The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, November 6, 2010

November 20th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, November 6, 2010 

Dealer: South Vul: None	North ♠ 6 5 ♥ A J 10 8 5 2 ♦ A J 2 ♣ 6 3
West ♠ 10 3 2 ♥ 6 3 ♦ 10 8 4 ♣ J 9 7 5 2		East ♠ 9 8 7 ♥ Q 9 4 ♦ K Q 7 6 3 ♣ K 4
	South ♠ A K Q J 4 ♥ K 7 ♦ 9 5 ♣ A Q 10 8

 

South	West	North	East
1♠	Pass	2♥	Pass
3♣	Pass	3♦	Pass
3♥	Pass	4♦	Pass
4 NT	Pass	5♥	Pass
6♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♦ 4

“To squander away the objects which made the happiness of their fellows would be to them no sacrifice at all.”

— Edmund Burke

A Merrimac Coup is an attempt to disrupt declarer’s communications by the strategic shift to an unsupported honor. You normally cannot be sure with a Merrimac Coup that it will cost you a trick, whereas today’s play was a more cold-blooded surrender of a winner.

When France defeated England in their annual encounter in the Entente Cordiale Trophy, Michel Lebel was the player confronted with the tricky defensive problem against six spades. You can view it from Lebel’s perspective by taking the East seat.

The auction was entirely straightforward, but South’s Blackwood inquiry had elicited the fact that North did not have the heart queen (not entirely a surprise to Lebel). Philippe Cronier led the diamond four, and declarer played low from dummy. How would you plan the defense?

It is all too easy to defend passively, but Lebel worked out that on a passive black-suit return, declarer would make 12 tricks easily. He would draw trumps, play the top hearts, ruff a heart, then cross to the diamond ace to run the hearts. Hoping to find his partner with the club jack, Lebel found the Greek gift of winning with the diamond queen and returning a diamond into dummy’s tenace, giving declarer a cheap trick, but taking away the entry to the heart suit. The best that declarer could do was take the club finesse and try to ruff a club, but Lebel could overruff for one down.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, November 5, 2010

November 19th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, November 5, 2010 

Dealer: South Vul: E/W	North ♠ Q 9 8 ♥ A Q J 8 5 ♦ 5 3 ♣ 9 6 4
West ♠ 10 7 6 5 2 ♥ 9 7 4 ♦ A Q 10 4 ♣ 2		East ♠ K 4 3 ♥ K 10 2 ♦ 6 2 ♣ J 10 8 7 3
	South ♠ A J ♥ 6 3 ♦ K J 9 8 7 ♣ A K Q 5

 

South	West	North	East
1♦	Pass	1♥	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♥	Pass
2 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ 5

“Economy is going without something you do want in case you should, some day, want something you probably won’t want.”

— Anthony Hope

Put yourself in the East seat when West leads a low spade against three no-trump.

The natural inclination is to play your spade king (hoping it wins), drive out North’s third-round spade winner, then try to keep declarer from enjoying the hearts in dummy.

This is a good idea as far as it goes, but what if South has the spade ace and partner has led from five to the jack or 10? (In both cases, not only would playing the spade king give South a third natural spade trick, but it would also give him a possible late entry to dummy with the spade queen.)

On the sight of dummy, East should focus his attention on trying to try to kill the heart suit by holding up his heart king as long as he can and by saving his spade king over the queen to prevent the latter from being an entry.

Best defense is to duck the first spade. South will win in hand and lead a heart to dummy as West gives count in hearts by following low. East ducks offhandedly, and South returns to hand with a club to play a second heart to the queen and king.

Now East exits with the club jack, and when West pitches the spade two, it clarifies the layout and the count in that suit. East can duck the next spade play, and the defenders will be in complete control.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, November 4, 2010

November 18th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, November 4, 2010 

Dealer: South Vul: N/S	North ♠ K 5 ♥ A 8 6 5 ♦ 7 6 4 ♣ 8 6 5 4
West ♠ 3 ♥ J 2 ♦ Q J 10 9 5 ♣ K Q J 9 2		East ♠ Q J 10 8 ♥ Q 10 9 7 3 ♦ 2 ♣ 10 7 3
	South ♠ A 9 7 6 4 2 ♥ K 4 ♦ A K 8 3 ♣ A

 

South	West	North	East
1♠	2 NT	Pass	3♣
Dbl.	Pass	4♣	Pass
4♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ K

“Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.”

— Marcus Aurelius

In today’s auction West’s two-no-trump bid promised the minors, and over your takeout double North found an imaginative “choice-of-games” cue-bid. After West leads the club king to your ace, how do you plan the play in four spades?

Since West can have at most three major-suit cards, he is more likely to hold only one trump than any other holding. If you start from that assumption, you should attempt to cut your four top losers in spades and diamonds to three by trying to ruff your fourth diamond in dummy.

Win the club ace, cross to the trump king in dummy, and lead a diamond to the ace. A heart to the ace allows another diamond to be led toward your hand. Because East knows he cannot gain by ruffing a loser with a master trump, your diamond king will win.

Now you put West on lead with a diamond, planning to ruff the fourth round of diamonds in dummy. Because West began with only one spade, he cannot prevent you from executing this plan. If he returns a diamond, you ruff with dummy’s five. All the defenders will score is two trump tricks to go with their diamond trick. If instead West returns a club, you will trump this in hand and lead a fourth round of diamonds, ruffing in the dummy.

Note that this line succeeds even if West has one heart and two spades; the defenders can maneuver a heart ruff, but East has one fewer natural trump trick.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, November 3, 2010

November 17th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 

Dealer: East Vul: All	North ♠ K 6 5 ♥ K 8 2 ♦ A Q J 3 ♣ 7 3 2
West ♠ Q J 7 ♥ J 10 7 6 ♦ 10 4 ♣ 10 9 8 6		East ♠ 9 ♥ A Q 9 ♦ 9 8 6 2 ♣ K Q J 5 4
	South ♠ A 10 8 4 3 2 ♥ 5 4 3 ♦ K 7 5 ♣ A

 

South	West	North	East
			1♣
1♠	Pass	2♣	Pass
3♠	Pass	4♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ 10

“Here, as elsewhere, the search for causes must follow the collection of facts.”

— Hippolyte Taine

Suppose you are sitting South in a team game, which means that assuring the contract is paramount. You have become declarer in four spades after East had opened one club. Your partner’s cue-bid in response to your overcall promised values and spade support. Your jump to three spades showed a little extra, allowing partner to bid on to game. Plan the play on the club-10 lead.

There are two obvious considerations. The first is that you would lead to the trump king and finesse on the way back if West produced an honor. This is the right play in abstract, especially if you want to keep East off lead. But here you wish to keep West off lead to avoid a potentially fatal heart shift, so that plan is a poor idea.

Instead, it looks entirely logical to play a no-frills line. Draw trumps, then cash winners. Accordingly, you take the two top trumps and leave West with the master trump if necessary, then run diamonds to pitch your heart loser. Nice try, but no cigar! West can ruff the third diamond and find the deadly shift to the heart jack.

Back once more to the drawing board. Win the club ace and play a deceptive spade four from hand. When West follows with the seven (he will, won’t he?), duck in dummy, knowing this will lose to East. Now the contract is ensured. You can win the return, draw trumps, and take five spades, four diamonds and a club.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, November 1, 2010

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.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 31, 2010

November 14th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 31, 2010 

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 30, 2010

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

*Short diamonds

**Two key cards, counting the trump king as an ace, and the trump queen

Opening Lead: ♥ 5

“Go where glory waits 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!

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 29, 2010

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,

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.

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 28, 2010

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.

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].