November 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments 
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ J 10 5
♥ 9 6 4 3
♦ K 9 3
♣ K Q 5 |
|
| West
♠ 3
♥ A K 8 2
♦ Q 10 2
♣ 9 7 4 3 2 |
 |
East
♠ 9 7 4 2
♥ Q J 10 7
♦ J 6
♣ A J 10 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q 8 6
♥ 5
♦ A 8 7 5 4
♣ 8 6 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ K
“Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.”
— Rene Descartes
Against your contract of four spades West leads the heart king, on which East plays the queen, promising the jack. West continues with the heart two, to East’s 10. How do you plan to bring home your game?
You can always make 10 tricks provided the diamonds are 3-2 and neither defender can get a club ruff, but you must focus on the essentials. The first move, of course, is to ruff the heart 10. Next, you play a club to dummy’s king. Suppose East takes that with the ace, and hoping to shorten your trumps inconveniently, plays a third heart (nothing else is better). After ruffing this with the trump eight, you cash your three minor-suit winners, then play a third round of diamonds.
As you will have already made six tricks, then when West wins his diamond queen, he has no winning defense. Leading a heart will just help you in your crossruff, so his best shot is to lead a trump. You play dummy’s five and win the trick with the queen. You can make the next three tricks on a crossruff.
If East had returned a trump after winning the club ace, you would have won it in hand and played ace, king and another diamond. Either you will be able to follow the approach suggested above if the defenders revert to the forcing game, or, on a nonheart return, you can draw trumps and claim.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 10 5 |
| ♥ |
9 6 4 3 |
| ♦ |
K 9 3 |
| ♣ |
K Q 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has suggested six diamonds and four spades, and may have quite a reasonable hand, unaware of what suitable holdings you have in both his suits. Raise to three diamonds to let him know you have not given up hope of game; he can decide what to do next — if anything.
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].
November 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ Q 3
♥ 8 7 4 2
♦ A 6 5
♣ 8 6 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 6 2
♥ Q 10 9
♦ K Q J 8
♣ K 7 3 |
|
East
♠ 9 8 7 5
♥ 6 3
♦ 10 9 2
♣ J 10 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ A K J 4
♥ A K J 5
♦ 7 4 3
♣ A Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.”
— Walter Bagehot
Two terms that are hardest to explain to novices are the trick and the finesse. Once they master the finesse, players take them willy-nilly, some necessary and some inadvisable. Consider today’s deal to see how good your judgment is.
After an opening bid of two no-trump, you find yourself in the mundane contract of four hearts, and West leads a top diamond. Since you have possible homes for dummy’s slow diamond losers, you win the ace. What next?
The answer is that the right plan is to cash the two top trumps, rejecting the heart finesse because you cannot afford to lose the lead. Now comes four rounds of spades, both diamonds being pitched from dummy. It would do West no good to ruff the fourth spade (he wants to keep his heart queen to draw two of declarer’s trumps), so he discards a diamond.
Declarer can now ruff a diamond in dummy and again is faced with a tempting finesse in clubs. If he takes it, West can win and draw dummy’s last trump, holding declarer to 10 tricks, but since that is only a question of an overtrick, it is safe enough to make the play. If South wants to make 11 tricks against any likely distribution, he should win the club ace and ruff a second diamond.
Note that an early heart finesse leads to one down when West cashes two diamonds, then sits back for his club trick.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 7 3 |
| ♥ |
10 7 6 |
| ♦ |
A 10 4 2 |
| ♣ |
10 8 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
1♥ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: When your partner opens a minor suit, the least attractive lead against no-trump tends to be the other minor, so I would not lead a diamond. I might lead a spade from a four-card suit, but here I will settle for an unimaginative club, expecting to get the chance to shift to a spade later if circumstances demand it.
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].
November 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 31, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of playing Drury? I’m not convinced one can afford to lose a natural response in the club suit.
— Iconoclast, Atlanta, Ga.
ANSWER: Just to recap: A response of two clubs by a passed hand to an opening of a major suit suggests support and a maximum pass. I love Drury for various reasons, not just that it lets third hand open light for the lead, without partner hanging him. If you play a sensible series of continuations, you can improve your game and slam bidding. Opener should rebid his own suit with no game interest, bid two diamonds with any game-try, and bid higher to try for slam. More later!
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a recent column the dealer opened one club, and his LHO made a weak jump in diamonds. Partner bid two spades, and RHO bid three diamonds. What are the principles, if any, that can be applied to determine when a bid should be considered forcing or nonforcing now? You say that dealer’s raise to three spades should be nonforcing and that seems straightforward. But wasn’t his two-spade bid game-forcing?.Or is it nonforcing in competition?
— The Force Be With You, Little Rock, Ark.
ANSWER: Playing two spades here as nonforcing forces you to start strong hands with a double, or a jump: I can’t and won’t accept that. I think it is right for two spades to be forcing, but not to game, so that a call of three spades by opener or responder at their next turn would not be forcing. An immediate new suit by responder at the three-level would set up a game-force.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you hold ♠ A-Q-J-9-8, ♥ 10-4-3-2, ♦ J-2, ♣ K-9 ,would youu open the bidding? What are the pros and cons of opening 11-counts?
— Sad Sack, Dover, Del.
|
|
ANSWER: This hand has many pluses. You are opening the suit you want led, you have a guaranteed easy rebid, you have decent controls and a little extra shape. Switch the spades and clubs and I would not open because of the possible rebid problem. Equally, move the spade ace into one of the doubleton suits and the lead-directing factor is diminished. An 11-count with 5-4 shape is far closer to an opening bid than completely abalanced hand with the same point-count.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Are you allowed to ask your partner if he has no more cards in a suit when he discards? I thought the rules had changed to prevent that.
— Interrogation Unit, Salinas, Calif.
ANSWER: No, the rules have gone in a circle, and we are back where we started. The reason the question was outlawed was that it sometimes gave away that declarer had unexpected length or the asker had unexpected shortness. This reasoning was eventually determined to be somewhat paranoid, and prevention of an accidental revoke was considered more important. So you can ask without penalty.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Please discuss in more detail a hand you quoted in a problem. With: ♠ K-Q-9-7, ♥ 2, ♦ A-K-10-9-7-2, ♣ 4-2, you hear partner open one club, and your RHO makes a one-heart oercall. Would you double, bid two diamonds, or bid one spade? Aren’t you too strong to double? And isn’t a cuebid a way to set up a game-force?
— Warthog, Kingston, Ontario
ANSWER: There is no upper limit to a negative double, but one should select another alternative if an equal one exists. Here, two diamonds, then a spade bid, tells the story in the right order (diamonds with spades being a secondary suit). You can show you have extras later. Remember a call of one spade here shows five spades, while a cuebid of two hearts guarantees a club fit. |
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].
November 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 30, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K Q 3
♥ K 9 4 2
♦ A K 9 3
♣ A Q |
|
| West
♠ 10 7
♥ 6 5 3
♦ Q 10 7 4 2
♣ J 7 3 |
|
East
♠ J 9 8 5
♥ 8
♦ 8 6 5
♣ K 10 9 8 6 |
| |
South
♠ A 6 4 2
♥ A Q J 10 7
♦ J
♣ 5 4 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3♦* |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♠** |
Pass |
7♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| **Two key cards, counting the trump king as an ace, and the trump queen |
Opening Lead: ♥ 5
“Go where glory waits thee,
But, while fame elates thee,
Oh! still remember me.”
— Thomas Moore
At the table, North began by using the Jacoby two-no-trump convention to set hearts as trump. After using Blackwood, North was happy to gamble on a grand slam that he knew was unlikely to be worse than a 50-50 club finesse.
Declarer took the trump lead, eventually tested spades, then fell back on the club finesse, seeing nothing better. Down one, and an opportunity wasted. Let’s revisit the hand and try again.
Best is to win the trump lead with the ace. Next comes the diamond ace followed by a diamond ruffed high. South can lead the heart 10 to the king and ruff a second diamond high. South then leads a heart to dummy’s nine, which draws the last trump, and cashes the fourth trump winner while throwing a club from his hand. The diamond king reduces everyone to five cards.
Dummy has three spades and two clubs, South has four spades and one club — but what about East? He must keep his four spades, and so must try to bare his club king as smoothly as possible. Declarer cashes the three top spades, finding East with the length, at which point he knows East started with four red cards only, and four spades. Thus he has five clubs to his partner’s three and so is far more likely than West to have begun with the club king.
Additionally, what expert would take a finesse when he can play for a squeeze? Declarer plays a club to the ace. Result: happiness!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 6 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q J 10 7 |
| ♦ |
J |
| ♣ |
5 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
2♦ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has made a penalty double and you have no reason to overrule him. He won’t always produce four good trumps, but you can expect him to have either trump length or a hand unsuitable for playing hearts. In either eventuality you surely want to defend, so 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].
November 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 29, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A Q 6 5
♥ 10 9 7 3
♦ A K
♣ A 9 3 |
|
| West
♠ 10 8 7 2
♥ 2
♦ 5 4
♣ J 7 6 5 4 2 |
|
East
♠ 9
♥ K Q J 8 6 4
♦ J 8 7 6
♣ Q 10 |
| |
South
♠ K J 4 3
♥ A 5
♦ Q 10 9 3 2
♣ K 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
2♥ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
5♠ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“Faint, faint and clear,
Faint as the music that in dreams we hear
Shaking the curtain-fold of sleep,
That shuts away
The world’s hoarse voice.”
— Mary Ainge de Vere
After East’s pre-empt North-South had an intelligent auction to slam. North’s jump to five spades asked South to bid on with a heart control, and South could hardly refuse, despite his minimum hand. (Incidentally, had he held the guarded heart king, the right call here would have been five no-trump.)
Against six spades West led his singleton heart. South won and felt he had to draw at least two rounds of trump at once in case of a bad side-suit break. Take a moment to consider how you would protect against a bad trump break.
The winning line is to cash the trump ace and queen — by no means obvious, is it? Now South took the two top diamonds, crossed to his spade jack, and led out a low diamond. Had West followed (or discarded), declarer would have ruffed, come back to hand with a club, and drawn the trump, conceding a heart at the end.
In fact, West ruffed in, so declarer pitched a heart from dummy and could win the club return, discard both of dummy’s hearts on his two high diamonds, and ruff his losing heart in dummy for the 12th trick.
Without the weak-two bid, it is far from clear whether this would be the best line, but because West was known to have no more hearts, it made it the indicated play.
You can also succeed by unblocking diamonds before touching spades, but that would be a needless risk.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 8 7 2 |
| ♥ |
2 |
| ♦ |
5 4 |
| ♣ |
J 7 6 5 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
1♦ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: What an impossible problem! Partner has hearts and a strong hand; other than that you know very little about his shape. A case can be made for a natural two clubs, but this may not be so easy for your partner to work out. Alternatively, you could pass and hope to buy some spade length opposite. If you don’t trust your partner to understand a call of two clubs, passing would be your best guess today.
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].
November 11th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 28, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ Q 8 7 6 4
♥ Q 9 6
♦ K 8 6 2
♣ K |
|
| West
♠ J 3
♥ 7 4 2
♦ A Q 10 5 4 3
♣ 5 3 |
|
East
♠ A K 10 9 5
♥ 8 5
♦ 9
♣ J 10 9 7 2 |
| |
South
♠ 2
♥ A K J 10 3
♦ J 7
♣ A Q 8 6 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
2♠ |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ J
“Mr. Podsnap had even acquired a peculiar flourish of his right arm in often clearing the world of its most difficult problems, by sweeping them behind him.”
— Charles Dickens
When declarer knows that his shortages lie over the defenders’ so that he cannot be overruffed, it is often better to play on crossruff lines rather than drawing trumps. Today’s deal provides a good example.
West led the spade jack against four hearts, overtaken by East’s king, and a diamond came back to the ace, followed by the diamond queen. Declarer quite naturally covered with the king, and East scored his heart eight, but then mistakenly tried to cash his spade ace, thinking the diamond queen was suit preference. A heart return would have been the killer here.
In practice, though, declarer ruffed the spade ace high, played a club to the king and followed with the heart queen, a heart to his ace and a club ruff. Now he ruffed a diamond back to hand and drew trumps, hoping that his long clubs would be good. When the 5-2 break came to light, he had to go one down.
Declarer should have considered a 5-2 club break likely as soon as he discovered that East had only five spades and a singleton diamond. But there was no need for declarer to draw trumps. Suppose instead that after ruffing the spade ace, he had played a club to the king and ruffed a diamond. Now he can safely play the top clubs. If clubs break 4-3, South ruffs a club and draws trump. When West ruffs the third club, declarer overruffs, ruffs a diamond in hand with the heart 10, and ruffs a club in dummy with the heart nine. Then the last three tricks can be made on a high crossruff.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 8 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 6 |
| ♦ |
K 8 6 2 |
| ♣ |
K |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It is by no means guaranteed that you have a safe way into your opponents’ auction, but if you feel like bidding, you can risk a double here safely enough. Normally, one tends to bid a five-card major rather than make a takeout double here, but your spades are so weak that showing your two suits looks like the most flexible action.
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].
November 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ 7 6
♥ A 8 7 3 2
♦ 9 7 5
♣ A 9 5 |
|
| West
♠ Q J 9 3
♥ J 5
♦ Q J 6
♣ Q 6 3 2 |
|
East
♠ A K 8 5 2
♥ 6
♦ 10 8 4 3
♣ K 10 8 |
| |
South
♠ 10 4
♥ K Q 10 9 4
♦ A K 2
♣ J 7 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
3♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ Q
“Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.”
— John Dryden
Bridge literature has documented the lead of the jack by East from K-J-9, when North has 10-third, to prevent declarer from taking an extra trick when he has either the queen or the ace-queen. The “surrounding” play that crops up in today’s deal is less well-known.
Suppose that West leads the spade queen against three hearts and leads a second spade, won by East, who switches to a low diamond. Declarer wins, draws trumps, and on the face of it has three further losers. However, if South continues with the second top diamond, then plays a third, he will prevail unless West unblocks his diamond jack.
The point is that a third spade return from West would allow a ruff and discard, and a club to the king and a club back means that declarer will end with two tricks in the suit if he guesses well. West needs to unblock his diamond jack so that East wins the third round of diamonds. Now East must switch to the club 10, “surrounding” the nine in dummy.
If the 10 is covered all around, declarer will lose two further tricks in the suit, and if not, the 10 fetches the ace, again leaving two losers. Had East led the low club instead, South plays low, and West is forced to contribute the queen. When dummy’s ace wins, a low club toward the jack means that the defense comes to just one club trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 6 |
| ♥ |
A 8 7 3 2 |
| ♦ |
9 7 5 |
| ♣ |
A 9 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Dbl. |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The jump to two spades is a game-force. Just because you have extras does not mean you have to make an extravagant leap. Support your partner with a call of three clubs. Let him have all the space he needs to tell you why he forced to 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].
November 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 10
♥ A 6 3
♦ A K 7 5 4
♣ K 6 3 |
|
| West
♠ A 4
♥ J 2
♦ Q 10
♣ J 10 9 8 7 5 2 |
|
East
♠ 5 3
♥ 9 8 5 4
♦ J 9 8 6 3 2
♣ 4 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 9 8 7 6 2
♥ K Q 10 7
♦ —
♣ A Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
3♣ |
3 NT |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ J
“O Captain! my Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won.”
— Walt Whitman
“Jimmie” Arthur, who died recently, was a former president of the Scottish Bridge Union and a Scottish international player. But his main claim to fame was as Britain’s most successful team captain ever.
Having captained Scottish Open and Ladies’ teams 27 times in the Home Internationals series, he was the popular choice as captain of the British Ladies’ team for the European Championships in 1997, and his astute player deployment helped them to the Gold Medal. He repeated this success in 1999, but then devolution saw England, Scotland and Wales fielding separate teams, whereupon he took charge of the Scottish Open team in the 2000 Olympiad. However, the England Ladies’ team requested Jimmie’s services for the 2001 European Championships and he accepted the captaincy. The result was yet another Gold Medal — and then a Bronze in 2003.
Jimmie excelled at many physical games as well as cerebral bridge. He was in action as South on this deal. After West had opened with a pre-emptive three clubs, Jimmie Arthur ended as declarer in six spades.
West led the club jack, and Jimmie reasoned that if West held the ace of trumps, he would be able to deliver a club ruff to East. So, instead of winning the club lead in hand, he rose with dummy’s king, under which he dropped his queen, then cashed the diamond ace, on which he discarded his club ace. Only then did he touch trumps, bringing home a slam that failed at many other tables.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 10 |
| ♥ |
A 6 3 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
1♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You correctly up-valued this hand to treat it as a balanced 18-19 initially (the five-card suit and controls make this the sensible action). See your plan through by rebidding one no-trump now to show these values. You can’t underwrite this action; as usual, at bridge even the most sensible of actions carries some risk.
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].
November 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North
♠ J 4
♥ 5 2
♦ K 4 3
♣ A Q J 9 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ Q 9 8 7 3 2
♥ 9 7 3
♦ 7 5
♣ K 10 |
|
East
♠ A 10 6
♥ 8 6 4
♦ Q 8 6
♣ 7 6 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ K 5
♥ A K Q J 10
♦ A J 10 9 2
♣ 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 6♦ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 7
“Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.”
— Don Marquis
Today’s deal shows that sometimes when the fates (and bridge percentages) have pointed a player toward the winning action, an outside influence may step in and wreck his plans.
The deal comes from last year’s European championships in San Remo. Six diamonds is a delicate slam, but on a spade lead the percentages in the diamond suit indicate that you will get the suit right. To pick up a singleton queen in either hand and any diamond queen in East, you would lead to the diamond king and finesse on the way back. Running the diamond jack on the first round loses to a singleton queen, while cashing the ace and running the jack loses out to any four-card diamond suit headed by the queen in West.
Given that spades rate to be the unbid suit on just about any auction North-South might have, you would expect West to lead a spade and South to bring home his contract. And that was generally the case.
But there were two awkward leads that the defenders might find. A heart lead, unlikely as that might seem, would leave you short of entries to the North hand needed to play on both spades and diamonds, and now you might misguess diamonds. The alternative is the even more diabolical lead of the club 10, found by Jan van Cleeff against the diamond slam. Now declarer opted to take the ace and misguessed the trump queen, and no one can hardly blame him.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 9 7 4 |
| ♥ |
3 2 |
| ♦ |
J 5 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 8 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♦ |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
2♦ |
| Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Partner’s failure to raise spades suggests we look elsewhere. The choice is the passive heart, or the active club lead. Since I’d expect dummy to have hearts, some spade length, and at least a doubleton diamond, partner rates to have club length, so that would be my first choice. A second reason for this choice is that even if a heart is right, partner may not read me to have only a doubleton.
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].
November 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 24, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Please explain the law of symmetry. Do experts still believe in this idea?
— Fearful Symmetry, Greenville, S.C.
ANSWER: Ely Culbertson suggested that if one hand had a singleton, it was more likely that other players also had a singleton. That is fallacious; but the underlying idea that if one player is short in one suit he is likely to be longer in another suit (sometimes called the Law of Vacant Spaces) is certainly mathematically sound.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ Q-8-4-2, ♥ K-9, ♦ A-J-10-3, ♣ 4-3-2, I raised my partner’s opening bid of one spade to three to show a limit raise. Now my partner rebid four clubs and I cooperated with four diamonds, and eventually we reached a poor slam. My partner later described his four-club call as a help-suit try. Is this normal practice?
— Help Wanted, Wichita Falls, Texas
ANSWER: It is not normal practice, but it does make very good sense for opener, the strong hand, to use help-suit slam-tries when facing a jump raise — in the same way that he uses help-suit game tries facing a simple raise. But without prior agreement I’d take the four-club call as a cue-bid here and respond with a diamond cue-bid in return, just as you did.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My partner opened one heart in third seat. When this was doubled, I redoubled with 10 points and two hearts. This was passed back to my RHO, who escaped to two clubs, and I passed since I could not double this contract. This was passed out and got us a bad score since we could have made two diamonds or two hearts. Who was wrong here?
— Petering Out, Fredericksburg, Va.
|
|
ANSWER: Your pass would clearly be forcing were it not for the fact that some third-in-hand openers might take a view and let the opponents play undoubled if they had opened extremely light. Opener must act if he has anything approaching full opening values here. He can bid a second suit, repeat his own suit with extra length or strength, or double if balanced.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In third seat, with ♠ K-2, ♥ Q-J-4-2, ♦ K-J-9-7-6, ♣ Q-8, I elected to force to game facing a one-spade opener by bidding two diamonds. Over my partner’s rebid of two spades, would you go to four spades, or look for no-trump now? And does a three-spade call show a minimum or extras?
— Big Game Hunter, Sunbury, Pa.
ANSWER: If you play two-over-one game-forcing, you have to decide whether jumps to game in forcing auctions are weak (the so-called Principle of Fast Arrival), which is simple if not particularly efficient, or more complex methods. Even assuming a jump to four spades was a minimum hand, I’d prefer the two-no-trump rebid. Your hand looks singularly unappetizing for the suit game.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you discussed this hand in your bidding forum: ♠ A-K-9-7-3, ♥ A-Q-8-2, ♦ Q-6-3, ♣ 10. After an opening bid of one club to your right,. I agree with your choice of bidding one spade because you can get both majors into the action efficiently. What is your opinion of a Michaels Cuebid of two clubs here to show both majors with one bid?
— Twofer, Grand Forks, N.D.
ANSWER: That you can bid spades, then double or bid two hearts, and get all the suits into the action in the right order is key to starting with one spade. As to the Michaels Cuebid, with the same hand but 5-4 the other way and with three small diamonds I can see a case, but I would not do it myself. Mike Lawrence has occasionally recommended that action with the right hand. I’m still on the fence. |
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].
|
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related