q 9 5
♣ K Q J 4 |
|
| West
♠ A Q 9
♥ Q 9 8 6 5
♦ 2
♣ 10 7 6 3 |
|
East
♠ 7 6 4 2
♥ 10 7 4
♦ K J 10 6
♣ 8 2 |
| |
South
♠ K 10 3
♥ A J 2
♦ 8 7 4 3
♣ A 9 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
2 ♦* |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
*Inverted raise, at least invitational, with diamond support
Opening Lead: Heart six
“Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect.”
— Viscount Morley
This column aims to amuse, as well as to educate and instruct, but from time to time I acknowledge that the deals err on the side of complexity. By contrast, maybe today’s deal will strike some of my readers as a little too easy, but I’m sure that at the table it would catch out quite a few victims.
Today’s three no-trump should be easy enough to reach, even though North may initially be dazzled by the possibility of playing slam in diamonds. When his partner shows a balanced minimum hand, North should settle for game, against which West leads the heart six, East’s 10 falling to the jack.
Now, if South counts his tricks, he will see that there are eight on top. If he attempts to develop the ninth by playing on diamonds, he will find that the defenders can establish the setting tricks in hearts before the vital ninth trick can be made.
The correct play is to attack spades, in which a trick can surely be set up, no matter what the lie of the opponents’ cards. So declarer crosses to a club in dummy and leads a spade back to his 10 at the third trick. After this start, declarer cannot fail against any lie of the cards. If any South player goes down in three no-trump, the alibi that he thought he had to play for overtricks will be treated with the respect that it deserves.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A J 8 7 |
| ♥ |
J 9 7 4 |
| ♦ |
9 3 2 |
| ♣ |
K 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 NT |
| All pass |
|
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ANSWER: I’m not going to say a spade lead won’t work on this hand (it might). But at most forms of scoring — especially at pairs, by the way — the strategy of leading on blind auctions against no-trump is to attack from a long suit (five or more cards). If you can’t do that, look for a safe lead, and leading from A-J-fourth into a strong hand is unattractive. By contrast, a heart lead combines aggression and safety pretty well.
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].
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