February 8th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments 
| Dealer: South
Vul: E-W |
North
♠ A Q J 3
♥ K J 6 2
♦ A J
♣ 9 6 4 |
|
| West
♠ 8 7
♥ A 9 7
♦ Q 10 7 4 3
♣ Q 8 2 |
 |
East
♠ 9 6 5 4 2
♥ 10 8 4 3
♦ K 6
♣ 10 5 |
| |
South
♠ K 10
♥ Q 5
♦ 9 8 5 2
♣ A K J 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ four
“No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.”
— Fran Lebowitz
When West leads his fourth-best diamond against three no-trump, declarer’s success depends on his play to the first trick. He should reason that West would not have been likely to lead low from a suit headed by king, queen and 10, so that one of those three top honors is marked with East.
Three no-trump is in no danger if the diamonds divide 4-3, so declarer must assume that the suit is not breaking and must strive to overcome the possibility of losing four diamonds and the heart ace.
If the diamonds divide 5-2, declarer must focus on trying to block the run of the suit. South’s correct play, therefore, is to go up with the ace in dummy. This play does not lose even if West has led from K-Q, for the 10 in East’s hand will prevent the run of four tricks. The hearts should be attacked at once, for two tricks in this suit will be enough for game. When West wins with the spade ace, he cannot make more than two diamond tricks, even if East has unblocked his king at the first trick.
You might note that if declarer does rise with dummy’s diamond ace at the first trick, but then makes the mistake of going after clubs by finessing the jack, he should be defeated. West can take his club queen and unblock diamonds, with the heart as a re-entry to get back on lead and cash out for down two.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 7 |
| ♥ |
A 9 7 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 7 4 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1 ♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s sequence suggests about a 17-count with five spades and four clubs. With less, he would simply pass two spades, and with a completely balanced hand he would have raised one no-trump to two. You have a useful potential source of tricks and aren’t ashamed of your values, so bid three no-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].
February 7th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North
♠ Q 10 8 5
♥ A J 5 2
♦ A 5
♣ J 7 6 |
|
| West
♠ 2
♥ K Q 9
♦ Q J 3
♣ K Q 10 9 4 3 |
|
East
♠ J 7 6 4
♥ 10 7 6 4
♦ 6 4 2
♣ A 5 |
| |
South
♠ A K 9 3
♥ 8 3
♦ K 10 9 8 7
♣ 8 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
1 ♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 2 ♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
3 ♠ |
Pass |
| 4 ♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ King
“Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream.”
— Lao Tzu
In today’s deal from last year’s Bermuda Congress, a visiting Austrian team showed off their talents. An efficient and controlled auction allowed Andreas Babsch to reach four spades from the South seat. Rather fortuitously, the defense could not attack clubs quite so easily from the West position. West led the club king and a club to the ace. East shifted to a heart, letting Babsch win in dummy and play the diamond ace, then the diamond king, followed by a thoughtful diamond ruff with the spade 10.
A low spade to the ace and a spade back to the king exposed the 4-1 break. Declarer finessed against the spade jack and drew trumps before cashing out the diamonds. Ten tricks were made, but a glance at the full deal will show you that declarer had to be careful in the trump suit.
South needed to ruff the third diamond with the spade 10, or to lead that card to a top honor in his hand on the first round of drawing trumps. Additionally, the first round of trumps had to feature a high-card from the South hand and not the spade queen from dummy. Otherwise, when the 4-1 trump break comes to light, there are no entries to dummy to take the trump finesse.
Just for the record: If East had been on lead, three rounds of clubs would have allowed East to pitch a diamond, and declarer would have had no way home after that start.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
10 7 6 4 |
| ♦ |
6 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Pass |
1 ♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You may not have a great hand, and your partner has denied real extras by not competing to two spades himself, but you are supposed to look at your own hand and realize that when you hold four trumps, and thus a known fit, it is your responsibility to compete once more. Given your minimum action the first time, partner won’t assume you have any 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].
February 6th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Is the two-club response to a one-diamond opening an exception to the possible set of two-over-one responses? I understand that this response may of necessity be somewhat weaker than the other possibilities, and there might be other things to say about this particular sequence. Also, how does opener advance with diamonds (four or five cards) and a major?
— Bargain Hunter, Orlando, Fla.
ANSWER: Let’s go with two clubs as game-forcing, since one can play a jump to three clubs over one diamond as invitational … unless you want to play that sequence as a diamond raise. After the two-club response I like to play bids in the majors as reversing, with a nonminimum hand. I’d rebid two diamonds with a dead minimum and 5-4 pattern, or just diamonds, and rebid either two no-trump or three clubs with a balanced hand.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you pick up as dealer SPADES J-9, HEARTS A-Q-9-7-3-2, DIAMONDS 10-3-2, CLUBS Q-7, I assume you would open two hearts at any vulnerability. I was vulnerable against not, and my partner asked for a feature with a two-no-trump bid. The next hand doubled; what should I have done next?
— Jumbo Shrimp, Wichita Falls, Texas
ANSWER: The two-heart opening is just fine by me. I believe any bid now should show a feature, with pass suggesting a balanced minimum and a three-heart bid suggesting good trumps. Redouble would show balanced extras — but at this vulnerability I do not think you have anything to spare, so I would pass.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you wrote that in all sequences after a two-over-one where responder’s simple raise of opener’s second suit would be forcing, a jump in a new suit should conventionally be played as a splinter. How does this work when opener has bid two suits in a sequence such as one heart – two clubs – two diamonds? When responder jumps in a new suit, which suit does this agree?
— Single Malt, North Bay, Ontario
| |
ANSWER: With a splinter-jump, the last suit is always the one agreed as trumps. In the given sequence, to set hearts as trumps, just raise the suit. In this auction three hearts might be played as stronger than four hearts. Or you can (my preference) play a jump to four hearts as a hand with fitting cards in a minimum hand, with no control of the fourth suit.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I am in the dark as to how to proceed in responding to the fourth suit. I don’t even know what the priorities are in general. Please help.
— Ready and Waiting, Walnut Creek, Calif.
ANSWER: Over fourth suit forcing, opener can promise three-card support for partner, show extra length in his own suits, or bid no-trump with a stopper in the fourth suit. There is no set rule as to what to do if you have a choice among these options. The default actions are to raise partner with a doubleton honor or to repeat your original suit with a decent five-carder. Giving preference to responder after a fourth-suit bid is rather more likely to be a two-card raise than three if (as in my style) you might have raised partner’s major directly with a semibalanced hand and three trumps.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I had an opening-lead problem, holding SPADES J-9-3, HEARTS 9-6-4-2, DIAMONDS J-8-3-2, CLUBS 9-5. My RHO bid one no-trump, my LHO raised to three no-trump, and my partner doubled. Is this normally played as conventional in any way? And what would you lead?
— Best Foot Forward, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
ANSWER:The double by a hand not on lead suggests a good suit and an entry, or a solid suit. Here you have no idea which suit your partner has, but acting on the principle that the opponents probably aren’t over-long in the majors, I would cross my fingers and lead my shorter major — a low spade. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
February 5th, 2011 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
| Dealer: West
Vul: E-W |
North
♠ J 10 7
♥ A 6 5 4
♦ A 10 2
♣ K J 10 |
|
| West
♠ A 8 6
♥ 10 8 2
♦ K 7 6 3
♣ 4 3 2 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 4 3 2
♥ K 9 3
♦ 8
♣ A Q 8 6 |
| |
South
♠ K 5
♥ Q J 7
♦ Q J 9 5 4
♣ 9 7 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
Pass |
1 ♣ |
1 ♠ |
| 2 ♦ |
2 ♠ |
3 ♦ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ Ace
“The resources of civilization are not yet exhausted.”
— William Gladstone
It is said that the looker-on sees most of the game. After the missed opportunity in today’s deal from the Compact Knockouts at last year’s Bermuda Regional, the spectators were able to exchange knowing looks when the deal ended.
South had finished in the reasonable contract of three diamonds after East had bid spades. West began, sensibly enough, with the spade ace, and shifted equally sensibly to a club. When East played three rounds of the suit, declarer won in dummy and crossed to her heart queen, East ducking the trick. This is sometimes the right play, but here all it did was revive an apparently moribund contract.
Now came the trump finesse, and a repeated finesse to find the bad news. With the lead in the North hand and declarer needing five of the last six tricks, try the effect of cashing the spade king, leading a heart to the ace, ruffing a spade low, and giving up the third heart to East. That player has a choice of exiting with either a spade or a club, in either case giving a ruff and discard to all three players at the table. However, declarer is down to the diamond J-9, dummy has the diamond ace and a heart, and West holds the guarded diamond king. When South ruffs in, he gives West the choice of losing his trump king on this trick or the next. It is a perfect smother coup!
And at the table? South conceded one down when East discarded on the second trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 5 |
| ♥ |
Q J 7 |
| ♦ |
Q J 9 5 4 |
| ♣ |
9 7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
1 ♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
3 ♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s cue-bid after doubling asks you to define your hand more precisely — in particular, to identify if you have a club stop. It should be game-forcing. (With an invitational hand he would just raise to three diamonds now.) You have no club stop and no feature to emphasize, so put on the brakes, at least temporarily, with a bid of three 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].
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.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 5 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A J 7 |
| ♦ |
A Q J 9 7 2 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You have a complex hand, but the simplest way to describe it is to raise hearts and forget about spades, since your partner rates strongly to have five or more hearts, or a very good four-carder. A jump to three hearts gets across the general values of your hand, if not the precise shape, fairly accurately.
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].
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!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 4 3 |
| ♥ |
J 10 5 |
| ♦ |
9 7 5 |
| ♣ |
A 9 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 2 ♥ |
Pass |
3 ♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You made the right decision on the previous round to make a simple raise to two hearts. When partner shows real extras, you have enough to bid game despite your poor diamond holding. I would suggest bidding three no-trump to offer a choice of games to your partner. This suggests only three hearts and weak diamonds, with values in the other 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].
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.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 7 4 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 5 |
| ♣ |
J 9 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♣ |
| 1 ♥ |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
2 NT |
| Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
|
ANSWER: Although hearts are your best suit, partner had the chance to raise them, but did not do so. That makes it relatively unlikely that you can set up and establish the suit. A better bet must be to find your partner with a decent spade suit, so lead a low spade and hope for the best.
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].
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.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 4 3 |
| ♥ |
A K Q 7 6 |
| ♦ |
— |
| ♣ |
K J 9 8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 ♦ |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| 2 ♣ |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s bid of two spades cannot be natural. With spades he would have bid the suit at his first turn. So he is suggesting a club fit and decent spades, and now all of a sudden you can think about making slam when previously you were not sure game would have any chance. Jump to four diamonds to show a diamond control, and maybe partner can cooperate in the cue-bidding.
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].
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
Will be the final goal of ill.”
— 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.)
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 4 |
| ♥ |
10 6 4 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 2 |
| ♣ |
J 9 5 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1 NT |
| Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Opinions differ on whether it is better to try to hit partner’s suit by leading a spade, or to go with your own length with a club lead. I might compromise by leading a heart. After all, if partner has a five-card major, wouldn’t you rather it was hearts than 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 2011. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
January 30th, 2011 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
I’m an aspiring tournament player who has been using transfer bids in response to one- and two-no-trump openings for some time. Are there any other sequences for which you would use transfer bids?
— Number Cruncher, Cartersville, Ga.
ANSWER: The sequences you mention are the most useful and occur most frequently. Many people these days are also using transfer bids in response to overcalls. (These are called Rubens Advances if you want to pursue the subject further.) But transfers can be used in conjunction with Lebensohl and also after a rebid of one no-trump or a jump rebid of two no-trump. Brian Senior wrote a book called “The Transfer Principle,” which you might find helpful.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
When my partner led out of turn, the Tournament Director was called. I know the declarer has options. However, the director told the declarer that he could demand that I lead anything he wanted me to. Was this correct?
— Harsh Sentence, Miami, Fla.
ANSWER: No, your director was incorrect. Declarer can accept the lead, forbid the lead, make the card a penalty card, demand that the suit be led (with the card picked up) or even put declarer’s hand down as dummy. But declarer may not name the suit to be led.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I was in fourth chair and my LHO opened one heart, passed around to me. I had SPADES K-J-9, HEARTS A-Q, DIAMONDS 10-3-2, CLUBS A-Q-7-4-2 and knew I was too strong for a balancing call of one no-trump. As against that, I thought my heart honors were badly placed, and I did not fancy playing in two no-trump if my partner responded two diamonds. Ultimately, I bid two clubs and played there. Which evil would you have considered the least severe?
— Conan the Cogitator, Muncie, Ind.
| |
ANSWER: Being an optimist, I would have upgraded my hand and doubled. (After all, why should partner choose diamonds to respond in?) Note that in three no-trump a heart lead comes into the tenace, so my holding is not really so unattractive.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
A lot of players in my club are using a short club, playing that a one-diamond opening bid guarantees a five-carder. Would you recommend treating the opponent’s opening bid as natural or as artificial? If the latter, what specifically do you suggest doing?
— Taste Test, Macon, Ga.
ANSWER: Let’s distinguish between players who open one club on a doubleton only when they hold 4-4 in the majors, and those who open one club on all balanced hands outside the no-trump range (even on hands with five-card majors in balanced hands). In the former case I’d treat the club as natural. In the second case I’d want to be able to bid two clubs as natural, and so perhaps I’d make my two-diamond overcall the Michaels cue-bid. This is standard practice in France, by the way.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I noticed that Zia Mahmood just won the Bermuda Bowl last year. Who do you think is the strongest player still playing in major events never to have won a major world-title?
— Coulda Been a Contenda, Twin Falls, Idaho
ANSWER: The first name that comes to my mind is my old friend Patrick Huang. For North America I’d pick Sami Kehela and Eric Murray of Canada, but both are largely retired. Three other countries come to mind: first England, where Tony Forrester and Andrew Robson have had a long run at the top; then Sweden, where Fallenius-Fredin are two of a sizable top echelon. And finally Poland, spearheaded by Balicki-Zmudzinski, who have missed out narrowly on many occasions. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2011.
|
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related