The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 28, 2010

September 11th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 28, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
			Pass
1 NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♥	Pass	4♥	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♦ K

“Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.”

— Lord Macaulay

The overall standard in the Junior European Championships last summer was remarkably high. Consider this deal from the match between Italy and Sweden.

Both Souths were at the helm in the heart game. The Italian West led the diamond king. Cecilia Rimstedt won the ace and played the spade queen. East won the king and switched to a low heart. Rimstedt won the king, ruffed a spade, crossed to a club, ruffed a spade and crossed to another club to ruff the last spade. She had her contract now and emerged with an unlikely overtrick for plus 650.

Eric Arvidsson also led the diamond king, and the Italian declarer also won the ace. However, he now followed a different line by returning a diamond. East, Simon Bech, pitched a club and a second one as Arvidsson continued with the diamond 10 for declarer to ruff (fine defense). Declarer was in trouble now. He tried to cash the ace and king of clubs, but Bech ruffed and played the spade king, which Arvidsson overtook to give Bech a second club ruff, taking the contract down one for minus 100 and 13 IMPs to Sweden.

At double-dummy, the only winning line is to cash three rounds of clubs immediately, before East has a chance to pitch clubs on his partner’s winning diamonds. If you play either spades or diamonds at trick two, then, as the cards lie, East can pitch enough clubs to leave declarer no chance.

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 27, 2010

September 10th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

*Invitational or better in spades

Opening Lead: ♦ 8

“The deed is everything, the glory nothing.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Over several years of competing in youth tournaments, Thomas Bessis has been a rich source of top-quality declarer play and defense. In the junior European Championships, Thomas produced his finest effort against England in the final match.

It looks as though Chris Owens’ contract of four spades is destined to make, courtesy of the ruffing club finesse, but…

Bessis’ partner, Frederic Volcker, led the diamond eight, second from three or more small cards, and Bessis won the king and cashed the ace. Atthey false-carded with the queen as Volcker dropped the two, confirming two or four cards — clearly four on the auction. Bessis now deviously switched to the club seven, and not surprisingly, declarer was taken in. Atthey ruffed low and gave up a heart, Bessis winning the ace and returning a diamond to declarer’s 10. Atthey ruffed a heart, ruffed a club, and ruffed a heart, being relieved to see that Bessis could not overruff. He now ruffed another club, but Volcker could overruff and that was two down.

How did Bessis find the brilliant underlead? He deduced that his partner would surely have led a singleton club rather than one of four small diamonds, so was marked with either two clubs or a void. Once declarer was known to have three diamonds, plus heart length because of the auction, it had to be he and not Volcker who had the club void.

Because the French North-South pair had played in four clubs down one in the other room, Bessis’ fine defense turned a big loss into a small gain.

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 26, 2010

September 9th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, August 26, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♥ J

“Those who’ll play with cats must expect to be scratched.”

— Miguel de Cervantes

When the Junior European Championships took place last summer in Romania, there was a week-long tournament for schools players. Today’s deal is my favorite from that event.

Joris Van Lankveld was defending four spades against the Norwegians. A heart was led to the bare ace, and declarer played the spade queen to East’s ace. The defense forced declarer with a second heart. Declarer, risking everything on a successful club finesse, drew trumps (West throwing a heart) and ran the club queen. Van Lankveld bravely let this hold. When the next club finesse lost to West, declarer’s club suit became wastepaper. West now played winning hearts until the dummy ruffed in. Declarer could do no better than exit with the diamond queen. West won, cashed his last heart, and led a diamond to East’s jack.

This was three down for 150 to the Netherlands. On scoring up, South proudly read out plus 150. “Push” was the reply. Somewhat disappointed, Van Lankveld asked, “So they held up the club king as well?” “No. We were in six spades,” came the answer.

Maybe a better line in four spades would have been to draw a second round of trumps ending in dummy and take a club finesse, planning to repeat it if necessary. West can win the second and lead a heart, but declarer simply discards a club from hand and has the rest. He can ruff the next heart in dummy and cross to hand with the spade jack to run the clubs.

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 25, 2010

September 8th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1♠	Pass	2♥	Pass
3♦	Pass	4♦	Pass
4♥	Pass	4 NT	Pass
5♦	Pass	6♦	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ 6

“How beautiful, if sorrow had not made

Sorrow more beautiful than Beauty’s self.”

— John Keats

This deal from the match in the Junior Championships between Belgium and Austria swung 16 IMPs to the latter team.

Against six diamonds, West’s club lead went to the 10 and queen. Declarer unblocked the heart ace, played the trump king, crossed to the club jack, and ruffed a heart. She followed with the trump 10, which she overtook with the ace. Now she had a problem: if the hearts were originally 5-2 and the clubs 4-3, she had to ruff the last small heart, cross to dummy with the club king, and draw the last trump, after which dummy would be high. If the hearts behaved but the club split was bad, all she had to do now was to draw the last trump and enjoy dummy. She finally guessed wrong and went down one.

Bad luck? Maybe, but this line requires either a 3-2 trump split and a final guess, or all other suits behaving if the trumps break 4-1.

In the other room, Adele Gogoman showed how to play the contract. She took the club lead in hand with the queen and played a spade to the nine. East took the trick and returned a club to the ace. Gogoman now ruffed a spade, crossed to the heart ace, ruffed a spade high, and was now able to draw the remaining trumps and reach dummy with the club king to cash the last two hearts. This line would only have failed against a 6-1 break in a black suit, or a 5-0 break in trumps.

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 24, 2010

September 7th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		Pass	1♠
Dbl.	Pass	2♥	4♠
5♣	5♠	6♣	Pass
Pass	Dbl.	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ 5

“When I am grown to man’s estate

Not to meddle with my toys.”

— Robert Louis Stevenson

All the deals this week come from the Junior European tournament held last year in Romania. As mentioned yesterday, there was not only a junior event, but a schools tournament and a girls’ championship, from which today’s deal comes.

The action was from the match between Turkey and Italy, and the heroine was Ozge Tekin. A spirited auction saw Tekin as declarer in six clubs doubled, facing the lead of the spade five. Italy’s Giorgia Botta won the ace and switched to the diamond king. Tekin won her ace, drew trumps, and realized that she needed to bring in the hearts for four tricks to make her slam. It is clear what the percentage line in that suit is: you cash the ace, lead low to the jack, and if the 10 doesn’t appear on the right, play off the king — unless the auction or play thus far has pointed you in another direction.

Tekin duly cashed the heart ace, but paused to reconsider the information already available to her. Because East had bid four spades on her own and seemed to have diamonds also, Tekin judged her to be short in hearts. So instead of leading a heart to the jack, she finessed the nine, came back to hand with a trump, and finessed the heart jack, thus recording 12 tricks for a magnificent plus 1,090.

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 23, 2010

September 6th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, August 23, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1♠	2♣	Pass
4♥	4♠	5♥	Dbl.
All Pass

Opening Lead: Your call!

“It doesn’t much signify whom one marries, for one is sure to find next morning that it was someone else.”

— Samuel Rogers

All this week’s deals come from the Junior European Championships held in Romania last summer. During the two-week event, there was an under-25 championship, and in parallel with that, a one-week tournament for girls followed by a schools event.

Europe was well represented, with even some of the smaller countries fielding teams in the minor events. For example, the Estonian girls’ team started the Championships off with a 14-16 loss to the Netherlands — not bad against much more experienced opposition. (Incidentally, the Dutch and Poles — together with the Swedes — have been dominating this event lately. It is certainly not coincidental that the first two countries have set up sporting organizations that ally with the Olympic Federations, and run their programs with benchmarks and training schemes.)

Today’s deal helped to keep the match close, as Estonia’s Tuul Saav first pushed the Dutch North-South to the five-level, then found the only lead to defeat five hearts.

As West, Saav judged that her partner, Erika Parn, must have something useful to explain her double, and in that case, there should be no rush to try to cash black tricks. Accordingly, Tuul led her singleton trump. Parn won the heart ace and returned a second heart. Declarer could now ruff only one spade in dummy, so was a trick short of her contract. Well done — on any other lead declarer can bring home 11 tricks.

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 22, 2010

September 5th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, August 22, 2010 

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 21, 2010

September 4th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, August 21, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♣ 5

“Sometimes these cogitations still amaze

The troubled midnight and the noon’s repose.”

— T.S. Eliot

Most people’s general strategy for winning and ducking tricks could be summarized as “Win the trick first and think about it later.” This approach is not always optimal, as today’s deal demonstrates.

The auction was informative from West’s perspective. At his third turn, North sensibly jumped to three diamonds to invite game, suggesting a 6-4 pattern and a king more than a minimum. South now reassessed his scattered values and decided he had enough to bid the no-trump game.

West led a low club to his partner’s king and, on the return of the club eight, captured declarer’s nine with his 10 and cashed the ace. Now West realized that he needed to shift to a major, but today was not his lucky day. Declarer had both kings, and neither a heart nor a spade shift would work.

However, when East won the first trick with the king and returned the club eight, it should have marked him with a remaining doubleton or singleton. (With three left, East would have played back a low one.) Whether declarer played the club nine or a highly deceptive queen, West should have worked out to duck, since South was marked with at least an original four-card club suit.

Looking at the dummy, West should reason that the hand cannot be defeated unless East has a fast entry and a third club to lead. It will be easy for East to play another club when on lead with his diamond king, thus defeating the contract.

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 20, 2010

September 3rd, 2010  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♠ 7

“I’m tired of Love; I’m still more tired of Rhyme.

But Money gives me pleasure all the time.”

— Hilaire Belloc

The first BOLS brilliancy prize went to Ron Klinger, who seized his opportunity at the 1976 World Team Olympiad in Monte Carlo. Against four hearts Klinger as West led a spade, and hoping to cut down declarer’s ruffs, East switched to a trump. Declarer played the queen because he wanted to be in his hand if West ducked. Klinger made the first essential play for the defense when he played low. Had he won the heart king, declarer would have made his contract with no problems because he could simply have drawn trumps and taken the diamond finesse. At trick three, declarer ruffed a spade, removing West’s last card in the suit, and guessed to play a club to his queen rather than to the 10. West won the ace and returned a club to dummy’s king. Declarer now ruffed a club and played the heart ace and jack. At this point, Klinger found the only play to defeat the contract: he switched to the diamond king! This severed declarer’s communications. He could win in dummy and come to hand with the diamond jack to draw West’s last trump, but then he would have to lose a spade at the end. If, as happened in practice, declarer played three rounds of diamonds to discard his spade loser, West would make his heart eight.

On any other return, declarer would have been able to win in hand, draw the last trump, and run diamonds to discard his spade loser.

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 19, 2010

September 2nd, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, August 19, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead: ♥ 6

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

— Henry David Thoreau

The players at the Dyspeptics Club can act in unison only when combining to insult one member of the foursome. Occasionally it seems less important to have a good reason to criticize someone else, and more important to present a united front.

In today’s deal, however, the arguments presented against South’s line of play in four spades sounded reasonable. What do you think?

Playing four spades, South took East’s heart king with his ace, then played to dummy’s club ace and ran the club queen, discarding a heart. That allowed South to ruff the heart return and try to drop the spade king. When that failed, he was down to his last chance — the finesse against the diamond queen — but he came up empty for down one. Were his table-mates right to complain about his declarer play?

Yes, they were. The correct approach is to recognize that West has overcalled on a broken heart suit — the lead marks him with no better a suit than five to the Q-10. Since West has risked his life vulnerable, he must have the balance of high cards. Start by leading out the spade ace, trying to drop the spade king; you will be home without needing to take a chance if that line works.

If that attempt fails, take the club finesse and discard your heart on the club ace before going after diamonds for the possible overtrick.

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].