October 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 17, 2010 
| Dealer: North
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ 9 5
♥ A J 9
♦ Q J 7
♣ K 7 5 4 3 |
|
| West
♠ —
♥ K 10 8 5 2
♦ A K 5 2
♣ A 10 9 2 |
 |
East
♠ Q 7 3 2
♥ 7 4 3
♦ 9 8 4
♣ Q J 6 |
| |
South
♠ A K J 10 8 6 4
♥ Q 6
♦ 10 6 3
♣ 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥* |
Dbl. |
Pass |
Pass |
| 4♠ |
Dbl. |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
| *Spades |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ K
“Not wrung from speculations and subtleties, but from common sense and observation.”
— Thomas Browne
The Lederer tournament, an invitational teams event for eight of the top squads in Europe, will be played this coming weekend and relayed on bridgebase.com. All this week’s deals come from last year’s event.
Victor Silverstone usually provides a couple of stimulating hands, and today’s deal, which is one of his, contains some interesting points.
Four spades doubled was typical of the rough and tumble of international play, with chances for both sides to do better. In the auction, the one-club opening was clubs or balanced, and the one-heart response showed spades, a style that is becoming increasingly popular at the very top levels of the game.
West cashed his minor-suit winners and exited with a club, ruffed by South, a key play. In retrospect Silverstone believed he should have taken a first-round trump finesse, but he recovered well.
After cashing the spade ace and discovering the bad news, he led a heart to dummy’s jack. Now he repeated the spade finesse, crossed to a diamond, ruffed another club, returned to dummy with the heart ace, and led another club to trump-coup East in the two-card ending.
You will perhaps have spotted West’s error: he should have inserted the heart king on the first round of the suit, after which declarer is an entry short for the coup. Better still would have been to exit with a diamond rather than a club at trick three; then finding the blocking play would have been unnecessary.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 7 3 2 |
| ♥ |
7 4 3 |
| ♦ |
9 8 4 |
| ♣ |
Q J 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Dbl. |
1♥ |
| Pass |
3♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your partner has shown a great hand by doubling again. The second double is also takeout. Having passed over one heart at your first turn, you can hardly do less than bid four spades now. Partner can’t really expect you to have any more than this.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 30th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 16, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North
♠ A K 8 3 2
♥ 4 2
♦ A K 8 7
♣ 10 2 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7
♥ A 10 7 6 3
♦ 9 6 3
♣ 8 7 4 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 6 4
♥ K Q J 8
♦ 5
♣ J 9 6 3 |
| |
South
♠ J 5
♥ 9 5
♦ Q J 10 4 2
♣ A K Q 5 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Dbl. |
| Pass |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 4♦ |
Pass |
5♦ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♥ A
“What is man in nature? Nothing in relation to the infinite, everything in relation to nothing, a mean between nothing and everything.”
— Blaise Pascal
In the featured auction here from last year’s Lederer tournament, North-South (Tony Priday and Bernard Teltscher) exercised some nice judgment.
Continuations after fourth suit forcing are notoriously difficult. In today’s deal, if South had a significant doubleton spade honor (such as the ace, king, or even queen), it would be clearly right to show that at his fourth turn.
On the actual deal it is extremely hard to decide what to do with the doubleton spade jack, and one can hardly fault Teltscher’s choice of four diamonds — particularly since it led to the best game!
While there is nothing to the play in five diamonds, the Irish (the eventual tournament winners) were in four spades from the North seat against Dixon and Silverstone, South having supported spades at his fourth turn and North having raised himself to game.
Victor Silverstone as East showed that the simple way to defeat that game was to lead hearts at every opportunity. But even here, there was a trap to avoid. He started with the heart king and then continued thoughtfully with the queen. Dixon could not get in the way by overtaking, so now Silverstone could continue with a third heart.
Declarer ruffed in hand and tried a spade toward the jack, but Silverstone rose with his queen and exited with a diamond. Declarer could win and unblock the spade jack, but had no safe route back to hand to draw trumps and had to concede a diamond ruff.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 5 |
| ♥ |
9 5 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A K Q 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2♠ |
3♥ |
3♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: There are only two practical options here. You can double, which is card-showing, not penalties, or you can bid four hearts. The latter is the call you would have made had the opponents not competed for a second time. I’m torn between the two actions, but I tend to believe the opponents and so would simply raise to four hearts rather than try something more extravagant.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 29th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ Q J 10 2
♥ 10 6 4
♦ J 5 4
♣ K 7 4 |
|
| West
♠ K 6 5
♥ Q 8
♦ 7 6 3
♣ Q 10 5 3 2 |
|
East
♠ 9 8 7
♥ A 5 2
♦ K 9 8 2
♣ J 9 8 |
| |
South
♠ A 4 3
♥ K J 9 7 3
♦ A Q 10
♣ A 6 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ 3
“Both look up to me alone
For learning and defence
As I look up to Providence.”
— W.B. Yeats
This week’s deals all come from the 2009 Lederer Invitational teams tournament. Yesterday’s winner of the award for the best-bid hand was the victim (as declarer) of the deal that won the prize for best defense.
In the last match of the event, a simple auction brought Bennett and Rosen, who were in contention for second place, to the normal game. John Matheson avoided giving the 10th trick immediately by not leading a spade or a diamond. (Even Zia’s unlikely choice of the heart eight might have worked well enough here.) Instead, Matheson led a small club.
Bennett won the trick and advanced the heart king, as only a singleton queen was going to be of any use to him. Both opponents ducked, the second essential play to prevent declarer from getting to dummy for the finesses he needed, and West won the next trump to play a second club. Declarer took this in dummy with the king and ran the spade queen. Again, both opponents ducked smoothly.
It is far from clear what to do next. Maybe the defenders ducked because the king was onside — it does happen! Whether there is a case for switching to diamonds by leading the jack, you can certainly sympathize with declarer when he repeated the spade finesse. West now won and exited in spades. There was no further entry to dummy, and declarer had to go one down.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 10 2 |
| ♥ |
10 6 4 |
| ♦ |
J 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 7 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Dbl. |
2♠ |
4♦ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Even the most experienced partnerships will not have a detailed agreement about what to do here, but a simple bid of four spades is not enough. One would make the same call without the minor-suit honors, maybe with just three trumps. Jump to five spades, intending it to show a hand too good for four spades and with no diamond control.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 28th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North
♠ Q 6
♥ K Q J 5 4
♦ A K 9 7 2
♣ K |
|
| West
♠ 10 8 7 4 3
♥ 7 6 2
♦ J
♣ J 10 7 5 |
|
East
♠ 5
♥ A 9 8 3
♦ Q 8 3
♣ 9 8 6 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ A K J 9 2
♥ 10
♦ 10 6 5 4
♣ A Q 2 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
6 NT |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♥ 7
“Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.”
— Francis Hutcheson
This week’s deals all come from the 2009 Lederer Invitational tournament, marking this year’s event to be held in London this weekend. Eight of the stronger teams in the U.K. and Europe play a round-robin event using a form of scoring closer to pairs than teams.
Awards are given for the outstanding deals in the bidding and play. Here is the best-bid hand for the weekend. It is rare that a contract reached at only one table is exactly 100%, but such was the case for South’s six no-trump.
The key to this hand was to avoid playing in diamonds, which Keith Bennett (South) did comfortably by never supporting the suit. After the normal first two calls, Bennett upgraded his hand by virtue of its two red 10s and rebid two no-trump, which in his methods was natural and showed extras.
After two natural slam tries by his partner, Neil Rosen, Bennett saw no benefit to playing in diamonds and bid a natural four no-trump, suggesting a minimum hand with no great fit for either red suit. Now it was Rosen’s turn to re-evaluate. Looking at honors in both black suits, he simply bid what he thought he could make. Bennett could win the heart lead in hand, then cross to dummy with a club, and drive out the heart ace. Even if neither major suit split, declarer would have been able to establish a third heart winner and claim four spades, two diamonds, and three tricks each in hearts and clubs.
Note that six diamonds goes down on the bad trump break.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A K J 9 2 |
| ♥ |
10 |
| ♦ |
10 6 5 4 |
| ♣ |
A Q 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| 1♠ |
2♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Before you pass after partner was unable to compete at his second turn, consider that you have extra values and the opponents have found a fit. If they do, then so must your side! Even if you have only a seven-card spade fit, how bad can that be? Double for takeout and resolve never to let the opponents declare the hand at a low level when they have a fit and your side has values.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 27th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North
♠ 10 6 4
♥ K 9 5
♦ Q 9 8 2
♣ Q 9 3 |
|
| West
♠ A 8 5 2
♥ 7 6
♦ 7 4 3
♣ J 10 6 4 |
|
East
♠ Q 9 7
♥ Q 10 8 4
♦ J 10 6
♣ 8 5 2 |
| |
South
♠ K J 3
♥ A J 3 2
♦ A K 5
♣ A K 7 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ 7
“It takes all sorts of in and outdoor schooling
To get adapted to my kind of fooling.”
— Robert Frost
All this week’s deals come from last year’s Lederer Invitational tournament. You will be able to follow this year’s event on bridgebase.com.
It may come as a surprise to see two Easts open third in hand, but the Board-a-Match scoring encourages such levity. In our featured auction, Alexander Alfrey (East) started with his longest suit, hearts. South drove to three no-trump in short order, and Andrew Robson (West) led a heart to the eight and jack. Declarer did not yet know East had psyched, so he crossed to the heart king and led a spade to the jack, but Robson ducked smoothly. Declarer now misguessed diamonds by finessing dummy’s nine on the third round, losing to East’s jack. Declarer now had only 10 tricks — a triumph for “natural” bidding!
At another table Jon Cooke, a professional poker player, psyched a one-spade opening as East. However, John Matheson (South) brushed aside the psyche by bidding three no-trump on the next round.
West led a normal spade, Matheson won the nine with the jack, and the psyche was fully exposed. Declarer crossed to the heart king and led a heart to the jack. He now cashed the diamonds from the top. When both defenders threw clubs, he took three rounds of clubs, ending in North. This squeezed East in the majors. East had no choice but to bare the spade queen, but South exited dummy with a spade to the queen, king and ace, scoring an improbable 690.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 6 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 4 |
| ♦ |
A 9 6 |
| ♣ |
J 7 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1♦ |
1♠ |
| 2♦ |
2♠ |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: A diamond lead might work, but seems far too committal for our side. A passive lead is safer, and a club looks least likely to give away a trick. On this auction partner will have two trumps more often than not (from his failure to compete further in diamonds), so any time he has an honor, a spade lead may cost a 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].
September 26th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
On a sequence where you use fourth-suit game-forcing and then support partner’s second suit, which is known to be four-cards long, does not that delayed support promise only three trumps? I’m thinking of a sequence like 1 ♣ – 1 ♥ – 1 ♠ – 2 ♦ – 3 ♣ – 3 ♠ . The logic is that you would have raised directly with four trumps.
— Stutter Step, Charlottesville, Va.
ANSWER: The problem with your idea is that the fourth-suit call could have concealed a game-forcing or slam-interested hand with four spades. This is because there is no forcing raise of spades for responder at his second turn — bar a jump to four spades. Therefore if (as here) you raise spades after using fourth-suit, it shows four trumps, not three. If you delayed raising spades for one round further, you would show only three trumps, but not by the route you suggest.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you showed a sequence where responder holds a strong hand with four decent clubs and five hearts. He responded one heart to one club and heard partner jump to four clubs. What kind of club suit would you expect for that auction? Does it always show a heart fit too? And why would opener not show shortage in a side-suit instead of rebidding clubs?
— Monkey Business, Vancouver, British Columbia
ANSWER: The jump to four clubs is conventional, in a sense. It shows heart support, good long clubs, and real extras — a hand like this would be a minimum: ♠ 9, ♥ A-J-7-3, ♦ A-Q, ♣ A-Q-10-4-3-2. Normally opener would possess better clubs. Opener rates not to have a void, as he might prefer to show that first, unless his clubs were solid. However, shortage somewhere is guaranteed, since opener has at least 10 cards in clubs and hearts.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I was fourth to speak, with a strong no-trump, facing an overcall, when both opponents were bidding their own suits. Before I jump to game in no-trump, how good a stopper would I need in each of the opponents’ suits? What about stoppers in the unbid suit? And if I cuebid, do I promise support here or just show a good hand?
— Pinochle Deck, Greenville, S.C.
|
|
ANSWER: When you are considering no-trump, weak length in an unbid suit should not worry you. Remember that, as fourth to speak, you can also double for takeout, suggesting a good hand with some length in the fourth suit and support or tolerance for partner. A double covers most awkward hands without three trumps; hence the cuebid would always deliver support here.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I was in third seat with ♠ A-Q-7-3-2, ♥ K-10-3-2, ♦ 10-4 ♣ J-2. When partner opened three clubs at favorable vulnerability, what should I do now? Would it affect my call if I thought my RHO had squirmed before passing?
— Tactical Warrior, Bremerton, Wash.
ANSWER: This sort of deal is a good example of how tough the game is. On the surface of it, you don’t fear the opponents playing game in no-trump or either major, so passing seems logical. But you might tempt your RHO back into the auction if you raise to four clubs and pretend you are pre-empting with a fit. Of course, this might backfire on you horribly! If so, please don’t blame me.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I am a beginner who enjoys reading your columns, but I only comprehend about half of them. It would help enormously if you actually showed exactly how the cards are played as you do for the bidding. When I try to understand what’s happening, I get lost in the lingo. (This is just a suggestion and may only apply to a novice like myself.)
— Scooby-Newbie, Texarkana, Texas
ANSWER: You make a good point, one I don’t always take into account. I do try to spell things out in the column — but the problem is one of space. I have a strict limit on the number of words, and it is tough to cram a quart into a pint jar! By the way, the earlier the deal in the week, the easier I try to make it. I don’t always succeed. |
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 25th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North
♠ K Q 8 5
♥ A 9 7 5
♦ 9 3
♣ K 8 5 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7 6 2
♥ J 8
♦ Q 8 5 4 2
♣ J 10 |
|
East
♠ 3
♥ K Q 10 2
♦ 6
♣ Q 9 7 6 4 3 2 |
| |
South
♠ A J 9 4
♥ 6 4 3
♦ A K J 10 7
♣ A |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♣* |
Pass |
5 NT |
Pass |
| 6♦ |
Pass |
6♠ |
All Pass |
| *Three aces or none, counting the trump king as an ace |
Opening Lead: ♣ J
“Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire
Of watching you; and swing me suddenly
Into the shade and loneliness and mire
Of the last land!”
— Rupert Brooke
In today’s spade slam South could see, when dummy came down, that a grand slam might have been easy to make if spades and diamonds behaved, but he was not going to play carelessly and risk his contract just because his side might have missed the boat.
He won the club lead with the ace, played the spade ace, then led the spade nine to dummy’s king.
Had both opponents followed suit, declarer’s life would have been easy. He would have drawn the last trump and played on diamonds. But when East discarded on the second trump, South resisted the knee-jerk reaction to ruff a club — that would have been fatal as the cards lay. Instead, he ran the diamond nine to preserve entries to hand. West ducked this, so declarer cashed his two top diamonds and ruffed out the diamond queen. Then he ruffed a club low in hand, relieved to see West follow suit, and cashed his last diamond winner while West again had to follow suit. Next, declarer went to the heart ace and ruffed the club king with the spade jack and could take the trump queen in dummy for the 12th trick. He gave up his heart loser at trick 13 as West disconsolately trumped his partner’s winner.
Incidentally, on an initial heart lead, declarer can succeed only by drawing trumps with the spade king and queen, then ruffing out the diamonds — a successful, but far from obvious, line.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 7 6 2 |
| ♥ |
J 8 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
J 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
2♦ |
3♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Since a call of two hearts from your partner at his last turn to speak would have shown a good hand, his jump shows a great hand — eight playing tricks or so. Your choice is to pass or bid three no-trump now. Your bits and pieces may be just enough (with the heart queen instead of the jack, I would act), but I’ll guess to pass today.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 24th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, September 10, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North
♠ 6 3
♥ A Q 4
♦ A K 5
♣ A 10 8 7 3 |
|
| West
♠ 10 7 2
♥ J 10 9 7
♦ 8 6 2
♣ 9 6 2 |
|
East
♠ K Q J 8 5
♥ K 5
♦ J 10 9 4
♣ Q 5 |
|
South
♠ A 9 4
♥ 8 6 3 2
♦ Q 7 3
♣ K J 4 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1♠ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 2
“Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be…”
— Alfred, Lord Tennyson
When you are playing a vulnerable game at teams, safety plays become highly important. You should be prepared to give up on overtricks to make sure you bring home your games, and equally to insure the defeat of a game or slam without worrying about undoubled undertricks.
That said, can you see which unlikely card in the defenders’ hands might be the key to a safety play in three no-trump?
West obediently led a spade in response to his partner’s opening bid overcall.Declarer ducked his ace until the third round and pitched a heart from dummy. Then he crossed to the diamond ace and advanced the club 10, planning to run that card to keep East off lead if he had the guarded club jack. East covered the club 10, and declarer crossed back to dummy with a second diamond and led the club seven, letting it ride to West’s nine. Surprised, West won a cheap trick and exited with a heart, but declarer wrapped up his four club tricks, three diamonds, and two aces.
It may seem that all declarer had done was to surrender an overtrick, but in the other room West tried the effect of raising one spade to two. (Children, don’t try this at home.) When North doubled and South bid three hearts, it was almost impossible to reach three no-trump now. In fact North did quite well to pass and let South find his way home for nine tricks, but still, a game-swing away.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 4 |
| ♥ |
8 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 7 3 |
| ♣ |
K J 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
2♣ |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
3♣ |
Pass |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: You may think you can defeat the contract because your side clearly has the balance of high cards, but consider that West knows that and obviously has a great deal of shape. Your partner did not wish to compete any further, but your diamond length argues for competing to three diamonds — though it is a close call.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 23rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, September 9, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: None |
North
♠ J 8 5 3
♥ A K 6
♦ J 6
♣ Q 10 7 2 |
|
| West
♠ K
♥ Q J 10 9 7 5 4
♦ 10 9
♣ A 6 5 |
|
East
♠ Q 10 2
♥ 8 2
♦ 5 2
♣ K J 9 8 4 3 |
| |
South
♠ A 9 7 6 4
♥ 3
♦ A K Q 8 7 4 3
♣ — |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♦ |
3♥ |
3 NT |
Pass |
| 6♦ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ Q
“Not with a Club, the Heart is broken
Nor with a Stone —
A whip so small you could not see it.”
— Emily Dickinson
“Cover an honor with an honor” is an oft-quoted but sometimes inappropriate mantra. Today’s deal from a tournament shows just one example of when the saying is not only misleading, but downright wrong.
I was an innocent spectator at one table where, after South made an aggressive but entirely reasonable jump to six diamonds, West led the heart queen to dummy’s king. Declarer then drew trumps and played ace and another spade. With spades breaking 3-1, the slam went down.
The score sheet showed that only one declarer had brought the contract home. Here’s how. After the same lead, declarer next played the diamond ace and a diamond to the jack. When both opponents followed, declarer appreciated from the bidding that West could hold no more than two spades. Seven hearts for his pre-empt, coupled with his partner’s failure to open a club preempt marked him with at least two clubs. (If he held a singleton, East would have had eight and would surely have bid.)
So the play of a spade to the ace, hoping for a singleton honor with East, then a spade toward the jack, which would hold the losers in the suit to one if West had started with three cards to an honor, was destined to fail.
The correct continuation at trick four is the spade jack, playing East for K-Q-2 and West for the bare 10. It also has the psychological advantage that East might instinctively cover the jack with the queen or king from a three-card holding — which was exactly what happened.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 8 5 3 |
| ♥ |
A K 6 |
| ♦ |
J 6 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Playing for penalties looks too dangerous. So the choice is to cue-bid two clubs, to jump in spades, or to bid no-trump. My instincts are to respond one no-trump, which, by a passed hand in this auction, should show 10-13 or so. My honor location is such that spades does not look a great spot to play in unless partner has extra shape, in which case he will surely bid again.
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
September 22nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North
♠ Q 10 6
♥ Q 7
♦ 7 5 2
♣ Q 10 9 6 3 |
|
| West
♠ K J 7 4 3 2
♥ A 10 8
♦ J 8
♣ 7 5 |
|
East
♠ 8 5
♥ 5 2
♦ K Q 10 9 4 3
♣ K 4 2 |
| |
South
♠ A 9
♥ K J 9 6 4 3
♦ A 6
♣ A J 8 |
|
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
1 NT |
2♦ |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ J
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume;
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.”
— Walt Whitman
Today’s deal, from the Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup a few years ago, saw 64 top-class teams from all over the world competing. This deal shows declarer reading the location of the opponents’ cards accurately.
Fred Gitelman was the man at the helm. He had been given an idea of the location of the high cards from the auction. The key to success was to prevent a trump promotion.
West led the diamond jack against four hearts, overtaken with East’s queen, and South ducked the trick. If declarer had won, then when West got in with the heart ace, he would have had a second diamond to play. At that point a third diamond from East would have resulted in the heart 10 being promoted to the setting trick.
At the table, when the diamond queen held, East switched to a spade. Confident that East would not have underled the king, Gitelman won this with the ace and returned a second spade. West took his king and could do no better than press on with a third spade. Dummy’s spade queen was ruffed by East and overruffed by declarer.
Now Gitelman played a low heart, and when dummy’s queen held, he was able to take two successful club finesses before reverting to trumps. The heart ace was the last trick for the defense.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 10 6 |
| ♥ |
Q 7 |
| ♦ |
7 5 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 9 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
ANSWER: Your call of two no-trump was natural and game-forcing. With a really weak hand, a second negative of three clubs was available, so you suggested 4-7 points. Since no suit has been agreed upon, your partner’s call should be quantitative. My best guess now would be to bid slam, offering six clubs as an alternative contract. Partner can always correct to hearts or no-trump as appropriate.
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].
|
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related