November 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments 
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ 7 6
♥ A 8 7 3 2
♦ 9 7 5
♣ A 9 5 |
|
| West
♠ Q J 9 3
♥ J 5
♦ Q J 6
♣ Q 6 3 2 |
 |
East
♠ A K 8 5 2
♥ 6
♦ 10 8 4 3
♣ K 10 8 |
| |
South
♠ 10 4
♥ K Q 10 9 4
♦ A K 2
♣ J 7 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
3♥ |
All Pass |
| |
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| |
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Opening Lead: ♠ Q
“Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.”
— John Dryden
Bridge literature has documented the lead of the jack by East from K-J-9, when North has 10-third, to prevent declarer from taking an extra trick when he has either the queen or the ace-queen. The “surrounding” play that crops up in today’s deal is less well-known.
Suppose that West leads the spade queen against three hearts and leads a second spade, won by East, who switches to a low diamond. Declarer wins, draws trumps, and on the face of it has three further losers. However, if South continues with the second top diamond, then plays a third, he will prevail unless West unblocks his diamond jack.
The point is that a third spade return from West would allow a ruff and discard, and a club to the king and a club back means that declarer will end with two tricks in the suit if he guesses well. West needs to unblock his diamond jack so that East wins the third round of diamonds. Now East must switch to the club 10, “surrounding” the nine in dummy.
If the 10 is covered all around, declarer will lose two further tricks in the suit, and if not, the 10 fetches the ace, again leaving two losers. Had East led the low club instead, South plays low, and West is forced to contribute the queen. When dummy’s ace wins, a low club toward the jack means that the defense comes to just one club trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 6 |
| ♥ |
A 8 7 3 2 |
| ♦ |
9 7 5 |
| ♣ |
A 9 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Dbl. |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: The jump to two spades is a game-force. Just because you have extras does not mean you have to make an extravagant leap. Support your partner with a call of three clubs. Let him have all the space he needs to tell you why he forced to game.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 10
♥ A 6 3
♦ A K 7 5 4
♣ K 6 3 |
|
| West
♠ A 4
♥ J 2
♦ Q 10
♣ J 10 9 8 7 5 2 |
|
East
♠ 5 3
♥ 9 8 5 4
♦ J 9 8 6 3 2
♣ 4 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 9 8 7 6 2
♥ K Q 10 7
♦ —
♣ A Q |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
3♣ |
3 NT |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
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| |
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Opening Lead: ♣ J
“O Captain! my Captain! Our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won.”
— Walt Whitman
“Jimmie” Arthur, who died recently, was a former president of the Scottish Bridge Union and a Scottish international player. But his main claim to fame was as Britain’s most successful team captain ever.
Having captained Scottish Open and Ladies’ teams 27 times in the Home Internationals series, he was the popular choice as captain of the British Ladies’ team for the European Championships in 1997, and his astute player deployment helped them to the Gold Medal. He repeated this success in 1999, but then devolution saw England, Scotland and Wales fielding separate teams, whereupon he took charge of the Scottish Open team in the 2000 Olympiad. However, the England Ladies’ team requested Jimmie’s services for the 2001 European Championships and he accepted the captaincy. The result was yet another Gold Medal — and then a Bronze in 2003.
Jimmie excelled at many physical games as well as cerebral bridge. He was in action as South on this deal. After West had opened with a pre-emptive three clubs, Jimmie Arthur ended as declarer in six spades.
West led the club jack, and Jimmie reasoned that if West held the ace of trumps, he would be able to deliver a club ruff to East. So, instead of winning the club lead in hand, he rose with dummy’s king, under which he dropped his queen, then cashed the diamond ace, on which he discarded his club ace. Only then did he touch trumps, bringing home a slam that failed at many other tables.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 10 |
| ♥ |
A 6 3 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
1♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
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| |
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| |
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ANSWER: You correctly up-valued this hand to treat it as a balanced 18-19 initially (the five-card suit and controls make this the sensible action). See your plan through by rebidding one no-trump now to show these values. You can’t underwrite this action; as usual, at bridge even the most sensible of actions carries some risk.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North
♠ J 4
♥ 5 2
♦ K 4 3
♣ A Q J 9 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ Q 9 8 7 3 2
♥ 9 7 3
♦ 7 5
♣ K 10 |
|
East
♠ A 10 6
♥ 8 6 4
♦ Q 8 6
♣ 7 6 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ K 5
♥ A K Q J 10
♦ A J 10 9 2
♣ 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 6♦ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 7
“Now and then there is a person born who is so unlucky that he runs into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.”
— Don Marquis
Today’s deal shows that sometimes when the fates (and bridge percentages) have pointed a player toward the winning action, an outside influence may step in and wreck his plans.
The deal comes from last year’s European championships in San Remo. Six diamonds is a delicate slam, but on a spade lead the percentages in the diamond suit indicate that you will get the suit right. To pick up a singleton queen in either hand and any diamond queen in East, you would lead to the diamond king and finesse on the way back. Running the diamond jack on the first round loses to a singleton queen, while cashing the ace and running the jack loses out to any four-card diamond suit headed by the queen in West.
Given that spades rate to be the unbid suit on just about any auction North-South might have, you would expect West to lead a spade and South to bring home his contract. And that was generally the case.
But there were two awkward leads that the defenders might find. A heart lead, unlikely as that might seem, would leave you short of entries to the North hand needed to play on both spades and diamonds, and now you might misguess diamonds. The alternative is the even more diabolical lead of the club 10, found by Jan van Cleeff against the diamond slam. Now declarer opted to take the ace and misguessed the trump queen, and no one can hardly blame him.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 9 7 4 |
| ♥ |
3 2 |
| ♦ |
J 5 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 8 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♦ |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
2♦ |
| Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
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|
ANSWER: Partner’s failure to raise spades suggests we look elsewhere. The choice is the passive heart, or the active club lead. Since I’d expect dummy to have hearts, some spade length, and at least a doubleton diamond, partner rates to have club length, so that would be my first choice. A second reason for this choice is that even if a heart is right, partner may not read me to have only a doubleton.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 24, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Please explain the law of symmetry. Do experts still believe in this idea?
— Fearful Symmetry, Greenville, S.C.
ANSWER: Ely Culbertson suggested that if one hand had a singleton, it was more likely that other players also had a singleton. That is fallacious; but the underlying idea that if one player is short in one suit he is likely to be longer in another suit (sometimes called the Law of Vacant Spaces) is certainly mathematically sound.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ Q-8-4-2, ♥ K-9, ♦ A-J-10-3, ♣ 4-3-2, I raised my partner’s opening bid of one spade to three to show a limit raise. Now my partner rebid four clubs and I cooperated with four diamonds, and eventually we reached a poor slam. My partner later described his four-club call as a help-suit try. Is this normal practice?
— Help Wanted, Wichita Falls, Texas
ANSWER: It is not normal practice, but it does make very good sense for opener, the strong hand, to use help-suit slam-tries when facing a jump raise — in the same way that he uses help-suit game tries facing a simple raise. But without prior agreement I’d take the four-club call as a cue-bid here and respond with a diamond cue-bid in return, just as you did.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My partner opened one heart in third seat. When this was doubled, I redoubled with 10 points and two hearts. This was passed back to my RHO, who escaped to two clubs, and I passed since I could not double this contract. This was passed out and got us a bad score since we could have made two diamonds or two hearts. Who was wrong here?
— Petering Out, Fredericksburg, Va.
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ANSWER: Your pass would clearly be forcing were it not for the fact that some third-in-hand openers might take a view and let the opponents play undoubled if they had opened extremely light. Opener must act if he has anything approaching full opening values here. He can bid a second suit, repeat his own suit with extra length or strength, or double if balanced.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In third seat, with ♠ K-2, ♥ Q-J-4-2, ♦ K-J-9-7-6, ♣ Q-8, I elected to force to game facing a one-spade opener by bidding two diamonds. Over my partner’s rebid of two spades, would you go to four spades, or look for no-trump now? And does a three-spade call show a minimum or extras?
— Big Game Hunter, Sunbury, Pa.
ANSWER: If you play two-over-one game-forcing, you have to decide whether jumps to game in forcing auctions are weak (the so-called Principle of Fast Arrival), which is simple if not particularly efficient, or more complex methods. Even assuming a jump to four spades was a minimum hand, I’d prefer the two-no-trump rebid. Your hand looks singularly unappetizing for the suit game.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you discussed this hand in your bidding forum: ♠ A-K-9-7-3, ♥ A-Q-8-2, ♦ Q-6-3, ♣ 10. After an opening bid of one club to your right,. I agree with your choice of bidding one spade because you can get both majors into the action efficiently. What is your opinion of a Michaels Cuebid of two clubs here to show both majors with one bid?
— Twofer, Grand Forks, N.D.
ANSWER: That you can bid spades, then double or bid two hearts, and get all the suits into the action in the right order is key to starting with one spade. As to the Michaels Cuebid, with the same hand but 5-4 the other way and with three small diamonds I can see a case, but I would not do it myself. Mike Lawrence has occasionally recommended that action with the right hand. I’m still on the fence. |
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 6th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 23, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: All |
North
♠ A J 5 4
♥ J 9
♦ A 10 8 4
♣ 9 7 3 |
|
| West
♠ 10 6 2
♥ A Q 7 6
♦ Q J 6
♣ A 8 4 |
|
East
♠ K 9 3
♥ 10 4
♦ K 7 5 3 2
♣ K 6 5 |
| |
South
♠ Q 8 7
♥ K 8 5 3 2
♦ 9
♣ Q J 10 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♦ |
| Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
| |
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Opening Lead: ♦ Q
“Yet both so passing strange and wonderful!”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley
There is a strange coincidence linking yesterday’s deal, played in 1997 by Michael Rosenberg, to today’s, which was played by Jared Lilienstein five years later. His teammates at the time included Rosenberg, who collected a partscore for East-West in one no-trump on this deal.
In our featured room, after the same start, Jared (South) protected with two hearts. Clearly not a student of bridge literature, West doubled and led the diamond queen to dummy’s ace. A club to the jack scored, and the next club went to East’s king. East tried to cash the diamond king, but Lilienstein ruffed and finessed in spades.
Now East had her chance to play a trump — West cashes two trumps and then plays the diamond six East’s king to set up a force. Instead, though, East exited in clubs to West, who played a second spade.
Lilienstein won in dummy, ruffed a diamond, cashed the spade queen, and had reached a four-card ending where he had taken six tricks. He had three trumps and the 13th club in hand; dummy had a spade, a diamond and two trumps; and West was down to all trumps.
When declarer led his club, planning to ruff with the trump jack and lead a diamond to endplay West, that player could do no better than ruff in with the heart queen and lead back a low trump to the nine, 10 and king. With the eight and jack of trumps left, Lilienstein was sure of one more trick for his contract.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 5 4 |
| ♥ |
J 9 |
| ♦ |
A 10 8 4 |
| ♣ |
9 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
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ANSWER: It is a common mistake to double on auctions of this sort. Bear in mind that West is unlimited. While it would be absolutely clear with these cards to balance with a double if two clubs were passed around to you, here the auction is still live. Doubling two clubs does not show this hand at all. It is for penalties based on a club stack.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 5th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ J 5
♥ K 7 6 2
♦ K 9 7 4
♣ K 10 3 |
|
| West
♠ A Q 10 6
♥ A 8 4
♦ Q J 6
♣ J 9 8 |
|
East
♠ 3 2
♥ J 9 3
♦ A 8 5 3 2
♣ A 7 6 |
| |
South
♠ K 9 8 7 4
♥ Q 10 5
♦ 10
♣ Q 5 4 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♦ |
| Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
| |
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Opening Lead: ♦ Q
“It’s a very odd thing —
As odd as can be —
That whatever Miss T. eats
Turns into Miss T.”
— Walter de la Mare
Do you believe in coincidences at bridge? Today’s and tomorrow’s deals bear a weird similarity to each other. As you will see, the coincidences do not stop there.
At the World Championships in Tunisia in 1997, Michael Rosenberg boldly protected against the Chinese East-West pair, and West decided to try to punish him for his impudence.
The defenders led the diamond queen and shifted to the club nine, which went to the 10 and ace. Now back came the heart three to the 10 and ace, and another heart to Rosenberg’s queen.
Declarer ruffed two diamonds in hand while cashing his remaining heart and club winners, to reach a four-card ending with the lead in South and six tricks in the bag. Rosenberg had three trumps and a club left in hand, West had all his trumps left, and dummy had two spades and one card in each red suit. The East hand was irrelevant.
Declarer now advanced his club (planning to ruff with the spade jack and collect one more trump trick subsequently). West could do no better than ruff with the queen and lead a low spade, hoping his partner has the spade nine. But Rosenberg could run the spade to his hand and make two trump tricks for his contract.
After the first two tricks, the only way to set the contract was for East to shift to a trump at trick three. Two early rounds of spades insures that West collects his third trump winner eventually.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 5 |
| ♥ |
K 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
K 9 7 4 |
| ♣ |
K 10 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
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ANSWER: It is clear to pass now; while you may find lies of the cards where you can make game, they are few and far between. There are many more hands on which a three- or four-level contract will go down. To bid on, you need a fifth trump. Turn any of your small plain cards into the trump two and you have enough to try for game.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 21, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ K 5 4 2
♥ K J 4
♦ 8
♣ Q 9 8 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 9 8
♥ 9
♦ Q 10 7 2
♣ J 10 7 4 3 |
|
East
♠ A Q 10 7 6
♥ 10 8 2
♦ 9 6 4 3
♣ 6 |
| |
South
♠ 3
♥ A Q 7 6 5 3
♦ A K J 5
♣ A K |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5♦ |
Pass |
| 6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 9
“The man is a perfect stone. We might boil him in the pig-market, and we should get no word out of him.”
— Victor Hugo
As big, if not especially bad, Wolff, I’ve always had a remarkably soft spot for the tormentor of the three little pigs. Let’s look at them in action here, where each one of them declares six hearts on the challenging trump lead. Little piggy number one wins the trump in dummy and ruffs a diamond, crosses to the club ace to ruff a second diamond, then leads a second club and is more hurt than surprised when East ruffs in and cashes his spade ace for down one.
Little piggy number two exerts a trifle more diligence. He wins the trump lead and crosses back to hand with a top club to ruff a second diamond. So far so good, but now, after cashing dummy’s top trump, he leads a low spade from the board, and East steels himself to duck the trick. West wins his spade eight and returns a club. East ruffs, and there is no joy in Pigville.
The third little piggy is made of sterner stuff. Again, play starts with a trump lead won in dummy. Declarer cashes both top diamonds, ruffs a diamond low, then crosses to hand with a club to ruff a second diamond. If diamonds had not split, he might need to risk coming back to hand with a club to draw the trumps. As it is, he now exits from dummy by leading the spade king! This prevents the club ruff, unless one defender has the spade ace and five clubs, when declarer was doomed anyway.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 5 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 4 |
| ♦ |
8 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 8 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
2♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has a maximum overcall, and you have what looks like a good hand for defense. Double two spades — which is not a command, but more of a suggestion to defend. If your partner simply has a good hand and very short spades, he does not have to sit for the double.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, October 20, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ A J 5
♥ 4 3 2
♦ A 8 5 3
♣ 7 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ K 8 6 3 2
♥ K 9 7
♦ J 6
♣ K 10 3 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 7 4
♥ 10 5
♦ Q 10 7 2
♣ J 9 6 |
| |
South
♠ 10
♥ A Q J 8 6
♦ K 9 4
♣ A Q 8 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: To be determined!
“For the race is run by one and one and never by two and two.”
— Rudyard Kipling
The following deal from the 1995 finals of the New York Reisinger features two subtle points in play and defense. Alas, in both rooms these points became evident only in the post-mortem and not at the table.
Four hearts was the contract in both rooms. In the first room West’s heart lead worked fine, up to a point. Declarer, Mike Kamil won in hand and passed the diamond nine. East won his 10 and might have shifted to the club nine (or even the club jack), but in fact he played the club six, to the eight and 10. Now I think a second diamond from West can hardly be wrong (whether declarer has three or four diamonds, there are no discards coming), but West returned the club king and declarer was home.
The game went down in the other room on a spade lead. There, declarer rose with the spade ace at trick one and took an early club finesse of the queen. He now had no chance. But consider what might have happened if South had nonchalantly played low from dummy at trick one! Even if East wins the trick, he may well give up a vital entry to dummy at his next play. And as the cards lay, would he not find it very hard to refrain from playing the spade nine at trick one? If East wins with an honor at this point, declarer can always dispose of his diamond loser on the spade ace.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 5 |
| ♥ |
4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A 8 5 3 |
| ♣ |
7 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
4♣ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Hands up anyone who thought this was Gerber? It is not; it suggests short clubs and a slam-try in spades. Your hand is unbelievably good now; you should cue-bid four diamonds, expecting partner to use Blackwood perhaps. But if instead partner cue-bids four hearts, you have enough to go past four spades. I think a bid of five spades would be best.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ J 7 3
♥ A J 9 8 6 4 3 2
♦ 7
♣ 4 |
|
| West
♠ 9 8 2
♥ 7 5
♦ Q 10 8 4
♣ A 10 9 2 |
|
East
♠ 6
♥ Q 10
♦ K J 9 5 3
♣ K J 6 5 3 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q 10 5 4
♥ K
♦ A 6 2
♣ Q 8 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
3♥ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♣* |
Pass |
| 6♣ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
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|
Opening Lead: ♣ A
“No! The two kinds of people on earth that I mean
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.”
— Ella Wheeler Wilcox
This was my favorite deal from the Birmingham Nationals, when New York expert Mel Colchamiro cornered me on my way to the elevator and gave me a beautiful hand. Beware: It’s far harder than it looks, even though it is far from complicated.
Without going into too many details of the auction — we would not want to embarrass any guilty parties — consider the play in six spades. Best defense is obviously to lead two rounds of clubs, but your generous opponent plays a top club and shifts to diamonds. Obviously he believes you might have bid a slam off two aces. It is up to you to punish him for such an insult.
The natural thing to do is to cash the spade ace and the heart king. Then you lead the spade 10 from hand. If West discards, you need the heart queen to fall. If West follows, you must guess immediately whether trumps are splitting or hearts behave. That looks pretty good, but it is far from best.
The winning line is to overtake the heart king with the ace at trick two and ruff a heart high. If that suit splits or if the heart queen is bare, you have no problem in drawing trumps, ending in dummy. If hearts do not behave, you need 2-2 spades — it’s as simple as that. On this occasion hearts split and spades do not, so if you play spades first, you had better guess very well!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 8 2 |
| ♥ |
7 5 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 8 4 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
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ANSWER: Today’s deal encapsulates an important idea. When both members of a partnership pass at their first turn, their subsequent objective is always assumed to be to find the best partscore, not to look for game. Accordingly, a response by you here of two no-trump will NOT be natural and to play. It suggests a two-suiter (presumably the minors) and asks partner to bid his first playable spot.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
November 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, October 18, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ K 6
♥ A 6 3
♦ K 8 4
♣ Q J 9 7 4 |
|
| West
♠ 3
♥ Q 10 9 4 2
♦ J 6 5
♣ A 6 5 2 |
|
East
♠ A 9 7 5 2
♥ J 7
♦ Q 7 3
♣ 10 8 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q J 10 8 4
♥ K 8 5
♦ A 10 9 2
♣ K |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 4
“Heaven be their resource who have no other but the charity of the world, the stock of which, I fear, is no way sufficient for the many great claims which are hourly made upon it.”
— Laurence Sterne
The traditional opening event of every national tournament in the United States is the Charity Pairs. On this deal from a recent charity game, most of the field reached three no-trump and, in a display of charity to their opponents, generally failed to apply the correct technique.
The auction put West on lead with an easy attack of the heart 10. With the heart suit lying as it does, you (South) must consider your first move carefully.
If the heart suit splits 4-3, it is irrelevant whether you win the first round of the suit or the second . But see what happens if you take the first heart and drive out the spade ace. (If you lead the club king, West will duck, and normal play thereafter will lead to your defeat.) When East takes the spade ace and returns the heart jack, West overtakes and can clear the suit while retaining the club ace as an entry. The bad spade split leaves you a trick short.
The key play is to duck the first heart (often the right play when you have no other danger suit, and must knock out two key cards). Then win the second heart in hand. Now you have started to sever the defenders’ communications. The point is that East will have no hearts left when you drive out his spade ace. He has to shift, letting you dislodge the club ace at your leisure. Ducking at trick one makes the difference between an undertrick and an overtrick.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 7 5 |
| ♦ |
K J 6 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Rather than looking for a miracle in partner’s hand, try leading a heart, hoping that partner holds any of the missing three top hearts. If you think about it, declarer’s failure to look for a heart game and dummy’s failure to raise hearts make partner something of a favorite to hold heart length or strength.
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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