May 18th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 5th, 2011 
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ J 10 9 7 3
♥ K 7 4 3
♦ 2
♣ K 9 4 |
|
| West
♠ 6
♥ A J 10 9 5
♦ K J 8 7 3
♣ 10 8 |
 |
East
♠ K 5 4
♥ Q 2
♦ A 10 5 4
♣ Q J 5 3 |
| |
South
♠ A Q 8 2
♥ 8 6
♦ Q 9 6
♣ A 7 6 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♦* |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥ |
4 ♠ |
All pass |
*Precision
Opening Lead: Diamond seven
“The line, often adopted by strong men in controversy, of justifying the means by the end.”
— Saint Jerome
The overcall made by Jovanka Smederevac of Austria in today’s deal might not have been strictly textbook, but it did guide her side to a very playable contract.
But once there, she needed to find an elegant play in four spades for at least two reasons. First, she had to justify her rather sporting bidding; second, she was seated opposite Maria Erhart, not the most tolerant partner of less than perfect play.
Put yourself in the South seat and consider what your secret weapon is going to be.
(Incidentally, her opponents did not look to sacrifice in five diamonds because East’s opening bid guaranteed only two diamonds, but West’s final pause before passing did not escape declarer.)
On the lead of the diamond seven to East’s ace for a spade return, Smederevac took two trump finesses. The 3-1 trump split meant that she had only six trump tricks, and thus needed both the heart ace onside and something nice from the clubs. But her gut reaction was that West had five diamonds, and thus only two clubs. Accordingly, she led a low club to the eight, nine and jack. She then won the heart return in dummy with the king, cashed the club king, and led to the club seven. When that held the trick, she had her 10th winner.
This maneuver, known as an intrafinesse, combines taking a finesse with a subsequent pin of the card against which you originally finessed — one of the most elegant trick-generating plays in the book.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
6 |
| ♥ |
A J 10 9 5 |
| ♦ |
K J 8 7 3 |
| ♣ |
10 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: An out-of-the blue cuebid in a sequence like this (where your partner could not bid over one spade) suggests four-card diamond support and a maximum hand — perhaps a 4-1-4-4 pattern, or one with three spades and five clubs. Your high cards look to be well-placed and you have too much extra shape to be happy bidding only three diamonds. So bid four diamonds to show your extras.
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 17th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: South |
North
♠ 8 7 3
♥ 9 4 3
♦ 9 5
♣ A 10 9 8 2 |
|
| West
♠ K J 6 5 2
♥ K 7 5 2
♦ J 10 3
♣ 7 |
|
East
♠ 10 9
♥ Q 8 6
♦ Q 8 7 4
♣ Q 6 5 3 |
| |
South
♠ A Q 4
♥ A J 10
♦ A K 6 2
♣ K J 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2 ♣ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade five
“Syllables govern the world.”
— Sir Edward Coke
One of my favorite collections of deals this year comes from the fertile imagination of Patrick Jourdain, who is president of the International Bridge Press Association.
For many years he has written sets of problems for Bridge Magazine in the U.K. and contributed a weekly problem for Teletext on Channel Four Television. I shall be running some deals from his book “Problem Corner” all this month. In today’s deal, consider how you should play three no-trump on a spade lead.
If clubs split, you have no problem, so you have only to protect yourself against a 4-1 break. One solution is to lead the club king, then the jack, which works fine if West has length. But if East has the length, he may duck the jack, just as he would if you had started by running the jack as your first play in the suit. Now you have only three club tricks and few chances to get the hearts going.
A better line is to win the spade, play the club king, and (unless East shows out) lead a low club from hand to dummy’s eight! If the defense wins the second club, you can later overtake the club jack to ensure nine tricks. If, on the second club, dummy’s eight wins, but either defender still has the guarded queen remaining, then take a heart finesse. You will later use the club ace as your entry to dummy to take a second heart finesse.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
K J 6 5 2 |
| ♥ |
K 7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
J 10 3 |
| ♣ |
7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♦ |
2 ♣ |
2 ♦ |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: In this sequence your double would be takeout, suggesting values and either both unbid suits or one unbid suit plus support for partner. You would normally require better fit for partner than a singleton, but here you would expect partner always to deliver a six-card minor, or to be able to bid a three-card major if he did not want to repeat his 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].
May 16th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, May 3rd, 2011
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: South |
North
♠ 8 7 6
♥ A 10 8
♦ 8
♣ A K Q J 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 5
♥ 5 3 2
♦ A Q J 10 9 7
♣ 10 |
|
East
♠ 10 9 4 3 2
♥ 6
♦ K 4
♣ 9 7 6 5 4 |
| |
South
♠ A J
♥ K Q J 9 7 4
♦ 6 5 3 2
♣ 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
2 ♦ |
4 ♦ |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
Pass |
5 ♣ |
Pass |
| 5 ♠ |
Pass |
6 ♥ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade king
“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”
— Benjamin Franklin
We all know a few more-than-senior citizens who love to play bridge. But few couples have grown old as gracefully as Sidney and Lillian Matthews. A few years ago Sidney celebrated his 100th birthday in Marbella. At that dinner Sidney, still an enthusiastic golfer, announced his retirement as a bridge tournament director, but gave no indication he was ready to stop playing for the foreseeable future.
Matthews had recently played this hand in a duplicate pairs, which he was also directing. West led the spade king against six hearts. Matthews won with his ace, then led two rounds of trump to discover that the overcaller had started with three.
Having escaped a diamond lead, declarer appreciated that as long as clubs broke no worse than 4-2, he could discard his five losers in hand on dummy’s clubs. But Sidney thought that he should secure his slam against a 5-1 break, even at the expense of an overtrick. How right he was, for after cashing the club ace, then ruffing a club high in hand, he saw West discard a diamond.
A heart to dummy drew the last trump, and Sidney was home in a slam that few pairs had bid, and even fewer had brought home. The logic behind the successful line is that if making your contract will secure you a good score, the merits of playing for an overtrick are strictly limited.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
J 4 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 6 3 |
| ♣ |
J 8 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Dbl. |
| Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
| All pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Declarer has shown eight playing tricks in spades, and dummy will be very weak, so ask yourself which lead is least likely to give away a trick or take a finesse for declarer he could not take himself. Partner will probably have a balanced 12-14 points, and on that basis a trump rates to be least likely to cost a trick. A club is a VERY close second, though.
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 15th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, May 2nd, 2011
| Dear Mr Wolff:
When using Key-Card Blackwood, if my partner responds five diamonds, how do I know if he is showing one ace or the trump king? If I held two aces, I would need this information to know whether to bid slam.
— Key-Card Conundrum, Atlanta, Ga.
ANSWER: If you have agreed a trump suit, you do NOT want to play slam if you are missing two aces, OR missing one ace and the trump king, as slam could be no better than the trump finesse. Sometimes that finesse can work, but you will rarely be in a position to take advantage of that information. So the trump king is as good as an ace — and you do not need to differentiate. Whether you always need the trump QUEEN is more problematic — but we’ll discuss that another day!
Dear Mr Wolff:
In third seat, after you hear partner open one diamond and your RHO bid one spade, what would you respond with SPADES J-9, HEARTS A-Q-7-3-2, DIAMONDS K-10-3-2, CLUBS 10-4? It seems the choice is to raise diamonds, bid hearts, or make a negative double — but if I double, how do I cope with a pre-emptive raise to three spades on my left?
— Tough Choices, Saint John’s, Newfoundland
ANSWER: Raising diamonds seems wrong — you might all too easily miss a heart contract. Because of the diamond fit, you could take a rosy view of this hand and bid two hearts, planning to raise diamonds later. If your minor suits were switched, a double might be more advisable since you have no certainty of a fit. As it is, if you double — not my choice — and hear the raise to three spades, I’d double again at my next turn. This would be primarily for takeout.
Dear Mr Wolff:
I find it easy enough to take care of the trumps when I am about to draw a few rounds, but find it more difficult when I’m playing to ruff things or scramble to score my small trumps. Any suggestions?
— Trump Manager, Grand Junction, Colo.
ANSWER: The key here is always to count trumps in the following fashion before playing to trick one. Add up your trumps and dummy’s, then subtract that number from 13. Count down from that number from now on. So if you are missing five trumps, when they ruff in, the number goes to four; you draw a round of trumps and if they both follow, that number is two, and so on.
| |
Dear Mr Wolff:
In fourth chair you hold SPADES J-4-2, HEARTS A-10-3-2, DIAMONDS K-J-7-4, CLUBS Q-9 and have heard a weak two hearts on your left, doubled by partner. Next, RHO bid three hearts, and you make a three-no-trump call, over which partner bids four spades. Should you bid on now?
— Overpowered, Cartersville, Ga.
ANSWER: You have a pretty good hand but you already showed most of it when you contracted for game. Now the question is whether you should cue-bid five hearts, or pass. Go for the pessimistic pass because with a slam-drive, partner might have done more himself.
Dear Mr Wolff:
My wife and I used to play a lot of bridge but then stopped for a number of years. Now I would like to explore getting back to playing, but I understand Goren is “history” and there are new bidding strategies. Could you recommend a book or two book that can familiarize us with the modern techniques?
— Rip Van Winkle, Houston, Texas
ANSWER: Congratulations on your return to the fold. Eric Rodwell and Audrey Grant have produced a book on two-over-one that might be at just the right level; “25 Bridge Conventions” by Seagram and Smith might also work. Max Hardy’s book on two-over-one is also still available.
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
May 14th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 1st, 2011
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: West |
North
♠ Q 9 8 5
♥ A 7 3
♦ J 3
♣ A K 6 3 |
|
| West
♠ 10
♥ K 10 9 8 6 5 2
♦ A 8 5
♣ Q 10 |
|
East
♠ K J 2
♥ J 4
♦ K 10 9 7
♣ 9 8 7 2 |
| |
South
♠ A 7 6 4 3
♥ Q
♦ Q 6 4 2
♣ J 5 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
2 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Heart 10
“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”
— Horace
Vincent Demuy of Canada, who is just out of the junior ranks, has achieved some spectacular results in national and international events.
He was in action on this deal from the 2005 Cavendish Teams. When Demuy ventured a balancing action of two spades over West’s weak two, he quickly found himself in game.
The lead was the heart 10, and since declarer thought he needed to find a home for his club loser (not knowing that West had a doubleton queen), Demuy ducked the opening lead to his queen.
At this point the hand hinged on losing no more than one trump trick, so Demuy set about locating the positions of the outstanding honor cards. He started with a diamond to the jack and king. Back came a club to the jack, queen and ace. Declarer exited dummy with a diamond to his queen and West’s ace. The heart return was taken by dummy’s ace, and declarer assembled the clues.
West had opened with a weak two-bid and had already shown up with an ace, a king and a queen. If West also held the spade king, he would have opened one heart, not two. So Demuy led the spade queen from dummy, hoping for an even trump split or for a significant spade singleton in West. When the spade 10 put in an appearance, Demuy had held his trump losers to one and made his game.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
10 |
| ♥ |
K 10 9 8 6 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A 8 5 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 |
ANSWER: In our featured deal West treated this hand as a vulnerable weak two in hearts, not a three-level pre-empt. I agree with his choice: a three-level pre-empt requires a better suit and suggests less outside. Nonvulnerable, I would not do that. Even though the suit is a little too weak, I would open either three hearts or one heart. I am not in favor of passing such hands — one never can catch up.
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 14th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: North |
North
♠ A 9
♥ K 9 7 2
♦ K J 6
♣ A K 5 4 |
|
| West
♠ 10 8 5
♥ A Q 3
♦ Q 10 8 5 4
♣ J 2 |
|
East
♠ 6 3 2
♥ 10 8 6 5 4
♦ 7 3
♣ Q 8 6 |
| |
South
♠ K Q J 7 4
♥ J
♦ A 9 2
♣ 10 9 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
2 NT |
Pass |
| 6 ♠ |
All pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: Heart ace
“We are not downhearted. The only trouble is, we cannot understand what is happening to our neighbors.”
— Joseph Chamberlain
In today’s deal from the Junior Europeans held last year, no slam is exactly tempting. When Israel played Poland, the Israelis did not consider slam. They stopped safely in three no-trump and took 11 tricks. By contrast, the Polish pair had an accident after North’s one-club opening and propelled themselves into six clubs. The club slam was almost hopeless; the best chance was to play either defender for the doubleton Q-J of clubs or to play East for the doubleton club eight. Neither line succeeded.
But how about the contract of six spades, which might be easy enough to reach, assuming North lies about his high cards and treats his 19-count to be worth an opening bid of two no-trump?
Remarkably, the defense needs to lead clubs twice to defeat that slam. On the lead of the heart ace or a passive trump lead, for example, declarer can take both red-suit finesses and play off four trumps, three diamonds, two hearts and one club. He will finish in dummy, having reached a three-card ending where North is left with one top club and two small hearts, while declarer holds a trump and two small clubs.
East will have been forced to come down to only one card in either hearts or clubs. If it is clubs, declarer must take North’s top club and ruff a heart back to hand to cash a club at trick 13. If hearts, declarer ruffs a heart and crosses to dummy’s top club to cash the last heart.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 2 |
| ♦ |
K J 6 |
| ♣ |
A K 5 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: When the opponents overcall and your partner passes, you can now describe a balanced 18-19 by rebidding one no-trump. With 12-14 balanced you would have passed, and with 15-17 you would have opened one no-trump. So there is no other balanced range that this sequence could show.
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].</span
May 13th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 9 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: East |
North
♠ 2
♥ A 10
♦ K Q J 7 6 5 4
♣ J 9 3 |
|
| West
♠ A 10 9 8 7 6
♥ Q 8
♦ 3 2
♣ 8 5 4 |
|
East
♠ K Q J 5 4 3
♥ 5 3
♦ A 8
♣ A Q 10 |
| |
South
♠ —
♥ K J 9 7 6 4 2
♦ 10 9
♣ K 7 6 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♠ |
| 4 ♥ |
4 ♠ |
5 ♥ |
Dbl. |
| All pass |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: Diamond three
“All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.”
— John Locke
Most of the success in card play comes from doing the right thing, but there is a special joy in deception — persuading your opponents to do the wrong thing. One important precept to keep in mind is that dropping what you know to be a vulnerable honor may convince declarer that suits are breaking badly.
One of my favorite examples of dropping a high card to mislead declarer comes from the ever-fertile mind of Pietro Forquet, playing with Benito Garozzo in a tournament in Naples.
I’m not sure why Forquet led the diamond three against five hearts. It was a rather surprising choice, but one that allowed the position to develop nicely. Garozzo won the diamond ace, cashed the club ace (on which Forquet discouraged with the four), and then tried to give Forquet a diamond ruff.
Declarer won in hand and appears to need trumps to be 2-2 since there were no longer any entries to dummy. So he cashed the heart king, on which Forquet dropped the queen! Declarer now saw the chance to be brilliant. He overtook with the ace and played diamonds, waiting to overruff Garozzo and then get back to dummy with the heart 10 to run the rest of the diamonds. This plan did not succeed as well as he had hoped, leaving the words of the Hideous Hog to Papa ringing in my ears: “Maybe if you didn’t try to be so clever, you wouldn’t end up looking so stupid.”
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
K Q J 5 4 3 |
| ♥ |
5 3 |
| ♦ |
A 8 |
| ♣ |
A Q 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If North has as little as king-sixth of clubs and the two major-suit aces, you rate to be able to make a grand slam. So take it slowly by doubling two hearts for takeout. Next, you can cue-bid to set up a game force and take it from there. A direct cue-bid here is simply asking for a heart stop for no-trump and uses up a round of bidding inefficiently.
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 12th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: South |
North
♠ A Q 5 2
♥ K Q 6
♦ K 8 6 4 2
♣ 5 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 9 8 6 3
♥ A 2
♦ Q J 3
♣ K J |
|
East
♠ 7
♥ 5 3
♦ 10 9 7 5
♣ Q 10 8 7 6 2 |
| |
South
♠ K 4
♥ J 10 9 8 7 4
♦ A
♣ A 9 4 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
4 ♣* |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5 ♦ |
Pass |
| 6 ♥ |
All pass |
|
|
*Splinter: a strong hand with short clubs and heart support
Opening Lead: Spade jack
“Once they were not, and now they are not, and this is the sum we know.
Orderly range the seasons due, and orderly roll the stars.”
— Cosmo Monkhouse
English International Gunnar Hallberg is a fertile source of interesting and unusual material. Having had a successful career as a Swedish International, he moved to England more than a decade ago and has enjoyed great success there. In fact, in the last three years he has won two senior world-team titles.
Unlike most modern-day experts, Hallberg has had his nerves hardened in the crucible of high-stake rubber bridge games. At TGR’s bridge club in London, where this hand arose, the auction was more sophisticated than you might expect, and the contract excellent.
West led the spade jack against the heart slam, and although there are various possible routes home, South had to focus on the real danger to his slam. With only a jack-high spade suit for his overcall, West rates to have a six-carder and, if allowed in with the heart ace, can give his partner a spade ruff.
At the table South won the lead with the spade king in hand, cashed the diamond ace to unblock the suit, then played the club ace and another club, ruffed in dummy.
Now came the key play of the diamond king, on which the spade four was discarded from hand. Declarer continued on crossruff lines, and the only trick that the defenders were able to take was the trump ace.
If declarer follows the knee-jerk reaction of winning the spade lead and drawing trumps at once, he runs into a spade ruff for down one.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 5 2 |
| ♥ |
K Q 6 |
| ♦ |
K 8 6 4 2 |
| ♣ |
5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Dbl. |
1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It is almost impossible for your side to make game here, since your partner produced only a minimum action and did not jump. Nonetheless, you should raise to two spades to show a suitable hand for partner, helping him decide what to do if the opponents compete to the three-level.
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 11th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Vulnerable: Neither
Dealer: North |
North
♠ 4 3
♥ 10 6 5
♦ 10 9 8 4 3
♣ K Q J |
|
| West
♠ 8 6
♥ 9 7 4 3
♦ K 6
♣ 10 7 6 5 4 |
|
East
♠ K Q 10 9 7 5
♥ Q J 2
♦ A 5
♣ 9 3 |
| |
South
♠ A J 2
♥ A K 8
♦ Q J 7 2
♣ A 8 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade eight
“‘Tis strange — but true; for truth is always strange;
Stranger than fiction.”
— George Gordon, Lord Byron
Are you a gambler at heart? If so, would you back the defense or declarer in this problem proposed by Eddie Kantar, where South plays three no-trump on a spade lead? Assume best defense, of course.
(A note on the auction: doubling, then bidding no-trump, shows a stronger hand than a direct one-no-trump overcall.) Anyway, place your bets.
If you chose the defense, you backed a winner. However, for East-West to prevail, East must not play a spade honor at trick one; the nine will do just fine. South wins the jack and attacks diamonds. As long as West wins the first diamond and continues a spade, driving out South’s ace, declarer has no chance. East remains with winning spades and the diamond ace for an entry.
If East plays a high spade at trick one, South ducks, wins the spade continuation with the jack, and attacks diamonds. Alas, West has no more spades when he gets in with the diamond king, and South has time to drive out the diamond ace while retaining a spade stopper.
There is a defensive principle here. When declarer has two stoppers in the defenders’ best suit (here, spades) and the defenders have two entries in declarer’s best suit (in this case, diamonds), the defense should try to force declarer to win the first trick in the suit if possible. Here, it is possible, but only if East resists the pressure to play third hand high.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
A J 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 8 |
| ♦ |
Q J 7 2 |
| ♣ |
A 8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner heard you show 18-20 at your second turn (that IS what this sequence shows) and opted to get you to pick a partscore — diamonds or spades. So pass two diamonds (though at pairs a call of two spades would not be outlandish). If you bid anything beyond the two-level, you are telling your partner you know what is in his hand better than he does!
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 10th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Vulnerable: Both
Dealer: North |
North
♠ K
♥ K Q 7 2
♦ 7 5 3
♣ K Q J 10 9 |
|
| West
♠ 9 8 7 4 3 2
♥ J 6 5
♦ Q 9 2
♣ 4 |
|
East
♠ A 10
♥ A 10 9 3
♦ 8 6 4
♣ A 7 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 6 5
♥ 8 4
♦ A K J 10
♣ 8 5 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All pass |
Opening Lead: Spade nine
“Feigned necessities, imaginary necessities … are the greatest cozenage that men can put upon the Providence of God, and make pretences to break known rules by.”
— Oliver Cromwell
Many of the rules that players learn as they start bridge have sound kernels of common sense, but a top player must think for himself and know when to break the rules.
Consider today’s no-trump game, where you (East) win the spade ace at trick one. What now? A spade continuation will surely achieve nothing. Declarer is marked with the spade queen and jack, and you cannot set up your side’s winners, let alone cash them.
Although it looks attractive to switch to a diamond around to dummy’s weakness, you cannot realistically hope to set up more than one trick for your side in that suit. Together with your three aces that will be a fourth defensive trick, but will not be enough.
Instead, you need to attack declarer’s entry to dummy’s clubs. Switch to a low heart, and as long as declarer did not start with three hearts headed by the jack ,the clubs will be dead. Even if declarer has the doubleton heart jack, you can hold up the club ace long enough to exhaust him of any entry to dummy.
As the cards lie, declarer will be forced to win a heart honor in dummy and play on clubs. You duck your ace twice (taking your club ace on the second round would be a needless risk), then win your club ace and exit with a diamond. Declarer must let your partner in sooner or later for the heart play that will set up the defenders’ fifth winner.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 6 5 |
| ♥ |
8 4 |
| ♦ |
A K J 10 |
| ♣ |
8 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♦ |
1 ♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Did you make a negative double to show your four-card spade suit? That is reasonable, but one has to know that not all four-card spade suits are created equal. Since a 4-3 spade fit might easily be your side’s best game, it feels right to bid one spade and pretend you hold a five-carder. Diamond bids can come 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].
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