The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 9th, 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!

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, April 8th, 2011

April 22nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  7 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade 10

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Safety plays come in all shapes and sizes. Today’s deal is from a recent Senior Knockout Teams quarterfinal round at the U.S. Nationals. Declarer was Melih Ozdil, in a four-heart contract where it was apparent at the second trick that the only major concern was the 5-0 trump break, so declarer was able to plan accordingly.

Ozdil won the spade lead in dummy to preserve entries to hand and led a trump to the seven and 10 as East discarded the diamond six.

West shifted to a diamond, won by dummy’s ace. West now took the first club in an attempt to block the suit and played a second diamond. Ozdil won in hand, crossed to the club jack, and led a spade to his queen. He next cashed two rounds of clubs, pitching the winning spade and one of the losing diamonds from dummy.

At this point he had played off four clubs, one round of trump and two tricks in each of the other suits, and the lead was in the South hand. Ozdil now advanced the spade seven, ruffed by West with the trump six, and overruffed with the ace. A diamond from dummy was ruffed with the heart eight, and West overruffed with the jack. But now a two-card ending had been reached where West was trump endplayed at trick 12 to lead from his Q-2 of trumps into declarer’s K-9 tenace. 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, April 7th, 2011

April 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 7th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 NT*	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
2 ♥	All pass

*nominally 15-17

Opening Lead: Diamond ace

“If a man, sitting all alone, cannot dream strange things, and make them look like truth, he need never try to write romance.”

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Today’s deal, from a recent Cavendish tournament, demonstrates that the expert player will frequently break the rules when the situation demands it. In this case, the rule is that when leading a suit, one selects the highest card from a sequence and otherwise leads low.

Whatever no-trump range North-South was using, that South hand seems to fit it. Zia Mahmood duly opened one no-trump and Bob Hamman (North) transferred to two hearts to end the auction. Yes, one no-trump might have been better, but no one did anything silly here.

Marty Fleisher led ace and a second diamond, and Zia won the king and led a heart to the jack and ace. Fleisher continued the good work by leading a third diamond. Zia ruffed in dummy, played a club to the king and ace, then led a second trump. Eric Rodwell (East) won this and could see that he might need to take two spade tricks quickly. So he shifted to the spade 10, hoping for today’s lie of the cards. Zia covered with the queen, and when Fleisher played the king, Zia ducked it, assuming Fleisher held both the king and jack. Back came a second spade, and Zia was down whatever he did now. Had Rodwell shifted to the spade jack, Zia would surely have wrapped up eight tricks by covering the jack with the queen and taking dummy’s ace at once, assuming the 10 to be on his right.

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, April 6th, 2011

April 20th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Heart queen

“A wondrous knack has he to find resource,

— Aeschylus

In today’s deal it would be facile for declarer to look at his side’s combined assets in four spades and assume that he needed the club finesse to succeed, and also needed to ruff a possible diamond loser in dummy. His chances are far better than that, so long as he is careful.

The hidden treasures in dummy are the club jack and 10, which may represent a home for declarer’s diamond losers — but care must be taken to exploit them to the full.

The defenders start by leading the heart queen followed by the jack, and continue with a third heart, which must be ruffed high. This allows declarer to preserve his possible late entry to dummy in the form of the spade 10.

At trick four declarer can cash one high trump, but then should lead the club queen out of his hand. If West takes the club king, South can win any return, cash the club ace, then take the spade king and enter dummy by leading the spade eight to the 10 to throw the diamond losers away on dummy’s master clubs.

It looks almost as good to start clubs by leading the ace then the queen, but West can take his king and play a third club, letting East ruff in and kill the discard.

Incidentally, if the club queen is allowed to hold, declarer simply plays the diamond A-K, leads a third diamond, and ruffs a fourth diamond high on the board if necessary.

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, April 5th, 2011

April 19th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♦	1 ♥	2 ♣	3 ♥*
3 ♠	Pass	5 ♦	All pass

*Pre-emptive

Opening Lead: Heart king

“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”

— Benjamin Disraeli

In today’s deal, when the opponents bid and support hearts, North should not attempt to play the hand in three no-trump, but should raise to game in diamonds. This bid is fully justified by his significant trump support, not to mention his two aces. Additionally, his doubleton spade rates to be useful in the trump contract, while the weak club intermediates suggest there will be work needed to establish that suit.

Of course, neither West nor East has a hand that suggests a sacrifice at the five-level to save a vulnerable game that may not be made.

At first sight, from South’s perspective on the lead of the heart king, the contract of five diamonds seems to depend on the position of the spade ace. Since this is almost certainly with West, South should look for another line of play. The solution, once you think of it, is simple but ingenious. The heart king is ducked, a club is thrown on the heart ace, and now the club suit can be set up for the discard of three losing spades.

This is a nice example of an avoidance play. However, for the purists it should be noted that the lead of either a trump (followed by a trump continuation) or an initial low club defeats five diamonds. The former lead works because it attacks entries to dummy’s long suit, while the latter succeeds because it insures that East will gain the lead to put a spade through declarer’s gizzard.

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, April 4th, 2011

April 18th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade two

“If I ever do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.”

— Laurence Sterne

In today’s deal you play four spades with only two top club losers, but nothing close to 10 winners. Moreover, West finds the most effective attack when he leads a trump, preventing you from ruffing two losers in dummy. If the defenders can get a second round of trumps in early, you appear to be running short of tricks.

It would be easy to assume that you needed the heart finesse to come close to your contract, but that would be to ignore dummy’s long diamonds. However, considerable care needs to be taken to insure that you can bring the diamond suit in without running into trump trouble. You must win the trump lead in dummy to guarantee that you have enough high trumps in hand to cope with the threat of a bad diamond break. You win the spade 10 at trick one, then take the diamond ace and the heart ace. Next you cross to dummy with the diamond king to ruff a diamond in your hand with a high trump.

Then comes a spade to the jack and a second diamond ruff with a high trump. Now you concede a heart, can arrange to ruff either a club or heart low in dummy, then draw the last trump and take your long diamond for your 10th winner.

If you try to be economical and win the first trump lead in your hand, you will go down. West scores a trump trick one way or another.

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, April 3rd, 2011

April 17th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 3rd, 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, April 2nd, 2011

April 16th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			1 ♠
2 ♣	4 ♠	5 ♣	Pass
Pass	Dbl.	All pass	South

Opening Lead: Take your pick!

“Those magnificent men in their flying machines.”

— Lorraine Williams

At the halfway point of the 2010 Canadian Trials, the eventual winners (team Gartaganis) and their opponents were running neck and neck. After that, Gartaganis ran away with the match, with the help of deals like today’s.

Both tables reached five clubs, but in one room the defense started routinely with a spade to the ace and a diamond switch. Nick Gartaganis won this, ruffed two spades in dummy, drew trump, and led up to the heart honors to chalk up an easy 400.

Just as the Vugraph spectators were beginning to speculate on the fate of the contract on the highly unlikely trump lead, Piotr Klimowicz selected the club three for his opening salvo. Declarer won this in hand and played a heart. On this trick, Klimowicz made his second nice, and highly necessary, play by ducking the ace. If he wins the heart ace, declarer can come to three heart tricks — but more importantly, the hearts give him entries to ruff out diamonds. He gets home with six clubs, three hearts, and two diamonds.

Now declarer, in dummy with the heart king, called for a spade, and it was Gordon Campbell’s turn to shine, as East. He “rose” to the occasion when he ducked his spade A-K-Q to allow partner to win the spade and play another trump. After that, it was all over — wriggle as he might, declarer was always going to lose the two aces, and either a second heart or a second spade.

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

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 1st, 2011

April 15th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 1st, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 NT	Pass	6 NT	All pass

Opening Lead: Heart 10

“No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear,

— Oliver Goldsmith

In today’s deal you might relax when dummy comes down, imagining you had 12 top winners and that the only issue was how to play for the overtrick. But because you have only 11 sure winners unless spades split, you should focus on how to generate that extra trick if things go wrong.

Sometimes in situations of this sort it is right to run the long suit and play for opponents to discard incorrectly, but here both opponents can probably release hearts comfortably enough, and your own hand comes under some pressure. Accordingly, it looks right to test spades early.

You win the heart lead in hand with the king and start by cashing the spade ace — in case the suit is 5-0. When you next lead a spade to the king, the bad break is revealed. You could now rely on either player holding the club ace singleton or doubleton. However, far better is to play East for the club ace, in which case you can bring him under irresistible pressure.

The play is simplicity itself. At trick four you lead a club toward the queen (which East must duck), then run the diamonds, throwing the heart ace and a spade.

In the four-card ending, East can keep the guarded club ace and his two spades, but finally the heart queen squeezes him down to a bare black honor. No matter which card he lets go, you pitch from the other black suit and establish your 12th winner in comfort.

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, March 31st, 2011

April 14th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	3 ♥	4 ♥	Pass
4 ♠	Pass	4 NT	Pass
5 ♠*	Pass	5 NT	Pass
6 ♣	Pass	6 ♠	All pass

*Two of the five aces (counting the trump king as an ace), plus the trump queen

Opening Lead: Heart king

“Be wise with speed;

— Edward Young

In today’s deal most declarers, if pressed, would admit that they would be unlikely to go down in six spades unless they lost two diamond tricks. Accordingly, they should direct their efforts to catering for bad splits in that suit.

The normal way to play the slam is to take the heart king with the ace and draw trumps in two rounds. Then comes the club ace and king, a club ruff to strip off the clubs, and a heart ruff in dummy to get rid of that suit. The stage is set to play diamonds to best advantage.

At this point declarer leads a diamond to his jack. If it loses to a singleton king, West must concede defeat at once by giving a ruff-sluff. If West can play back the diamond seven, declarer inserts dummy’s eight and is protected against any lie of the cards. If West can return the 10, declarer runs this round to his ace and can finesse against West if he has the two remaining diamonds.

What if the diamond jack scores, as it would do in the diagramed layout? Declarer now must take care to lead a low diamond from hand and duck in dummy (or if feeling really greedy, cross to dummy with a trump to lead a diamond toward his ace, intending to duck unless the king appears). This line insures the contract. Either the diamonds will be split, or East will be endplayed to lead a diamond into the split tenace or give a ruff-sluff.

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].