October 21st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 7, 2010 
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ K J 4 3
♥ A K
♦ 10 6
♣ K 10 7 5 4 |
|
| West
♠ A 10
♥ Q 6 2
♦ A Q 9 8 2
♣ J 9 6 |
 |
East
♠ 8 7 6 5 2
♥ J 10 9 5 4
♦ J 4 3
♣ — |
| |
South
♠ Q 9
♥ 8 7 3
♦ K 7 5
♣ A Q 8 3 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♣ |
1♦ |
1♠ |
2♦ |
| Pass |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
Pass |
5♣ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
— Samuel Johnson
All this week’s deals come from the World Championship last year in Sao Paulo, to mark the ongoing championships in Philadelphia.
At many tables South played three no-trump, speedily down on a diamond lead. But in Russia vs. Italy, the Italian declarer brought home a diamond partscore while the Russian declarer, Yuri Khiuppenen, reached five clubs via the auction shown and received a heart lead.
The simplest way to try to set up the spades for two diamond discards would have been to lead a spade to the nine. But Khiuppenen did better. He cashed both top hearts, crossed with a club to hand to ruff out the hearts, and drew the rest of the trumps before leading a spade toward dummy,
He had worked out to play West for the doubleton spade ace (since West was marked with five diamonds and three hearts and three clubs). If West ducked his ace, he would be endplayed on the next round of spades. If he took his ace, declarer would have two discards for his diamond losers.
Incidentally, at another table, South played five clubs doubled and made a slight slip when he played a trump to his queen at once. Now the 3-0 trump break meant that to sort out the entry position, he needed to play a spade up at once. But in fact he played a second trump instead and now could no longer achieve the endplay, but was forced to lead a spade to the nine. Unlucky!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 9 |
| ♥ |
8 7 3 |
| ♦ |
K 7 5 |
| ♣ |
A Q 8 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: It is correct to balance with this hand, although you would not have acted with it in second seat. Since a takeout double is clearly wrong, as you have neither major suit, the choice is the simple two-club overcall, or, my favorite, a call of one no-trump. In balancing seat the range for this call is 10-14, not 15-17; thus you get to protect your diamond king and describe your hand simultaneously.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 20th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North
♠ 10 2
♥ A 10 7 3
♦ A 10 9 5 3
♣ A Q |
|
| West
♠ K Q 9
♥ 9 8 6 2
♦ 8 4 2
♣ J 5 2 |
|
East
♠ 8 5 3
♥ 5 4
♦ K J 7 6
♣ K 10 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ A J 7 6 4
♥ K Q J
♦ Q
♣ 8 7 6 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: Your choice!
“To err is human, not to, animal.”
— Robert Frost
To mark the world championships currently taking place in Philadelphia, all this week’s deals come from last year’s championships from Sao Paulo.
When England played Indonesia, there were two identical auctions to three no-trump. A club lead would have been fatal, but against Colin Simpson, West selected the heart nine. Declarer won with his jack and immediately ran the diamond queen. East took his king and shifted to the spade three (when maybe the eight would have been a better choice).
South should have won the trick, cashed the heart king, overtaken the heart queen with dummy’s ace, and played on diamonds. At worst he would have lost two spades and two diamonds. But declarer ducked the spade, which might have allowed West to win and shift to a club.
However, West was equally fooled by his partner’s low-spade shift, so he continued with the spade king. South could now claim 10 winners.
In the other room, John Holland (West) led the heart two. South started in identical fashion, winning in his hand and running the diamond queen. But now came the key difference: Gunnar Hallberg (East), a Swede who has lived in England for many years, ducked. And now the contract could not be brought home.
South tried a low spade, but West won with his queen and shifted to the club two. East took dummy’s queen with his king and returned the four, West carefully unblocking his jack. Declarer was now dead in the water.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 7 6 4 |
| ♥ |
K Q J |
| ♦ |
Q |
| ♣ |
8 7 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
3♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You are too strong for a simple bid of four spades, since it is easy to envisage quite moderate hands opposite where slam might be laydown. At the same time you don’t want to risk the five-level unnecessarily, so cue-bid four clubs, planning to bid four spades over a red-suit response. This sequence simply suggests a good four-spade bid, in case partner has extras.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 19th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, October 5, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ J 9
♥ A J 8 3
♦ 9
♣ Q 9 8 6 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ Q 8 7 3 2
♥ 9 6 4 2
♦ A Q
♣ 7 5 |
|
East
♠ 6
♥ K Q 7 5
♦ J 8 6 4 2
♣ K 10 4 |
| |
South
♠ A K 10 5 4
♥ 10
♦ K 10 7 5 3
♣ A J |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Dbl. |
| 2♦ |
2♥ |
2♠ |
3♥ |
| 3♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 9
“In the vaunted works of Art
The master-stroke is Nature’s part.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
In today’s deal from the Transnational event at last year’s World Championships in Sao Paulo, the hero was Peter Boyd of USA-1.
After the heart lead, declarer could have succeeded in three spades simply by taking the club finesse, cashing the club ace, and exiting with a low diamond. It’s not as easy when you cannot see all the cards, however, so declarer played on diamonds at trick two, leading the nine to his king and Boyd’s ace.
At this point, only one card in Boyd’s hand would defeat three spades, and he found it: the spade queen!
Say Boyd had exited with a heart. Declarer ruffs, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a heart, and ruffs another diamond, noting Boyd’s discard. If Boyd discards a club, declarer ruffs a heart, plays the club ace, and exits with a club or a diamond. Boyd, down to all trumps, would be forced to ruff, then lead into declarer’s trump tenace.
Equally, a low-spade switch from Boyd does not do the job, because declarer can win the trick in dummy, take the club finesse, cash the club ace, ruff a diamond, and eventually force West to ruff one of his partner’s winners and lead into the spade tenace.
After the play of the spade queen, declarer won in hand, ruffed a diamond, took the club finesse, cashed the club ace, and exited with a diamond. However, East won, cashed another diamond, and gave West a ruff. Boyd still had a sure trump trick to come, for down one.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 9 |
| ♥ |
A J 8 3 |
| ♦ |
9 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 8 6 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1♦ |
Pass |
| Pass |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s double is for takeout, suggesting five diamonds and four spades. Since declarer is marked with long clubs, (or he would have balanced with a double), your choice is to defend, which seems a little adventurous, or else bid a quiet one no-trump, which would be my choice.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 18th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ K J 5 4
♥ A K Q
♦ 9 8 2
♣ J 8 3 |
|
| West
♠ Q
♥ J 10 6 4 3
♦ Q J 7 6
♣ K 10 4 |
|
East
♠ 10 6
♥ 9 5 2
♦ A 5 3
♣ A Q 7 6 5 |
| |
South
♠ A 9 8 7 3 2
♥ 8 7
♦ K 10 4
♣ 9 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2♦* |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| *Weak two in either major, or 22-23 HCP |
Opening Lead: ♥ 3
“This life’s five windows of the soul
Distorts the Heavens from pole to pole,
And leads you to believe a lie.”
— William Blake
To mark this year’s world championships, being held in Philadelphia, all this week’s deals come from the last world championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Lynn Deas and Beth Palmer defended expertly on this deal from their round-robin match against Jordan. In the other room Kerri Sanborn had made 10 tricks in two spades, collecting six spades, three hearts and one diamond. But there was more at stake in the closed room, where the Jordanians had reached game.
Deas (West) led the heart three. The Jordanian declarer, Randa Saket, won, drew trumps, and cashed the other two hearts, discarding a club from her hand. Then she called for a club, Palmer as East rising with her ace and shifting to a low diamond, which was ducked to West’s jack. Now Deas set out to help declarer misplace the diamond honors. Instead of leading the club king, she played a low club to the jack and queen, ruffed by South.
Declarer, thinking that East had false-carded on the first round of clubs from the ace-king-queen, now knew that East was unlikely also to have the diamond ace and to have stayed silent at her first turn. She crossed to dummy with a trump and played a diamond to her 10. Deas produced the queen and returned a diamond for down one and six IMPs to USA-1, instead of a loss of the same number.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 10 4 3 |
| ♥ |
10 6 2 |
| ♦ |
A 3 |
| ♣ |
J 8 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
1♥ |
| Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: While a diamond lead can offer instant gratification if successful, the more mundane fourth highest in a black suit is more likely to succeed. The spade lead is preferable since any honor in partner’s hand will minimize the chance of that lead costing a trick. A club lead, however, might be expensive even when you find the queen or jack opposite.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 3, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
When is a revoke established? Last week in my duplicate club my RHO revoked as declarer, but then corrected it after my partner had led to the next trick. The Director said that there was no penalty and the revoke could be corrected. Can this be right?
— The Enforcer, Woodland Hills, Calif.
ANSWER: In midplay a revoke is established only if the player who revoked (or his partner) played to the next trick. This did not happen here, so the revoke is not established, and declarer can change his card without penalty. But your partner gets to retract his lead now and can lead something else.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you held ♠ K-9-3, ♥ Q-5-4, ♦ A-J-3-2, ♣ A-10-2, I assume you would open one club and plan to rebid one no-trump if partner responded one spade. Does the picture alter if LHO doubled one club and partner bid one spade? Does that call suggest or promise five spades?
— Looking for More, Selma, Ala.
ANSWER: I would still rebid one no-trump because I have honors in all suits. The one-spade bid here suggests at least four decent spades (headed by a top honor). With a bad suit and a bad hand, you would pass; with 7-10 and a weak suit, you might well opt to respond one no-trump and bypass the weak suit. In other words, move the heart queen into diamonds, and you might tempt me to raise spades, but not with this hand.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
You recently stated that a two-suited opening bid was allowed in Europe but not in the United States. Why is a bid that is legal elsewhere not permitted by the ACBL? It would seem that to prepare us for anything that comes up, especially with so many top foreign players coming here or our going abroad, we need to keep an open mind on all bridge bids.
— Equal Rights, Albuquerque, N.M.
|
|
ANSWER: A reasonable idea, but it is not the way of the world. Some would argue that to maximize income, we tie our players’ hands behind their backs, then wonder why no youngsters are participating. As against that, will players stop competing in events if they have to defend against complex methods? I haven’t found that to be the case.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In second seat I opened one diamond with: ♠ K-9-3-2, ♥ K-6-4, ♦ A-Q-J-10, ♣ 9-2. My partner made an inverted raise to two diamonds. Would you rebid in no-trump, spades, or diamonds, and what would determine your choice?
— Rabid Rebidder, Danville, Ill.
ANSWER: This feels like a semibalanced hand because of the two small clubs. So a call of two spades looks closest to the mark. Reraising diamonds with only four seems premature, and I don’t want to wrong-side no-trump. We can always get to no-trump later.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
At my local club we always get killed when we play IMPs and our opponents open a kamikaze 10-12 no-trump. We play Cappelletti over a weak no-trump, but we don’t know what to do when they initiate a runout. How should the auction continue after we double and they run?
— Run Over, Levittown, Pa.
ANSWER: I suggest that passing a runout up to two hearts is forcing. The first double is takeout from either side (subsequent doubles are penalty), and responder bids as if his partner had opened one no-trump and the opponents had intervened. Stayman and transfers apply over a pass or a rescue to two clubs; Lebensohl applies over any higher escape. In virtually all other auctions, everything is natural. |
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 2, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ Q 4 2
♥ 8 3
♦ A 9 7 6 5 3 2
♣ A |
|
| West
♠ K 9
♥ A Q J 9 7 5
♦ Q J 4
♣ 7 5 |
|
East
♠ 10 8
♥ 10 6 4 2
♦ 10 8
♣ K Q 8 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ A J 7 6 5 3
♥ K
♦ K
♣ J 10 9 4 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♠ |
2♥ |
2 NT |
3♣ |
| 3♥ |
Dbl. |
4♣ |
5♥ |
| Pass |
Pass |
6♠ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♣ 7
“To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.”
— Miguel de Unamuno
Poland and Sweden have in the past adopted an unusual approach to selecting their national teams: Ten prequalified pairs from each country played the second stage of their respective trials against each other. Today’s deal from those trials is a rarity because after West failed to find the killing lead against six spades, the only way for him to defeat the spade slam would be to sacrifice his trump trick.
North-South found their way to a highly ambitious slam, one apparently doomed on West’s natural lead of the heart ace. However Zdzislaw Laszczak, having put far too much faith in his opponents’ bidding, elected to lead a club.
Declarer, Marten Gustafsson, won, played a diamond to his king, ruffed a club in dummy, then cashed the diamond ace to discard his losing heart. A diamond ruff in hand now set up the suit.
Despite this great start, declarer still needed trumps to be 2-2, with West holding the spade king and no more clubs, or he could force the dummy. Accordingly, Gustafsson led a low spade from hand toward dummy’s queen. If West takes the king and returns a heart, declarer ruffs in hand and plays a spade to the queen. Dummy is now high.
Laszczak, despite being disconcerted by the knowledge that cashing the heart ace would have defeated the contract out of hand, was still focused enough to resist the automatic play. Instead, he played low on declarer’s trump lead. Although dummy’s queen won, the diamond suit was now dead, and the contract had to fail.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 4 2 |
| ♥ |
8 3 |
| ♦ |
A 9 7 6 5 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♥ |
2♣ |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If your partner was weak with both majors, he would surely have passed three diamonds (or have bid spades earlier). I’d take this call as a game-try for diamonds, with spade values. Your extra diamond length should be enough for game, but just in case, stop off in four hearts along the way. The earlier bidding has made it clear that you can’t hold more than a doubleton heart.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 1, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K Q
♥ K Q 10 5 3
♦ Q 7 4 2
♣ 7 5 |
|
| West
♠ 10 6 3 2
♥ 2
♦ A J 9 8
♣ Q J 10 6 |
|
East
♠ A J 9 8
♥ 9 8 6
♦ 10
♣ 9 8 4 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ 7 5 4
♥ A J 7 4
♦ K 6 5 3
♣ A K |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ Q
“Since knowledge is but sorrow’s spy,
It is not safe to know.”
— Sir William Davenant
In today’s deal the four-heart contract hinged on South’s taking evasive action to insure he held his diamond losers to two tricks. Sadly, declarer was not up to the task.
The club queen was won in hand and declarer drew trumps in three rounds before playing a spade to dummy’s king and East’s ace. Winning the club return, South cashed dummy’s spade queen, then played a diamond to the 10, king and ace. Now three diamond tricks had to be lost, and with them, the contract.
A spade loser is inevitable, so all of declarer’s efforts should be directed toward holding the diamond losers to two. There is no problem if diamonds break 3-2; curiously, the 4-1 split should not have proved an insurmountable obstacle, either.
The black suits need to be eliminated, so on winning the club lead, best is to play a spade immediately. West wins and returns a club — no other return is better. South wins, dummy’s second spade is cashed, trumps are drawn ending in hand, and South’s last spade is ruffed.
Now comes a low diamond, and irrespective of the card contributed by East, South should play low. If diamonds break 3-2, declarer will lose only two diamond tricks. But if the suit breaks 4-1, then regardless of whether West allows East’s 10 to hold or overtakes with the jack, a black suit return will allow a ruff and discard, and the play of a diamond presents declarer with two tricks in the suit.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K Q |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 5 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 7 4 2 |
| ♣ |
7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| 1♥ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s redouble simply announces a good hand, generally one suitable for defense. With your decent values, extra shape and a convenient second suit to bid, do not hold back. Simply bid two diamonds to tell your partner what you have. Let him go on from there.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9 6 2
♥ A 10 5
♦ Q 10 8 2
♣ Q J 9 |
|
| West
♠ 8 5
♥ K 8 7 4 3 2
♦ 7 3
♣ A K 2 |
|
East
♠ K J 10 4 3
♥ J 9
♦ J 9 6 4
♣ 10 6 |
| |
South
♠ A Q 7
♥ Q 6
♦ A K 5
♣ 8 7 5 4 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 4
“Not to admire is all the art I know.”
— Lord Byron
When West led the heart four against three no-trump, declarer ran the lead to his hand, then played a club to dummy’s queen as West ducked. Now when a second club went to West’s king, he paused to count out the hand and concluded correctly that his partner had no more than six points and no more than two hearts. The problem was now to construct a hand that would lead to the defeat of the contract.
West eventually decided that his only hope, unlikely as it might be, was for declarer to hold the doubleton queen-jack or king-jack of spades. He therefore tried the effect of a switch to the spade eight, but met with no success.
After declarer had wrapped up 10 tricks, West explained why he had not continued hearts. He knew that even if he had found East with the doubleton heart jack, his partner would have been left on lead. The defenders would still not have been able to set up the suit, as West had only one side-suit entry.
It was only much later that inspiration dawned on West as to what would have been his best shot. If he had led the heart king at trick four, it would have looked completely natural for declarer to duck this trick. But then West remains on play and can press on with a third heart while he still has the club entry to run the heart suit on regaining the lead.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 7 |
| ♥ |
A 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 5 |
| ♣ |
8 7 5 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♥ |
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There seem to be an awful lot of points in this deck! Rather than drive directly to game, cue-bid two diamonds to show a good hand and follow up with an invitational call, even after a sign-off in two hearts. At that point either a raise to three hearts or a call of two no-trump looks right on values; I prefer the latter.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 29, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 9 7 4 3
♥ A K 7
♦ 9
♣ A 9 8 6 4 |
|
| West
♠ K J 10 6 5
♥ 10 9
♦ Q 8 5 4
♣ K 2 |
|
East
♠ A Q 8
♥ J 6 5
♦ J 10 2
♣ Q J 10 7 |
| |
South
♠ 2
♥ Q 8 4 3 2
♦ A K 7 6 3
♣ 5 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 10
“Speech was given to the ordinary sort of men whereby to communicate their mind; but to wise men, whereby to conceal it.”
— Robert South
After North opened light, sensibly relying on the extra controls and 5-4 pattern, South found the heart fit and drove to game.
If West had led and continued spades, declarer would have had an easy time of it by playing along crossruff lines. He would have ruffed the second spade and cashed his minor -suit top winners. Then he could crossruff spades and diamonds to win a total of seven trump tricks and three plain-suit winners. If East ruffed high on the fourth spade, declarer would have been able to discard his club loser and eventually ruff a club in hand.
But West found the more challenging lead of a trump, and now declarer could see the crossruff would fail. One possibility was to duck a club. The plan would be to take a second club with the ace, lead a third round for South to ruff, and (if the suit split) go back to dummy with the third round of trumps to cash the two long clubs.
South found a better line when he won the heart in dummy, played the diamond ace, ruffed a diamond, then played dummy’s second top trump and gave up a spade. He could arrange to ruff a spade, draw the last trump, then play the diamond king and concede a diamond while he still had one trump remaining with which to regain the lead and cash the last diamond. Declarer emerged with five hearts, four diamonds and a club trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
2 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 6 3 |
| ♣ |
5 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: If you play the Michaels Cuebid, where a direct cuebid shows at least 5-5 with the other major and an unspecified minor, this hand is tailor-made for the bid. If at unfavorable vulnerability you might be a little worried by the weak heart intermediates, but showing the hand at one go makes the risk worthwhile.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
October 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ A 8 6
♥ 7 5
♦ K Q 10 7
♣ A Q 4 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7 4 3
♥ 8 6 2
♦ A 6 5
♣ 8 6 5 |
|
East
♠ Q J 5
♥ K J 10 9 4
♦ 8 2
♣ K 10 9 |
| |
South
♠ K 9 2
♥ A Q 3
♦ J 9 4 3
♣ J 7 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1♦ |
1♥ |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
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|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity … It is a part of nature.”
— Herbert Spencer
In today’s deal South survived the first two hurdles in his contract of three no-trump, but tripped over the third.
South’s first good decision was to respond two no-trump rather than raising diamonds. His well-placed heart honors persuaded him to take the clubs on trust, a sensible enough gamble. When North raised his partner to three no-trump, West obediently kicked off with the heart two (to clarify the count in that suit for his partner). East played the heart king, and South ducked.
South won the heart return with the ace, but now fell from grace by playing on diamonds. When West took the ace, he still had a heart left to return, which removed declarer’s last stop. Declarer had eight tricks, but needed a second club trick. When the finesse failed, so did the contract.
The danger hand is East; therefore, East’s entry must be attacked before South’s last heart stopper is removed. If West has the club king, there is no problem: the finesse of the club queen will win, then the diamond ace can be dislodged. If East has both the diamond ace and the club king, the contract is doomed anyway. But if, as here, West has the diamond ace and East the club king, then when West eventually comes on lead with his ace, he will have no heart to return.
Note that if the defenders shift to spades at trick two, West becomes the danger hand, and declarer must play on diamonds before clubs.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 9 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 3 |
| ♦ |
J 9 4 3 |
| ♣ |
J 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Dbl. |
| Rdbl. |
1♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Having shown 10 or more points with your redouble, you can comfortably bid just one no-trump now. There is no reason to assume that you want partner to bid on, unless he has some sort of extra high-cards or shape. The more space you can save, the better the picture your partner will be able to paint.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
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