January 5th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ 9 4
♥ Q J 9 7
♦ 8 6 4 2
♣ K 8 3 |
|
| West
♠ 6
♥ 6 5 3 2
♦ K 5
♣ Q 10 9 7 6 4 |
 |
East
♠ 8 7 3 2
♥ 4
♦ 10 9 7 3
♣ A J 5 2 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q J 10 5
♥ A K 10 8
♦ A Q J
♣ — |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
Pass |
| 5 NT |
Pass |
6♦* |
Pass |
| 7♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“The danger chiefly lies in acting well;
No crime’s so great as daring to excel.”
— Charles Churchill
In today’s deal, when the heart fit came to light, you could not conveniently use Blackwood because of your void. However, this is one of the rare sequences these days when you can use a jump to five no-trump as the grand slam force to discover if North holds the trump queen, not to offer a choice of slams. The conventional responses are by steps, so your partner shows the trump queen — enough for you to take a shot at the big prize. West leads a trump against the grand slam, and East follows. How do you plan to make your ambitious contract?
It may seem that you will need to finesse in diamonds at some stage. However, you have 11 winners — four in trumps, six in spades and one in diamonds. Can you generate two extra trump tricks by ruffing in dummy? No, but all you need to do is to ruff two clubs in your hand and you will have a total of 13 winners.
You win the trump lead with dummy’s nine and ruff a club with the ace (retaining the 10). You re-enter dummy by overtaking the trump 10 with the queen and ruff a second club with the trump king.
Next, you return to dummy with the spade nine to draw West’s remaining trumps with North’s J-7, discarding the diamond Q-J from hand. As your hand will have only winners left, your slam has rolled home.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 7 3 2 |
| ♥ |
4 |
| ♦ |
10 9 7 3 |
| ♣ |
A J 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♦ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
2♦ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner is not supposed to bid again here without significant extras in shape or high cards, so his pass over two diamonds is not a danger signal. Although you have diamond length, you have no strength in that suit, so it seems right to try to push the opponents up a level by bidding three clubs now.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
January 4th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, December 21, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ K 5
♥ 7 6 2
♦ A 10 9 3
♣ A 9 4 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 9 7 4
♥ Q 10 5
♦ Q 8 5
♣ 10 2 |
|
East
♠ Q 8 3
♥ 9 8 4 3
♦ J 7 6 4
♣ 6 5 |
| |
South
♠ A 6 2
♥ A K J
♦ K 2
♣ K Q J 8 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 6 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ J
“We know too much, and are convinced of too little.”
— T.S. Eliot
Six clubs would have been easy today — your jump to six no-trump is explicable only because the game is pairs. When West leads the spade queen, how do you plan to make 12 tricks?
You have 11 top tricks, with chances of a 12th trick in either hearts or diamonds. Your aim should be to combine these chances to best advantage.
As you want to put the defenders under pressure by running five rounds of clubs while throwing a heart from dummy, you will need a late entry to the diamonds. So, you win the first trick with the spade ace and then run the clubs. West does best to trust his partner’s encouraging signal at the first trick and throw three spades, while East discards three hearts on the clubs.
Next you should attack diamonds. The best way to tackle that suit is to cash the diamond king and then lead the diamond two, covering a low card from West with dummy’s nine. When East wins with the jack and exits with a heart, you will rise with the heart ace and cross to dummy with the spade king. You play the diamond ace, throwing a spade from hand. When West produces the queen on the third round of the suit, you will make 12 tricks on this layout. But of course if diamonds had not been so friendly, you would have fallen back on the heart finesse.
This plan brings home the slam about three times in four.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 5 |
| ♥ |
7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
A 10 9 3 |
| ♣ |
A 9 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s sequence is not a drop-dead confession of weakness. He could have made a weak jump overcall initially, so this sequence typically shows 10-13 or so and six or more spades, not enough for an invitational jump to three spades. That said, you have just enough to invite game by raising to three spades.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
January 3rd, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, December 20, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ 8 4 2
♥ 8 7
♦ A K Q 4 3
♣ 5 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7 6 3
♥ J 9 6
♦ 9
♣ 10 9 7 6 4 |
|
East
♠ J 9 5
♥ Q 10 5 3 2
♦ J 10 6
♣ J 8 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q
♥ A K 4
♦ 8 7 5 2
♣ A K Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5♠* |
Pass |
| 7 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| *Two of the five aces (counting the trump king as an ace) plus the trump queen |
Opening Lead: ♣ 10
“Only by unintermitted agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”
— Wendell Phillips
Nobody’s brain functions particularly well first thing on a Monday morning. Perhaps it is the weekend that slows thinking down, but I always feel that the reader may benefit from a less challenging deal to recharge the mind.
That said, how would you set about playing seven no-trump, reached after South sets diamonds as trump and uses keycard Blackwood? The four common responses to the inquiry treat the trump king as one of the aces, or keycards. In order, the answers are to show zero or three keycards, one or four, two without the trump queen, and two with. After the first two responses the inquirer can then ask for the trump queen. So here, North with the fourth-step response showed the two missing keycards (the diamond ace and king) and the trump queen, and South closed his eyes and bid the grand slam.
Having bid the hand accurately, South made no mistake in the play. He won the club lead and led the diamond seven to the queen, cashed the diamond king and parked his diamond eight under it, then took the diamond ace and unblocked his diamond five. Now he triumphantly played the diamond three and followed with his remaining diamond spot, the two. That left him in dummy to take the fifth diamond winner and rack up his contract.
Note that without the triple unblock, declarer would have been unable to cash the long diamond in dummy when diamonds split 3-1.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 3 |
| ♥ |
J 8 5 |
| ♦ |
10 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
8 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
3♥ |
| Pass |
4♥ |
5♣ |
5♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Whenever the opponents appear to be sacrificing and have no legitimate chance to make their contract, the logical opening lead is a trump to cut down on a possible ruff. Here, there is surely no hurry to cash winners, but is it farfetched to envisage dummy with, for example, three trumps and one club? Now a trump lead looks essential.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
January 2nd, 2011 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
What is “Italian Cuebidding”? I’ve tried bidding with an Italian accent, but I still don’t do any better when it comes to reaching good slams or avoiding bad ones.
— Roman Candle, Macon, Ga.
ANSWER: In regular cuebidding, one cuebids aces before second-round controls, while Italian-style cuebidding focuses on always making the most economical cuebid. So bypassing a suit denies any control in that suit, and a repeat cuebid by responder promises a control in all bypassed suits as well as in the suit in which you now make a cuebid.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
At pairs I held ♠ K-10-3, ♥ 10-4, ♦ A-K-3-2, ♣ A-8-7-4 and opened one diamond. After a one-spade response, I could not decide whether to raise spades, introduce clubs, or rebid one no-trump. When I chose the last-named bid, we made nine tricks in the no-trump game for a bottom because others made more in spades. (My partner had six bad spades and a balanced opening bid.) Was I right to open diamonds first? Do you have any comments on the subsequent calls?
— Left in a Bad Place, Nashville, Tenn.
ANSWER: Regardless of which minor I opened, I would raise one spade to two. This hand has decent trumps and a ruffing value, and if no-trump is right, it should be played by partner to protect the hearts. Incidentally, even if your call was not best, your partner made the last and worst mistake when he opted unilaterally for no-trump.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
How should an aspiring tournament player deal with bad results? Is there any point in discussing the result at the table, or should it wait until after the game?
— Blame Game, North Bay, Ontario
|
|
ANSWER: Never criticize partner for his declarer play — that is his problem, not yours. Likewise, when you mess up as declarer, do not apologize. Your partner probably knows you were not trying to upset him. Bidding foul-ups only merit discussion at the table if you think the accident needs mentioning to avoid having it happen again in the set. The same broadly applies to problems in defense, though in my experience these are the hardest accidents to pass over.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I picked up ♠ K-3, ♥ K-Q-5-4, ♦ A-J-7-3-2, ♣ A-10 and opened one diamond, planning to reverse into two hearts over a one-level response. In fact my LHO overcalled one heart and my partner doubled for takeout. Now came two clubs on my right. What should I have done now?
— What’s Left? Torrance, Calif.
ANSWER: When you now volunteer a call of two no-trump, you show 18-19, approximately the values you hold. If you had a balanced 12-14 hand, you would simply pass and wait for partner to compete further if he had extras.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you could, would you field a team for the United States that did not include a sponsor? Would it make an appreciable difference to our chances of success in world events?
— Logo a Go-Go, Miami, Fla.
ANSWER: I’m not sure it would make a big difference. (Our women’s teams have been dominant in the last 40 years while our men’s team has shared the limelight with a powerful Italian team.) That said, while sponsorship allows good players to concentrate on bridge and thus to get better, I’d still like to see a system that allows the three best pairs to make up our team. |
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
January 1st, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ A 8 7
♥ K 5 2
♦ Q J 7 6 5 2
♣ A |
|
| West
♠ Q J 10 5 4
♥ Q 10 6
♦ 9 8
♣ 9 3 2 |
|
East
♠ 9 6
♥ A 9 4 3
♦ A 10 4
♣ J 10 8 7 |
| |
South
♠ K 3 2
♥ J 8 7
♦ K 3
♣ K Q 6 5 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ Q
“Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.”
— Reinhold Niebuhr
Today’s deal is from the 2002 European Mixed Teams Championship. Although most Souths were successful in three no-trump, best defense would have posed South a very knotty problem.
When West led the spade queen, declarer won in hand, played a club to the ace to unblock that suit, and followed with a diamond to the king. When this held, just one top club from hand was cashed, then diamonds were continued. East could win the ace but now, with the spade ace as an entry to the established diamonds, declarer could not be denied nine tricks.
Compare the situation if East rises with the ace when the first diamond is led. South must unblock the king; otherwise, a further spade removes dummy’s last sure entry. But the unblock leaves declarer without access to the clubs in his own hand. East returns a spade, and now declarer has to run the diamonds, to reduce everyone down to four cards. He keeps two clubs and two hearts in hand while focusing on West’s discards.
South must assume that East has the heart ace, or West will have an entry to the spade suit, and must decide in the ending how many hearts West has kept. If West has kept all his spades, declarer advances the heart king, smothering West’s queen. But if West parts with a spade, he is thrown in with dummy’s last spade. After cashing his second spade winner, West will be endplayed in hearts to concede the ninth trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 3 2 |
| ♥ |
J 8 7 |
| ♦ |
K 3 |
| ♣ |
K Q 6 5 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♥ |
1♠ |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Whether or not this hand is worth driving to game, you should bid four hearts now. Your spade king rates to be working as well as an ace, and you have a useful ruffing value in diamonds. Even your heart intermediates may contribute to the chances of making 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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 31st, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ A 10 7 5
♥ Q
♦ A 9 7 5 4
♣ K 7 4 |
|
| West
♠ K J 9 8 6 4
♥ 8 7 5
♦ J 8 2
♣ 5 |
|
East
♠ Q 3
♥ 9 6 2
♦ K 10 3
♣ A J 10 9 3 |
| |
South
♠ 2
♥ A K J 10 4 3
♦ Q 6
♣ Q 8 6 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♣ 5
“The twilight of our mysteries
Shines like high noonday on her face;
Our piteous guesses, dim with fears,
She touches, handles, sees, and hears.”
— Robert Hugh Benson
I notice that Jeff Wolfson has come out of retirement, if only temporarily, 10 years since he gave up the game to concentrate on family life after his squad played in the 2000 World Championships.
Here is a deal from the last set of the trials that qualified his team for the Bermuda Bowl. Because his opponents had made three no-trump here, Michael Rosenberg (for the Wolfson team) would have to make his heart game to avoid a substantial loss.
On a low club lead to East’s nine (this would have been a fine time for a falsecard) and South’s queen, the issue was how to get a 10th trick if East had all the top clubs.
It seems impossible to build a trick from the diamond queen. However, Rosenberg went for a completely different play, electing to ruff out the spades before drawing trumps. As soon as West was known to hold six spades, East was marked with the diamond king. (If West had held that card, he would surely have overcalled.)
That made Rosenberg’s life much easier. He now ran all the trumps, forcing East to come down to three clubs and two diamonds.
Rosenberg now endplayed East with a club, to lead diamonds in the two-card ending, and the diamond loser had vanished. Very nicely judged. Of course, had East kept all of his clubs, he would have been forced to bare his diamond king.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 7 5 |
| ♥ |
Q |
| ♦ |
A 9 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 7 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It is very tempting to act again in sequences of this sort, but bear in mind that you showed the unbid suits and values, and your partner declined to bid beyond the one-level. Yes, you only have one heart, but how many do you think your partner has? I’d guess four or five — and he might have only three spades! Play it safe and pass.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 30th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ A 8
♥ K 8 5 4 3
♦ K 8 7 2
♣ Q 8 |
|
| West
♠ K 9 2
♥ Q J 2
♦ A 10 9 6
♣ A J 5 |
|
East
♠ J 7 6 4
♥ 6
♦ J 5 3
♣ 10 9 7 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 10 5 3
♥ A 10 9 7
♦ Q 4
♣ K 4 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1 NT* |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
3 NT |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *12-14 |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: Take your pick!
“It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.”
— John F. Kennedy
It is rare to see a player endplayed at trick one, but that was West’s fate in this match between England and Denmark at the 2006 European Championships, after Peter Schaltz had opened with a frisky weak no-trump.
John Armstrong did well to stay silent in the auction and to lead the diamond ace. (Any other suit lets the contract succeed.) His diamond continuation was won by South’s queen, and two rounds of trumps revealed a loser. A club to ummy’s queen held, then declarer erred by throwing a club on the diamond king. Schaltz ruffed a diamond and exited with a trump, but now Armstrong could cash his club ace and exit with his last club, leaving declarer with a spade loser.
Armstrong’s silence over the opening bid reaped its reward, for had he doubled, Schaltz would surely have found the correct discard of a spade from his hand on the diamond winner. Then his trump exit would have seen West endplayed into conceding the contract. Either a spade or a club play would allow dummy’s spade loser to go away.
At the second table Colin Simpson reached four hearts as South, but here Gregers Bjarnarson as West had shown strong no-trump values. When West selected the club ace as the opening lead, Simpson quickly wrapped up 10 tricks because dummy’s spade loser could be discarded on the clubs. But even on a diamond lead, declarer would have known how to play the hand.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 8 |
| ♥ |
K 8 5 4 3 |
| ♦ |
K 8 7 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Since you are in a game-forcing auction, a simple call of two no-trump is sufficient for the time being, giving partner space to describe his hand. If partner signs off in three no-trump, you will move forward with a bid of four clubs, suggesting delayed club support and 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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 29th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ K 9 7 3
♥ Q J 7 2
♦ —
♣ A K Q 8 7 |
|
| West
♠ J 8 5 2
♥ 10 6 5 4
♦ K J 9 5 3
♣ — |
|
East
♠ 10 6 4
♥ 3
♦ A 10 8 4
♣ 10 9 5 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ A Q
♥ A K 9 8
♦ Q 7 6 2
♣ J 6 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
3♦* |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 4♠** |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♣** |
Pass |
5♠ |
Pass |
| 5 NT** |
Pass |
7♥ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♥ 4
“Things are seldom what they seem;
Skim milk masquerades as cream.”
— W.S. Gilbert
When Germany met Norway in last year’s Junior European Championships, they encountered an extremely unlucky slam. The Norwegian North-South stopped in five hearts. However, our featured table saw North show his diamond void early on. Then, with repeated inquiries, North showed one keycard, followed by the trump queen and spade king. Finally, North appreciated his good clubs at the end to jump to the grand slam.
In seven hearts, Martin Rehder would have been unable to make the grand slam on a spade lead because of the terrible breaks in trumps and clubs. (Should West have been able to find that lead for the right reasons? I can hardly blame him.)
The more mundane low trump lead let declarer win in hand and ruff a diamond; then a top trump from dummy revealed the position. Now declarer had a choice: he could lead a club to hand to ruff a second diamond, or he could cross to a spade to ruff a second diamond, come back to hand with a second spade, and draw trumps. Either of those lines would fail if the chosen black suit broke badly.
Instead, declarer made what looks to be the normal and hugely unlucky play of relying on clubs to split simply by drawing trumps. There was no squeeze, and Norway had an undeserved 11 IMPs.
In retrospect, although a 6-1 spade break is in abstract slightly more likely than a 5-0 club break, maybe with silent and nonvulnerable opponents, one should assume no one could hold six spades.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 8 5 2 |
| ♥ |
10 6 5 4 |
| ♦ |
K J 9 5 3 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: This hand looks tailor-made for Crawling Stayman. Your plan is to find a better fit in a suit, rather than playing in no-trump. Bid two clubs and plan to pass the response. Even if partner bids two diamonds, denying a major, if he has perhaps only two or three cards in that suit, your final contract will be perfectly playable.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 28th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, December 14, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ 10 9 8 7 4
♥ A Q
♦ A J 8 6 5
♣ 2 |
|
| West
♠ A 6 5
♥ 8 6 5 2
♦ K Q 3
♣ A 8 5 |
|
East
♠ K J 2
♥ 7
♦ 10 9 7 2
♣ Q 7 6 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 3
♥ K J 10 9 4 3
♦ 4
♣ K J 10 9 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.”
— Seneca
When this deal came up in the very first round-robin match of the Venice Cup, it gave Liz McGowan of the British team a chance to demonstrate her virtuosity. Having reached an ambitious four-heart contract, she avoided the trump lead, but had to plan the play on the lead of the diamond king.
Liz took the diamond king with the ace to lead a club at once. When her RHO followed small without a flicker, she decided that she was unlikely to have ducked the ace, so inserted the jack losing to the ace. She won the trump shift in dummy and ruffed a diamond, ruffed a club, ruffed a diamond (dropping the queen), and then drew trumps.
As she led out the last trump, she had two spades and two clubs in hand, with dummy holding three spades and the master diamond jack. But what four cards was East to keep? Since she had to keep two clubs, she had to come down to two spades, so she kept the king and jack. (Discarding the jack would have been tantamount to surrender.) Liz now led out a spade, giving the defenders a series of losing options. If East was left on lead after two rounds of spades, she would have to play a club, allowing declarer to finesse and take the last two tricks in hand. If West overtook her partner’s spade winner, she would have to concede the last two tricks to dummy or declarer.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 9 8 7 4 |
| ♥ |
A Q |
| ♦ |
A J 8 6 5 |
| ♣ |
2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
1 NT |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
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ANSWER: Your partner’s double is for penalties. Normally you would not consider removing the double, but here, with a shapely and very minimum opening bid, it would be reasonable to bid two diamonds. Admittedly it may be a big mistake, but this may not be the hand your partner was expecting you to hold when he doubled.
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 27th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ J 8 7 6
♥ A Q 9 6 5
♦ 10 6
♣ 10 4 |
|
| West
♠ Q 10 5
♥ K 8 3 2
♦ 5 3
♣ K 8 5 3 |
|
East
♠ A K 9 4 3 2
♥ 10 7 4
♦ 4
♣ A 9 6 |
| |
South
♠ —
♥ J
♦ A K Q J 9 8 7 2
♣ Q J 7 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♠ |
| 5♦ |
All Pass |
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Opening Lead: ♠ 5
“His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar.”
— Lord Macaulay, on Dryden
Today’s deal comes from the recent world championships in Beijing. In five diamonds, you ruff the opening spade lead. Looking only at the North and South cards, how should you continue?
Anyone could try to set up a club and ruff a club, but the defenders might foil you by getting two rounds of trump in. Matthew Granovetter crossed instead to the heart ace and led a low club from the dummy, figuring that this would work if East had a singleton trump, no matter whether he had one club honor or both.
West captured the club queen with his king and shifted to trumps, but Granovetter saw his plan through and won in hand to lead a second club. When East had no second trump to lead, declarer was home.
In the other room declarer followed the mundane line of leading a club from hand at trick two, letting the defenders play trumps twice and forcing South to rely on the heart finesse eventually.
If that was lucky for him and unlucky for Granovetter, consider the multiple world champion who won the spade lead and advanced the heart jack at trick two. When West ducked smoothly, declarer overtook in dummy and ruffed a heart, led a club to the 10 and ace, won the trump return in dummy, ruffed a heart, then led a second club. West took the trick and played a second trump, and declarer was dead. “What bad luck; the heart finesse worked!” his teammates consoled him.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 4 |
| ♥ |
K 10 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 6 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♥ |
1♠ |
| 2♥ |
2♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
3♠ |
All Pass |
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ANSWER: One choice is to go passive by leading a trump. On this auction, if declarer has a two-way finesse to take, he won’t get it wrong. Alternatively, the clubs might well produce a source of discards for declarer, so maybe an aggressive heart lead is correct. My soft cards in the minors persuade me to go passive and lead the spade eight. After all, how can we have five top winners to cash?
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
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