July 19th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 7 Comments 
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 9 7 4 2 |
| ♥ |
— |
| ♦ |
9 5 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A 6 4 2 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
A J 8 6 3 |
♠ |
K 10 5 |
| ♥ |
J 3 |
♥ |
K 8 6 4 |
| ♦ |
K Q 10 |
♦ |
A 8 7 6 |
| ♣ |
J 7 5 |
♣ |
9 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
— |
| ♥ |
A Q 10 9 7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
J 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
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| |
|
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|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“You pays your money and you takes your choice.”
— Punch
There are a few suit combinations that appear to offer declarer a choice of approaches, but which on further reflection have only one possible solution. Consider today’s deal, where South opens four hearts in third seat as a sort of two-way shot (maybe he can make it, or else keep the opponents out) and buys the contract there. The defenders kick off with three rounds of diamonds. South ruffs and has to hold his trump losers to one if he wants to make his game. The first thing to be aware of is that declarer has no legitimate chance against a 3-3 trump break, whatever he does. Thus he needs to find trumps 4-2 with an honor falling on the first two rounds. It might look natural to lead the heart ace and a low heart, hoping to drop the king, but that would ignore the fact that one defender would be left with the guarded heart jack — operation successful, but the patient still dead. Far better is to lead out the heart ace and then the heart queen, trying to pin the heart jack. If the cards lie as in the illustrated diagram, the defenders will only be able to take one trump trick whatever they do.
As a separate issue, it might be slightly more deceptive to broach trumps by leading the heart queen first. If West has king-third of hearts and ducks, then you have also achieved your objective.
ANSWER: The opponents sound well prepared for a diamond lead, so the question is which major suit to attack. A spade looks less likely to give away a trick, a heart more likely to set up tricks for your side. I’d choose hearts, principally because it sounds as if dummy may have a club suit that is going to be set up, so you need to get tricks quickly.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 7 4 |
| ♦ |
J 9 5 2 |
| ♣ |
K 8 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
Rdbl. |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
Pass |
2 NT |
| 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].
July 18th, 2010 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Recently you ran a deal quoting two lines of play where the odds as I calculated them differed by over 10 percent. What do you believe to be the minimum difference in probabilities before you consider one line to be significantly better than the other? How many experts would get that sort of problem right?
— Professor Challenger, West Palm Beach, Fla.
ANSWER: I’d expect really top players to know 90 percent of the basic positions, to be able to extrapolate to the right answer on most of the rest, and guess right half the remaining time, giving them the right answer 99 percent of the time. But almost all hands involve more-complex suit issues than a single suit-combination. Hence all the mistakes, or wrong views.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What would you open with ♠ A, ♥ A-K-Q-J-8-3, ♦ A-K-Q-3, ♣ K-J? How would you plan your rebids over a negative response?
— Lucky Lou, Danville, Ill.
ANSWER: Would you please deal ME that hand? I would open two clubs and plan to rebid a forcing two hearts over my partner’s two-diamond response. My methods allow my partner to show a really weak hand now by bidding three clubs, the lower minor. If he did that, I would bid three diamonds and try to find the best fit for slam. Opposite anything else, I would probably drive to slam in the appropriate suit.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you overcall, the next hand makes a negative double, and partner redoubles, what does that show? Does it ask for rescue, show support, or just announce high cards?
— Great Pretender, Grand Junction, Colo.
|
|
ANSWER: Best is to play the redouble as card-showing, suggesting that your side has more than half the deck. It does not set up a forcing pass, but tends to have at best secondary support for your suit, else some other call agreeing your suit would generally be more appropriate.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a recent letter you showed a deal where one player held ♠ K-Q, ♥ A-9-7-3, ♦ 7-3, ♣ K-J-7-4-3 and heard his RHO open one club. How would you rate an overcall of two clubs?
— Jam Packer, Midland, Mich.
ANSWER: I’m not a big fan of overcalling at the two-level on five-card suits, even less on broken five-card suits. And when the opponents have suggested (though not promised) length in that suit, it becomes even more dangerous. In this scenario there is another reason for not taking that action: Tournament players tend to use the direct cue-bid as artificial, showing both majors, not natural.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I have been playing bridge since I graduated from college, about 50 years ago. I read your bridge column in the newspaper and books on bidding and play. Yet, I don’t seem to be able to break average. Maybe I am too timid in my bidding. Any ideas?
— Timorous Tyro, Trenton, N.J.
ANSWER: As regards your basic system, you don’t want to overload memory, but maybe Eric Rodwell’s new book on two-over-one might help. Marc Smith and Barbara Seagram’s book on 25 conventions fills in the gaps. As to play technique, Klinger has written on bridge memory, and anything by Kelsey or Reese on play have a lot to offer. One aspect about matchpoint play: it is not like teams — you have to go for the throat. Kit Woolsey on pairs bridge might help. |
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 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, July 3, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
10 6 4 |
| ♥ |
A K 4 |
| ♦ |
A 9 8 7 2 |
| ♣ |
10 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
9 2 |
♠ |
J 8 7 3 |
| ♥ |
— |
♥ |
10 9 7 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 5 3 |
♦ |
6 4 |
| ♣ |
A K Q 9 8 3 2 |
♣ |
J 6 4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K Q 5 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 6 5 2 |
| ♦ |
K J |
| ♣ |
7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
3♣ |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♥ |
Pass |
| 4 NT |
Pass |
5♣* |
Pass |
| 6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *0 or 3 of the five aces, counting the trump king as an ace |
Opening Lead: ♣ King
“I passed no secret, darkened nook
Without a shuddering, furtive look,
Lest he should take me unawares
In some one of his subtle snares.”
— Alice Williams Brotherton
Despite West’s old-fashioned strong jump overcall, South was prepared to gamble on moving past game when his partner showed game-forcing values and admitted to some trump support. Although dummy held just the three honor-cards, the heart slam looked respectable enough. South’s one concern was the fourth-round spade loser, and since there were several possible ways to get rid of it, it was important to take the chances in the right order.
West led two top clubs and South ruffed. The first question was whether to lead a high trump or a low trump from hand. Playing a high trump from hand would preserve entries to dummy; the low trump lead would allow a ruff in dummy if spades did not break.
South made his first good guess when a trump to the ace revealed the bad break. Now South had to decide whether East had long diamonds or had long spades, since if either suit was going to break, 12 tricks would be easy. Realizing that he might be able to overcome a bad spade break if the spade jack was doubleton, South guessed correctly to test diamonds from the top. He led out the king of diamonds, then the ace, and ruffed a diamond. When East discarded a club, declarer knew that it was now safe to go after spades. He cashed the three top spades, ruffed a spade low in dummy, and could now play off dummy’s top trump and claim the rest.
ANSWER: This auction is forcing, no ifs, ands or buts. Because passing is not a possibility, many players would now use a second negative of three diamonds, which allows opener to introduce a four-card major if he has one. That will simplify your task at your next turn, allowing you to raise a major or pass a call of three no-trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 8 7 3 |
| ♥ |
10 9 7 3 |
| ♦ |
6 4 |
| ♣ |
J 6 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3♣ |
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].
July 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, July 2, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A Q 6 3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q |
| ♦ |
Q 10 5 |
| ♣ |
8 7 6 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K 8 7 |
♠ |
J 10 9 4 |
| ♥ |
K J 10 6 4 3 |
♥ |
A 7 5 |
| ♦ |
8 7 6 3 |
♦ |
9 2 |
| ♣ |
— |
♣ |
A 10 9 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
5 |
| ♥ |
9 8 2 |
| ♦ |
A K J 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q J 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 1♣ |
3♥ |
Dbl. |
4♥ |
| 4 NT* |
Pass |
5♣ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ Jack
“An active, ardent mind;
A fancy pregnant with resource and scheme
To cheat the sadness of a rainy day.”
— William Wordsworth
When the defender under the main trump strength holds significant length, declarer can sometimes draw his trumps by leading plain cards from dummy. For example, what do you think of East’s chances on defense to five clubs today, given that his heart ace is going to stand up? Pretty fair, you might say, but he had not reckoned with a resourceful declarer.
West led a heart to East’s ace and back came a second heart in an attempt to remove dummy’s trumps and solidify the defenders’ second club winner. Declarer ruffed in dummy and played a club to hand, West showing out. Now another heart ruff and a second club to hand left declarer in good shape, despite East’s threatening trump holding.
Declarer knew that the spade finesse rated to work, but he did not need to take it. He played a spade to dummy’s ace and ruffed a spade, then led a diamond to the 10 and ruffed another spade, West’s king dropping. Now he crossed to dummy’s diamond queen, cashed the spade queen to pitch a diamond and, in the two-card ending with declarer needing one more trick, led the 13th spade from dummy. East had no answer. If he ruffed low, South would overruff; if he ruffed high, South would discard and make trick 13 with the club jack.
Declarer can score his last trump en passant on a very similar line, even when the spade king does not fall, with East having three small spades and three diamonds.
ANSWER: You should jump to two spades. As a passed hand you cannot just hold spades (or you either would have opened two spades or would not now be worth more than one spade). When a passed hand jumps in a new suit, it should promises values, decent fit for partner and at least a respectable five-card holding in the bid suit.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A Q 6 3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q |
| ♦ |
Q 10 5 |
| ♣ |
8 7 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
1♣ |
1♦ |
1♥ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, July 1, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
J 9 |
| ♥ |
10 8 3 |
| ♦ |
A K 9 6 |
| ♣ |
A K 6 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 10 8 7 5 4 |
♠ |
K 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 2 |
♥ |
7 5 4 |
| ♦ |
3 |
♦ |
10 7 5 2 |
| ♣ |
10 7 4 |
♣ |
Q J 9 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 6 3 |
| ♥ |
K J 9 6 |
| ♦ |
Q J 8 4 |
| ♣ |
8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
2♠ |
Pass |
Pass |
| 4♦ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠7
“Turn with me from the city’s clamorous street,
Where throng and push passions and lusts and hate….”
— Thomas a Kempis
If you are going to bid aggressively and push the opponents around, then you may need to defend accurately when they end up in a poor contract, or it will be a case of “the biter bit.” Today’s hand was just such an example.
Left to their own devices, North-South would surely have ended in a hopeless three no-trump. But after the weak-jump overcall, South ended up declaring a delicate four hearts.
West led the spade seven to East’s king. Declarer ducked and won the next spade with the ace. Declarer now ruffed a spade with the heart eight and carefully led a low heart to the jack and queen. Now there was nothing more the defense could do. If West played another spade, declarer could ruff with the 10, cross to hand with a diamond, and play a top heart. West could win and play yet another spade, but with hearts 3-3, declarer could draw trumps and claim.
Note that if declarer had led the heart 10 from dummy on the first round of the suit, another spade would have allowed East to overruff the dummy, forcing declarer to ruff in hand. Now, continued spade plays by West would beat the contract.
However, look at the effect if West ducks the first heart. If declarer plays another heart, West wins and continues spades, forcing declarer to ruff in hand. Now declarer has just the heart king left, while West has the ace and East the seven. Declarer cannot prevent the defenders from making both of their trumps separately.
ANSWER: Facing a two-level overcall, you have enough to drive to game, rather than inviting game with a call of two no-trump. Your choice is to make a two-diamond cue-bid, looking for a 4-4 heart fit, or to blast to the no-trump game. Given the possible weakness in spades, I prefer the more circumspect approach of the cue-bid.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 6 3 |
| ♥ |
K J 9 6 |
| ♦ |
Q J 8 4 |
| ♣ |
8 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
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].
July 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, June 30, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K 6 2 |
| ♥ |
J 6 3 |
| ♦ |
10 9 6 |
| ♣ |
J 10 7 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 8 4 3 |
♠ |
J 10 9 5 |
| ♥ |
Q |
♥ |
A 10 8 5 |
| ♦ |
J 8 7 5 2 |
♦ |
Q 3 |
| ♣ |
A 6 5 |
♣ |
9 8 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
7 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 4 2 |
| ♦ |
A K 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠3
“Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help.”
— Georg Hegel
Fred Gitelman is perhaps the world’s most successful marketer of bridge via the Internet. He was at the helm today in four hearts, a contract hard to make even when you look at all four hands.
Fred won the spade lead with dummy’s ace and immediately played a heart to his king. He decided that West’s play of the queen was a true card — how many of us would be up to a falsecard here? He therefore switched his attention to clubs, and when he led the king from hand, West obliged by taking the ace, simplifying Gitelman’s task.
Fred took the spade continuation with dummy’s king, pitching a diamond, ruffed a spade, cashed the diamond ace and king, then crossed to dummy with a club and ruffed another spade. Now he led another club to dummy and, in the three-card ending, played dummy’s last diamond. East had the A-10-8 of hearts left, and Fred still had the 9-7 in his hand. Whether East ruffed high or low, Fred would collect another trump for his 10th trick.
Had West ducked his club ace and taken the next round of the suit to return a third club, Gitelman would have cashed the spade king to pitch his diamond loser, then led a low trump from dummy. East can win and force declarer with a spade, but declarer ruffs, cashes both diamond winners, and leads the fourth club. He ruffs it with the heart jack, losing only one more trump trick.
ANSWER: This hand feels too strong for you to pass. I’m not sure if a double of two clubs should deliver a fourth trump on defense, but that seems to me to be the best call with this hand. Since the opponents have bid and raised clubs, the double is not for penalties. It simply shows a hand with extra values, asking partner to raise spades, bid a five-card suit, or defend if appropriate.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A K 6 2 |
| ♥ |
J 6 3 |
| ♦ |
10 9 6 |
| ♣ |
J 10 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Dbl. |
1♥ |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
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].
July 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 29, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
6 |
| ♥ |
A 9 6 |
| ♦ |
8 7 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A K Q 8 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K Q J 10 8 7 5 3 |
♠ |
9 |
| ♥ |
4 |
♥ |
Q J 10 8 7 3 |
| ♦ |
A Q 5 |
♦ |
J 10 9 3 |
| ♣ |
9 |
♣ |
J 6 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K 5 2 |
| ♦ |
K 6 |
| ♣ |
10 7 5 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♠ |
Dbl. |
2♥ |
| 3♣ |
4♠ |
5♣ |
Dbl. |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥4
“An inconstant woman, though she has no chance to be very happy, can never be very unhappy.”
— John Gay
Today’s deal came up in a local New York bridge club. North, a professional bridge player, was so entranced with the elegance of the position that he did not even mind that his partner had missed the best line of play and had gone down. And to be fair, many experts would have missed it as well.
The play in five clubs is equally interesting on a top spade lead and the card actually chosen, the singleton heart. Declarer is faced with three top losers, and the only way he can make one of them vanish is to force West to lead something helpful. On the heart lead declarer must win dummy’s ace, draw two rounds of trumps, then play the spade ace, ruff a spade, cross back to hand with the heart king, then lead the third spade, pitching dummy’s heart as West wins the trick. That player must then concede the ruff-sluff or lead a diamond and give up a trick there.
On a top spade lead the play is even harder. Declarer must win and ruff a spade high. She cannot afford to draw trumps first; otherwise, she is in the wrong hand to achieve the elimination of the spades, so she must hope for 2-1 trumps. Only now does declarer draw trumps, take the two top hearts ending in hand, and lead the third spade to pitch the heart and achieve the same endplay.
ANSWER: Your partner has extra values and extra shape. I’m a little reluctant to commit this hand to three no-trump with only one heart stop. So, having denied four spades at my first turn, I’d settle for a simple raise to three spades, hoping partner will know better than I what to do next.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K 5 2 |
| ♦ |
K 6 |
| ♣ |
10 7 5 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
1♥ |
| 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].
July 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, June 28, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q |
| ♥ |
A |
| ♦ |
K 10 7 6 5 |
| ♣ |
A K 10 7 6 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 9 6 3 |
♠ |
A J 7 5 4 |
| ♥ |
9 8 4 |
♥ |
Q J 10 5 3 |
| ♦ |
J 9 8 4 |
♦ |
Q |
| ♣ |
5 4 |
♣ |
Q 9 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 8 2 |
| ♥ |
K 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
A 3 2 |
| ♣ |
J 8 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
2♣* |
| Dbl. |
2♠ |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠10
“Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,…
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter.”
— William Morris
Today’s deal comes from a Women’s trials held in the UK a few years ago, and it shows the benefits of exploring all the possible options in the play before committing yourself to a decision.
Some tables played five clubs, but three no-trump was the most popular contract here. At most tables, a spade was led and the suit cleared. At this point many declarers simply cashed the club and heart aces, crossed to their hand with the diamond ace, and took the club finesse, expecting East to be short in clubs because of her announced major-suit length. When the club jack lost to East’s queen, declarer was soon one down.
When Liz Roberts was declarer, she was not in such a hurry. She could see that, although East was likely to be short in clubs, that was by no means a certainty. So she set about discovering what she could about the hand before making her crucial play.
She also cashed the club and heart aces, but before continuing clubs, she played the king and ace of diamonds. When East showed up with a singleton diamond, declarer decided that East rated to have 5-5 distribution (rather than 6-5) and played clubs from the top, landing her no-trump game. Of course, if East had turned up with a doubleton diamond, the club finesse would have been guaranteed to succeed.
ANSWER: Your best attack is to lead the diamond queen, rather than a fourth-highest heart. If you can find your partner with decent diamonds, maybe you can promote the spade nine to the setting trick one way or another. A low heart lead might work if the defense needs to go passive, but with the black suits splitting, that seems unlikely.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 9 6 |
| ♥ |
10 7 5 4 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 6 |
| ♣ |
J 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♠ |
| Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
3♠ |
| Pass |
4♠ |
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].
July 11th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, June 27, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
When a hand in a duplicate board is boxed so that everyone at the table sees an honor card in that hand, what is the appropriate remedy?
— Flasher, Saint John, New Brunswick
ANSWER: The first thing a director should try to do is get the board played. If the information passed to the other three players at the table is such that they cannot play it fairly, then an adjusted score may be appropriate — but play it first, ask questions later. And the director should try to warn the guilty party at the previous table about being careless.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I held ♠ A-Q-9-4-3, ♥ Q-3, ♦ A-J-8-7, ♣ A-Q, and my RHO bid two spades. If I doubled, my partner would assume this was for takeout. How do I show a penalty double?
— Punitive Measures, Sacramento, Calif.
ANSWER: For the reasons you state, you can’t double for penalties here. I suggest you choose between a slightly cautious natural two-no-trump bid and an optimistic jump to three no-trump, hoping not to buy a bust from your partner. One has to give up something to be able to make the calls with the highest frequency. Here, when they have six spades, you want your double to describe a hand with short spades because such hands come up so much more often … right?
Dear Mr. Wolff:
At a club duplicate, with nobody vulnerable, you hold ♠ 9, ♥ J-10-3, ♦ A-Q-3-2, ♣ A-J-10-8-4 and open one club. What do you plan to rebid after your partner responds in a major?
— Dream Spinner, Pueblo, Colo.
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ANSWER: I always try to avoid rebidding two clubs with only five and would not do so with any suit much weaker than this. With your hand you can raise one heart to two, and with a singleton spade, a one-no-trump rebid over a one-spade response will always be acceptable. Your failure to raise with three trumps means partner won’t insist on playing a five-carder willy-nilly.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My rubber bridge friends and I have a difference of opinion regarding scoring of unfinished rubbers or games. I claim that points are awarded when only one pair has a partial rubber or game. They claim if both have a game or partscore, they both receive the bonus points. Please settle this controversy.
— Nick and Nora, Lakeland, Fla.
ANSWER: On the last deal of a Chicago, for example, the bonus goes to the pair who made the partscore on the last deal. No bonus goes to the pair with the earlier partscore. In an unfinished rubber I believe the same treatment should apply.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In third chair I held ♠ Q-9, ♥ Q-3, ♦ K-J-8-7-2, ♣ K-Q-7-4. When my partner opened three hearts at favorable vulnerability, I could not decide whether to bid four hearts to make, or to keep the opponents out. What do you say?
— Rip Cord, Tucson, Ariz.
ANSWER: With no aces, you can be fairly sure your side won’t make game, but can the opponents make four spades? Let’s say partner has seven hearts to the ace-jack and two cards in each suit. Do you like your chances of beating four spades? I do not! Accordingly, raise to four hearts to try to keep the opponents out. It will make it harder for your LHO to work out what is going on. |
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 10th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, June 26, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 6 4 3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 6 |
| ♦ |
10 5 4 3 |
| ♣ |
6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
9 5 |
♠ |
A Q J 10 |
| ♥ |
J 10 4 3 2 |
♥ |
8 |
| ♦ |
J 9 |
♦ |
Q 8 7 6 2 |
| ♣ |
J 10 4 2 |
♣ |
Q 5 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 7 |
| ♥ |
A K 7 5 |
| ♦ |
A K |
| ♣ |
A K 9 8 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♣ |
Pass |
3♦* |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
3♠ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠9
“The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms his strength into right, and obedience into duty.”
— Jean Jacques Rousseau
Today’s deal shows one of the world’s top declarers, Antonio Sementa of Italy, at the helm in a very delicate three no-trump.
After a revealing auction, West led the spade nine to East’s 10 and South’s king. Declarer, knowing West had led from short spades, played the club king and ducked a club. East overtook his partner’s 10 to lead a low diamond through, West following with the nine under declarer’s ace. It was a second piece of interesting information for declarer, who next exited with his remaining spade.
East could not cash all her spade tricks without setting up dummy’s winner, so after winning the jack and the ace (declarer throwing a club and West a heart), she exited with her last club, making it as difficult as possible for declarer to find out the exact distribution.
Sementa, however, now knew that he needed West to have no more than two diamonds, or else the defenders could cash a diamond trick. And since West had precisely two spades and four clubs, he had to have five hearts.
So declarer won the club ace, played off the heart ace, and continued with a low heart, planning to put in dummy’s nine. At the table, West split his heart honors, but it did not help him at all. Declarer won dummy’s queen, cashed his second diamond, and played a club to West, pitching dummy’s heart nine and forcing a lead into declarer’s heart tenace at trick 12: contract made!
ANSWER: Though you have a weak hand, your five trumps make you worth a jump to four clubs. This is a splinter, showing a singleton club and spade support. You have no high cards to spare, but you owe your partner at least one highly encouraging bid. The point is that any hand with five trumps must be worth something.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 6 4 3 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 6 |
| ♦ |
10 5 4 3 |
| ♣ |
6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
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].
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