May 2nd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments 
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: East |
North
♠ K Q J 10 7 2
♥ 4
♦ A 8 5
♣ K 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ 8
♥ 8 5
♦ Q 9 7 3
♣ A 10 9 7 5 4 |
 |
East
♠ 9
♥ A K 10 7 6
♦ K 6 4 2
♣ J 8 6 |
| |
South
♠ A 6 5 4 3
♥ Q J 9 3 2
♦ J 10
♣ Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♥ |
| 1 ♠ |
Dbl. |
4 ♠ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Heart eight
“You know my methods. Apply them.”
— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Gold Coast Congress in Australia has just celebrated its 50th anniversary, so to mark that occasion all the deals this week come from last year’s tournament. Today’s deal is from a pairs event, where undertricks and overtricks play an important role.
Consider today’s deal as a defensive problem, looking just at the North and East cards. At every table but two, East failed to focus properly on the defense against four spades. As Sherlock Holmes said caustically, “You see, Watson, but you do not observe.” If the heart eight is a true card, it must be a doubleton. In theory, West could have three hearts such as J-9-8, but would then have raised hearts rather than have made a negative double with such limited values. Accordingly, you can infer that declarer has at most three minor-suit cards.
A heart continuation is worse than useless, and a spade is clearly passive. So if you want to get active, you need to play a minor suit. You have no hope for an extra trick if declarer has two clubs and one diamond, or three clubs. But if he has two diamonds and one club, you had better shift to a diamond immediately before South disposes of his slow diamond loser by setting up a discard from the clubs. At the table Kieran Dyke duly shifted to a diamond for a near top.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
J 5 |
| ♥ |
Q 2 |
| ♦ |
9 7 6 4 3 |
| ♣ |
J 6 5 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
| All pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There is a temptation to get active by leading the spade jack, but not only is this a dangerous lead in the suit, but also you may have a natural trump trick and thus do not need to get a ruff. I’d settle for the mundane low club lead and let declarer open up spades for himself. With two small hearts, I might be more inclined to lead spades.
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].
May 1st, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 17th, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
I noticed that the Americans dominated the recent world championships. Was this just because they were on home soil or is there more to it than that?
— Chauvinist, Fayetteville, N.C.
ANSWER: Although the Chinese women won the women’s world title, beating the Dutch in the final, most of the other major awards went to U.S. players, so it was indeed a successful event from the home country’s perspective. I’m not sure it was more than a quirk of the location of the event though. We’ll get a better perspective when the event is held in Europe in four years.
Dear Mr Wolff:
What would you bid with SPADES 7-6, HEARTS A-K-9-4-3, DIAMONDS Q-7, CLUBS A-9-4-2 after opening one heart and hearing a weak two-spade call on your left, passed back to you? What are the ethical implications if you divined a slight break in tempo from your partner after the skip-bid?
— Johnny on the Spot, Saint John, New Brunswick
ANSWER: This is a real teaser. Neither acting nor passing is “safe” — each could work out disastrously. I’m sure the expert community would balance with a double here, but switch the spades and diamonds and passing might well be the favored action — it’s that close. As an ethical player, if you think partner broke tempo, you should pass so that you can sleep at night.
Dear Mr Wolff:
You recently mentioned that a hand was played as a “dummy reversal,” and I did not understand the term. Please clarify.
— Lifting Fog, Pueblo, Colo.
ANSWER: In a trump contract the hand with the long trumps normally takes care of drawing the opponents’ trumps. In rare cases the long trumps are used immediately for ruffing, and subsequently the short hand draws trump. This is most typical in a 5-3 fit where you take three ruffs with the five-card suit, then draw trump with the three-card holding.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
In a recent deal you were in fourth chair and heard one spade on your left and two spades on your right, which was passed back to your partner, who doubled for takeout. You held SPADES 7-6, HEARTS 9-4-3, DIAMONDS Q-10-8-4, CLUBS A-10-9-2 and recommended a response of two no-trump, takeout for the minors. Suppose you held the same pattern but with four hearts and a minor. Would you have to bid three hearts now and hope for the best?
— Unsettled, Phoenix, Ariz.
ANSWER: Emphatically no. The two-no-trump call shows a two-suiter, not the minors. Partner will assume minors and bid appropriately. If he bids the suit you don’t have, you correct to the next suit up. This way you are almost sure to locate a playable fit if there is one.
Dear Mr Wolff:
My club’s cards are getting sticky. Recently, twice, I or my opponents have lost a card when one of us unwittingly played two at once. What are the implications of this faux pas?
— One Too Many, Rockford, Ill.
ANSWER: When made aware of the error, you should retrieve the card unwittingly played and add it back to your hand. The bad news is that any revoke committed will be enforced, according to the usual laws.
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
April 30th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 7 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: North |
North
♠ 7 5
♥ A 6 4
♦ J 2
♣ A K J 9 6 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 9 2
♥ J 9 7
♦ Q 9 7 5
♣ 8 2 |
|
East
♠ K Q 8 6 4
♥ 8 5
♦ 10 6 4
♣ Q 7 4 |
| |
South
♠ A 3
♥ K Q 10 3 2
♦ A K 8 3
♣ 10 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5 ♥ |
Pass |
| 6 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Spade jack
“When Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.”
— William Shakespeare
Today’s heart slam is a somewhat delicate one after West finds the most testing lead of a spade. Now the defenders are in place to cash a spade winner as soon as they obtain the lead. How should declarer cope with the possible threats in hearts and clubs?
Ruffing diamonds in dummy seems needlessly risky. Declarer can guard against a bad trump break with East having the length by leading out the heart king and ace. But then he is reduced to needing the club finesse, a 50-50 shot.
An alternative line is to forget about 4-1 heart breaks (trumps split 3-2 over two thirds of the time) and play to ruff out the clubs, using the heart ace as a late entry to dummy. Alas, with the cards lying as they do, no matter how many rounds of trump South draws before trying to ruff the third club, West can overruff with his heart jack and can cash the spade winner. Back to the drawing board!
The winning solution is to take the spade lead, cash the club ace, heart king and queen, then lead a club to the king and play a third club from dummy. If East discards, you can ruff, and draw the last trump to make 13 tricks. If East either plays the club queen or ruffs in with the master trump, you pitch your spade loser instead of ruffing. This way you can ruff the next spade in hand, draw the trump, and run the clubs.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
7 5 |
| ♥ |
A 6 4 |
| ♦ |
J 2 |
| ♣ |
A K J 9 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♠ |
Pass |
| 2 ♣ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: This is a quantitative sequence, not Blackwood, since no suit has been agreed upon. Your partner has suggested more than a strong no-trump, probably with a 5-2-4-2 pattern. Although you have no high-card extras, your quick tricks and powerful club intermediates suggest six clubs rates to be the best slam.
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].
April 29th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: South |
North
♠ A 10 9
♥ —
♦ 8 7 5 4 3 2
♣ J 10 8 6 |
|
| West
♠ 6 2
♥ A Q J 6 4
♦ J 6
♣ A K 5 2 |
|
East
♠ 5 4 3
♥ 9 8 5
♦ K Q
♣ Q 9 7 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ K Q J 8 7
♥ K 10 7 3 2
♦ A 10 9
♣ — |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥ |
2 ♠ |
3 ♥ |
| 4 ♠ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Club king
“Who is he that hath everything according to his will? Neither I, nor thou, nor any man upon the earth.”
— Thomas a Kempis
After South optimistically jumped to four spades at his second turn, West led the club king and declarer ruffed. Unthinking players would now start immediately on the crossruff, without taking the trouble to observe that this line of play would inevitably leave them one short of the contract.
South found a better play at the second trick when he led ace and another diamond. The 2-2 split was very good news for declarer, but now East’s return was clearly marked with the threat of the established diamonds confronting him. He shifted to a heart to force dummy.
When South’s 10 fetched the jack, it was clear to declarer that there was still no advantage in ruffing and reverting to the crossruff. There would still be only nine tricks total.
So South refused the apparent gift of a ruff on the board. Instead, he discarded a club, leaving West in a hopeless position. If West played a club, an overtrick would be made by ruffing clubs twice more and throwing the blocking diamond nine from hand on the third trump in dummy.
If West played a heart, be it a high or low one, he would set up the 10th trick, the rest of the hand being played on a crossruff. So West played a trump — his best shot. However, declarer drew two rounds of trump and played the third diamond. East could trump this, but it was the defenders’ last trick, since dummy was high.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 9 |
| ♥ |
— |
| ♦ |
8 7 5 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
J 10 8 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
2 ♣ |
2 ♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The normal treatment of your pass of two hearts is that it suggests some values. (An immediate double would be a negative double.) When your partner shows a real spade suit, you can emphasize your support and your heart control by jumping to four hearts. This suggests a singleton or void in hearts, and from here on you can let partner take control.
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].
April 28th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 6 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: South |
North
♠ 8 7 2
♥ K 3 2
♦ A 10 5
♣ 7 6 4 2 |
|
| West
♠ 4 3
♥ 10 9 7 6
♦ 7 6 2
♣ A K Q 9 |
|
East
♠ Q J 10 9 5
♥ 4
♦ K 8 3
♣ J 10 8 5 |
| |
South
♠ A K 6
♥ A Q J 8 5
♦ Q J 9 4
♣ 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Club king
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
— Matthew 7:1
It is very dangerous for one bridge writer to criticize another. Who knows how revenge may be taken? So instead I’m going to show a deal that occurred in another syndicated column without mentioning the author, and ask you what you think before I give my views.
Against four hearts the club king and ace were led, and the column suggests that declarer should ruff. Now the text says declarer is certain to come home if trumps divide 3-2. It recommends that South lead a trump to the king and a trump to the ace. When the trumps prove to be 4-1, declarer runs the diamond queen and fails by one trick when East wins the diamond king and plays a third club. The defenders eventually score two more tricks, one way or another.
Can you spot the mistake? Better technique is to ruff the club, then cash the heart queen and jack, leaving the trump king on the board. Now you run the diamond queen, and East wins and plays a club. You ruff this trick, leaving West with two trumps while you have only one trump in each hand. However, you can still survive if the hand with the long trumps has at least three diamonds. You cash the diamond ace and jack, then take the spade ace and king. At this point you lead out the 13th diamond and can take your two high trumps separately, for 10 tricks.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
8 7 2 |
| ♥ |
K 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A 10 5 |
| ♣ |
7 6 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
| 3 ♣ |
Pass |
3 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: When two suits have been bid, as here, the third suit tells, not asks. Now that you know about the spade weakness, your duty is to get to clubs. You do not have to commit yourself yet, though. In the context of having shown a minimum at your second turn, you have a great hand facing a singleton spade. Bid three hearts to show your feature there, and maybe you’ll get to cuebid diamonds later.
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].
April 27th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 6 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: West |
North
♠ J
♥ 8
♦ A K J 8 7 6
♣ A Q 6 5 4 |
|
| West
♠ Q 7 4
♥ A K 10 6 5
♦ Q 10 9
♣ 9 8 |
|
East
♠ 9 6 5 2
♥ 9 7 3 2
♦ 5 4
♣ K 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ A K 10 8 3
♥ Q J 4
♦ 3 2
♣ J 10 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
Pass |
1 ♦ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥ |
3 ♣ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart six
“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”
— Henry David Thoreau
This column tries to teach good habits. Normally I show deals where good technique succeeds and an incomplete plan will fail. But I would be remiss if I suggested that the technically superior line should always be followed. That approach ignores the human factor. Often one can infer that an approach other than the percentage play will have a greater chance of success. Does that sound obscure? Today’s example will make the position clearer.
In this deal, from the North American Open Pairs Final, the eventual winners of the event found the right pressure play to get the most out of their no-trump game.
Lew Stansby’s partnership with his wife, JoAnna, represents one of the country’s leading mixed pairs — and they have had considerable success in the open game too. Here, in three no-trump, Lew won the opening heart lead with the jack and immediately led the club jack. He felt sure West would find himself unable to resist covering if he had the king. Naturally West played low, so Stansby went up with dummy’s ace, played off the diamond ace, and overtook the spade jack with the ace. He then cashed the spade king and led his second diamond, crossing his fingers as he did so. When he finessed the jack and found the suit behaving, he had his 10 tricks. This was a fine score, since 11 tricks were the limit in either clubs or diamonds.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q 7 4 |
| ♥ |
A K 10 6 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 9 |
| ♣ |
9 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
3 ♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There is some temptation just to blast to three no-trump, which rates to be the best game most of the time. However, a more subtle approach is to temporize with three diamonds, waiting for partner to bid three no-trump himself or raise hearts. If he now bids three spades, that will act as the fourth suit, allow ing you to bid three no-trump next.
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].
April 26th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: West |
North
♠ A Q 10 6 3
♥ K 8 4 3
♦ 6
♣ J 7 5 |
|
| West
♠ 9 8 5 2
♥ A 6
♦ A 9 8 3 2
♣ K Q |
|
East
♠ K 7 4
♥ 10
♦ K Q 7 5 4
♣ 9 6 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ J
♥ Q J 9 7 5 2
♦ J 10
♣ A 10 8 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♦ |
Dbl. |
4 ♦ |
| 4 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Club king
“A paradox, a paradox, a most ingenious paradox!”
— W.S. Gilbert
Nick Nickell has captained the most successful U.S. team in the last few decades, but almost all of his successes came when playing with the late Dick Freeman, one of the original Quiz Kids from the 1940s. (I doubt if many people besides me can remember that far back.)
Dick gave up playing bridge for a number of years and became an extremely competent Tournament Director, reputed to be the fastest calculator of scores ever. Then he came back as a player and achieved far more success after his extended sabbatical than he had before. He died a couple of years ago, a few days after winning a U.S. Trials to qualify for international play.
Dick played today’s heart game at a National Championship in Montreal. He won the opening lead of a top club, on which East followed with the three, and restrained himself from making the knee-jerk reaction of leading a trump at trick two.
Had he done so, West would have won the trump ace, cashed the club queen, then would have been able to underlead his diamond ace to East to get a club ruff. Down one.
Seeing all this coming, Freeman led a diamond at trick two — while the clubs were blocked. Now the defense was helpless, as Freeman had removed East’s diamond entry prematurely and no ruff was available. So, you see, sometimes the only way to avoid a ruff is not to draw trumps. Isn’t bridge a perverse game?
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 10 6 3 |
| ♥ |
K 8 4 3 |
| ♦ |
6 |
| ♣ |
J 7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3 ♥ |
Pass |
4 ♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Since your partner showed a balanced hand at his second turn, his call of four clubs is NOT natural, or he would have rebid clubs at his second turn. If he has gone past three no-trump, it is a cue-bid and must be in support of hearts. (If he liked spades, he would have bid three spades.) Since you can envisage making slam here, cuebid four diamonds and let him decide whether to go on.
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].
April 25th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: West |
North
♠ K 6
♥ A J 8 3
♦ A 7 3
♣ J 9 7 3 |
|
| West
♠ A 8 7 3
♥ 7 6
♦ 9 6 5
♣ 10 8 5 2 |
|
East
♠ J 10 4 2
♥ 10 5 2
♦ Q J 4
♣ K 6 4 |
| |
South
♠ Q 9 5
♥ K Q 9 4
♦ K 10 8 2
♣ A Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
Pass |
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart seven
“All done by kindness.”
— David Devant
To all my readers who claim they have never played a squeeze, New York’s Cavendish Duplicate Club recently presented a great opportunity for simply drawing trumps, taking finesses and cashing winners, to produce an unusual squeeze that would have been worth a 95 percent board. Few took the opportunity.
Say you declare four hearts on a trump lead. (Yes, a diamond is best for the defenders.) You should decide to take ruffs in the South hand because you might establish the club jack and nine for diamond discards, whereas you cannot usefully establish the diamonds.
So you win the heart cheaply in hand, cross to the spade king, lead a club to the queen, cash the ace, and draw a second round of trump with the jack. A club ruff establishes the suit, and now you overtake the trump king with the ace to cash the club jack.
With 11 top winners there can hardly be any harm in leading out the top trump now, just in case. Watch what happens to East: If he pitches a diamond, declarer discards a spade and runs three diamond tricks. If he pitches the spade 10, declarer discards a diamond and leads a spade to the jack, queen and ace, with the spade nine for his 12th winner. A perfect vise (or vice) squeeze.
The trap on the hand on a diamond opening lead is that you must win the ace at trick one, or your entries to hand become fatally entangled.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
10 6 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 4 3 |
| ♦ |
J 6 |
| ♣ |
K 10 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
| Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
|
ANSWER: Dummy rates to be unbalanced, with real clubs and four spades, so forget about leading clubs. The diamond lead also looks unattractive — after all, partner could have bid the suit but did not. The choice is between a spade and a low heart. Put me down for a low heart, but without much confidence.
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].
April 24th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 10th, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
My most memorable bridge experience happened when I opened one no-trump with 18 points and my partner had the remaining 22 points. In addition to all of the face cards, we had two of the 10s, so seven no-trump was laydown.
— Charles in Charge, Mitchell, S.D.
ANSWER: It may not seem that unusual, but in the course of more than 50 years in bridge I’ve had this happen to me only once or twice. I do recall playing seven no-trump at rubber bridge, missing two jacks, and being unable to make it — but that goes at the opposite end of the pleasure spectrum.
Dear Mr Wolff:
Recently you ran a deal in which responder to a one-spade opening held SPADES A-J-3, HEARTS 7-5-4, DIAMONDS A-9-6-2, CLUBS 7-5-2. After his simple raise to two spades, opener jumped to four clubs. Is this a help-suit, a slam-try, or a cue-bid, and how do we know?
— Jump-Shooter, Trenton, N.J.
ANSWER: In the last 40 years the typical meaning of a jump here has changed. While a simple call of three clubs would be a try for game, four clubs is no longer a void or a singleton ace, as it used to be. Instead it is most commonly played as short clubs and a slam-try, helping responder judge if his cards are well-placed, as indeed they would be on this auction.
Dear Mr Wolff:
I don’t know how good you are at predicting the stars of the future, but who are the young players (if any!) who have made an impression on you?
— Farm Team, Dallas, Texas
ANSWER: My predictive skills in sporting events are (in)famous, but I did accurately predict in my most recent book, “The Lone Wolff,” that Brian Platnick and John Diamond of the United States would become world champions. They achieved that in the Rosenblum Cup in 2010. Thomas Bessis of France is clearly the most promising junior around right now.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
Why do certain actions in the so-called balancing or protective seat require lower high-card ranges than in direct seat?
— Oliver Cromwell, Troy, N.Y.
ANSWER: To keep the auction from dying uncomfortably low, you need to take some action in balancing chair, but also when your RHO passes, your partner becomes marked with some values. So with a balanced 12-count, you would not overcall one no-trump over your RHO’s suit in direct seat, even if you had the suit well stopped. But if LHO opens and RHO passes, now your partner rates to have enough high cards to make the action safer.
Dear Mr Wolff:
In second seat, at favorable vulnerability, after your RHO has opened one heart, you hold SPADES 5-2, HEARTS —, DIAMONDS K-7-4, CLUBS K-Q-J-7-5-4-3-2 . We scored very poorly because my partner overcalled four clubs. I had a massive hand with the bare club ace and with kings and queens in all the other suits, so I passed and we missed a game.
— Walk-Away Renee, Ames, Iowa
ANSWER: Given your partner’s hand, perhaps a five-club call is better, if only because you know you want to save over four hearts, so why not do so now? Your pass of four clubs sounds sensible — with too few aces and a dangerous heart holding. Would your partner have bid any differently with one heart and two diamonds? Of course not!
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
April 23rd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Vulnerable: North-South
Dealer: South |
North
♠ A J
♥ K 8 7 5 4
♦ A 7 5
♣ J 7 6 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 10 8 5 3 2
♥ Q 10 2
♦ 2
♣ 9 4 |
|
East
♠ 9 6
♥ —
♦ K Q J 10 9 3
♣ Q 10 8 5 3 |
| |
South
♠ 7 4
♥ A J 9 6 3
♦ 8 6 4
♣ A K 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
3 ♠ |
4 ♥ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade king
“First say to yourself what you would be, then do what you have to do.”
— Epictetus
Playing in four hearts, you win the spade-king lead with dummy’s ace as East follows with the nine. When East shows out on the trump king, you appear to have five potential losers: two diamonds and one in each of the other suits. What can you do?
You should play the trump ace, followed by the diamond ace and the club A-K. When West is unable to trump any of your winners, he surely began with 7-3-1-2 shape and now has no minor-suit cards remaining.
When you throw West on lead with the spade queen, he can cash his heart winner but must then lead another spade. It looks natural to ruff in one hand and discard a loser from the other, but if you do so, you will still go one down. You will lose one trick in each major and two tricks in the minors.
Instead, when West leads a top spade, you should throw a club from dummy and a diamond from your hand. Left on lead, West has no choice but to play another spade. You ruff in the dummy and throw the last diamond from your hand. You can then crossruff the remaining tricks, all three of your minor-suit losers having vanished as if by magic.
Note that if you exit at trick six with a heart, West crosses you up by leading a low spade next. Your spade loser has vanished, but you have three minor-suit losers instead!
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
7 4 |
| ♥ |
A J 9 6 3 |
| ♦ |
8 6 4 |
| ♣ |
A K 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
2 ♦ |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You are faced with an impossible array of choices. You cannot raise spades, bid no-trump, or repeat your hearts. Since a cue-bid would show extras, that leaves you with no option but to invent a second suit with a call of three clubs, which does not show extras, of course. With any luck, this may allow partner to take control.
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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