The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 14, 2010

August 28th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 14, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♥ Q

“Behold now this vast city (London); a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and surrounded with His protection.”

— John Milton

How would you tackle today’s deal from a duplicate at London’s Young Chelsea Bridge Club? You are in four spades on the lead of the heart queen. North had a maximum for his initial raise, so he bid four hearts over South’s game-try of three hearts, a more accurate help-suit try than three clubs, since possessing the club king is not that important here. South naturally corrected to four spades.

The key to this deal (and so many others) is to combine all your chances. The urgent need is to dispose of your third-round heart loser if possible. So win the heart king and play a diamond. West rises with the ace and plays another heart, which you win with the ace as East follows. The play in hearts suggests the suit is 3-3 (East would probably have echoed with a doubleton), so cash the diamond king pitching a heart, ruff a heart with the spade 10, and now play the spade ace and another spade. West does best to win and exit with his last spade, but you win in dummy, cash the long heart while discarding a club, and lead a club to your eight. This endplays West, who must either give you a ruff and discard or lead a club into your tenace.

Even if East were able to win the spade king and switch to a club, when you play the eight, it would endplay West.

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, August 13, 2010

August 27th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, August 13, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♥ K

“Live as long as you please, you will strike nothing off the time you will have to spend dead.”

— Michel de Montaigne

All instruction books on card play are unanimous on the importance of thinking before you play to trick one, particularly from dummy. Would you have gotten today’s hand right? Look at just the North-South hands while forming your plan.

Against your no-trump game, West leads the heart king. If you duck, as you should, West will switch to the spade 10. Suppose you win and play three rounds of diamonds. West wins the third round and presses on with a second spade. You win in dummy and duck a club. East takes this and plays a third spade. You win this, take the club ace, cash your good diamond, and lead dummy’s heart nine, ducking it to West. He will be endplayed, forced to lead into your heart tenace to give you nine tricks. Nicely played! Well, not so nicely, because West meanly allows your heart nine to hold the trick. This is your eighth trick only, and all dummy has left are clubs, so East must make the last two tricks.

Technically, you could have avoided this by ducking a club before playing on diamonds — but why would you do that? No, the simplest thing of all would have been to unblock dummy’s heart nine at trick one under the king. After all, when you think about it, it is a card that is not likely to be useful to you. Now, in the ending, when you lead a heart to West, he can no longer duck the trick and is endplayed.

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, August 12, 2010

August 26th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, August 12, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	1♣	Pass
1♠	3♥	Dbl.	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ K

“I don’t think we enjoy other people’s suffering, Hennessy. It isn’t actually enjoyment, but we feel better for it.”

— Finley Peter Dunne (Mr. Dooley)

On the following deal North-South were pleased with their penalty against West’s three hearts doubled — until they scored up. North kicked off with two rounds of spades. Declarer ruffed and played the diamond king to North’s ace, and North thoughtfully switched to a club. Declarer unwisely won dummy’s ace and played a heart. South won and played a second club, ruffed by declarer, who next played a high diamond. North ruffed, drew two rounds of trumps, and led the club king, forcing out declarer’s last trump. Declarer could cash one more diamond, but then had to concede the rest of the tricks to the defense for an 800 penalty.

However, in the other room South stretched to open a weak-two in spades and North bounced to six spades. West led from his diamond sequence rather than his singleton club. Declarer won dummy’s diamond ace, played a heart to his queen, and thoughtfully played the diamond 10, covered and ruffed. He cashed dummy’s top hearts, intending to discard both his clubs, but East ruffed in on the second, and declarer had to overruff. Then came the diamond nine, covered and ruffed, and the fall of the diamond eight meant that South’s six was good. Declarer cashed the spade king; then, to avoid a diamond ruff, he advanced the club king. Since East held the ace, there was nothing the defenders could do anymore. Note that if West could have won the first club, he would have been able to give his partner a diamond ruff.

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, August 11, 2010

August 25th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 

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

 

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

*16 or more, any hand

Opening Lead: ♥ 6

“Do not do unto others as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.”

— George Bernard Shaw

When there is a blockage that prevents access to winning tricks, declarer will sometimes have to turn to the defenders for help.

In three no-trump West had a straightforward lead of his fourth-best heart, and dummy’s nine held the trick. It seemed that declarer was in dummy for the last time. Even without the club blockage, South seemed to be a trick short. Either a successful diamond or spade finesse would supply one extra trick; but that would not be enough, given declarer’s inability to cash five club tricks.

South saw one glimmer of light. If West held five hearts (likely on the lead), but no more than two spades, he could be endplayed into opening up the diamonds, which would at the same time allow access to dummy.

Therefore, at trick two, declarer finessed the spade queen. Then came the three top clubs and the spade ace, the jack dropping from West and providing a hopeful sign that all was going to plan. South now got off play with the heart king and was relieved to find East following suit. After cashing four heart tricks (declarer ditching the club four and the diamond four from dummy, and two low spades from hand), West had no option but to open up the diamonds. Dummy’s Q-J of diamonds now provided a sure entry, and the fifth club was the game-going trick. Contract made — declarer finishing up with one heart, four clubs, and two tricks in each of the other suits.

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, August 10, 2010

August 24th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

*Quantitative

Opening Lead: ♠ 4

“A knowledgeable fool is a greater fool than an ignorant fool.”

— Moliere

At the 2006 Invitational Lederer Memorial Trophy in London — the 60th — which was covered on Bridge Base Online, nearly half the field had their mind on lofty targets.

There were eight tables in play, and the contract at three of them was a mundane three no-trump, but five pairs drove to slam, two of them ending in six diamonds and the other three reaching six no-trump.

Before you read any further, cover up the East and West hands and decide how you would have played the no-trump slam.

Regardless of which slam is attempted, everything hinges on the diamond suit providing five tricks. There will always be a heart loser. One of dummy’s hearts can depart on the second club, but there is no parking place for the other.

If the diamond 10 had been in the long diamond hand, then it would have been right to play diamonds from the top. It is just over even money that the jack will drop in either two rounds or three, whereas the straight finesse is a 50-50 shot.

But the odds change dramatically when the 10 is doubleton, accompanied by a higher honor, as in South’s hand. A 3-3 break is only fractionally better than a one-third chance, whereas the finesse is 50 percent. Unsurprisingly, considering the quality of the eight teams that were invited to take part in the Lederer, almost every declarer did indeed finesse the diamond 10 and brought home the slam.

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, August 9, 2010

August 23rd, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
Pass	Pass	Pass	1♥
2♦	Dbl.	3♦	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ K

“The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.”

— Richard Sheridan

If you want to do well at pairs, there are two essential ingredients — skill and luck. This deal, from the Women’s Pairs at San Remo last summer, features current world champion Nevena Senior, formerly of Bulgaria, now part of the English ladies’ squad that took the world title in Beijing in 2008.

Against three diamonds West led the heart king and continued the suit when East encouraged. East won the trick, cashed a third heart, and switched to the spade 10. That ran to dummy’s king. Declarer now drew trumps, West discarding a club on the second round.

From the cards played so far, Nevena Senior thought it likely that West had 5-2-1-5 distribution, so she cashed the spade ace and played a club to dummy’s 10. East could win, but was endplayed. East had no spade to lead, a heart would give a ruff-sluff, and a club would give up a trick to North’s king.

Very nicely done, but can you see how the defenders might have done better? Had East not encouraged a heart continuation at trick one, West ought to have found a club shift. That would let the defenders take their four top winners, exit with a trump, then sit back and wait for their spade trick. One of the hardest things to do at the bridge table is give up on an apparently successful plan to change it for a better one.

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, August 8, 2010

August 22nd, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  2 Comments 

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, August 7, 2010

August 21st, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  4 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♣ Q

“If you follow your star, you can not fail to reach a glorious haven.”

— Dante Alighieri

When the club queen was led against four spades, declarer ducked in dummy, happy to try to keep East off play. Although the only threat to the contract was the heart finesse being offside, South could also see additional endplay chances if East was kept off lead. East could not tell that he had to overtake with the club ace and shift to a heart — and you can hardly blame him for that.

The defenders continued with clubs at the second trick, and after covering the club jack with the king and ruffing the club ace away, declarer played a spade to the queen followed by the two top diamonds. Then he crossed to hand with a trump and ruffed his diamond loser in dummy. Before falling back on the heart finesse, declarer went for his last extra chance, namely that West had the club 10. He led the club eight, pitching a heart loser from hand hoping to endplay West on this 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: Friday, August 6, 2010

August 20th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  5 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2♣	3♣	Pass	Pass
3♥	Pass	5♥	Pass
6♥	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ 9

“Was it a vision or a waking dream?

Fled is that music: — Do I wake or sleep?”

— John Keats

South had a comfortable opening call of two clubs, and over the three-level intervention, his partner’s pass showed values. (With a really weak hand, North would have doubled three clubs.) When the auction reverted to South, he decided to bid his hearts rather than double for takeout.

Now North’s jump to five hearts asked South to bid slam with a club control. With only a second-round control and a minimum (in context), South might well have taken the low road, but the slam bonus was an irresistible lure — he let his good trumps persuade him to act.

West led a passive spade against six hearts, and South thought he could count 12 tricks. If trumps were going to behave, he had six trump tricks, two diamonds and four spades. Just in case it was not his lucky day, declarer needed to plan how to cope with a 4-0 trump break. The winning line took him a moment to find, but he spotted it eventually.

South won the spade in dummy, then led a low heart to his ace, discovering the bad trump split. He cashed both top diamonds and went to the spade king to ruff a diamond high, crossed back to the heart nine to ruff another diamond high, then went back to the heart 10 to draw the last trump, pitching a club from hand.

He could run the spades now and concede trick 13 to the club ace — a perfect dummy reversal.

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, August 5, 2010

August 19th, 2010  ~  Bobby Wolff  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, August 5, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 NT*	Pass	2♥
Dbl.	2♠	Pass	3♠
4♥	All Pass
*12-14

Opening Lead: ♥ 10

“When they are there, I neglect God and his angels for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, for the whining of a door.”

— John Donne

In today’s four-heart contract from Julian Pottage’s “Win the Big Match” (available from www.sterlingpub.com), you know West holds both minor-suit aces, so there is little point in leading a club up to the king. Can you instead organize a throw-in on West?

It looks natural to win the heart in hand, cash the spades, then lead the heart six to dummy’s king. Now you may put West on play by running the diamond jack — but what good does that do? West wins with the diamond queen, cashes the ace, and exits with a third round, leaving you with two club losers. Instead, your exit has to take place in clubs.

Strip off the spades and trumps as before, but then lead a low club from dummy. If East plays low on the trick, you must restrain yourself from rising with the king — West might win with the ace and get off play with a low club to East. Instead, insert the club eight. If the cards lie as you hope, West can win the club cheaply, but now what? A diamond or spade lead will eliminate a diamond loser. Cashing the club ace provides a temporary escape, but with the club jack falling from East, West is then really stuck. Whether he leads a low or high club, one ruff sets up the suit, giving you two diamond discards on the clubs since you can lead your heart two to dummy’s three.

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].