The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 14th, 2011

May 28th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  1 Comment 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Diamond three

“Fortune is full of fresh variety:

— Richard Barnfield

In today’s deal from the Cavendish, the field reached three no-trump from the South seat, setting West an awkward lead problem. Two of the declarers who were lucky enough to receive a low diamond lead were Jan van Cleeff and Christian Mari. Both saw East pitch a low heart and they won the trick cheaply.

Van Cleeff went for the pressure line: he played four rounds of diamonds at once, on which East (understandably) threw three hearts and a spade. When West shifted to the heart queen, van Cleeff covered, ran his minor-suit winners, and threw East in with the fourth club to lead spades to dummy. This line required East to hold the spade ace, but by this point in the hand, declarer felt very confident that this was the case.

By contrast, Mari played a low diamond from his hand at trick two. When West won the diamond queen and shifted to the heart queen, Mari took this with the king in dummy. What do you think he did next? Logically enough, declarer led a club to the nine and had nine winners.

Mari’s play was based on the sensible assumption that East would surely have discarded a small club at trick one or trick two from an original holding of two or three small, on the grounds that without the club nine, he could not easily foresee the problem that declarer might have. Thus East’s discards marked him with the club jack.

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 13th, 2011

May 27th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club two

“Secure, whate’er he gives, he gives the best.”

— Samuel Johnson

In the following deal from the Cavendish Teams, Gunnar Hallberg and his partner, Brian Glubok, produced a sparkling defensive coup.

The contract of four hearts is not a thing of beauty. Off three aces with a delicate trump holding, declarer’s cards seem to lie so well that only an initial diamond lead beats the hand by getting a ruff for East.

That is not quite so. Consider the effect of the lead of the club two (fourth-highest), which was found by Hallberg. Declarer won in hand to play on spades. Glubok took his ace and played a second club — nice, but by no means obvious, defense. Declarer won and played a diamond, and West also did well when he hopped up with the ace (drawing the inference that declarer had the diamond queen or he would have unblocked the clubs before playing the spade). Had West not taken his ace, declarer would have cashed the black queens to discard both of his remaining diamonds. Hallberg now played a third club. Declarer won in dummy and ran the heart 10, covered by the jack and queen.

At this point declarer had to read the precise heart and club positions and exit with a low heart to have any chance to make his contract. When he made the more natural play of the heart king, Glubok won and led a fourth club, promoting the heart eight to the setting trick.

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 12th, 2011

May 26th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			2 ♠
2 NT	Pass	3 NT	All pass

Opening Lead: Diamond king

“Be not deceived, for every deed you do

— Claude McKay

Consider this awkward deal from a recent Cavendish Teams. North-South look destined to reach three no-trump, whether or not East pre-empts — unless they can stop off to double an overly aggressive pair who have gone overboard in diamonds. However, when West clears the diamonds at once, nine tricks seem a long way off.

Nonetheless, in the match between Wayne Chu and Gerald Sosler, both tables found a way to nine tricks in three no-trump. When Craig Gower was declarer, Kay Schulle led a top diamond. (Incidentally, do you approve of East’s decision to pre-empt? I do not. At favorable vulnerability, a three-level pre-empt is not absurd, but at unfavorable vulnerability, bidding with this hand looks like a way to go for a large penalty.)

Gower took the second diamond, led the heart queen, covered by the king and ace, and then played off the top spades. When Schulle pitched two diamonds, Gower worked out why and so led the heart 10. He then successfully finessed against the heart nine. Now he cashed out the hearts, reducing to a five-card ending with West holding three diamonds and two clubs. At this point he threw Schulle in with a diamond to cash out her suit, but she then had to lead clubs for his ninth trick. Remarkably, this was for a four-IMP loss, since Schulle’s teammate, David Berkowitz, had made exactly the same play, but in three no-trump doubled, to land nine tricks.

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 11th, 2011

May 25th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 11th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	2 ♣*	Pass	Pass
2 ♥	All pass

*Natural, 11-15 points

Opening Lead: Club ace

“He ventured neck or nothing — heaven’s success

— Robert Browning

In today’s deal from the 1999 Cavendish, from which all this week’s deals are taken, the defenders added insult to injury.

It is bad enough to stay low and miss a cold game, but when your opponents beat you in the “safe” partscore you have reached, it rubs salt into the wound. After Peter Weichsel’s natural but limited opening of two clubs, Paul Chemla (North) did not have enough to overcall in diamonds. When Christian Mari (South) reopened with two hearts rather than a double, Chemla decided not to explore for the no-trump game. a contract where nine tricks would have been straightforward. Instead, he settled for what he thought was a safe partscore in hearts.

Weichsel led the club ace, an incisive shot, then carefully played the club seven for Alan Sontag to ruff. In situations of this sort, the size of the spot-card West leads should tell East what to play next. Sontag now found the fine move of underleading the diamond ace. (Weichsel’s middle club clearly indicated that he had no preference between the pointed suits; hence, he was likely to have both kings.)

Weichsel won his diamond king, then led a high club, giving Sontag a second ruff. At this point, Sontag led the spade two to ensure one down, setting up the defense’s spade trick before declarer could establish the diamonds for discards.

Accordingly, declarer had to lose three clubs tricks, two diamonds and one spade, for down one.

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 10th, 2011

May 24th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 ♦	Pass	1 ♠
4 ♥	4 ♠	5 ♣	5 ♥
6 ♥	Pass	Pass	6 ♠
Pass	Pass	7 ♥	Dbl.
All pass

Opening Lead: Diamond king

“They say everything in the world is good for something.”

— John Dryden

All the deals this week come from the Cavendish Pairs and Teams from 10 years ago to celebrate this year’s event currently taking place in Henderson, Nev.

The Cavendish Teams in Las Vegas is the precursor to the main event, the auction pairs. Ten years ago this was the deal from the final match that decided the eventual winner.

As you can see, six spades goes down when diamonds refuse to behave, but that was not obvious to anyone at the table. The auction generally began with South pre-empting in hearts and North bidding clubs to promise a heart fit and club values.

When the eventual winners of the event were doubled in six hearts with the East-West card, Zia Mahmood as West led a top diamond and shifted to a spade, letting South escape for minus 500. But in the other room the auction went as shown. For the winners, Lew Stansby led two top diamonds and Chip Martel threw a discouraging spade. Eventually Stansby worked out to play a third diamond, promoting the heart jack to a trick for down 1100 and a 12-IMP swing to the winners.

Was this the clearest way to get West to continue with a third diamond? Perhaps not, as demonstrated somewhat flamboyantly by Fred Gitelman, who was sitting East, partnering Brad Moss. They were defending six hearts doubled on an auction almost identical to the one shown, and when Moss cashed two rounds of diamonds, Gitelman discarded his spade ace! Now Moss knew what was 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: Monday, May 10th, 2011

May 22nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	2 ♠*	Dbl.	2 NT
Pass	3 ♣	3 ♠	All pass

*Hearts and a minor

Opening Lead: Club king

“I long ago came to the conclusion that life is six-to-five against.”

— Damon Runyon

To celebrate the Cavendish Pairs tournament being played all this week in Henderson, Nev., this week’s deals all come from the event held 10 years ago.

After West had shown a two-suiter, Adam Zakrzewski (South) landed in three spades. On a top-club lead, Adam ducked and won the heart-jack shift with dummy’s queen.

He ran the diamond jack to West’s queen, took the top-heart return in dummy, and repeated the diamond finesse. Then he played a club to the ace and a spade to the queen and ace. Once the 5-0 trump break came to light, declarer knew he had three top losers, so must try to restrict East to just one more trump trick. That looks unlikely, doesn’t it?

At trick eight East returned the spade jack so that dummy would have to ruff declarer’s club loser with a significant trump. A less imaginative club return would have worked better.

Adam took the spade jack in hand, cashed the diamond ace, then ruffed his club loser in dummy with the spade 10. He had reduced to a three-card ending where both East and South were left only with spades. Adam led a red-suit winner from dummy, and when East ruffed in with the spade seven, he underruffed with the three. That left him with the trump 9-5 over East’s 8-4 for the last two tricks.

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 9th, 2011

May 22nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, May 9th, 2011 

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

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

May 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Club king

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

— Charles Lamb

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, May 7th, 2011

May 20th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

*Game-forcing spade raise

Opening Lead: Club three

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

— John Milton

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

Cover up the East and West hands before reading on.

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

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

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

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

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

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, May 6th, 2011

May 19th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: Spade queen

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

— Charles Darwin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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