The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

June 7th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 24th, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club two

“Once I built a railroad, now it’s done.

— Yip Harburg

When this deal originally appeared in a par contest, the title of the hand was “Don’t be mean.” The message — one that has been repeated many times in this column — is that when as a defender you know what the partnership should do, it is your duty to send that message as clearly as possible to your partner. If you send an ambiguous message and he does not understand you, then it is your fault, not his.

The bidding could go in many different ways, but North-South should have no difficulty in reaching four spades. West might consider taking a flyer and doubling, but, as the cards lie, it calls for very farsighted defense to defeat the contract.

West leads his singleton club, East winning the queen and continuing the suit by leading the ace. To West, the contract appears to be on the way to defeat unless — by some unfortunate chance — South is void in hearts. But a thoughtful defender can guard even against that. On the second club West throws the heart three, and when South follows to the third club, West makes the sensational discard of the heart ace. Now, on a heart play by East, the defense is guaranteed a trump trick, since if declarer ruffs high, West has insured himself a trump trick from his remaining spots. As the cards lie, this is the only way to defeat the contract.

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 23rd, 2011

June 6th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club four

“It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”

— Gore Vidal

In four spades declarer won the opening club lead in dummy, entered his hand with a trump, and led a diamond to the king and ace. East returned a club, which was ruffed.

At this point both East and South have three trumps. Declarer crossed to the diamond queen, returned to his hand with a trump, and ruffed a diamond in dummy. East overruffed dummy and forced declarer with another club, but declarer was in charge. He ruffed, drew East’s last trump with his own last trump, ran the diamonds, and conceded a heart to make his game.

Had East not overruffed the third diamond, South would have had no way back to his hand without reducing his trumps again, and that would have been fatal. The defensive point is to be wary of overruffing dummy when holding the same trump length as declarer, particularly if declarer cannot get back to his hand without subjecting himself to a force. The trump trick will come back with dividends — declarer won’t be able to use his established side suit.

And what about declarer: did he do anything wrong? Yes, indeed. He erred at trick two when he led a trump to his hand rather than a diamond from dummy. Start the long suit before drawing trumps! Because he didn’t, he would have been in serious trouble if East had not overruffed the third diamond. However, if South plays diamonds before spades, he will prevail whether East overruffs or not.

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 22nd, 2011

June 5th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  1 Comment 

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 21th, 2011

June 4th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 21th, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club jack

“Necessity has no law.”

— Saint Augustine

Sometimes one has to project the complete distribution and work out that bad splits can be more productive than a favorable break. That is especially true of deals like this one, though the underlying idea may be rather hard to spot.

After fairly aggressive bidding by North, Augustin Santamaria of Argentina reached a delicate four-spade contract, made even more challenging because the auction had indicated the danger of bad splits. On the lead of the club jack, Santamaria took dummy’s ace and played a low diamond. East won his ace, cashed the club queen, and exited with a diamond.

At this point Santamaria was in a very awkward position. He could see that if trumps were 2-2, then unless West specifically had the doubleton J-10 of trumps, the defenders could promote a trump winner for themselves by leading a third round of clubs after taking the trump ace. Therefore, when declarer led the spade seven from hand and West followed with a small trump, declarer went for his only legitimate chance to make the hand by ducking in dummy! When East produced the spade ace, there was no longer any chance for the defense to produce a second trump trick. Thus the contract made, for a 12-IMP pickup for Argentina on the way to an upset victory in a match from the 1986 Rosenblum Cup.

(Even if East had played a third club instead of a second diamond, declarer would have succeeded if he was able to read the position.)

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

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, May 20th, 2011

June 3rd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
2 NT	Pass	3 ♥	Pass
4 ♠	Pass	6 ♠	All pass

Opening Lead: Heart nine

“When you can’t have what you choose, you just choose what you have.”

— Owen Wister

An unusual example of a choice of endplays came up at Honors Bridge Club in New York. You play six spades on a heart lead, win in hand with the ace, and lay down the two top trumps. If both opponents follow, you take both minor-suit finesses in normal fashion, but either opponent may have the guarded trump queen. Your continuation will depend on which defender it is.

If West were to discard (so that East had trump length), you would cross to the heart king and try to run three rounds of diamonds. With the finesse in diamonds succeeding, you can next endplay East with the spade queen for a lead back into your club tenace.

The more challenging lie of the cards to overcome is the one shown here. Again you win the heart lead in hand with the ace, bash out the top spades, and now need to take a view as to what to do. Best is to take the club finesse, cash the heart king and club ace, and when the club queen appears, you have a guess about your next move.

Since East has a singleton spade, you should play him for club length, so finesse the club nine, cash the club king, and exit with a trump. This endplays West to lead a diamond or give you a ruff and discard. If West has false-carded in clubs on the second round of the suit from Q-10-6, maybe he deserves to beat you!

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 19th, 2011

June 2nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club seven

“I do not mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.”

— Samuel Butler

Today’s deal is from the Open Pairs at the third European Open Championships. Against three no-trump, you (West) lead a low club to the six, jack and ace, and declarer returns the club four. Over to you.

You know South has the club 10. If East had it, he would have played it, and without the 10, South would have tried the queen from dummy on your lead. Therefore, declarer is trying to sneak a second club trick, with the rest of his tricks coming from the pointed suits. All of this means that any further tricks for your side must come from hearts.

Partner is marked with the heart king. Otherwise, declarer would surely have broached hearts, where there is a chance of developing more than one trick, rather than clubs.

At the table, West took the club king, then switched to ace and another heart. Holding South to nine tricks was worth a reasonable score, but it was not the best shot. By releasing the heart ace, West lost his re-entry. An immediate low heart would have allowed East to cover dummy’s card, then return the two to the ace. Then another heart through would pick up four tricks.

You might argue that declarer should not have risked his contract in search of overtricks, but at matchpoint pairs, one has to speculate to accumulate. Also, the opponents do not always draw the right inferences, nor do the cards always lie in such hostile fashion.

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 18th, 2011

June 1st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade king

“It is a maxim that man and wife should never have it in their power to hang one another.”

— George Farquhar

The late Boris Schapiro was one of the dominant players of the postwar game. Helen Schapiro, his widow, is no mean player either. Here she is, in partnership with Evan Harris, a liberal democrat MP.

Strong Acol two-openings have gone out of fashion of late, but it made reaching slam easy here. But how would you play six hearts on a spade lead?

The best line is to win the spade ace, play the heart queen to dummy’s king, and ruff a diamond high. Then play the heart five to dummy’s eight, cash the diamond ace (pitching a club), and ruff another diamond. Now, assuming both red suits have broken, play a club to dummy’s queen.

If this holds, you can ruff another diamond, then cross back to dummy with a spade ruff to reach the established diamonds. However, if East has the club ace, you can cross to dummy with a spade ruff to finesse the club jack.

The trap is to ruff a spade in dummy too early. You would still be able to set up the diamonds, but would not know if you could reach them. If you played a club to the queen and East had the ace, he would play back a spade, and you would go down unless the club jack were to fall. Alternatively, you could run the club 10 from hand, but then you have put all your eggs in one basket — namely, that the club jack is with West.

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 17th, 2011

May 31st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

*Transfer to hearts

Opening Lead: Spade three

“I celebrate myself; and sing myself,

— Walt Whitman

When you have reached game after a defender has opened the bidding, it still may not be right to play the opener for all the outstanding points. Today’s deal is from the European 2002 Mixed Teams Championship.

In most matches, East opened the bidding with one spade, but South ended in three no-trump. West led the spade three, East inserted the jack — good technique for the defenders to retain communication in the spade suit — and South took the king.

Five clubs, one spade, plus the ace and king of diamonds bring the trick total to eight. Knocking out the heart ace allows the defenders to cash four more spades, so that was not an option.

Many declarers saw matters in a simple light. With only 13 points outstanding, East was favored to hold them all. Therefore, they entered dummy with a top club and took the diamond finesse. That was two down, and no doubt South would consider himself unlucky, but he had missed the point of the deal.

Other more thoughtful declarers appreciated that East would come under pressure on the run of the club suit if he held the missing honors. As it transpired, East needed to find four discards. If these included a spade, then a heart could have been set up in safety.

At the table, East discarded three diamonds plus a heart. Now South cashed both top diamonds and was gratified to find the queen dropping doubleton, though not from East as expected, but from West.

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 16th, 2011

May 30th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, May 16th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Pass	4 ♥*	Pass
4 NT	Pass	5 ♥	Pass
7 ♠	All pass

*A game-forcing spade raise with short hearts

Opening Lead: Spade jack

“Cut your coat according to your cloth.”

— Anonymous

In today’s deal the level of the slam dictates the line of play, whether it is the small or the grand slam that is reached. The hand came along during the four-session Swiss Teams Championship, the main event of the second weekend of the 2007 10-day Brighton Summer Congress in England.

When six spades was the contract, declarer rose with dummy’s ace on the club lead, then drew trumps. The 2-1 trump break leads to a 100 percent line for the slam: Cash the diamond ace, then lead the diamond queen. If East covers with the king, ruff. Then comes the heart ace, followed by a heart ruff in dummy, to allow South’s losing club to be jettisoned on the diamond 10. And if East does not contribute the diamond king, declarer discards the losing club. West may take the diamond king, but that is all. The diamond 10 takes care of one heart loser, and the other three are trumped in dummy.

However, when it is the heady heights of seven spades that has been reached, following an excess of zeal by South, it is to the heart suit that declarer turns for the extra tricks. As it is dummy’s and not declarer’s club losers that must be disposed of, the straightforward heart finesse will not suffice.

After drawing trumps, play out the heart ace, then the queen for a ruffing finesse. So long as West has the heart king, two heart tricks can be established in hand for club discards from dummy.

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 15th, 2011

May 29th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  1 Comment 

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.