October 11th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 27, 2010 
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ 8 6 2
♥ 8
♦ 8 3
♣ A K 10 8 7 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ Q 10 7 3
♥ Q 9 5 2
♦ Q 10 7 6
♣ 6 |
 |
East
♠ K J 9 4
♥ K J 10 4
♦ 5 2
♣ Q 9 4 |
| |
South
♠ A 5
♥ A 7 6 3
♦ A K J 9 4
♣ J 3 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“There is not a fiercer hell than the failure in a great object.”
— John Keats
After reversing, South has a problem at his third turn, when North repeats his clubs. Maybe he should use fourth-suit forcing instead of stopping off in three no-trump. After all, five clubs is the best game today, and slam is in the picture, even facing North’s dead minimum. Having said that, South’s decision to bid three no-trump is reasonable enough., West’s fourth-highest lead of the spade three strongly suggests that he has at most four cards in the suit, since if he had five, the three could not be fourth-highest. This is so because South can see the spade two.
South should realize that it would be foolish to duck the first trick and risk a shift to hearts. He must win his spade ace and should now try to bring the club suit in if he can. The right way to do this is to run the club jack at once, keeping communications intact with the dummy if the finesse against the queen loses.
Playing the ace-king of clubs, hoping to drop the queen, will cost the contract today, since there would be no way to reach dummy’s established club suit. And if declarer switches his attention to diamonds after finding no joy in the clubs, the defenders have five winners before declarer can take nine.
As it is, East takes his club queen at trick two and can cash three spade tricks for his side, but declarer has the rest.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 10 3 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 7 2 |
| ♦ |
J 8 |
| ♣ |
A 6 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
3♣ |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
4♠ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your heart sequence is not so solid that you can lead it with impunity, particularly when partner rates to be very short. I would secretly admire any defender who led a low heart at trick one, but that is far too rich for me. I’ll settle for the club ace and find out later what I should have done.
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 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, September 26, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently in “Bid with the Aces” you posed a problem hand where the auction around the table had gone: one diamond – one heart – one no-trump. As fourth hand I would not be clear why the auction was a tip-off to a possible bad heart break. Since you as fourth hand have four small hearts, and partner presumably has five or more, that would leave four hearts between the other two hands. How badly can the hearts be breaking?
— Math Maven, Richmond, Va.
ANSWER: Your RHO’s decision to bid no-trump does not always deliver a second heart stop, but it frequently does. If a game contract our way depended on trumps splitting 2-2 or on a finesse through the opening bidder for the trump queen or king, I would not fancy your chances, would you?
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My partner held ♠ K-J-9-7-3, ♥ Q-J-2, ♦ 10-3-2, ♣ 8-2. He raised my opening of one spade to two, and over my game-try of three clubs he signed off in three spades. I passed, with 16 points and a 5-1-3-4 pattern, and we made game comfortably enough. Who was to blame?
— Ray of Sunshine, Houston, Texas
ANSWER: Your partner might have done more than raise one spade to two – some would invite, some would drive to four spades here as a two-way shot. After your sensible game-try, your partner must bid game. Like it or not, he knows he has spectacular trumps, and the right doubleton, which should be almost enough on its own. You were correct, in theory, to pass the sign-off. When you consult partner, you must trust him.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
When would you risk a contract to play for an overtrick? What odds would you need in your favor? And what about settling for one down instead of playing to make a contract and risking going two down?
— Handicapper, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
|
|
ANSWER: Matchpoints is the only form of the game where safety plays are unattractive. At pairs, in a normal contract, if all other factors are equal (though they rarely are), one follows the line offering the best chance of taking the most tricks. This could be a 60 percent line that might lead to an overtrick if it succeeds or might risk going down if it fails. Bear in mind that one sometimes needs to risk a contract to get back to par on a deal after a bad guess by you or a good lead by the opponents.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My LHO opened one no-trump. My RHO held ♠ J-9-7-4, ♥ A-Q-7-3-2, ♦ K-8, ♣ 9-6, but instead of transferring into hearts, he bid Stayman and then three spades! His side still reached a heart game, but I had no idea how (or why) they did it.
— Lost in Space, Wichita, Texas
ANSWER: Your opponents were playing a convention called Smolen, whereby a jump in a major after a two-diamond response to Stayman shows both majors, with four in the bid suit and five in the other major. This acts as a transfer to get the strong hand to be declarer if theew is a 5-3 fit. Note that when your opponents announce a conventional bid, if you ask, they must explain it to you. If you still don’t understand, just ask them to explain it further and don’t feel embarrassed about that.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a duplicate match my partner and I were doubled in four hearts, and made it. Another team bid three hearts, were also doubled, and made an overtrick. They received 930 points while we received 790. Since we bid game and they didn’t, we shouldn’t we have received the same number of points? Someone told me they were doubled into game, but I don’t understand that concept. Could you please explain the 140-point difference.
— Short-Changed, Woodland Hills, Calif.
ANSWER: When a contract of three hearts (worth 90 points) is doubled, it becomes worth 180 and thus scores as game, since any contract scoring more than 100 carries the game bonus. Doubled overtricks are worth 100 nonvulnerable, or 200 when vulnerable. The 140 discrepancy comes from the difference between a doubled vulnerable overtrick of 200 and a doubled trick of 30, worth 60. Which is more embarrassing: to double opponents (who can make 10 tricks) at the three-level or four-level? The former, I’d say — hence it should cost 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].
October 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ A J 7
♥ K 10 4
♦ A J 7 6
♣ A Q 2 |
|
| West
♠ K Q 9
♥ A J 6 2
♦ 9 5 4
♣ 8 4 3 |
|
East
♠ 10
♥ Q 9 8 7 3
♦ K 10
♣ K J 10 7 6 |
| |
South
♠ 8 6 5 4 3 2
♥ 5
♦ Q 8 3 2
♣ 9 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
1♥ |
| 1♠ |
2♠ |
Dbl. |
4♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| Pass |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
Opening Lead: ♥ A
“Who would have thought my shriveled heart
Could have recovered greenness? It was gone
Quite under ground.”
— George Herbert
Looking at all four hands on this deal from the 2000 U.S. International trials, we can see that a club lead by Eric Rodwell defeats four spades, while the lead of the heart ace allows declarer to discard his losing club on the king and make the contract. So Jeff Meckstroth’s four-club bid should have made the defense simple.
Not so fast: Rodwell quite reasonably thought he might be need to start tapping dummy immediately, so he tabled the heart ace and shifted to a club. Was this too little too late? Read on.
Declarer, Steve Garner, rose with the ace, pitched his losing club on the heart king, ruffed the third heart in hand, and played a trump to the king and ace. (Ducking would have simplified the play.)
Now declarer ruffed a club to hand to lead a second trump toward dummy’s jack. West won the queen and tapped South again with a heart.
Down to one trump in hand, Garner now led out the diamond queen, leaving a trump outstanding. He would have been home had East taken the trick, but Meckstroth smoothly ducked!
When declarer repeated the finesse, Meckstroth produced the diamond king followed by the club jack, giving everyone a ruff and discard.
Declarer was dead in the water now. Ruffing in dummy would promote the spade nine, while ruffing in hand would allow West to jettison his last diamond. Declarer would then have no way back to dummy to draw the last trump. Down one!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 7 |
| ♥ |
K 10 4 |
| ♦ |
A J 7 6 |
| ♣ |
A Q 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Gone are the days when this sequence was nonforcing. Your partner has enough values to force to game and may have slam interest. Rather than stolidly raising to game, cuebid three spades to let him cooperate if he has enough values to be looking for higher things. In context, you are highly slam-suitable.
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 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 24, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A 9 6
♥ A 10 6
♦ Q 9 5
♣ J 9 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ J 8 7 3 2
♥ 8 7 5
♦ A 4
♣ 10 7 6 |
|
East
♠ K 10 4
♥ J 4 3 2
♦ K 3 2
♣ Q 8 3 |
| |
South
♠ Q 5
♥ K Q 9
♦ J 10 8 7 6
♣ A K 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.”
— Lennon and McCartney
Defensive signaling is a vastly under-studied area of the game. Everyone thinks they understand attitude and count signals, but suit preference is the red-headed step-child of signals. The point is that on just about every deal one defender or the other has the opportunity to pass a message to his partner. Of course that signal does not always translate into tricks, but that does not take away from the usefulness of the signal.
After West led the spade three to the king, East returned the suit. Declarer won the queen as West contributed the eight. Declarer now thoughtfully led a heart to the ace and tried a low diamond from the board. If East had played low, declarer would have been home, since West’s diamond entry would have been dislodged before the spades were established. However East alertly rose with the diamond king to play a spade, and defeat the game. Why did East find the play? On the second spade West had followed with the eight, in a position where he could not have started life with three or four small cards, or he would have led a larger spot-card initially. The most likely meaning for the spade eight was suit preference for West’s remaining entry. Following with the jack would have suggested a card in hearts, so the eight suggested diamonds.
East knew that unless West had an ace, the game was surely not going to be defeated, and it was necessary for East to preserve his partner’s entry until the spades were established.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 6 |
| ♥ |
A 10 6 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 5 |
| ♣ |
J 9 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
2♦ |
4♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Frequently when your partner makes a simple overcall and the opponents bounce to game in an agreed suit, it puts you under the gun in fourth seat. Best here is to double, meaning it simply as values, (in an ideal world those values would be ‘transferable’ meaning tricks on both offence and defense). The overcaller is expected to bid again with significant extra length in his suit, or a two-suiter.
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 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 23, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A K 9
♥ 10 3
♦ A K J 9 7 4
♣ 5 3 |
|
| West
♠ J 5 2
♥ J 6 2
♦ 6 2
♣ K 10 6 4 2 |
|
East
♠ 10 8 7 3
♥ Q 9 8 7 4
♦ Q 3
♣ A 9 |
| |
South
♠ Q 6 4
♥ A K 5
♦ 10 8 5
♣ Q J 8 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
6 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ J
“I see the better way, and approve it; I follow the worse.”
— Ovid
It is especially satisfying to declarers when they can take more tricks seeing only two hands than the spectators and commentators can envision viewing all four hands.
Consider this deal, where, trailing by 68 IMPs going into the final 15-board segment of the U.S. International Team Trials in 2000, the Schwartz team started a huge charge. They made up half the deficit in the first three boards, though they fell just short at the end.
The commentator saw Zia Mahmood and Michael Rosenberg reach six no-trump and foolishly said that this looked like a big pickup for their opponents, since there was no play for the slam. Michael Rosenberg, who did not hear this comment, proved it inaccurate.
On West’s deceptive lead of the spade jack, the defense had already started to create a problem for themselves. Rosenberg won, cashed the diamond ace, then led a club from dummy. East missed his first chance to settle declarer’s hash by rising with the ace and returning the suit — a play that, in retrospect, could hardly have cost.
As it was, West won his club king and played a second diamond. Now declarer rose with the king and ran the diamonds, East’s first discard being an encouraging heart. At this point, instead of pitching spades to clarify the position to his partner, West chose to believe his partner’s discard and pitched a heart. Curtains! Declarer ran the diamonds and spades to squeeze East in hearts and clubs: contract made.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 6 4 |
| ♥ |
A K 5 |
| ♦ |
10 8 5 |
| ♣ |
Q J 8 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: A jump in balancing seat is not weak and pre-emptive, even if you play weak jump overcalls in almost every other seat. Jumps in this seat should be intermediate (say 12-15 with a good six-card suit). You want to drive the hand to game, but three no-trump could easily be best. Cuebid three clubs, planning to follow up with three no-trump, offering partner the choice of games.
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 6th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ J 10 4
♥ A K 3 2
♦ A K Q
♣ 6 3 2 |
|
| West
♠ 3 2
♥ Q 10 8
♦ 10 8 5
♣ K 10 9 8 5 |
|
East
♠ 6 5
♥ 9 7 6
♦ J 9 4 3 2
♣ Q 7 4 |
| |
South
♠ A K Q 9 8 7
♥ J 5 4
♦ 7 6
♣ A J |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♣* |
Pass |
5♦ |
Pass |
| 6♠** |
Pass |
7♠ |
All Pass |
| *Three aces, counting the trump king as an ace |
| **The trump queen but no side kings |
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“They tell me when the fleeting charm
Of novelty is o’er,
Thou’lt turn away with careless brow
And think of me no more.”
— Emma Embury
Some bridge books totally transcend the test of time. Others just need to be brought up to date to reflect bidding changes of the last two decades. Thanks to Ron Klinger of Australia who updated the classic “The Mistakes You Make at Bridge” by Terence Reese and Roger Trezel.
This is a book with something for everyone. It concentrates on the errors even experienced players commit from time to time, and a frequent flip through should keep your game well honed, no matter what your level of ability.
In today’s deal, North asked for the trump queen, then took a stab at the spade grand slam. After drawing trumps in two rounds, what do you do next?
Did you, in a moment of aberration, discard the club jack on the third diamond, cash the heart ace, and run the spades, hoping for a miracle in hearts or a squeeze? If so, down you go!
A far better chance exists — namely, that either the heart queen drops doubleton, or that hearts divide 3-3. Accordingly you must take the chances in the right order. After drawing trumps, cash the ace and king of hearts. If the queen has failed to appear, continue with the three top diamonds and discard not the club jack, but the heart jack, on the third diamond. Then ruff a heart. With hearts breaking 3-3, dummy is re-entered in trumps, and only now is the club jack jettisoned — on the 13th heart.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 8 |
| ♦ |
10 8 5 |
| ♣ |
K 10 9 8 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
1♠ |
1 NT |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: This double is for takeout, suggesting five spades and relatively short hearts. North rates to have three cards in each minor, or to be planning to correct a bid in clubs to two diamonds to show something akin to five spades and four diamonds. For the time being, simply bid two clubs and await developments, if any.
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 5th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 21, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ A J 6 4
♥ A 9 7
♦ J 9 5
♣ 6 5 2 |
|
| West
♠ Q 10 9
♥ J 5 2
♦ K Q 7
♣ J 9 7 3 |
|
East
♠ K 8 3 2
♥ 10 4
♦ A 6 4 3 2
♣ 10 8 |
| |
South
♠ 7 5
♥ K Q 8 6 3
♦ 10 8
♣ A K Q 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 10
“Among all forms of mistake, prophecy is the most gratuitous.”
— George Eliot
When responder to a major-suit opening bid has a 10-count with three trumps, he has three ways to describe his hand. If he has extra shape (say a side-suit singleton or extra length in a side-suit), he might jump directly to three of partner’s suit. More typical, though, is to downgrade the hand into a constructive raise to two of partner’s suit, or to upgrade the hand via the forcing no-trump to a balanced limit-raise.
This was what today’s North did. South, with concentrated values in his two suits and decent high cards, had an easy acceptance of the invitation.
In four hearts, declarer must not pin all his hopes on a 3-3 split in clubs, since he can make provision against a 4-2 split as well. West leads the spade 10, which South allows to hold the trick. After winning the spade continuation, what next?
After taking the heart ace and king, declarer should next lead out the three top clubs. If the clubs split 3-3, he can draw the last trump and claim. If the clubs split 4-2 and the third round is ruffed, dummy will have a trump to ruff the fourth club. Nothing has been lost, since the contract would always have gone down one.
However, if the clubs split 4-2 and the defender who is long in clubs also has the last heart, the contract can be made by ruffing the fourth club before pulling the last trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 5 |
| ♥ |
K Q 8 6 3 |
| ♦ |
10 8 |
| ♣ |
A K Q 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner’s use of the fourth suit is conventional. It is artificial and game-forcing and asks you to describe your hand further. With no real support for your partner and no diamond stop, the cheapest call of two hearts is the least lie. It does not promise six hearts, merely a rebiddable five-card suit, or better.
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 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, September 20, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North
♠ A 10 8 4
♥ A Q
♦ A 10 8
♣ A 9 4 3 |
|
| West
♠ K J
♥ K 9 5 2
♦ Q 9 2
♣ K 10 8 7 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 6 2
♥ 10 8 6 4 3
♦ J 7 5 4
♣ — |
| |
South
♠ 7 5 3
♥ J 7
♦ K 6 3
♣ Q J 6 5 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 2
“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”
— Samuel Butler
Your partner opens one club and you hold five clubs and 6-9 points. What is your response? You know that a jump would be pre-emptive and a simple raise would be inverted (showing a limit raise or better). What’s left?
Today’s South compromised sensibly enough with a response of one no-trump. With such a strong hand and secure stoppers in every suit, North saw no reason merely to invite game but went all the way. Thus the partnership ended up in the no-trump game from the wrong seat.
Declarer had his first reprieve on a heart lead, when dummy’s queen held the trick. What next? South rejected the idea of crossing to hand with his diamond king to take the club finesse. Instead, he laid down the club ace and scowled when East discarded. There was no way back: the defenders could establish their five winners before declarer had nine.
Needing only four club tricks to make his contract, South should have taken a safety-play in clubs to guard against any adverse split. Admittedly, cashing the club ace suffices if East has all four clubs. However, the low lead toward the South hand wins if either player has all four clubs, for it gives declarer the extra entry to dummy needed to finesse against West’s club 10. If declarer wastes his diamond entry to take the club finesse, the entries to defend against the 4-0 split will also be fatally scrambled.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 5 3 |
| ♥ |
10 7 |
| ♦ |
K 6 3 |
| ♣ |
Q J 6 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: This is the sort of club-holding where leading an honor rates to block the suit or worse. If either partner or dummy has a doubleton club honor, be it the ace, king. or even the 10, you may need to lead a low club to unscramble the suit to best effect. Typically, fourth highest is right from any two honors unless they are supported by a large intermediate — here, the 10 or nine.
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 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, September 19, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
You posed a problem where you held ace-doubleton of spades, five small hearts, king-fourth of diamonds and a doubleton club. Your unopposed auction had gone one diamond – one heart – one spade – two diamonds – two spades, and you advocated a jump to five diamonds with your “miserable seven-count.” Is this the principle of Fast Arrival? And might your partner have only five spades and five diamonds to bid like this?
— High-Wire Artist, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
ANSWER: This is, of course, a spectacular seven count — blame my ironic sense of humor. If you open a minor and then repeat a major (with the POSSIBLE exception of clubs and spades, where opinions differ and suit quality issues may be paramount), then you are implying a 6-5 pattern. The sequence does not constitute Fast Arrival — that applies only to jumps to game in game-forcing auctions.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I have told my bridge friends that when you make a jump shift, you are allowed to alert your partner by saying “Skip Bid” before you bid. Is that right?
— Wake-Up Call, Twin Falls, Idaho
ANSWER: The objective of the skip bid (which you should use before any jump bid, even in a slam-going and uncontested auction) is NOT to alert partner. It is to let the opponents pause over your bid without conveying information to their partner. When you pre-empt, you may give LHO a problem. The 10-second pause is designed to make that player’s life easier by imposing a mandatory pause — thus his partner is not passed unauthorized information by a slow pass. In theory…
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Why do some players use a waiting two-diamond response to a strong two-club opener, when there are other response systems that give information about the responder’s hand?
— Jumping In, Canton, Ga.
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ANSWER: The idea is that in order not to pre-empt opener, you only respond in a suit (and risk pushing partner up a level) if you have a good suit. Hence, the two-diamond response may conceal a good hand and a moderate suit. Note that an initial response of two hearts will never pre-empt partner. Therefore one should almost always respond two hearts with five decent hearts and a positive, and you don’t have to wait for a great suit. The higher the response, the better the suit needed by responder.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently I received a lot of flak for forcing to game by responding two hearts to a one-spade opening with ♠ J-9, ♥ A-Q-7-3-2, ♦ K-10-8-3-2, ♣ 4. What would you recommend with this hand?
— In the Soup, Troy, N.Y.
ANSWER: This is a very tough problem. I’d prefer to respond with a forcing no-trump, planning to bid hearts at my next turn over a two-club response, or to raise spades if partner shows six. Forcing to game seems a little too rich for my blood, but if partner has hearts, I would certainly be happy to play in four hearts.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
As responder you were dealt ♠ J-7-4, ♥ 7-2, ♦ A-Q-J-10-3-2, ♣ 8-4. Partner opened one club, and over your response of one diamond he rebid one heart. When you repeated your diamonds, your partner bid two spades. What sort of hand would that show, and what would you do next?
— Misfit, Seneca, S.C.
ANSWER: I’d expect my partner to raise diamonds with extras whenever he could, so here he rates to have something like 2-4-2-5 shape. I hold some extras and am not unsuitable for no-trump. Even if partner has no spade honor, we might make game if the missing spades split or if there is a blockage in the suit. So I would gamble out three no-trumps, hoping that he has the diamond king, or that the finesse works. |
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 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ K 9 7
♥ 10 7 6 4 3
♦ 10 9 8 4 3
♣ — |
|
| West
♠ Q 5
♥ A 9 5 2
♦ 2
♣ K 10 7 6 4 2 |
|
East
♠ 10 6
♥ Q J 8
♦ A K J 7 6
♣ J 8 3 |
| |
South
♠ A J 8 4 3 2
♥ K
♦ Q 5
♣ A Q 9 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♦ |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♣ |
Pass |
3♠ |
All Pass |
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Opening Lead: ♦ 2
“We meant full well and we tried full hard,
And our failures were manifold.”
— Richard Burton
The best-played hand of the 2009 Lederer was also a candidate for the best-defended hands at some tables, and a missed opportunity at another.
In our featured auction, Cameron Small, for the TGR Super League winners, contented himself with a game-try on the South cards, which his partner was quick to decline. Against three spades, West led a diamond, and East won and switched to the spade 10 to the jack, queen and king. A heart to the jack and ace saw West play a second trump, which was won in dummy with the nine.
Now Small ruffed a heart and exited with the diamond queen to the king. East was endplayed — a heart or diamond is clearly fatal — so he exited with a club. Small covered with the nine and pitched a diamond from dummy to endplay West for nine tricks.
At another table, when David Bakhshi was South, he simply bid game at his second turn when his partner Zia raised, and West, Andrew McIntosh, for the Gold Cup team, raised the stakes by doubling. Again West led his singleton diamond, and East, Nick Sandqvist, won and continued with the diamond king and jack, theoretically a fatal error. Now South misguessed when he ruffed with the trump jack and went down.
The winning line was to ruff with the ace, cross to dummy with the king of trumps, and discard the heart king on a diamond. This line succeeds if the opposing trumps are 2-2, or if West has queen-third of spades.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 6 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 |
| ♦ |
A K J 7 6 |
| ♣ |
J 8 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♦ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
2♠ |
| ? |
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ANSWER: Your partner’s redouble shows a good hand, so you have enough to drive to game. The simplest way to find out about your partner’s hand and set up a game-forcing auction is to cue-bid three spades. Your plan would be to pass three no-trump if your partner bids it.
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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