The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

March 30th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♠ five

“Don’t let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.”

— Oliver Goldsmith

When this deal was originally published in the Daily Bulletin from the Spring National Tournament in Reno last year, the author asked every East-West pair who had commented after defending three no-trump, “Well, it’s cold!” to take a second look, and then apologize to Brigidda, the Goddess of Bridge.

In three no-trump South ducked the first spade, won East’s continuation of the spade three, and guessed well to knock out the club honors and claim 400. All declarer lost was the two clubs, the spade queen, and the fourth spade. So what’s the point of the hand? Declarer guessed correctly to play on clubs and not hearts — big deal.

All that is true, but East was asleep at the wheel. By counting the high-card points, he knows partner has precisely jack-fourth of spades, but he also knows that declarer can’t see through the backs of the cards. East should return the spade eight at the second trick, simulating a remaining doubleton, then hop up with the club ace at his first turn and play the spade six back.

Surely declarer’s best line now must be to take an immediate heart finesse before tackling clubs again, a line that would lead to immediate defeat if West had five spades and the club king. If the heart finesse loses and spades are 5-3 as expected, then declarer can revert to clubs and still succeed if East has the missing club honor. Unlucky! The losing heart finesse represents the defenders’ fifth winner.

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, March 15th, 2011

March 29th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 ♣</span	1 ♦	Pass
1 ♠	Pass	2 ♣	Pass
2 ♥	Pass	4 ♥	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ King

“Gallantry to the ladies was among his principles of honor; and he held it as much incumbent on him to accept a challenge to love, as if it had been a challenge to fight.”

— Henry Fielding

From the first round of last year’s Vanderbilt Knockout Teams in Reno, where all this week’s deals come from, we see a fine play by Canada’s George Mittelman.

At one table, where South played in four hearts, West cashed two high clubs and shifted passively to a trump. It was easy enough to draw two rounds of trumps with dummy’s king and queen, find the bad news, then knock out the spade ace. West could duck the first spade, win the second, and play a third round. But South simply ruffed high in dummy and claimed by drawing trumps.

At the other table, North became declarer in four hearts, also on a club lead. Mittelman, West, won the top two clubs and played a third round, knowing from the auction that if his partner had four clubs, then he had no other high cards of any significance.

Declarer ruffed in dummy and immediately played to the spade king, then led a spade to the queen and ace. Mittelman played back a third spade, ruffed high by declarer.

To succeed in his contract from here on, declarer had to cash just the heart queen, then play for trumps 4-1 by taking the diamond ace and king and ruffing a diamond. Then he could ruff a spade with the heart 10 and achieve a trump coup at trick 12. When declarer actually cashed both his top hearts at once, he could not avoid shortening himself and losing trump control — 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: Monday, March 14th, 2011

March 28th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	1 ♣	Pass
1 ♠	Pass	2 ♠	Pass
4 ♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ Jack

“This could but have happened once —

— Robert Browning

All this week’s deals come from last year’s spring national tournament in Reno, marking this year’s event currently taking place in Louisville, Kentucky.

Take a look at all four hands of this deal from the first qualifying session of the Lebhar IMP Pairs. As you can see, North and South have four “top” losers in four spades — and yet the most common result achieved by North-South was plus-620 in four spades. Of course, at some tables, East-West went overboard in hearts, but at many more tables, the defenders could not work out how to untangle their winners against four spades, and the real problem took place at trick one.

Take a look at East’s problem at trick one. Everybody knows “third hand plays high,” so why did so many Easts duck their heart ace and allow South’s king to score?

The answer is that East was worried that declarer might have three hearts to the king, and playing the ace would give South a free discard. That is true, up to a point, but take a second look at that North hand.

If there are any club losers, they are fast ones — either the ace and king are missing or they aren’t. And East has no diamond honors. What trick could possibly go away on that “bonus” discard? The right defense is for East to cash both aces and play a second club. Mrs. Guggenheim wouldn’t have gotten it wrong!

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, March 13th, 2011

March 27th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, March 13th, 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, March 12th, 2011

March 26th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, March 12th, 2011 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♣ Queen

“The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a wilderness.”

— Havelock Ellis

Sometimes one has to consider a single suit in the context of the bidding and play thus far. One auction by your opponents may push you one way; another auction may drive you in a different direction.

You reach four hearts after East has bid strongly in clubs, and ruff the second club, West showing a doubleton. Now a spade goes to West’s queen and dummy’s king, and now a trump to the …?

If East had the doubleton heart ace, he would surely have risen with it and played a third club for the trump promotion. If your opponents are competent enough to find this play but did not do so, it was presumably because West does not have the heart queen. So play a trump to the jack — this also caters for most of the 3-1 breaks too.

Conversely, say you reach four hearts with the same North-South cards but after West opened the bidding and showed both minors. West leads a top club (East playing a discouraging card) and shifts to a diamond; you call for dummy’s king and East plays the eight — presumably top of a doubleton.

How should you play trumps? The point now is that you need East to have one of the top hearts if you are to have any chance. If he has the queen, then West will take the first trump and give his partner an overruff in diamonds. So your only chance to make the hand — unlikely as it may be — is to lead a trump back to your 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, March 11th, 2011

March 25th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  8 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 ♠	Pass	Pass
Dbl.	Pass	2 ♥	Pass
3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ Queen

“Men are made by nature unequal. It is vain, therefore, to treat them as if they were equal.”

— J.A. Froude

Every year the Young Chelsea Bridge Club hosts the Lederer Memorial Trophy. This invitational event allows you to watch great players up close, both at the table and on the Vugraph presentation, and even on the computer, since the tournament is frequently covered on Bridge Base Online.

Today’s deal was one of the best-defended hands from the 2006 event. Zia Mahmood is quite rightly well-known for his sparkling declarer play, but this time he made fewer tricks than anyone else in the field. The star of the show was Ireland’s Hugh McGann, who got his side off to a good start when he led the heart queen (in his methods, showing the king) rather than the spade three, which was the choice at other tables.  

Zia won in dummy with the ace, and East, Tom Hanlon, played the four, showing an odd number. With the diamond queen likely to be offside, Zia chose to play diamonds from the top. When he found out the bad news, he continued with his four club tricks. West discarded two spades and East one.

Zia now got off play with the spade queen, East unblocking the 10. West won the king and found the only card to give him a chance: the heart 10! This created an entry to his partner’s hand with the nine. Zia won the jack, but there was nothing he could do. West had managed to avoid the endplay, and the defense could always come to five 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: Thursday, March 10th, 2011

March 24th, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ six

“Dyspepsy is the ruin of most things: empires, expeditions, and everything else.”

— Thomas de Quincey

Both the defenders and declarers at the Dyspeptics Club are constantly under the scrutiny of their colleagues. The kibitzers tend to believe that it is better to comment and misanalyze than stay silent and be thought a fool.

On today’s deal the kibitzer commented afterwards that a good opportunity had gone begging. Was he right — and if so, what was the chance?

Against three no-trump West led his fourth-highest heart to East’s ace. South followed low, put in the heart 10 on the second round, and West took his queen and cleared the suit. South won in hand, crossed to the club king to take the diamond finesse, then took his extra chance of finding the spade queen doubleton to create an entry to dummy. When that didn’t work, declarer’s one remaining chance was to drop the diamond king. No luck — and declarer finished up with just seven tricks.

Let’s replay the deal on the lead of the heart six. When East follows with the ace, the rule of 11 shows South that West has all the top hearts. Whether hearts are 4-3 or 5-2, declarer cannot win more than one heart trick.

But that is not the full story. To create an extra entry to dummy, declarer drops his heart king under the ace! Now South can reach the North hand one more time by making best use of dummy’s heart jack to repeat the diamond finesse and bring home his 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: Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

March 23rd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 ♥	Pass	Pass
Dbl	2 ♥	3 ♦	Pass
3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ six

“Books will speak plain when counselors blanch.”

— Francis Bacon

Every so often a play comes up that you see only in books. Cover up the East-West hands and we’ll find out what you’ve been reading these days.

In three no-trump on a heart lead, you play low from dummy and capture East’s jack. At trick two you run the diamond queen, West discarding a low spade and East ducking. How do you continue?

With no dummy entry to the diamonds and all the missing black-suit honors marked with West, it looks bad. But there is a way out: Play a second diamond to the ace, then a third diamond, discarding your last heart! What you have done is created a heart stopper in dummy. If the opponents want to play hearts, dummy is going to take a trick in the suit.

In practice East won the diamond king and shifted to a club ducked to West’s queen. West didn’t have much choice, so he did his best by playing the ace and a heart, putting dummy on play. Dummy’s two remaining diamonds were cashed, and now everyone was down to four cards. Dummy had the jack-doubleton of both black suits; West, the guarded king of both black suits; and South, the ace-doubleton in clubs and the A-Q of spades. South now played the ace and a second club, giving up a trick to West’s king, but took his eighth and ninth tricks with the A-Q of spades.

So, did you prove yourself to be a bookworm?

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, March 8th, 2011

March 22nd, 2011  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♠ three

“All the habits and rules of his life that had seemed so firm, had turned out suddenly false and inapplicable.”

— Leo Tolstoy

The following deal falls under the heading of a technical play, but it also has the elements of an optical illusion. The right play sometimes can be disguised because we are all hedged around with a framework of do’s and dont’s so that we cannot see the forest for the trees.

Four hearts is a difficult contract both to declare and defend. When Piet Jansen reached it in the Cap Gemini Invitation Pairs in 1999, Justin Hackett led a spade in response to his partner’s overcall. Jansen put in dummy’s spade eight, and when Jason Hackett covered with the nine, Jansen ducked.

Had South won the trick, Jason would subsequently have put his partner in with the spade queen to lead a club through dummy’s king, so declarer had kept himself in the hunt nicely.

However, when the spade nine held the first trick, Jason found the essential switch to the club ace and another club, setting up his side’s fourth trick before declarer could establish the diamonds to discard his club losers.

This may seem simple, but less than half the field set the game here. The point is that the rule to break exerted such a sway that even some of the best defenders in the world could not bring themselves to do it. Yes, you are not supposed to lead a potentially well-placed ace and set up a king in dummy. But if you know that there are discards to come for declarer, you may have to bite the bullet.

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, March 7th, 2011

March 21st, 2011  ~  admin  ~  8 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♦ Queen

“Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do.”

— Michel de Montaigne

If the recommended bidding today seems startling, it is because we have all become so scientific that the good old-fashioned, purely quantitative way of bidding slams has been allowed to sink into oblivion. But scientific bidding is designed to assist difficult hands — not to distort easy ones. This deal calls for judgment rather than science. There are very few hands that North can hold that will not offer play for a small slam, while it is unlikely that he holds the exact cards needed for a grand slam. The direct jump to slam has the advantage of giving nothing away — and indeed might mislead defenders who expect declarer to have a void, or some other freakish hand.

Against the heart slam, West leads the diamond queen and continues with a second round, which South trumps. The contract is safe provided the spades break 3-3 or the jack comes down. There is an extra chance, that the hand with four spades to the jack also holds the club king. As this may be West, the club ace is played off, a Vienna Coup, then the heart jack is overtaken in dummy for the second diamond ruff, followed by the heart ace and two of the top spades.

Finally all the trumps are run off, reducing to a two-card ending. On the last trump declarer has a spade and the club queen on the board, the Q-10 of spades in hand, and West is squeezed in the black suits.

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].