September 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 3, 2010 
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 8 6 3
♥ 9 5
♦ 8 6 3 2
♣ K 8 2 |
|
| West
♠ 7 4
♥ K J 10 3
♦ A K Q 9
♣ Q 10 5 |
 |
East
♠ 9
♥ 8 7 6 4 2
♦ 7 5 4
♣ J 6 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ A Q J 10 5 2
♥ A Q
♦ J 10
♣ A 9 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim…”
— Rudyard Kipling
The strong no-trump occasionally acts as a pre-emptive weapon. But when your opponents bid to game, it also can work to your disadvantage by telling declarer where the high cards are. Today West’s no-trump was strong, so it certainly made placing the outstanding high cards easy for South.
The auction also featured a point of interest: Is it better to play weak jump overcalls or strong ones when the opponents transfer into a major over a strong no-trump? Both options make sense, but on this deal South was playing strong jumps, and North thought that his two kings were enough to go forward. (He was also hoping that his hand might also offer a heart ruff.)
Against four spades West led the diamond king and received a count signal of the four from East. To avoid being forced to isolate the diamond menace, West cashed a second diamond and shifted to a trump.
Without a clear idea of where he was going, declarer won the trump in dummy, ruffed a diamond, and ran the rest of his trumps, reducing to a five-card ending in which West had to keep at least two hearts, or his king would drop. Since he had to retain the master diamond as well, he could keep only two clubs.
South now cashed the ace and king of clubs, then exited with the losing diamond from the board. West won the trick, but had to lead into South’s heart tenace, conceding the contract.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 8 6 3 |
| ♥ |
9 5 |
| ♦ |
8 6 3 2 |
| ♣ |
K 8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
2♣ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It seems unlikely that you can defend clubs successfully, and since you have a second suit to bid, you should introduce it now, suggesting a little extra shape and moderate values. A call of two diamonds does not commit your hand to anything beyond the two-level.
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].
September 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 2, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K J 10
♥ 10
♦ A Q 7
♣ A K Q 10 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ 8 5 4 3
♥ K 8 2
♦ J 10 9 3
♣ 6 2 |
|
East
♠ A 9 6
♥ A 3
♦ K 6 5 4
♣ J 9 7 4 |
|
South
♠ Q 7 2
♥ Q J 9 7 6 5 4
♦ 8 2
♣ 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ J
“Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.”
— Edward Gibbon
You might not agree with South’s decision to treat his hand as worth a three-level pre-empt, but my view is that at this vulnerability one is entitled to take a little latitude (or maybe rather more than a little) with pre-empting in first seat. There are, after all, two opponents to contend with but only one partner. Be that as it may, North felt he had enough to bid on to the heart game, although a call of three no-trump would have been a very practical alternative.
On the lead of the diamond jack, declarer won the ace, played two top clubs while discarding a diamond, and led dummy’s heart. Can you see any hope for the defense?
East knew that since his side could take no more than one trick in the side-suits, his partner had to have decent trumps to have any hope of defeating the game. That being so, a trump promotion or two would offer the best chance of a fourth trick. Accordingly, he won the heart ace and played a club. Declarer was forced to ruff high, and West discarded a diamond (to make sure his partner did not try to give him a spade ruff later on). When declarer led another high trump from his hand, West could win and play a spade to East’s ace. The fourth round of clubs promoted his heart eight to the setting trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 6 |
| ♥ |
A 3 |
| ♦ |
K 6 5 4 |
| ♣ |
J 9 7 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ANSWER: Depending upon your partner’s ability, one option would be to respond in no-trump, in which case you’d jump to three no-trump to show 12-15. An inverted minor-suit raise to two clubs is also possible, so long as you play a simple raise is forcing here. But I’d prefer to respond one diamond. That gives partner room to describe his hand, and might also let the opponents warn us of dangers in one major or the other.
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].
September 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 1, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ 10 5 3
♥ 9 8 6 5
♦ A K J 6 4
♣ 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 8 4 2
♥ J 4 2
♦ 10 2
♣ J 8 5 2 |
|
East
♠ A K 6
♥ A 10 7 3
♦ Q 8 3
♣ 9 7 6 |
| |
South
♠ Q 9 7
♥ K Q
♦ 9 7 5
♣ A K Q 10 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 2
“It seemed to be but chance, yet who shall say
That ’twas not part of Nature’s own sweet way…”
— John Kendrick Bangs
Sally Brock, a member of the current English World Teams Champions, provided me with a good problem from the qualifying rounds of the National Women’s Teams. Cover up the South and West hands. When West led the spade two against three no-trump, how would you (East) plan the defense?
It seemed to Brock that because of her guarded diamond queen, there was no hurry to do anything committal. If partner held queen-fourth in spades, she would still do so after East won her diamond queen. Brock considered what might be best if West had jack-fourth of spades instead. One possibility would be to win the spade ace and return the six, but if South were to guess right, that would surely be the end of the defensive prospects.
Brock decided that her best extra chance was to play partner for a three-card heart suit, so at trick two she switched to the heart three, won by declarer’s king as West played the four. Declarer took a diamond finesse and that let Brock win her queen and cash the heart ace. If this had dropped her partner’s jack, Brock would have switched to a low spade, hoping that declarer would still get the suit wrong.
However, when West followed low on the heart, Brock was confident her partner held the jack (or she would have discouraged at trick two).
Since one down would be sufficient at teams scoring, Brock played the spade ace now, and West intelligently confirmed the spade position by dropping the jack, making the heart play a sure thing.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 5 3 |
| ♥ |
9 8 6 5 |
| ♦ |
A K J 6 4 |
| ♣ |
3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
1♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: A call of two diamonds would overstate your hand by a queen or so, a response of one no-trump without a heart stop looks extremely distorted, and a negative double promises four spades. What does that leave? You can only pass and hope to get a second shot, or else defend one heart — and that will happen only if partner is minimum with heart length. As a passed hand, you might risk a bid of two 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].
September 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, August 31, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ K 8 6
♥ A Q 6
♦ A J 7 5 3
♣ K 8 |
|
| West
♠ Q J 9 5 4
♥ 5 3
♦ K Q 10 9 4
♣ 6 |
|
East
♠ 10 7 3 2
♥ 9 7 4
♦ 6
♣ Q J 10 5 4 |
|
South
♠ A
♥ K J 10 8 2
♦ 8 2
♣ A 9 7 3 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
2♥ |
Dbl. |
3♠ |
| 4♣ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♥ |
Pass |
6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“Stake your counter as boldly every whit,
Venture as warily, use the same skill,
Do your best, whether winning or losing it,
If you choose to play!”
— Robert Browning
In today’s deal South decided to overbid slightly to get his two-suiter in at a convenient level, and North took him seriously, driving to what turned out to be an excellent slam, even with the clear warnings of possible bad splits.
How would you play the slam, knowing that West has at least 10 cards in his two suits, which you assume to be spades and diamonds?
At the table South made no mistake on a top diamond lead. It would have been very easy to pitch the diamond loser on the spades and rely on the clubs breaking. South did far better. He took the diamond lead on the board, drew two rounds of trumps with the ace and jack, cashed the spade ace, then played the club king and club ace and ruffed a club in dummy. Now came a spade ruff to hand, and South drew the last trump. At this point South led a diamond toward dummy’s jack. West won the trick and had to return either a spade or diamond. Whichever he played, South would win in dummy and discard his two losing clubs — contract made.
Had hearts been 4-1 and clubs 4-2, declarer would have drawn two rounds of trumps and ruffed a club in dummy. Then he would have crossed to his spade ace and drawn trumps. Now he could either set up a diamond trick, or play a fourth club to East. Because that player has only spades left, he must lead one round to dummy to let declarer pitch his diamond.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A |
| ♥ |
K J 10 8 2 |
| ♦ |
8 2 |
| ♣ |
A 9 7 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1♦ |
| ? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ANSWER: A jump overcall of two no-trump shows the two lowest unbid suits, and although South has slightly better defense than partner might expect, it is still the sensible way to describe this hand at one go. If you bid hearts now, you may never get your clubs in at a convenient level. Vulnerable, there is a case for the simple overcall, given your rather feeble club spots.
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].
September 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: All |
North
♠ A K 5 4
♥ —
♦ A K Q 4
♣ A K 8 6 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 9 6
♥ —
♦ J 10 9 8 6 3
♣ Q J 10 5 |
|
East
♠ Q 10 7 3 2
♥ 9 6 5 4 3 2
♦ 5
♣ 9 |
| |
South
♠ 8
♥ A K Q J 10 8 7
♦ 7 2
♣ 7 4 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♠ |
Pass |
7♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ J
“It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it to be true.”
— Bertrand Russell
After South opens four hearts, North can locate the missing trump honors, and at the given vulnerability is then entitled to play his partner for an eighth trump or a little extra in terms of trump honors.
Now the issue is how to make the contract. Playing safe may not be as glamorous as a squeeze or a swindle, but there is a lot to be said for making your contract whenever it can be made. And that applies especially in a grand slam. Just because you believe trumps ought to split is no reason that they actually will.
The correct approach for South is to win the opening diamond lead, take one spade honor, and lead a low spade, ruffing low. Then he will cash a high trump to discover the distressing news, and at that point he should take three more trump winners, pitching low cards from dummy. Declarer then leads a low club to dummy. He must then discard his remaining diamond on dummy’s high spade and can then lead out high diamonds, being able to overruff and draw trumps if East ruffs in.
If East throws away losers on the top diamonds, then so does declarer, and he will reach an ending with the lead in dummy and be left with the heart 10-8 poised over East’s 9-6. Whatever the defenders do, declarer has an answer.
Once the bad trump break is revealed, all this line requires is that East not be void in clubs.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 7 4 |
| ♥ |
Q J 9 2 |
| ♦ |
9 8 6 |
| ♣ |
9 8 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
1♦ |
| Pass |
1♥ |
2 NT |
3♦ |
| Pass |
5♦ |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has shown at least 10 cards in the black suits by his jump to two no-trump. It feels right to try to set up a black-suit winner before anything can be discarded on dummy’s hearts, and you are fractionally more likely to do this by leading spades rather than clubs, given your minor spade honor. A heart lead is unnecessary and may jeopardize your trick in that suit.
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].
September 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
What should the responses of three hearts and three spades to one no-trump be used for? Should they show both majors, invitational and strong respectively?
— Solon, Mason City, Iowa
ANSWER: That is playable, but I believe transferring to spades, then bidding three hearts, takes care of the good hand. And using Stayman, then bidding two spades, can effectively describe an unbalanced invitational hand with five spades. Thus I marginally prefer using the direct jumps as game-forcing, showing both minors with 5-4 pattern. Responder bids his shortage to suggest three cards in the other major.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ 9, ♥ A-J-10-3-2, ♦ K-Q-7-4, ♣ K-J-4, I opened one heart and rebid two diamonds over a one-spade response. My partner now jumped to three spades. Should this be forcing or invitational, and if the latter what would you do now?
— Bounceback, Harrisburg, Pa.
ANSWER: This sequence should be invitational, not forcing — your partner could use fourth-suit forcing to set up the game-force. Because you have a bit extra in high cards, it looks logical to bid three no-trump now. Partner can always overrule you with a hand that looks more appropriate to the suit game.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a social duplicate match, South opened a strong no-trump, and West overcalled two clubs. If North was planning to make a Stayman call before the intervention, what is the best call to convey that? Two diamonds was suggested as a possibility (if agreed as a convention), although that would take away the normal two-diamond rebid from South, denying a four-card major.
— Stymied, Midland, Mich.
|
|
ANSWER: After intervention of two clubs (unless the call shows both majors), best is to ignore it and use double for Stayman, with transfers remaining in place. This is ONLY for the two-club call — and it is because you still have exactly the same scheme of responses available as you did before. If they intervene with higher calls, I suggest takeout doubles and an artificial two-no-trump call. Two-level calls are natural and weak; three-level calls, strong.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
An unopposed auction ran one heart – one spade – three spades – four diamonds – four hearts – four spades – all pass. In an expert game what inferences would the opening leader be able to draw about declarer’s (or dummy’s) holding a club control?
— Infer a Penny, Durango, Colo.
ANSWER: In a top-class game the four-diamond call would tend to deny a club control, particularly if the partnership style was to cue-bid first- and second-round controls indiscriminately. The return cue-bid of four hearts would then guarantee a heart control and some control in clubs, or else that hand would have signed off, knowing there was no club control held.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you discussed ♠ A-K-J-6-5-4, ♥ 2, ♦ A-10-6-3-2, ♣ 7. To me this looks like another one of those two-suiters best opened two clubs (since it is a five-loser hand) to avoid being passed out in one spade when game is cold, with North holding as little as the spade queen or diamond king and nothing else. What do you think?
— Eager Beaver, Orlando, Fla.
ANSWER: The simple answer is that since one spade will almost never be passed out, I prefer one spade. If your diamonds included even the queen instead of the 10, the strong opening would be acceptable. With a two-suiter in this range, the one-level opening followed by a jump shift gets you to game and does not risk going overboard when partner assumes you have much 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].
September 11th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 28, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North
♠ Q
♥ A J 8 5
♦ A 8 6 3 2
♣ Q 10 5 |
|
| West
♠ A 10 8
♥ 6
♦ K Q 10 9 7
♣ 9 8 4 2 |
|
East
♠ K J 6 3 2
♥ 9 7 4 3
♦ 5
♣ 7 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ 9 7 5 4
♥ K Q 10 2
♦ J 4
♣ A K J |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.”
— Lord Macaulay
The overall standard in the Junior European Championships last summer was remarkably high. Consider this deal from the match between Italy and Sweden.
Both Souths were at the helm in the heart game. The Italian West led the diamond king. Cecilia Rimstedt won the ace and played the spade queen. East won the king and switched to a low heart. Rimstedt won the king, ruffed a spade, crossed to a club, ruffed a spade and crossed to another club to ruff the last spade. She had her contract now and emerged with an unlikely overtrick for plus 650.
Eric Arvidsson also led the diamond king, and the Italian declarer also won the ace. However, he now followed a different line by returning a diamond. East, Simon Bech, pitched a club and a second one as Arvidsson continued with the diamond 10 for declarer to ruff (fine defense). Declarer was in trouble now. He tried to cash the ace and king of clubs, but Bech ruffed and played the spade king, which Arvidsson overtook to give Bech a second club ruff, taking the contract down one for minus 100 and 13 IMPs to Sweden.
At double-dummy, the only winning line is to cash three rounds of clubs immediately, before East has a chance to pitch clubs on his partner’s winning diamonds. If you play either spades or diamonds at trick two, then, as the cards lie, East can pitch enough clubs to leave declarer no chance.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 7 5 4 |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 2 |
| ♦ |
J 4 |
| ♣ |
A K J |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♣ |
Pass |
1♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There is no right answer to this question, since this is more about system than judgment. If you play as I do, that a one-diamond response either denies a four-card major, or shows at least invitational values, then you should respond one no-trump now. Either you do not have a fit in a major, or your partner will introduce his major at his next turn.
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].
September 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 10 8 7
♥ 10
♦ J 6
♣ K Q J 9 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ J 9
♥ K Q 8 7 6
♦ 9 8 7 2
♣ 10 3 |
|
East
♠ 5 2
♥ A 4
♦ A K 5 3
♣ A 7 6 4 2 |
| |
South
♠ A Q 6 4 3
♥ J 9 5 3 2
♦ Q 10 4
♣ — |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2 NT* |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| *Invitational or better in spades |
Opening Lead: ♦ 8
“The deed is everything, the glory nothing.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Over several years of competing in youth tournaments, Thomas Bessis has been a rich source of top-quality declarer play and defense. In the junior European Championships, Thomas produced his finest effort against England in the final match.
It looks as though Chris Owens’ contract of four spades is destined to make, courtesy of the ruffing club finesse, but…
Bessis’ partner, Frederic Volcker, led the diamond eight, second from three or more small cards, and Bessis won the king and cashed the ace. Atthey false-carded with the queen as Volcker dropped the two, confirming two or four cards — clearly four on the auction. Bessis now deviously switched to the club seven, and not surprisingly, declarer was taken in. Atthey ruffed low and gave up a heart, Bessis winning the ace and returning a diamond to declarer’s 10. Atthey ruffed a heart, ruffed a club, and ruffed a heart, being relieved to see that Bessis could not overruff. He now ruffed another club, but Volcker could overruff and that was two down.
How did Bessis find the brilliant underlead? He deduced that his partner would surely have led a singleton club rather than one of four small diamonds, so was marked with either two clubs or a void. Once declarer was known to have three diamonds, plus heart length because of the auction, it had to be he and not Volcker who had the club void.
Because the French North-South pair had played in four clubs down one in the other room, Bessis’ fine defense turned a big loss into a small gain.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 6 4 3 |
| ♥ |
J 9 5 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 4 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: With a nine-count albeit a shapely one, facing a hand with no obvious fit, there seems no reason to get beyond the two-level. The simple preference to two diamonds is admittedly conservative, but seems sufficient. The idea is to let partner bid on if he has extras in shape or high cards and stay low if he does not.
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].
September 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, August 26, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 9 8 5
♥ 8 5 3
♦ A Q 10 4
♣ Q 6 |
|
| West
♠ 4 2
♥ K J 10 7 4 2
♦ K 6 5
♣ K 7 |
|
East
♠ A 10 3
♥ Q 9 6
♦ J 9 8 7 3
♣ 9 8 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 7 6
♥ A
♦ 2
♣ A J 10 5 4 3 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♣ |
2♥ |
Dbl. |
3♥ |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ J
“Those who’ll play with cats must expect to be scratched.”
— Miguel de Cervantes
When the Junior European Championships took place last summer in Romania, there was a week-long tournament for schools players. Today’s deal is my favorite from that event.
Joris Van Lankveld was defending four spades against the Norwegians. A heart was led to the bare ace, and declarer played the spade queen to East’s ace. The defense forced declarer with a second heart. Declarer, risking everything on a successful club finesse, drew trumps (West throwing a heart) and ran the club queen. Van Lankveld bravely let this hold. When the next club finesse lost to West, declarer’s club suit became wastepaper. West now played winning hearts until the dummy ruffed in. Declarer could do no better than exit with the diamond queen. West won, cashed his last heart, and led a diamond to East’s jack.
This was three down for 150 to the Netherlands. On scoring up, South proudly read out plus 150. “Push” was the reply. Somewhat disappointed, Van Lankveld asked, “So they held up the club king as well?” “No. We were in six spades,” came the answer.
Maybe a better line in four spades would have been to draw a second round of trumps ending in dummy and take a club finesse, planning to repeat it if necessary. West can win the second and lead a heart, but declarer simply discards a club from hand and has the rest. He can ruff the next heart in dummy and cross to hand with the spade jack to run the clubs.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 9 8 5 |
| ♥ |
8 5 3 |
| ♦ |
A Q 10 4 |
| ♣ |
Q 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Since three no-trump is certainly your side’s most likely game, you should advance with a forcing call of two diamonds, hoping your partner can bid two no-trump and you can raise to game. If your partner bids three clubs, you should pass. If he bids two spades, you can correct to three clubs.
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].
September 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9
♥ K Q 6 3 2
♦ A J 3 2
♣ K J 3 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 8 7 3
♥ 9 4
♦ 8 6
♣ 9 7 6 5 |
|
East
♠ A 2
♥ J 10 8 7 5
♦ 9 7 4
♣ 10 8 2 |
| |
South
♠ J 10 6 5 4
♥ A
♦ K Q 10 5
♣ A Q 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♦ |
Pass |
6♦ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♣ 6
“How beautiful, if sorrow had not made
Sorrow more beautiful than Beauty’s self.”
— John Keats
This deal from the match in the Junior Championships between Belgium and Austria swung 16 IMPs to the latter team.
Against six diamonds, West’s club lead went to the 10 and queen. Declarer unblocked the heart ace, played the trump king, crossed to the club jack, and ruffed a heart. She followed with the trump 10, which she overtook with the ace. Now she had a problem: if the hearts were originally 5-2 and the clubs 4-3, she had to ruff the last small heart, cross to dummy with the club king, and draw the last trump, after which dummy would be high. If the hearts behaved but the club split was bad, all she had to do now was to draw the last trump and enjoy dummy. She finally guessed wrong and went down one.
Bad luck? Maybe, but this line requires either a 3-2 trump split and a final guess, or all other suits behaving if the trumps break 4-1.
In the other room, Adele Gogoman showed how to play the contract. She took the club lead in hand with the queen and played a spade to the nine. East took the trick and returned a club to the ace. Gogoman now ruffed a spade, crossed to the heart ace, ruffed a spade high, and was now able to draw the remaining trumps and reach dummy with the club king to cash the last two hearts. This line would only have failed against a 6-1 break in a black suit, or a 5-0 break in trumps.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 |
| ♥ |
K Q 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A J 3 2 |
| ♣ |
K J 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♣ |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Double to show the red suits and extra values, allowing your partner to compete to the appropriate level. You might possibly be helping declarer place the cards if he ends up in spades, but you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.
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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