October 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 3, 2010 
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
When is a revoke established? Last week in my duplicate club my RHO revoked as declarer, but then corrected it after my partner had led to the next trick. The Director said that there was no penalty and the revoke could be corrected. Can this be right?
— The Enforcer, Woodland Hills, Calif.
ANSWER: In midplay a revoke is established only if the player who revoked (or his partner) played to the next trick. This did not happen here, so the revoke is not established, and declarer can change his card without penalty. But your partner gets to retract his lead now and can lead something else.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you held ♠ K-9-3, ♥ Q-5-4, ♦ A-J-3-2, ♣ A-10-2, I assume you would open one club and plan to rebid one no-trump if partner responded one spade. Does the picture alter if LHO doubled one club and partner bid one spade? Does that call suggest or promise five spades?
— Looking for More, Selma, Ala.
ANSWER: I would still rebid one no-trump because I have honors in all suits. The one-spade bid here suggests at least four decent spades (headed by a top honor). With a bad suit and a bad hand, you would pass; with 7-10 and a weak suit, you might well opt to respond one no-trump and bypass the weak suit. In other words, move the heart queen into diamonds, and you might tempt me to raise spades, but not with this hand.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
You recently stated that a two-suited opening bid was allowed in Europe but not in the United States. Why is a bid that is legal elsewhere not permitted by the ACBL? It would seem that to prepare us for anything that comes up, especially with so many top foreign players coming here or our going abroad, we need to keep an open mind on all bridge bids.
— Equal Rights, Albuquerque, N.M.
|
|
ANSWER: A reasonable idea, but it is not the way of the world. Some would argue that to maximize income, we tie our players’ hands behind their backs, then wonder why no youngsters are participating. As against that, will players stop competing in events if they have to defend against complex methods? I haven’t found that to be the case.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In second seat I opened one diamond with: ♠ K-9-3-2, ♥ K-6-4, ♦ A-Q-J-10, ♣ 9-2. My partner made an inverted raise to two diamonds. Would you rebid in no-trump, spades, or diamonds, and what would determine your choice?
— Rabid Rebidder, Danville, Ill.
ANSWER: This feels like a semibalanced hand because of the two small clubs. So a call of two spades looks closest to the mark. Reraising diamonds with only four seems premature, and I don’t want to wrong-side no-trump. We can always get to no-trump later.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
At my local club we always get killed when we play IMPs and our opponents open a kamikaze 10-12 no-trump. We play Cappelletti over a weak no-trump, but we don’t know what to do when they initiate a runout. How should the auction continue after we double and they run?
— Run Over, Levittown, Pa.
ANSWER: I suggest that passing a runout up to two hearts is forcing. The first double is takeout from either side (subsequent doubles are penalty), and responder bids as if his partner had opened one no-trump and the opponents had intervened. Stayman and transfers apply over a pass or a rescue to two clubs; Lebensohl applies over any higher escape. In virtually all other auctions, everything is natural. |
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].
October 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 2, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ Q 4 2
♥ 8 3
♦ A 9 7 6 5 3 2
♣ A |
|
| West
♠ K 9
♥ A Q J 9 7 5
♦ Q J 4
♣ 7 5 |
 |
East
♠ 10 8
♥ 10 6 4 2
♦ 10 8
♣ K Q 8 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ A J 7 6 5 3
♥ K
♦ K
♣ J 10 9 4 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♠ |
2♥ |
2 NT |
3♣ |
| 3♥ |
Dbl. |
4♣ |
5♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
6♠ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♣ 7
“To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.”
— Miguel de Unamuno
Poland and Sweden have in the past adopted an unusual approach to selecting their national teams: Ten prequalified pairs from each country played the second stage of their respective trials against each other. Today’s deal from those trials is a rarity because after West failed to find the killing lead against six spades, the only way for him to defeat the spade slam would be to sacrifice his trump trick.
North-South found their way to a highly ambitious slam, one apparently doomed on West’s natural lead of the heart ace. However Zdzislaw Laszczak, having put far too much faith in his opponents’ bidding, elected to lead a club.
Declarer, Marten Gustafsson, won, played a diamond to his king, ruffed a club in dummy, then cashed the diamond ace to discard his losing heart. A diamond ruff in hand now set up the suit.
Despite this great start, declarer still needed trumps to be 2-2, with West holding the spade king and no more clubs, or he could force the dummy. Accordingly, Gustafsson led a low spade from hand toward dummy’s queen. If West takes the king and returns a heart, declarer ruffs in hand and plays a spade to the queen. Dummy is now high.
Laszczak, despite being disconcerted by the knowledge that cashing the heart ace would have defeated the contract out of hand, was still focused enough to resist the automatic play. Instead, he played low on declarer’s trump lead. Although dummy’s queen won, the diamond suit was now dead, and the contract had to fail.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 4 2 |
| ♥ |
8 3 |
| ♦ |
A 9 7 6 5 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♥ |
2♣ |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If your partner was weak with both majors, he would surely have passed three diamonds (or have bid spades earlier). I’d take this call as a game-try for diamonds, with spade values. Your extra diamond length should be enough for game, but just in case, stop off in four hearts along the way. The earlier bidding has made it clear that you can’t hold more than a doubleton heart.
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].
October 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 1, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K Q
♥ K Q 10 5 3
♦ Q 7 4 2
♣ 7 5 |
|
| West
♠ 10 6 3 2
♥ 2
♦ A J 9 8
♣ Q J 10 6 |
|
East
♠ A J 9 8
♥ 9 8 6
♦ 10
♣ 9 8 4 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ 7 5 4
♥ A J 7 4
♦ K 6 5 3
♣ A K |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ Q
“Since knowledge is but sorrow’s spy,
It is not safe to know.”
— Sir William Davenant
In today’s deal the four-heart contract hinged on South’s taking evasive action to insure he held his diamond losers to two tricks. Sadly, declarer was not up to the task.
The club queen was won in hand and declarer drew trumps in three rounds before playing a spade to dummy’s king and East’s ace. Winning the club return, South cashed dummy’s spade queen, then played a diamond to the 10, king and ace. Now three diamond tricks had to be lost, and with them, the contract.
A spade loser is inevitable, so all of declarer’s efforts should be directed toward holding the diamond losers to two. There is no problem if diamonds break 3-2; curiously, the 4-1 split should not have proved an insurmountable obstacle, either.
The black suits need to be eliminated, so on winning the club lead, best is to play a spade immediately. West wins and returns a club — no other return is better. South wins, dummy’s second spade is cashed, trumps are drawn ending in hand, and South’s last spade is ruffed.
Now comes a low diamond, and irrespective of the card contributed by East, South should play low. If diamonds break 3-2, declarer will lose only two diamond tricks. But if the suit breaks 4-1, then regardless of whether West allows East’s 10 to hold or overtakes with the jack, a black suit return will allow a ruff and discard, and the play of a diamond presents declarer with two tricks in the suit.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K Q |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 5 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 7 4 2 |
| ♣ |
7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| 1♥ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s redouble simply announces a good hand, generally one suitable for defense. With your decent values, extra shape and a convenient second suit to bid, do not hold back. Simply bid two diamonds to tell your partner what you have. Let him go on from there.
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].
October 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9 6 2
♥ A 10 5
♦ Q 10 8 2
♣ Q J 9 |
|
| West
♠ 8 5
♥ K 8 7 4 3 2
♦ 7 3
♣ A K 2 |
|
East
♠ K J 10 4 3
♥ J 9
♦ J 9 6 4
♣ 10 6 |
| |
South
♠ A Q 7
♥ Q 6
♦ A K 5
♣ 8 7 5 4 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 4
“Not to admire is all the art I know.”
— Lord Byron
When West led the heart four against three no-trump, declarer ran the lead to his hand, then played a club to dummy’s queen as West ducked. Now when a second club went to West’s king, he paused to count out the hand and concluded correctly that his partner had no more than six points and no more than two hearts. The problem was now to construct a hand that would lead to the defeat of the contract.
West eventually decided that his only hope, unlikely as it might be, was for declarer to hold the doubleton queen-jack or king-jack of spades. He therefore tried the effect of a switch to the spade eight, but met with no success.
After declarer had wrapped up 10 tricks, West explained why he had not continued hearts. He knew that even if he had found East with the doubleton heart jack, his partner would have been left on lead. The defenders would still not have been able to set up the suit, as West had only one side-suit entry.
It was only much later that inspiration dawned on West as to what would have been his best shot. If he had led the heart king at trick four, it would have looked completely natural for declarer to duck this trick. But then West remains on play and can press on with a third heart while he still has the club entry to run the heart suit on regaining the lead.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 7 |
| ♥ |
A 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 5 |
| ♣ |
8 7 5 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♥ |
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There seem to be an awful lot of points in this deck! Rather than drive directly to game, cue-bid two diamonds to show a good hand and follow up with an invitational call, even after a sign-off in two hearts. At that point either a raise to three hearts or a call of two no-trump looks right on values; I prefer the latter.
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].
October 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 29, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9 7 4 3
♥ A K 7
♦ 9
♣ A 9 8 6 4 |
|
| West
♠ K J 10 6 5
♥ 10 9
♦ Q 8 5 4
♣ K 2 |
|
East
♠ A Q 8
♥ J 6 5
♦ J 10 2
♣ Q J 10 7 |
| |
South
♠ 2
♥ Q 8 4 3 2
♦ A K 7 6 3
♣ 5 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 10
“Speech was given to the ordinary sort of men whereby to communicate their mind; but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.”
— Robert South
After North opened light, sensibly relying on the extra controls and 5-4 pattern, South found the heart fit and drove to game.
If West had led and continued spades, declarer would have had an easy time of it by playing along crossruff lines. He would have ruffed the second spade and cashed his minor -suit top winners. Then he could crossruff spades and diamonds to win a total of seven trump tricks and three plain-suit winners. If East ruffed high on the fourth spade, declarer would have been able to discard his club loser and eventually ruff a club in hand.
But West found the more challenging lead of a trump, and now declarer could see the crossruff would fail. One possibility was to duck a club. The plan would be to take a second club with the ace, lead a third round for South to ruff, and (if the suit split) go back to dummy with the third round of trumps to cash the two long clubs.
South found a better line when he won the heart in dummy, played the diamond ace, ruffed a diamond, then played dummy’s second top trump and gave up a spade. He could arrange to ruff a spade, draw the last trump, then play the diamond king and concede a diamond while he still had one trump remaining with which to regain the lead and cash the last diamond. Declarer emerged with five hearts, four diamonds and a club trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
2 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 6 3 |
| ♣ |
5 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If you play the Michaels Cuebid, where a direct cuebid shows at least 5-5 with the other major and an unspecified minor, this hand is tailor-made for the bid. If at unfavorable vulnerability you might be a little worried by the weak heart intermediates, but showing the hand at one go makes the risk worthwhile.
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].
October 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ A 8 6
♥ 7 5
♦ K Q 10 7
♣ A Q 4 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7 4 3
♥ 8 6 2
♦ A 6 5
♣ 8 6 5 |
|
East
♠ Q J 5
♥ K J 10 9 4
♦ 8 2
♣ K 10 9 |
| |
South
♠ K 9 2
♥ A Q 3
♦ J 9 4 3
♣ J 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♦ |
1♥ |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity … It is a part of nature.”
— Herbert Spencer
In today’s deal South survived the first two hurdles in his contract of three no-trump, but tripped over the third.
South’s first good decision was to respond two no-trump rather than raising diamonds. His well-placed heart honors persuaded him to take the clubs on trust, a sensible enough gamble. When North raised his partner to three no-trump, West obediently kicked off with the heart two (to clarify the count in that suit for his partner). East played the heart king, and South ducked.
South won the heart return with the ace, but now fell from grace by playing on diamonds. When West took the ace, he still had a heart left to return, which removed declarer’s last stop. Declarer had eight tricks, but needed a second club trick. When the finesse failed, so did the contract.
The danger hand is East; therefore, East’s entry must be attacked before South’s last heart stopper is removed. If West has the club king, there is no problem: the finesse of the club queen will win, then the diamond ace can be dislodged. If East has both the diamond ace and the club king, the contract is doomed anyway. But if, as here, West has the diamond ace and East the club king, then when West eventually comes on lead with his ace, he will have no heart to return.
Note that if the defenders shift to spades at trick two, West becomes the danger hand, and declarer must play on diamonds before clubs.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 9 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 3 |
| ♦ |
J 9 4 3 |
| ♣ |
J 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Dbl. |
| Rdbl. |
1♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Having shown 10 or more points with your redouble, you can comfortably bid just one no-trump now. There is no reason to assume that you want partner to bid on, unless he has some sort of extra high-cards or shape. The more space you can save, the better the picture your partner will be able to paint.
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].
October 11th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 27, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 8 6 2
♥ 8
♦ 8 3
♣ A K 10 8 7 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ Q 10 7 3
♥ Q 9 5 2
♦ Q 10 7 6
♣ 6 |
|
East
♠ K J 9 4
♥ K J 10 4
♦ 5 2
♣ Q 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ A 5
♥ A 7 6 3
♦ A K J 9 4
♣ J 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“There is not a fiercer hell than the failure in a great object.”
— John Keats
After reversing, South has a problem at his third turn, when North repeats his clubs. Maybe he should use fourth-suit forcing instead of stopping off in three no-trump. After all, five clubs is the best game today, and slam is in the picture, even facing North’s dead minimum. Having said that, South’s decision to bid three no-trump is reasonable enough., West’s fourth-highest lead of the spade three strongly suggests that he has at most four cards in the suit, since if he had five, the three could not be fourth-highest. This is so because South can see the spade two.
South should realize that it would be foolish to duck the first trick and risk a shift to hearts. He must win his spade ace and should now try to bring the club suit in if he can. The right way to do this is to run the club jack at once, keeping communications intact with the dummy if the finesse against the queen loses.
Playing the ace-king of clubs, hoping to drop the queen, will cost the contract today, since there would be no way to reach dummy’s established club suit. And if declarer switches his attention to diamonds after finding no joy in the clubs, the defenders have five winners before declarer can take nine.
As it is, East takes his club queen at trick two and can cash three spade tricks for his side, but declarer has the rest.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 10 3 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 7 2 |
| ♦ |
J 8 |
| ♣ |
A 6 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
3♣ |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
4♠ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your heart sequence is not so solid that you can lead it with impunity, particularly when partner rates to be very short. I would secretly admire any defender who led a low heart at trick one, but that is far too rich for me. I’ll settle for the club ace and find out later what I should have done.
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].
October 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, September 26, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently in “Bid with the Aces” you posed a problem hand where the auction around the table had gone: one diamond – one heart – one no-trump. As fourth hand I would not be clear why the auction was a tip-off to a possible bad heart break. Since you as fourth hand have four small hearts, and partner presumably has five or more, that would leave four hearts between the other two hands. How badly can the hearts be breaking?
— Math Maven, Richmond, Va.
ANSWER: Your RHO’s decision to bid no-trump does not always deliver a second heart stop, but it frequently does. If a game contract our way depended on trumps splitting 2-2 or on a finesse through the opening bidder for the trump queen or king, I would not fancy your chances, would you?
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My partner held ♠ K-J-9-7-3, ♥ Q-J-2, ♦ 10-3-2, ♣ 8-2. He raised my opening of one spade to two, and over my game-try of three clubs he signed off in three spades. I passed, with 16 points and a 5-1-3-4 pattern, and we made game comfortably enough. Who was to blame?
— Ray of Sunshine, Houston, Texas
ANSWER: Your partner might have done more than raise one spade to two – some would invite, some would drive to four spades here as a two-way shot. After your sensible game-try, your partner must bid game. Like it or not, he knows he has spectacular trumps, and the right doubleton, which should be almost enough on its own. You were correct, in theory, to pass the sign-off. When you consult partner, you must trust him.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
When would you risk a contract to play for an overtrick? What odds would you need in your favor? And what about settling for one down instead of playing to make a contract and risking going two down?
— Handicapper, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
|
|
ANSWER: Matchpoints is the only form of the game where safety plays are unattractive. At pairs, in a normal contract, if all other factors are equal (though they rarely are), one follows the line offering the best chance of taking the most tricks. This could be a 60 percent line that might lead to an overtrick if it succeeds or might risk going down if it fails. Bear in mind that one sometimes needs to risk a contract to get back to par on a deal after a bad guess by you or a good lead by the opponents.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My LHO opened one no-trump. My RHO held ♠ J-9-7-4, ♥ A-Q-7-3-2, ♦ K-8, ♣ 9-6, but instead of transferring into hearts, he bid Stayman and then three spades! His side still reached a heart game, but I had no idea how (or why) they did it.
— Lost in Space, Wichita, Texas
ANSWER: Your opponents were playing a convention called Smolen, whereby a jump in a major after a two-diamond response to Stayman shows both majors, with four in the bid suit and five in the other major. This acts as a transfer to get the strong hand to be declarer if theew is a 5-3 fit. Note that when your opponents announce a conventional bid, if you ask, they must explain it to you. If you still don’t understand, just ask them to explain it further and don’t feel embarrassed about that.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a duplicate match my partner and I were doubled in four hearts, and made it. Another team bid three hearts, were also doubled, and made an overtrick. They received 930 points while we received 790. Since we bid game and they didn’t, we shouldn’t we have received the same number of points? Someone told me they were doubled into game, but I don’t understand that concept. Could you please explain the 140-point difference.
— Short-Changed, Woodland Hills, Calif.
ANSWER: When a contract of three hearts (worth 90 points) is doubled, it becomes worth 180 and thus scores as game, since any contract scoring more than 100 carries the game bonus. Doubled overtricks are worth 100 nonvulnerable, or 200 when vulnerable. The 140 discrepancy comes from the difference between a doubled vulnerable overtrick of 200 and a doubled trick of 30, worth 60. Which is more embarrassing: to double opponents (who can make 10 tricks) at the three-level or four-level? The former, I’d say — hence it should cost more! |
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].
October 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ A J 7
♥ K 10 4
♦ A J 7 6
♣ A Q 2 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 9
♥ A J 6 2
♦ 9 5 4
♣ 8 4 3 |
|
East
♠ 10
♥ Q 9 8 7 3
♦ K 10
♣ K J 10 7 6 |
| |
South
♠ 8 6 5 4 3 2
♥ 5
♦ Q 8 3 2
♣ 9 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
1♥ |
| 1♠ |
2♠ |
Dbl. |
4♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| Pass |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
Opening Lead: ♥ A
“Who would have thought my shriveled heart
Could have recovered greenness? It was gone
Quite under ground.”
— George Herbert
Looking at all four hands on this deal from the 2000 U.S. International trials, we can see that a club lead by Eric Rodwell defeats four spades, while the lead of the heart ace allows declarer to discard his losing club on the king and make the contract. So Jeff Meckstroth’s four-club bid should have made the defense simple.
Not so fast: Rodwell quite reasonably thought he might be need to start tapping dummy immediately, so he tabled the heart ace and shifted to a club. Was this too little too late? Read on.
Declarer, Steve Garner, rose with the ace, pitched his losing club on the heart king, ruffed the third heart in hand, and played a trump to the king and ace. (Ducking would have simplified the play.)
Now declarer ruffed a club to hand to lead a second trump toward dummy’s jack. West won the queen and tapped South again with a heart.
Down to one trump in hand, Garner now led out the diamond queen, leaving a trump outstanding. He would have been home had East taken the trick, but Meckstroth smoothly ducked!
When declarer repeated the finesse, Meckstroth produced the diamond king followed by the club jack, giving everyone a ruff and discard.
Declarer was dead in the water now. Ruffing in dummy would promote the spade nine, while ruffing in hand would allow West to jettison his last diamond. Declarer would then have no way back to dummy to draw the last trump. Down one!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 7 |
| ♥ |
K 10 4 |
| ♦ |
A J 7 6 |
| ♣ |
A Q 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Gone are the days when this sequence was nonforcing. Your partner has enough values to force to game and may have slam interest. Rather than stolidly raising to game, cuebid three spades to let him cooperate if he has enough values to be looking for higher things. In context, you are highly slam-suitable.
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].
October 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 24, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A 9 6
♥ A 10 6
♦ Q 9 5
♣ J 9 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 8 7 3 2
♥ 8 7 5
♦ A 4
♣ 10 7 6 |
|
East
♠ K 10 4
♥ J 4 3 2
♦ K 3 2
♣ Q 8 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 5
♥ K Q 9
♦ J 10 8 7 6
♣ A K 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.”
— Lennon and McCartney
Defensive signaling is a vastly under-studied area of the game. Everyone thinks they understand attitude and count signals, but suit preference is the red-headed step-child of signals. The point is that on just about every deal one defender or the other has the opportunity to pass a message to his partner. Of course that signal does not always translate into tricks, but that does not take away from the usefulness of the signal.
After West led the spade three to the king, East returned the suit. Declarer won the queen as West contributed the eight. Declarer now thoughtfully led a heart to the ace and tried a low diamond from the board. If East had played low, declarer would have been home, since West’s diamond entry would have been dislodged before the spades were established. However East alertly rose with the diamond king to play a spade, and defeat the game. Why did East find the play? On the second spade West had followed with the eight, in a position where he could not have started life with three or four small cards, or he would have led a larger spot-card initially. The most likely meaning for the spade eight was suit preference for West’s remaining entry. Following with the jack would have suggested a card in hearts, so the eight suggested diamonds.
East knew that unless West had an ace, the game was surely not going to be defeated, and it was necessary for East to preserve his partner’s entry until the spades were established.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 6 |
| ♥ |
A 10 6 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 5 |
| ♣ |
J 9 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
2♦ |
4♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Frequently when your partner makes a simple overcall and the opponents bounce to game in an agreed suit, it puts you under the gun in fourth seat. Best here is to double, meaning it simply as values, (in an ideal world those values would be ‘transferable’ meaning tricks on both offence and defense). The overcaller is expected to bid again with significant extra length in his suit, or a two-suiter.
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