The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 15th, 2011

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.

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 14th, 2011

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.

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 13th, 2011

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.

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 12th, 2011

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?

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 11th, 2011

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.

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 10th, 2011

April 24th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 10th, 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 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].