The Aces on Bridge: Friday, January 21st, 2011

February 4th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	Pass	1 ♦	2 ♣
2 ♥	2 ♠	4 ♥	4 ♠
5 ♥	Pass	Pass	5 ♠
Pass	Pass	6 ♥	Dbl.
All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ eight

“Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs.”

— Scott Adams

At the Bermuda Congress last year, this deal decided the winner of the teams tournament. McKenzie Myers, South in six hearts doubled, ruffed the club lead in dummy and ran the heart jack. It is tantamount to instant surrender to take this trick, but can West do better? No! If South is allowed to hold the heart jack, he crosses to a top diamond to ruff a club with the trump ace, then ruffs a spade back to hand to play the heart king and 10. Since West has no club left to lead, declarer can win the forced spade return in hand and draw the last trump, then cash the diamonds.

In the other room Myers’ teammates (Bill Souster and Joe Wakefield) reached five spades doubled with the East-West cards after Souster opened the West cards with a bid of two spades.

Against five spades doubled, North led a low diamond, looking for a ruff, but South had clubs under control, so shifted to a low heart. Declarer ruffed and tried to cash the club ace; North ruffed this, and had to be careful now, but exited calamitously with the heart ace. Declarer ruffed, then crossruffed two more diamonds and hearts. That left him in hand to draw three rounds of trumps. In the three-card ending, the last trump squeezed South between his heart king and his guard in clubs. That was plus 650 and a whopping 20 IMPs for Myers.

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, January 20th, 2011

February 3rd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, January 20th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		Pass	Pass
1 ♥	Pass	2 ♣*	Pass
3 ♥	Pass	4 ♥	Pass

* Drury: a maximum pass with heart support

Opening Lead: ♦ King

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

In today’s problem from last year’s Bermuda tournament, imagine that the devil has tempted you to give up on sensible contracts such as heart part-scores, or even the relatively practical contract of three no-trump, where you would have nine fast winners if the defenders could not cash five tricks first. Consider the hand first as a single-dummy problem in four hearts, by looking at just the North-South cards.

Obviously, the defenders could meanly have cashed two diamonds and shifted to a spade to leave declarer without a prayer. Fortunately, your inelegant auction has left them in the dark about your hand, so they lead a top diamond and shift to a trump. Make the most of your escape!

With nine top winners but no realistic chance of a squeeze, you need to take advantage of your club spots to generate an extra winner for your side. The best (indeed, almost the only way) to do that is to draw two rounds of trumps ending in dummy, then play a club to the 10.

While leading the king and running the 10 lets West cover from a three-card or two-card holding, thus needing another card well-located, the indicated line wins whenever East has honor-third or honor-doubleton in clubs, as well as when either defender has Q-J-x, without needing to guess what to play on the third round of the suit. And, what’s more, it works!

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, January 19th, 2011

February 2nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  7 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♦ King

“There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.”

— James Thurber

Terence Reese is generally considered to have been the master of bridge writing. It is not just that he wrote so beautifully, but that he was the clearest expositor of what had hitherto been uncovered territory. In his book “Master Play,” which was published over 50 years ago, he brought many new ideas to the attention of the general public, including the following deal.

When a declarer has to choose between taking a finesse and playing for the drop, his decision is often determined by tactical considerations, rather than by his estimate of how the cards lie. This often happens in the trump suit, when declarer does not mind losing a finesse so long as the trumps are breaking evenly.

Playing in four hearts, South ruffed the diamond lead and led a low heart to dummy’s heart queen. East won with the heart ace and returned a diamond. South ruffed, played a spade to the dummy’s king and returned a heart, going up with the king. A club was led to dummy; East won and cashed the good heart jack. Another club had to be lost and South was one down.

The safety play was to finesse the heart 10 on the second round of trumps. If it lost to the jack, then three clubs in dummy could be thrown on spades and the losing club could be ruffed. South was defeated because he allowed East to draw the third trump.

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, January 18th, 2011

February 1st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  7 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♣ Ace

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”

— Albert von Nagyrapolt

To celebrate the Bermuda congress taking place this week, all this week’s deals come from last year’s tournament.

In today’s deal, you (West) are told partner has a strong hand with spades. With nobody vulnerable, would you prefer to be in four spades or defending to four hearts doubled, knowing there are five hearts to your right?

If you opt to defend, what do you lead? You’d better lead a high or low trump if you want to set the contract! At the table West led his club ace and shifted to a diamond. Declarer should now cash the two top diamonds to pitch spades, play a trump to hand to find the bad news, then lead the club king (pitching a spade) and run the club jack, covered with the queen and ruffed.

Now the key play: Ruff a diamond back to hand with a high trump — not hard to figure out, since you do know all 13 of West’s cards by now. Then cash your remaining two club winners to pitch dummy’s two spades. Now when South leads his losing spade, he forces West to ruff high to prevent the heart nine from scoring.

In the three-card ending, West has the J-8-5 of trumps left, but declarer has the Q-7-6 and is guaranteed two more tricks for his contract.

Even though declarer missed this line and went down, he still gained a sizable swing, since his teammates had wrapped up four spades with the East-West cards.

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, January 17th, 2011

January 31st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  6 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 ♣	Pass	2 ♦	Pass
2 NT	Pass	4 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ four

“Oh yet we trust that somehow good

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Imagine you are in four no-trump today on a heart lead — as happened at quite a few tables at last year’s Bermuda Congress, from which all this week’s deals come.

The safety play in the club suit to ensure the four tricks you need is to lead out the club ace, then cross to dummy with a spade and lead up to the club jack. This way you pick up either defender’s remaining three-card suit for one loser, guaranteed.

The best play for five tricks, while not seriously jeopardizing four tricks, is to cross to a top spade at trick two and lead a club to the jack. This loses only to a singleton club queen in West. And remember that if West has led his long suit at trick one and that appears to be only four cards in length, then HE is more likely to have four clubs than East! You will see (as did rather too many of the declarers in the tournament) that playing a club to the king and a club back to the A-J is an exceedingly bad idea. A diamond shift or continuation would hold you to nine tricks now.

A technical point: Note that on an initial low diamond lead, East should play the eight to the first trick, not the jack. (This is the right play when declarer has a doubleton such as A-K, A-Q, K-Q, K-9, or Q-9, and wrong only when declarer has the diamond A-9.)

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, January 16th, 2011

January 30th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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, January 15th, 2011

January 29th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

* Pre-emptive

Opening Lead: ♠ seven

“A cruel crafty Crocodile …

Doth weep full sore, and sheddeth tender tears.”

— Edmund Spenser

David Greenwood’s international career dates back to 1980, when he played for England in the Camrose Trophy, the home countries’ internationals. In today’s deal, from the 2008 Camrose, he was playing for Northern Ireland, where he has now lived for many years. His opponents were from England.

South, Neil Rosen for England, ended in four spades after North had made a pre-emptive raise of spades. See if you can spot declarer’s best play for his contract, and the defenders’ riposte.

West made the safe lead of his singleton trump, which Rosen won in hand with the ace. He drew the last trump with his king, then shifted to the heart suit, seeking to establish it for diamond discards in hand.

He led a heart to dummy’s king, drawing the three and six, then a small heart back. This line would have succeeded whenever West had the doubleton heart queen, since South could have established hearts without letting East on play.

Had Greenwood, East, followed with the 10 on the second round of hearts, declarer would have ducked, knowing that if West held the jack or queen — or both — he would be forced to overtake, and West could not attack the minors profitably from that side of the table. But instead of the 10, Greenwood played the queen — the crocodile coup — to swallow his partner’s jack. Declarer took his ace, then led his third heart, hoping that it was West who held the 10. It wasn’t to be. East won, and the diamond return sank 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: Friday, January 14th, 2011

January 28th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 NT	2 ♣*	Pass
4 ♥	All Pass

* Diamonds

Opening Lead: ♠ three

“Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.”

— Philip Guedalla

Few autobiographical bridge books have made much of a stir recently, but one that I enjoyed was “A Bridge Too Far?” by Tom Hanlon with Enda Murphy. It centers on the Irish bridge player Tom Hanlon and his decision to become a full-time bridge professional and poker player. Although there is more narrative than customary in bridge books, this is not necessarily a bad thing. And there are certainly plenty of deals, mostly featuring those (good and bad) played by the Irish team that has established England as the most powerful of the English-speaking countries of Europe.

Today’s deal, from the 2004 Schapiro Spring Foursomes, highlights an accurate defense to four hearts. After the spade lead was won in dummy, declarer cashed its second top spade, then played a heart to his king.

It takes card-perfect defense to beat four hearts, and Hanlon’s teammate, Adam Mesbur, was up to the task as West. He ducked the heart king, an essential part of the defense, though far from an obvious one, then won the heart continuation. Now came his second master-play, the switch to the only card that could defeat the contract — the diamond king. This locked declarer in dummy.

South knew from the bidding that West held both the club ace and queen, so to draw the last trump, he attempted to come to hand with a diamond. But East, Nick Fitzgibbon, was quick to ruff, then shift to the club that sent the game one down.

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, January 13th, 2011

January 27th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♦	1 ♠	2 ♣	3 ♠
4 ♦	Pass	5 ♦	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ King

“We all have a few failures under our belt. It’s what makes us ready for the successes.”

— Randy K. Milholland

When this deal came up in a local duplicate, several North-South pairs tried to cash in on four spades by East-West, doubled. This was hardly unreasonable, but with the heart suit lying beautifully for East-West, there was no defense to the game.

Of course, North-South could do much better than that. Say you reach five diamonds after West overcalled in spades and East made a pre-emptive raise to three spades, leaving you room to explore the hand more fully. Plan the play on the lead of the spade king.

Many declarers won and immediately tackled clubs while they still had entries to the dummy in trumps. A good idea, but it did not work today. East won an early club and knew that continuing spades was fruitless. His heart shift let West cash two winners in that suit, for down one.

Could South have done better? Yes, if he had ducked the opening lead! Now he can discard a club on the spade ace and establish the clubs without letting East get the lead to play a heart through. Best defense is a trump at trick two, but declarer has enough entries to the board in diamonds to bring home 11 tricks. He wins the diamond shift, plays off the black aces, ruffs a club high, goes to the diamond 10, and ruffs a club high again. Then he goes back to the diamond queen to run the clubs and discard three of his four heart losers.

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, January 12th, 2011

January 26th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Pass	2 NT*	Pass
3 ♠	Pass	4 ♣	Pass
4 NT	Pass	5 ♣**	Pass
5 NT	Pass	6 ♠	All Pass

* Forcing spade raise

 

** Three aces, counting the trump king as an ace

Opening Lead: ♦ Queen

“Metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct; but to find these reasons is no less an instinct.”

— Francis H. Bradley

Look at just the North and South cards to plan the play in your somewhat optimistic contract of six spades on the lead of the diamond queen.

It may appear that you need both the club and heart finesses to succeed, but in fact there are two completely different approaches that you might follow to allow you to make the contract. One line needs a favorable lie of the hearts, the other a favorable lie of the clubs. All you have to do is decide which line is better.

After winning the diamond lead, then stripping off the diamonds while drawing trumps, you might play a heart to the queen and two further rounds of hearts. If East must win the third heart (having started either with five hearts to the king or both the heart king and jack), he will be endplayed to lead clubs. If not, you fall back on the club finesse. That line is somewhat better than a one-third chance.

In fact, though, if the club finesse is working, you can guarantee the contract by taking it first. Let us again strip off the diamonds while drawing trumps, ending in hand. But then we finesse clubs successfully and ruff out the suit, go to dummy with a third round of trumps, and lead a heart, planning to cover East’s card. West can win the trick cheaply, but will then be endplayed, forced to return a heart into the 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].