August 8th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, July 25, 2010 
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
I thought I understood inverted minors until I bid it and later heard a variety of explanations for it. I thought it showed unlimited strength, natural support, and no four-card major. What is the most useful way to play inverted minors with Standard American?
— Puzzled, Sequim, Wash.
ANSWER: Your explanation is basically correct. It is easier to play the inverted minors as invitational or better. (Either hand can limit the action and stop in two no-trump or three of the agreed minor if he limits his hand at his next turn.) But you can, if you want, play the inverted raise as game-forcing, in which case you need to find an artificial call to show a limit raise, perhaps a jump in the unbid minor.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ K-7, ♥ Q-J-9-4 ♦ A-9-7-3, ♣ Q-7-3, you open one diamond in third seat. Your LHO bids one spade, which gets passed back to you. What action should you take?
— Mousetrap, Pittsburgh, Pa.
ANSWER: This is a vicious problem. Partner’s hand will be good only if he has a penalty double of spades, and you are looking at enough in spades to make this unlikely — and partner is a passed hand to boot. So I’d pass. If partner does have good spades, who is to say that we also have good defense against a club contract?
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you showed a deal where your partner opened one club, the next hand overcalled one spade, and you bid two diamonds. When your partner bid two spades, was he asking for a control in spades or showing one? What are your obligations?
— Cue Tips, Miami, Fla.
|
|
ANSWER: The cuebid here is typically forcing (when below three no-trump), asking for a stopper in the opponents’ suit. If your partner has huge diamond support and short spades, he could jump to three spades — a splinter bid — or he could bid two spades, then bid on over three no-trump.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I’ve been reading your column for years, keeping an eye out for mistakes or for something I could comment on. (I wrote to you once about what I thought was a mistake, but it wasn’t.) At last I have found one in today’s column. There are not two diamond kings in the deck. Gotcha!!!
— Sleuth, North Little Rock, Ark.
ANSWER: I wish I could be humble enough to say mea culpa — but I am not, I can’t and I won’t! When the column is first written, it is run through an automatic check that insures that all deals have 52 different cards, 13 per hand. Then it is edited, with corrections at every stage. Next the paper gets it, and at that point the occasional computer glitch or human error creeps in. We have no control.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
With ♠ A-3, ♥ 9-7-3, ♦ K-Q-7-3-2, ♣ 10-8-3, what is the right response to a one-diamond opening? And what would you do if you had a one-heart overcall on your right?
— Tipping Point, Atlanta, Ga.
ANSWER: In all cases you would like to upgrade this hand to a limit raise of diamonds. The simplest way facing an opening bid is a jump raise in diamonds, or an inverted minor-suit raise if you play that method. If the opponents come in, you can cuebid in hearts to show a limit raise, assuming that a jump raise would be more shape and fewer high cards. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
August 7th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, July 24, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
10 8 3 |
| ♥ |
A 4 |
| ♦ |
K Q J 7 2 |
| ♣ |
K J 6 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
K 5 4 2 |
♠ |
J 7 6 |
| ♥ |
9 8 3 2 |
♥ |
J 6 |
| ♦ |
10 6 |
♦ |
A 9 8 5 4 |
| ♣ |
A 8 4 |
♣ |
Q 9 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A Q 9 |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 7 5 |
| ♦ |
3 |
| ♣ |
10 7 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♣ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠2
“Her reasoning is full of tricks
And butterfly suggestions.
I know no point to which she sticks;
She begs the simplest questions.”
— Alfred Cochrane
In the San Remo European Open Teams, Romania’s Veronel Lungu (West) and Viorel Micescu (East) produced a stunning defense against what appeared to be an unbeatable contract.
West led the spade two against three no-trump, and declarer played low from dummy, taking East’s jack with the queen. When he played a diamond to the king, East won with the ace and played another spade, which declarer ducked to West’s king.
Now West made the farsighted play of switching to a club — he could see that the spade suit by itself did not offer enough prospects for the defense. When declarer played low from dummy, East put in the queen, and when that held, he switched back to spades.
The defenders were now assured of four tricks, but it also it appeared that declarer was fated to make his contract, thanks to the fall of the heart jack. However, when declarer, having taken the spade ace, crossed to dummy with the heart ace, the heart jack made an unexpected appearance.
Convinced by East’s falsecard that he could no longer hope for five heart tricks, declarer decided that he needed to establish the ninth trick in clubs. As West had failed to clear the spade suit, it seemed logical to place the ace with East, so declarer played the club king. However, it was West who took the trick, and his last spade defeated the unbeatable game.
ANSWER: Your partner’s double shows cards; it is not for penalties. You have a choice of ways forward, given that you must not pass with only three trumps. You can rebid your chunky diamonds or support hearts, the former looking preferable. Even if you had denied three hearts, those diamonds look as if they are supposed to be trumps.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 8 3 |
| ♥ |
A 4 |
| ♦ |
K Q J 7 2 |
| ♣ |
K J 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Dbl. |
1♥ |
2♣ |
| Pass |
Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
August 6th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ 1 Comment
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q J 4 |
| ♥ |
K Q 9 |
| ♦ |
A 5 4 |
| ♣ |
A K Q J |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
A 10 8 3 2 |
♠ |
K 7 6 5 |
| ♥ |
7 |
♥ |
A 5 3 2 |
| ♦ |
J 10 7 3 |
♦ |
K 6 2 |
| ♣ |
8 6 5 |
♣ |
7 4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
9 |
| ♥ |
J 10 8 6 4 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 |
| ♣ |
10 9 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♥* |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3♦ |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
Opening Lead: ♦ Jack
“A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.”
— Sophocles
In today’s deal the methods played by North-South accidentally nullified the effect of the transfer system they were playing over two no-trump. Because South was marked with at least a five-card heart suit and probably a lack of entry cards, it was clear for North to convert back to four hearts rather than passing three no-trump, and indeed the suit game looked comfortable enough.
However, the defenders were on the ball, and the combination of an accurate defense and the bad trump break was enough to doom the contract.
After winning the diamond king, East knew that the contract could not be set unless West had the spade ace, and the auction had marked West with that card. If South had two spades, the contract could be set no matter which spade East led. But if South had only one spade, East saw that he had to lead the spade king first and then continue leading spades.
South had to trump the second spade, and was down to four hearts. When East won the heart ace, he could lead a third spade and force South to ruff again, setting up his long trump for the setting trick.
Note that if East’s first lead is a low spade, dummy’s queen and jack of spades are equal against East’s king. South will get to ruff away East’s honor. He cannot be forced to ruff a second time, and so can draw trumps with impunity.
ANSWER: For the time being you have no problem; your partner has shown a good hand with long clubs and four hearts. You can give preference to three clubs and leave it up to your partner whether he wants to bid on. Do not bid no-trump — you have no idea where your tricks will come from, despite your diamond guard.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 8 3 2 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
J 10 7 3 |
| ♣ |
8 6 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
1♦ |
| 1♠ |
2♦ |
2♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
August 5th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 6 5 2 |
| ♥ |
— |
| ♦ |
K 8 4 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 5 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 9 |
♠ |
J |
| ♥ |
J 9 7 3 |
♥ |
Q 10 8 5 4 2 |
| ♦ |
A J 9 5 |
♦ |
10 7 3 |
| ♣ |
K 10 8 |
♣ |
9 6 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A Q 8 7 4 3 |
| ♥ |
A K 6 |
| ♦ |
Q 6 |
| ♣ |
A J |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠10
“True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.”
— Alexander Pope
Today’s deal comes in the form of a problem. South is in six spades, West leads the trump 10, and East will follow suit to the first trump. Clearly this contract will never go down if the club finesse succeeds. But how can declarer make this contract regardless of the position of the club king?
The answer is that on careful play the contract will always come home, provided West has the diamond ace in addition to the club king.
South wins the trump in hand and plays the diamond six out of his hand at once. If West rises with the ace, the club jack will later be discarded on dummy’s diamond king. So West ducks his ace, and the diamond king wins the trick. Declarer returns to hand in trumps and now throws two low diamonds away on the top hearts. He ruffs the third heart in dummy and exits in diamonds to endplay West. If East holds the diamond ace, the club finesse will be needed.
Note that it would do declarer no good to play a diamond toward the queen at an early stage of the hand. Either West has the diamond ace — in which case he can exit with a diamond safely — or East has the diamond ace. In the latter case East will be able to obtain the lead later on in the hand and exit with a club to force declarer to take the finesse.
ANSWER: When your partner failed to compete to two hearts over two diamonds, he suggested a minimum hand. Although there seem to be a lot of high cards in the deck, the opponents obviously have a decent spade fit, and hearts do not rate to be splitting for your side. Pass, and take your medicine.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 9 |
| ♥ |
J 9 7 3 |
| ♦ |
A J 9 5 |
| ♣ |
K 10 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
August 4th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, July 21, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q |
| ♥ |
K J 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 7 |
| ♣ |
K J 7 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
A 3 |
♠ |
J 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 9 6 3 |
♥ |
A 5 |
| ♦ |
A 2 |
♦ |
8 5 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A 10 4 2 |
♣ |
Q 9 8 6 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 10 9 8 7 6 5 2 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
K J 10 6 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ Ace
“Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.”
— Siegfried Sassoon
Do not be afraid to pre-empt to the limit with hands like South’s. You do better to get into the auction immediately with hands like this; it actually works out to be safer to steal the opponents’ bidding space immediately than to let them exchange information and then bid.
Not that four spades is an easy contract. Cover up the East-West hands and plan the play after West leads the diamond ace, followed by another diamond. How do you rate your chances?
Without the threat of the diamond ruff, you would be in reasonable shape, but now it looks as though you will go down if East has either major-suit ace. This is because he will be able to obtain the lead cheaply and give his partner a diamond ruff. However, you do have a cost-free extra chance if East has the heart ace and not the club ace. Give yourself a moment to think about what that might be.
Win the second diamond in dummy and play the club king. If East plays the ace, you ruff and are no worse off than before. However, if East plays low, you can discard your heart and East can no longer gain the lead to deliver the ruff since you have no hearts left.
This maneuver is called the Scissors Coup, the “unkindest cut of all,” at least from your opponents’ perspective.
ANSWER: Although there are many situations where it makes sense to play a change of suit as forcing, this is not one of them. Your partner had cue-bids or jumps available with a strong hand; this sequence sounds as if he has extra shape but no extra high-cards. It feels right to pass now while you are still at a sensible level, since diamonds is surely your best fit.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q |
| ♥ |
K J 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 7 |
| ♣ |
K J 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♣ |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
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].
August 3rd, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, July 20, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 8 6 5 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 9 |
| ♦ |
7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
4 |
♠ |
Q J 10 |
| ♥ |
8 5 3 2 |
♥ |
10 7 |
| ♦ |
K Q 10 9 3 |
♦ |
J 8 5 4 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 4 |
♣ |
10 8 7 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 9 7 |
| ♥ |
K J 6 4 |
| ♦ |
A 6 |
| ♣ |
A J 5 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“Unfold thy face, unmask thy ray,
Shine forth, bright Sun, double the day.”
— Christopher Harvey
If you play two-level and four-level transfers (the latter known as Texas transfers), then a transfer followed by a raise to game can be played as a mild slam-try. That was what North-South were doing here, and South simply drove to the spade slam when he was offered the invitation.
Slam is secure on any lead except a diamond, and 13 tricks will materialize if trumps break, as dummy’s losing diamond will disappear on South’s fourth heart.
However, West was dealt an easy diamond lead, and two rounds of trumps revealed the inevitable trump loser. That left the problem of how to eliminate the diamond loser before East gained the lead with the master trump and returned the diamond that would sink the slam.
One possibility involves finessing the club jack — a straight 50-50 shot. A better plan is to cash hearts. As long as East holds three or more, dummy’s losing diamond is dispatched before East has the opportunity to ruff in.
An even better chance exists, which involves combining plays in clubs and hearts. Cash the two top clubs, and if the queen has not dropped, ruff a club. If the queen now drops, then dummy’s diamond is jettisoned on the club jack. And if the queen fails to fall, the heart play is probably still available.
This line of play succeeds not only on the layout of this hand, but also on about four out of five possible defensive distributions.
ANSWER: Yours not to reason why! Your partner has suggested defending and you are looking at a semibalanced hand with a weak spade suit. Thus there is no reason to consider doing anything other than following partner’s suggestion, and defending.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 8 6 5 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 9 |
| ♦ |
7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
Pass |
| Pass |
2♦ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
August 2nd, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, July 19, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 5 4 |
| ♥ |
K 10 6 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 5 3 |
| ♣ |
7 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
J 9 8 |
♠ |
A 10 6 |
| ♥ |
5 2 |
♥ |
J 9 8 4 |
| ♦ |
9 7 4 |
♦ |
10 2 |
| ♣ |
A Q 6 4 2 |
♣ |
10 9 8 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 7 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 7 |
| ♦ |
A K J 6 |
| ♣ |
K J |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3♣ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣4
“War has been, and still is, the school of collectivism, the warrant of tyranny.”
— Charles William Eliot
One aspect of good declarer play is to make life as difficult as possible for the defenders. And one way to do this is to try to put the defenders on the spot before you have revealed too much about your hand.
Against today’s three no-trump, West led the club four to East’s eight and declarer’s jack, leaving the position in that suit unclear to both defenders. Declarer then cashed four rounds of diamonds, followed by three rounds of hearts. When that suit did not break, he led a spade from the table. It was not difficult for East to realize that if he ducked this, that would be declarer’s ninth trick, so East won the spade ace, cashed the heart jack, and returned a club, allowing West to take his club tricks and defeat the hand.
Declarer in the other room made it more difficult by leaving diamonds alone. Of course, he did not want to go down when the contract was laydown, so he started by playing three rounds of hearts, but when they did not break, he led a spade immediately. It was now more difficult for East to rise with his ace since he did not know where declarer’s tricks were coming from. Whether he should have got it right or not, the fact remains that he played low on the spade, and declarer took the trick and ran for home with nine winners.
ANSWER: In this auction, partner has not promised club length, so a club lead is no safer or more dangerous than any other suit. When, as here, you have a sequence, my first thought would be to lead it. Accordingly, I would try the spade queen at trick one.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 4 |
| ♥ |
A 10 9 |
| ♦ |
10 8 4 2 |
| ♣ |
9 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
1♥ |
| 1 NT |
2♥ |
All Pass |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
August 1st, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, July 18, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
We use Jacoby transfers in response to an opening one no-trump. When responder holds five or six diamonds or clubs, with or without an honor, what should the response be?
— Minor League, Portland, Ore.
ANSWER: Rather than worrying about transfers to a minor with a five-card suit only, play in no-trump at the appropriate level with 0-13 high-card points. With six in the minor, use two spades as a transfer to clubs, and either two no-trump or three clubs as a transfer to diamonds. Additionally, use Stayman then bid a minor at the three-level as game-forcing with five or more cards in the minor and a four-card major, interested in slam or some contract other than three no-trump.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
With ♠ A-3, ♥ A-9, ♦ Q-7-4-2, ♣ A-J-6-5-4, would you open one no-trump, despite the 5-4 pattern, or would you open one club and reverse into two diamonds over a major-suit response?
— Fudging, Troy, N.Y.
ANSWER: This is a tough one. This is truly too good a hand to treat as a balanced minimum by opening one club and rebidding one no-trump. Equally, to open one club and reverse into two diamonds shows at least a queen more. So that leaves treating the hand as a strong no-trump, right on high cards but flawed in many other ways. Oh well — nothing is perfect.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What is does it signify if a hand passes, then bids at the two-level in a live auction? For example, you pass over one heart, but when your LHO bids one no-trump and your RHO bids two clubs, you bid two diamonds.
— Risky Business, Lakeland, Fla.
|
|
ANSWER: This auction shows a good hand, unable to act because of length in RHO’s initially opened suit, probably very short in the second suit by your RHO. You might be 5-5 in hearts and diamonds here.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you featured an auction where a call of five no-trump was described as pick-a-slam. Please explain how that interacts with the use of the call as the grand slam force.
— Double Meaning, Mason City, Iowa
ANSWER: Until the advent of the more sophisticated versions of Blackwood, there was always a problem in finding the trump honors other than the ace. That was why the grand slam force became popular. These days, unless you have a void to complicate matters, the grand slam force has been superseded. But using the call to offer a choice of slams is a sophisticated way of passing the blame to partner — and one can never have enough of them!
Dear Mr. Wolff:
For the first time ever in my life, when it came to the end of a deal, I had one card left and there were THREE on the board. An opponent said that there must have been a revoke, but surely there must have been a misdeal? I thought the hand should have been thrown in and redealt.
— Judicial Review, Great Falls, Mont.
ANSWER: At rubber bridge any hand where the cards are misdealt at the start should be thrown in. Any hand where you started out with 13 and played two at once must continue while you remain one card short. It seems more likely that the former is true, not the latter! |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
July 31st, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ 4 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 9 8 6 |
| ♥ |
A 8 |
| ♦ |
7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 9 7 3 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 7 5 4 |
♠ |
3 |
| ♥ |
Q J 9 7 |
♥ |
10 6 5 3 |
| ♦ |
— |
♦ |
10 9 8 6 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A Q 10 5 4 |
♣ |
J 8 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K J 10 2 |
| ♥ |
K 4 2 |
| ♦ |
A K Q J 5 |
| ♣ |
6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
1♥ |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| 5♣ |
Pass |
5♥ |
Pass |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ Queen
“Brains, your Majesty! It had none, or it would never have fallen into your trap.”
— Aesop
The advantages of using Key-Card Blackwood are that it keeps you out of slam when you need to locate the trump queen. But if the auction has told you where that card should be, a 50 percent guess may become a near certainty.
However, in today’s spade slam it is not enough just to know that West is very likely to hold the trump queen; you also have to plan how to come to 12 tricks if diamonds do not yield five tricks. On the initial heart lead you will find you need to win in hand to tackle trumps to best advantage. The right way to go after the spades is to pass the jack immediately. This will hold the trick, so now you lead a club toward the king. West will take the ace and return a heart, letting you ruff a club with the trump 10.
Now it is plain sailing: you lead out the spade king, take the marked finesse in spades, and draw the remaining trump, pitching your heart and diamond losers on the last trump and the club king. The last four tricks consist of your diamond winners. Contract made.
There are several traps you can fall into after you have won the opening lead in the right hand. The most important play is to ruff the club with a high trump. If you ruff it low, you block the trump suit.
ANSWER: Two diamonds is the fourth suit, asking you to describe your hand further and setting up a game force. Since you have pretty much shown your black-suit shape already (with 4-3-3-3 shape you would have rebid one no-trump over one heart), you would do best here to bid two hearts. This suggests either two- or three-card support for partner and is the least lie.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 8 6 |
| ♥ |
A 8 |
| ♦ |
7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 9 7 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
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|
| |
|
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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].
July 30th, 2010 ~ Bobby Wolff ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, July 16, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K Q 7 5 2 |
| ♥ |
4 |
| ♦ |
9 8 7 |
| ♣ |
K J 8 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
A 10 |
♠ |
J 8 6 4 |
| ♥ |
A 10 8 7 5 3 |
♥ |
9 2 |
| ♦ |
J 10 |
♦ |
Q 5 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A 10 4 |
♣ |
9 5 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
9 3 |
| ♥ |
K Q J 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 6 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
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| |
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| |
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Opening Lead: ♥7
“How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?”
— William Shakespeare
Today’s three-no-trump deal features nice defense by the Hackett twins of England, from the Forbo-Krommenie International Teams, held in Holland.
Jason Hackett led a low heart to Justin’s nine and declarer’s king. Declarer played a spade to dummy’s king, then a low club to her queen, which Jason ducked. A further spade forced Jason’s ace, and he now made the thoughtful return of the club 10, knowing the distribution of the suit from Justin’s initial count-signal.
On winning with dummy’s king, declarer cashed the spade queen and next, trying to keep all options open, ducked a diamond. Jason won, cashed the club ace, and with dummy now dead, exited with his last diamond. South could now only achieve eight tricks.
At the other table the first two tricks went the same way. However, after the spade king held, declarer returned to hand at trick three with the diamond ace to play another spade. West won, perforce, then returned the heart 10. (The diamond jack might have been a better play, but declarer can come home by ducking this and later finessing in diamonds against East.)
South won the second heart, played a club to the king, and cashed the spade queen. Then came a club to the queen. West had to duck to prevent declarer from scoring three club tricks, so declarer cashed his diamond king and exited with a club. Forced to win, West was endplayed and had to present declarer with his ninth trick in hearts.
ANSWER: After you have opened one no-trump, the simplest and most practical way to play your partner’s double of an overcall of two clubs is as Stayman. You can then retain transfers and all the other methods you play in an uncontested auction. Accordingly, bid two hearts now.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 3 |
| ♥ |
K Q J 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 6 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
2♣ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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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