December 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, November 26, 2010 
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ 9 3
♥ A K 8 5 2
♦ Q J 9 8 4
♣ A |
|
| West
♠ J 8 4
♥ 7 6
♦ K 10 6
♣ K Q 6 3 2 |
 |
East
♠ 5
♥ Q J 10 4 3
♦ 7 3 2
♣ 10 9 8 7 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q 10 7 6 2
♥ 9
♦ A 5
♣ J 5 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♥ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5♣* |
Pass |
| 5 NT |
Pass |
6♥ |
Pass |
| 7♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *Zero or three key-cards, counting the trump king as an ace |
Opening Lead: ♣ K
“A man must be a little mad if he does not want to be even more stupid.”
— Michel de Montaigne
On this deal from the first session of last year’s Blue Ribbon Pairs, South, with eight tricks in his hand facing an opening bid, decided to eschew a scientific approach. It is better to play the direct four-no-trump response as asking for straight aces, but North and South were at least on the same wavelength. After discovering that his partner held the relevant key-cards, South took a shot at seven spades.
At first things were going smoothly, but then came a hitch. Nikolay Demirev (West) rejected the traditional (but perhaps overrated) lead of a trump in favor of the club king. That appears to be a catastrophic decision when you look at all four hands, as declarer can now ruff two clubs in dummy.
South took trick one with dummy’s ace, cashed the top hearts, discarding a diamond, crossed to the diamond ace and ruffed a club. He now played the diamond queen, ruffing it in hand, and ruffed his last club.
He only had to get back to hand to draw trumps to land his ambitious contract, and we can see that a diamond ruff is the way to do it. However, there was a problem, because on the second round of diamonds West had followed with the king!
That brilliant falsecard induced declarer to return to hand by ruffing a heart, which West was able to overruff. How much more satisfying than to lead a trump and defeat the contract in more pedestrian fashion.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 8 4 |
| ♥ |
7 6 |
| ♦ |
K 10 6 |
| ♣ |
K Q 6 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your no-trump response suggested 8-12 points, so you are at the lower end of your range. But your trump support is outstanding. Not only might you make game, but you may not have much defense against a spade or diamond contract. I would raise to three clubs now, which does not promise the earth. (The “impossible” bid of two spades, or a cuebid of two hearts, would show a stronger hand.)
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 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, November 25, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K 7 6 4
♥ A 8 3 2
♦ 6 2
♣ Q J 4 |
|
| West
♠ Q 10 3
♥ Q 7
♦ Q 10 5 4
♣ K 10 8 2 |
|
East
♠ J 9 8 5
♥ K J 10 4
♦ J 9 8 7 3
♣ — |
| |
South
♠ A 2
♥ 9 6 5
♦ A K
♣ A 9 7 6 5 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ 4
“Thou’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never!”
— William Shakespeare
At no-trump a simple rule is that it never makes sense to play on the opponents’ suit and set it up for them before you play on your own. But never say never, as demonstrated in today’s deal, which comes from last year’s Fall Nationals, at San Diego.
Consider the contract of three no-trump on the lead of the diamond four. You take East’s diamond jack with your king. What now? A simple approach would be to play a spade to dummy and go after clubs. That covers most of the bases, but not the 4-0 break when West has the length. Since this is a team game, where the object is to insure the contract, better is to lead a low club up to dummy at trick two. Lo and behold, East shows out.
Now you have to be careful. If you cross back to hand with the spade ace to lead a club up, West wins the club king, leaving clubs blocked, and plays a second diamond. Now you can’t unscramble your tricks.
Better is to make the somewhat unnatural-looking move of crossing to your diamond ace at trick three. This sets up the opponents’ diamonds, but in return you get to play a second club up toward dummy while leaving your entry protected. This lets West win his club king and cash the diamonds. But you can win the spade return in dummy, unblock clubs, and come to hand with the spade ace to claim the balance.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
A 8 3 2 |
| ♦ |
6 2 |
| ♣ |
Q J 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 NT |
2♣ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: These days it is relatively rare to run into opponents playing natural overcalls of one no-trump. But whatever the meaning of the two-club overcall (unless it specifically guarantees both majors), it is best to use the double of two clubs as Stayman — as if the opponents had not intervened at all — and to play the rest of your normal system as if the opponents had not bid at all. For higher-level intervention, takeout doubles work fine from both sides of the table.
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 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 7 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: All |
North
♠ K Q 10 8 7 5
♥ 10 9 8
♦ K 3
♣ 8 3 |
|
| West
♠ 3
♥ K 7 6 2
♦ J 8 6 5
♣ K Q 10 6 |
|
East
♠ J 6 2
♥ J 5 3
♦ Q 10 9 2
♣ A 5 4 |
| |
South
♠ A 9 4
♥ A Q 4
♦ A 7 4
♣ J 9 7 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
4♥* |
Pass |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ K
“They fight with the wiles of fiends escaping
And underhand.”
— William Rose Benet
In honor of the Thanksgiving National Tournament being held this week in Orlando, this week’s deals all come from last year’s Fall Nationals, held in San Diego.
On today’s deal most of the field played four spades, emerging with 10 tricks by taking two heart finesses. At one table, though, South was declarer (and always is in print), and West knew no better than to lead the club king. The contract is still impregnable, but Eric Leong as East was not going to let that put him off. He overtook the club king with the ace and returned the club five, looking like a man who wanted to get a club ruff or an overruff. Suitably fooled, West won the club 10 at trick two and played back a low club to go for the trump promotion.
Declarer now had three plausible strategies available. He could ruff high in dummy and hope to negotiate trumps and hearts, with some excellent endplay chances if trumps split. He would ruff with a middle trump, hoping the spade jack was well-placed for him, or he could discard a heart, hoping for the actual lie of the cards or for a winning heart finesse.
I’m not sure what is best, but when declarer followed the first line, by ruffing with the spade queen, then laying down the trump ace and king, he had turned plus 620 into minus 100 and Leong into a hero — if just for one day.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
3 |
| ♥ |
K 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
J 8 6 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2♦ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s double of the weak two-bid is for takeout. Though your spade shortage may lead you to suspect that partner has an unusual shape for his action, you have no reason not to show your invitational hand with hearts by jumping to three hearts. Now your partner can introduce a long spade suit if he has an atypical double with extra values, letting you 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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ K J 10 9 3
♥ A J 4 3
♦ J 4
♣ K 5 |
|
| West
♠ 8 7 4
♥ K 9
♦ 10 9 8 5 2
♣ J 6 2 |
|
East
♠ A Q 6 2
♥ 10 7 6 2
♦ A 7 3
♣ Q 4 |
| |
South
♠ 5
♥ Q 8 5
♦ K Q 6
♣ A 10 9 8 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ 10
“Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering.”
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky
To coincide with the Fall Nationals now being played in Orlando, all the deals this week come from last year’s championships, in San Diego.
While the championships used to be almost exclusively an American event, this is no longer the case. National squads from all over Europe are regular visitors. In this deal from the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs, Victoria Gromova and Tatiana Ponomareva — part of the Russian ladies’ national squad — defended very nicely against the no-trump game.
Gromova led the diamond 10 to Ponomareva’s ace, and South won the diamond continuation in hand. This had the effect of removing declarer’s fast entry to the clubs. It might be right to play on one of the majors at once, but neither suit seemed exactly promising, so South could think of nothing better to do than play three rounds of clubs, pitching a heart from dummy and hoping the defenders would continue the attack on diamonds. Gromova won the club jack, and her partner (playing upside-down discards, where a small card encourages) thoughtfully pitched the spade two.
Gromova obediently shifted to a spade, and Ponomareva won the queen and ace and played a third spade, locking declarer in dummy, forcing him to surrender a heart for down one.
While declarer could have succeeded by taking an early heart finesse, it is far from clear that that would have been a sensible approach on a different lie of the cards.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
5 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 5 |
| ♦ |
K Q 6 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 8 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: A jump to three clubs used to be a forcing raise. Then came limit raises, and these days inverted raises prevail. By this I mean that many players (including me) use a simple raise to two of partner’s minor as at least a limit raise in that suit, with a jump to three as pre-emptive (about 3-7 HCP). It doesn’t matter what system you play, as long as you and your partner are on the same wavelength.
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 6th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, November 22, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A 6
♥ K 5 3 2
♦ 6
♣ 10 9 8 7 4 3 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 8 7 5 4
♥ J 9
♦ Q J 8 7
♣ 2 |
|
East
♠ J 3 2
♥ Q 8
♦ K 10 9 5 3
♣ A K J |
| |
South
♠ 10 9
♥ A 10 7 6 4
♦ A 4 2
♣ Q 6 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
1♦ |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ K
“The real business of a ball is either to look out for a wife, to look after a wife, or to look after somebody else’s wife.”
— R.S. Surtees
Today’s deal comes from the Life Master Women’s Pairs held in San Diego in 2009 — the tournament from which all this week’s deals come. You’d expect West to open a weak two spades at almost every table. If East invites game, West rates to reach four spades, down two on a diamond ruff. But how does four hearts by South fare?
On either a diamond or a spade lead, declarer can draw trumps and build a club trick for herself. What about a club lead? The defenders take their two top clubs and a ruff, and declarer claims the balance.
However, the defenders can do better if East ignores the “red herring” of the club jack. East wins the club king at trick one and gives partner the immediate ruff without cashing the second winner. Now the spade shift builds their third trick, and they have the club ace to come. This defense was found by Doug Doub, at the table.
The winner of the women’s event, Shawn Quinn, playing with Sue Picus, declared four hearts on the auction shown. Quinn won the spade lead and had to decide whether to draw trumps (risking two down if the clubs did not split) or go all out for the contract. Because West ostensibly could not hold a low singleton club or she would have led it, Quinn quite reasonably played a club. East won and led a low spade to her partner. Now the club ruff was no longer available, and declarer was back to plus 420.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 6 5 4 3 |
| ♥ |
K 4 |
| ♦ |
J 9 7 3 2 |
| ♣ |
7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
3♥ |
| Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You would normally avoid a short-suit lead if you had a natural trump trick. Here, though, you have excellent chances on a club lead of getting two ruffs if you can put your partner in with the club ace and a second fast entry. Even if partner does not have the club ace, you may win the heart king and get a ruff with your small trump. However, either a spade or a diamond lead might also work.
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 5th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, November 21, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Where do you stand on using Blackwood when you have two losers in a side suit? Do you wait till you know that all suits are stopped before launching into Blackwood?
— Risk Manager, Ketchikan, Alaska
ANSWER: Occasionally, you might use Blackwood when your side has more than enough HCP for slam, but one suit may be unguarded. If you can’t be scientific, realize that your opponents don’t always find the right lead. And they will frequently assume that there is no ace or king to cash — at least the first few times.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ K-9, ♥ A-K-7-2, ♦ A-K-Q-9-6-3, ♣ 2, I assume you would open two clubs and rebid three diamonds over two diamonds, but what if partner now bids three spades? When faced with this problem, my partner tried five diamonds, down in the 6-0 fit, but with a 4-4 heart fit available.
— Not a Girl’s Best Friend, Huntington, W.Va.
ANSWER: I would bid four hearts over three spades to let partner decide where he wants to play. He knows better than I do what his hand looks like! Note that some fancy bidders use a direct jump by opener to three hearts or three spades over the two-diamond response to show a 4-6 pattern with longer diamonds. That would make finding the heart fit rather easy today.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I dealt and passed, holding ♠ Q-J-10-3, ♥ A-Q-3-2, ♦ 9-7-5-4-2, ♣ —, and my partner opened one club. What response should I make to ensure we do not miss our best fit? And what rebid strategy do you recommend?
— Triple Jeopardy, Bellingham, Wash.
|
|
ANSWER: There is no good answer here to make sure you find your fit if partner might conceal a major over a one-diamond response, and rebid one no-trump with a balanced hand and only three clubs. However, since I want to find a major-suit fit if we have game on, a one-heart response maximizes our chances of doing that. If partner rebids one no-trump, I will give up, passing reluctantly.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Please explain the Lebensohl convention. In which sequences is it commonly played?
— Continuing Ed, Wilmington, N.C.
ANSWER: When your partner opens one no-trump and the next hand intervenes, it is very helpful to use two-level calls as weak, three-level bids as strong and the bid of two no-trump as a puppet to three clubs, based on a weak hand with its own suit. Responder passes the forced three-club call when weak with clubs, or bids his own suit. This principle can also be extended to responses to the double of a weak two-bid. The difference is that direct actions are now invitational, not forcing.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
You are in fourth seat, holding ♠ K-J-4, ♥ 9-6-5-2, ♦ Q-10-3, ♣ A-3-2. Partner opens one heart and the next hand overcalls two spades, weak. Would you consider bidding no-trump instead of raising hearts? If you do support partner, to what level would you bid?
— Action Figure, Detroit, Mich.
ANSWER: This is very awkward. I can see a case for a natural and invitational two-no-trump call, or for a simple or jump raise in hearts. Since three hearts might be bid with a king less, this is the least attractive option. Even a negative double might work out well by giving partner a chance to show extras. Put me down for a bid of four hearts (but hide my answer from my regular partner, Dan Morse). |
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 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A Q 10 5
♥ Q J 10 5
♦ J 7
♣ A Q 5 |
|
| West
♠ K 8 6 2
♥ —
♦ K Q 10 9
♣ 9 8 6 3 2 |
|
East
♠ 7 3
♥ 9 7 6 3
♦ 8 5 3 2
♣ K 7 4 |
| |
South
♠ J 9 4
♥ A K 8 4 2
♦ A 6 4
♣ J 10 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2 NT* |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| 5♦ |
Pass |
5♥ |
Pass |
| 6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *Game forcing with heart support |
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“It was the limit of my dream,
The focus of my prayer,
A perfect, paralyzing bliss
Contented as despair.”
— Emily Dickinson
West leads the diamond king. How do you plan to bring home your delicate heart slam?
In seven hearts you would play for both black-suit finesses to work. But given that you can bring home 12 tricks by taking only one of the two finesses, which should it be?
The answer is that taking the club finesse allows you to pitch a spade but leaves you with a spade loser, while taking the spade finesse allows you to pitch your only club loser.
Accordingly, you should duck the opening lead to set up communication for ruffing a diamond in dummy. West should shift to a club at trick two. Since you need the spade finesse, you should rise with the club ace and play the trump queen, finding the bad break, then the diamond jack to your ace so you can ruff your remaining diamond high. After cashing dummy’s trump 10, you will draw East’s remaining trumps with your ace and king.
Finally, you have to manage the spade suit correctly. If you lead the jack first, West will play low. After a second spade finesse, you will be locked in dummy, unable to repeat the spade finesse, and East will score his club king eventually.
You can avoid this problem by first running the spade nine. When that is successful, you continue with the spade jack. Eventually, you score four spade tricks, five trumps, the diamond ace, a diamond ruff and the club ace, for a total of 12 tricks.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 9 4 |
| ♥ |
A K 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
A 6 4 |
| ♣ |
J 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
2♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You plan to head toward three no-trump, but there is no harm in investigating other contracts such as a club or a heart game. Start by bidding two diamonds, a forcing change of suit, hoping to hear heart support from your partner. You plan to cuebid spades to look for a stopper if a heart contract seems impractical, while keeping a club game in reserve if all else fails.
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 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ A K 5 4
♥ A 10 9 6 4
♦ 9 3
♣ J 7 |
|
| West
♠ 10 9 3
♥ 8 5
♦ A Q
♣ K Q 10 6 3 2 |
|
East
♠ 7
♥ K Q J 3 2
♦ J 8 7 6 4 2
♣ 5 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 8 6 2
♥ 7
♦ K 10 5
♣ A 9 8 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
1♥ |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 8
“Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised.”
— Niccolo Macchiavelli
Today’s deal, from a tournament in England, saw declarer playing well against challenging defense.
South’s four-spade bid was slightly aggressive, but he was hoping to find four-card trump support opposite, plus club shortage. Quite often you do not need many more than half the points in the deck to have some play for 10 tricks, especially when you have a nine-card fit and when the bidding has given you some clues you can use in the play.
West led the heart eight, won with dummy’s ace. This was revealing, since it marked East with all the missing heart honors, thus placing the diamond ace with West. So at trick two declarer ran the diamond nine to West’s queen.
West now found the best switch to a trump, and declarer drew three rounds ending in the dummy. He then played a diamond to his 10 and West’s ace. West got off play with a heart, ruffed by declarer, who cashed his diamond king to make sure he had extracted all of West’s exit cards. In the five-card ending, a low club toward the jack finished West off. He had to go in with the queen and was left with nothing but clubs. He was forced to exit with the club king, to South’s ace. Now, since South had the 9-8 of clubs left, he could take a marked ruffing finesse against West’s 10 to set up his 10th winner for himself.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 8 6 2 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
K 10 5 |
| ♣ |
A 9 8 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: A raise to three diamonds (sometimes described as a courtesy raise) will achieve two things. It will make it harder for the opponents to venture into your auction and will keep the bidding open in case all your partner needed to know about was your trump support. You would perhaps like to do more, but you have no convenient way to invite without going past the safety 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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
December 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9 6
♥ K 6
♦ A 9 2
♣ A K J 9 7 5 |
|
| West
♠ J 10 8 4 3
♥ Q 7
♦ 10 8
♣ 6 4 3 2 |
|
East
♠ A K 7
♥ J 9 8 2
♦ 7 6 5 3
♣ Q 10 |
| |
South
♠ Q 5 2
♥ A 10 5 4 3
♦ K Q J 4
♣ 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♣ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 4
“Give me a look, give me a face
That makes simplicity a grace.”
— Ben Jonson
The Principle of Restricted Choice (which, like Occam’s Razor, says “Always take the simplest path”) applies when an opponent plays an honor and you need to find a touching honor by either playing for the drop or finessing. It says that the missing honor is more likely to be in the other hand because with both honors a defender had a choice of which to play.
Say you are missing four cards including the queen and jack. When you play the ace, one opponent plays an honor. Do you play him for Q-J-doubleton or a singleton honor? With Q-J-doubleton, the defender might have played either honor at his first turn; with a singleton honor, the player had no choice. The odds heavily favor finessing on the next round, playing him for a singleton honor.
The same theory can be applied to situations like the one in today’s deal, where North-South bid to their best game — four hearts. The defenders started with three rounds of spades. Declarer won and cashed the heart king and ace. When West played the queen, declarer, using the Principle of Restricted Choice, correctly decided that an original holding of honor-doubleton was more likely than Q-J-7.
Accordingly, declarer played a club to the ace, ruffed a club, took the diamond king, crossed to dummy’s diamond ace, and played winning clubs through East. Whenever East ruffed in, whether high or low, declarer would lose just one trick more.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 10 8 4 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 7 |
| ♦ |
10 8 |
| ♣ |
6 4 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has shown a balanced 18-20 hand and not promised any spade length at all. But the odds strongly favor his having two or three spades, in which case spades will probably play better than no-trump. So bid two spades and apologize if partner has a small doubleton spade. But even then, your decision might still be right.
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 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ A Q 5
♥ 3
♦ A Q J
♣ A K J 9 8 2 |
|
| West
♠ 7 4
♥ Q 10 5
♦ 8 4 3 2
♣ Q 10 5 4 |
|
East
♠ K J 10 9 8 6
♥ 9 7
♦ 7 6 5
♣ 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ 3 2
♥ A K J 8 6 4 2
♦ K 10 9
♣ 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
2♠ |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♥ |
Pass |
6♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 7
“Since we must admit that philosophy is at odds with common sense, let us make the most of it. What, then, IS common sense?”
— Ralph Perry
It is important to know the odds for some basic suit combinations. It is also important to know when to throw the textbook out the window. For example, when West leads the spade seven against your heart slam, how do you plan to make 12 tricks?
The original declarer facing this problem played the hand according to the percentage tables and so managed to find a way to go down. He took the first trick with dummy’s spade ace, then played the club ace and king, discarding his spade loser from hand. Next, declarer finessed the trump jack (theoretically the correct play to avoid two heart losers, but not the right play today).
West won with the heart queen and returned a third round of clubs. East brightly ruffed this with the trump nine, forcing South to overruff with the king. As a result, West’s trump 10 became the setting trick.
Declarer claimed that he had been unlucky. While there was some merit to this claim, the heart finesse was ambitious. It would be needed only if East had begun with four trumps headed by the queen. This was not likely, as he had advertised spade length in the bidding.
The best plan to make this contact was the simplest. South should have played the ace and king of trumps at tricks two and three, and only then have taken the club ace and king. This avoids any trump promotions and prevents embarrassment when East is very short of clubs, with or without the heart queen.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 5 |
| ♦ |
8 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 5 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
1♥ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
2♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: When your partner doubled one spade, he suggested both a good hand and some shape since you had shown a bad hand by your first pass. In context, you have significant extras and trump support. You might even have bid three clubs at your second turn. You certainly have enough to bid 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].
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