The Aces on Bridge: Friday, June 25, 2010

July 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

*Diamonds

**One ace, counting the trump king as an ace

Opening Lead: ♥ King

“I did not choose thee, dearest. It was love

That made the choice, not I. Mine eyes were blind.”

— Wilfrid Blunt

Today’s deal comes from the Open Teams tournament at the European Open Championships from San Remo last year.

As so often happens, the first board was a defining moment – here, in a match between a French and a Dutch squad. After an auction in which North had shown diamonds artificially at his first turn, South reached the decent diamond slam, having managed to get the contract declared from the better side.

Michel Bessis of France led the heart king, and East, his son Thomas Bessis, surmised that South was unlikely to have bid slam with two heart losers, especially after North had denied a heart control. Accordingly, Thomas overtook the heart king with the ace and switched to the club eight.

At this stage South had to guess whether spades were behaving — i.e. whether either defender held a doubleton or tripleton spade queen. If so, South had to win the club ace and establish the spades to make his contract. If spades were not behaving, declarer had to take the club finesse. Without the fine play by East, declarer would have had the luxury of testing the spades first, and if that failed, he could have fallen back on the club finesse. He got it wrong — and regardless of whether he played with the odds or not, one must credit East’s defense for giving South the chance to err.

In the other room declarer brought home the slam from the North seat on a high spot-card club lead, so that was a huge swing for the Bessis team.

ANSWER: I’m not convinced that a double would always work here, but I hate to let the opponents play the hand at the one-level if I have a chance to act. If I were not a passed hand, I would not be brave enough to bid; as it is, I would double and hope that my partner can take a joke.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	Q 8 7
♥	A 10 8 2
♦	6
♣	8 7 4 3 2

South	West	North	East
Pass	1♦	Pass	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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The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, June 24, 2010

July 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

Opening Lead: ♦9

“The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today’s deal from the Mixed Teams shows a useful stratagem, which was missed by the defender who had the chance to shine. The match was between two sponsored teams. One table featured a match-up between a pair from Germany and a U.S.-Poland combination.

In the other room South had played the hopeless four-spade contract, down two on diamond ruffs. But here Adam Zmudzinski doubled one diamond rather than overcalling in spades — an interesting minority choice, though not a bad call. When his partner, Janice Seamon-Molson, cuebid, then introduced her clubs, Zmudzinski headed for three no-trump and received the lead of the diamond nine.

East put up the diamond queen. Zmudzinski ducked, but won the next diamond and went after spades. With the spade honors split, declarer could no longer be prevented from taking nine tricks (since the defenders could not establish either red suit in time) for a big pickup. Can you see how the defenders could have done better?

They had two better strategies: the first route was to shift to hearts at trick two. South must duck (or the defenders get hearts going) and West wins and switches to clubs, setting up a fifth trick for the defense.

But a far easier defense was for East to duck the first diamond, playing an encouraging spot-card. Now when West wins the first spade and continues the attack on diamonds, declarer is helpless.

ANSWER: There is no need to do anything other than make a simple raise to three diamonds. With such square distribution you will not have missed anything if partner passes, and without a heart stop, you can hardly look for no-trump unless your partner can get there on his own.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	Q J 6
♥	10 6 4
♦	10 6 2
♣	A K J 6

South	West	North	East
		1♦	1♥
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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The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, June 23, 2010

July 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
	2♦*	Pass	4♥
5♦	Dbl.	All Pass

*Both majors, 6-10 points

Opening Lead: ♣10

“No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”

— John Locke

The first tournament in the European Open last year, which was held in the beautiful resort of San Remo on the Mediterranean coast, was the Mixed Teams. Today’s deal comes from the qualifying event.

In the match involving the defending champions, Jeremy Dhondy’s team, Lilo Poplilov declared five diamonds doubled on an informative auction in which West had opened to show both majors, but had nonetheless doubled his opponents’ game to lead a club, a card that was assumed to be a singleton

Lilo drew the appropriate inference and could see the likely denouement. When he played trumps, a defender would win, and if it was East, he would give his partner the ruff. But what if West had the trump ace? Now the issue was whether the defenders would have communications for the ruff.

To cut those communications, Lilo played three rounds of hearts, hoping that West would not see the necessity of unblocking two of his top hearts under the ace and king. Had he done so, that would have let his partner win the third round of hearts. When he failed to unblock, Lilo led a third top heart and pitched his spade. West had to win the trick — bang went the defenders’ communications in spades!

Lilo emerged with 11 tricks, but curiously this was only good for a small pickup for the Dhondy team. The same contract had been let through, undoubled, in the other room, in precisely the same fashion.

ANSWER: If your partnership plays negative doubles, then you are absolutely obligated to reopen here with a takeout double, rather than passing or (horrors) rebidding two clubs. The odds are heavily in your favor here; if the opponents can only muster up a call of one diamond between them, then your partner surely has some values. If so, the only hand he would pass on is one with diamond length.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	9 6 3
♥	A K 2
♦	J 5
♣	K J 7 6 3

South	West	North	East
1♣	1♦	Pass	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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The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 22, 2010

July 6th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
1♦	1♥	1 NT	2♣
2♦	2♠	Pass	Pass
3♦	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ King

“O nightingale! Thou surely art

A creature of a ‘fiery heart.’”

— William Wordsworth

All the deals this week come from the European Open in San Remo, held in June last year. The tournament is open to everyone and consists of open, single-sex, and mixed pairs and teams.

In today’s deal, from the Mixed Pairs Final, Migry Campanile and Peter Fredin missed out on the big prize, but Migry came through with a couple of elegant plays in the following deal.

Two spades was going to be a perfectly playable spot, but how do you rate South’s chances in three diamonds? Not so bad on a heart lead, since declarer has eight tricks painlessly enough, and even one down was going to be a respectable score for North-South. The point is that 110 for West in spades or for East in clubs was a relatively common result.

However, Fredin led the club king and Campanile overtook, resisting the temptation to keep playing on clubs. Instead, she shifted to a top spade. (She had promised three or more spades in the auction by passing two spades, so the spade nine was unambiguous.) Fredin won cheaply and returned the club 10. Declarer ducked to encourage a misdefense, but Campanile overtook yet again and played a second spade, letting Fredin cash two spades. Now he could play the 13th spade, ruffed by Campanile with the diamond jack, and that promoted the diamond queen to an additional trump trick for two down.

ANSWER: This sequence is emphatically not for penalties. You cannot convert a takeout double into a penalty double so easily. The sequence suggests three hearts and real extra values — maybe a minimum of 16 points. Since you are top of your range with great hearts, accept the implicit game invitation by bidding four hearts.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	10 6 5
♥	A K J 10 6
♦	7 5
♣	J 8 4

South	West	North	East
	1♦	Dbl.	1♠
2♥	3♦	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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The Aces on Bridge: Monday, June 21, 2010

July 5th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

*Takeout without spades

Opening Lead: ♦6

“Who can tell the mischief which the very virtuous do?”

— William Makepeace Thackeray

All this week’s deals come from the European Open Championships held at this time last year in San Remo.

Every two years the European Championships switch from being the qualifying tournament for the World Championships to an open event in which players from all over the world can compete. There are teams and pairs, and no restriction on playing with someone from the same country.

Here Agustin Madala and Norberto Bocchi showed a neat defense against a very normal contract of four spades. Madala led a diamond to declarer’s jack, and two rounds of trumps were cashed. Next came the diamonds, West ruffing the third round, at which point it was obvious to everyone at the table that the defenders had to try to cash their winners in hearts and clubs before the rats got at them.

Madala observed that his partner had followed up the line in diamonds and spades, thus denying the two top hearts, when he would have given suit preference by playing high-low. So he needed to resort to trickery.

Accordingly, Madala continued by leading a low club away from his ace, putting his partner in with the club king to lead a low heart. Not unexpectedly on such a defense, South assumed East had the two top clubs, so West’s scanty values had to include the heart ace. South now guessed wrong in hearts and went down.

ANSWER: This double does not ask for an unusual lead such as a diamond. With the suit bid twice on your left already, and with your having both black suits well under control, it simply says you will beat the hand by leading partner’s long suit. So lead the heart nine.

LEAD WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	Q 9 7 4
♥	9 2
♦	5 3
♣	J 9 8 5 4

South	West	North	East
	1♦	1♥	Dbl.
Pass	2♦	Pass	2 NT
Pass	3 NT	Dbl.	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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, June 20, 2010

July 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

Dear Mr. Wolff:

At a recent duplicate the director asked my partner never again to open one no-trump with a singleton king. I was not aware of the reason, but was shocked to learn that bidding no-trump with a singleton king was actually against the rules of bridge. Is that really true?

— Busy Lizzy, Jackson, Tenn.

ANSWER: Your director was wrong; you can bid what you like. What the laws frown on is significant distortions that your partner might expect and the opponents not. A singleton king with a hand in the right range would never (in my opinion) be a significant distortion. Regularly bidding one no-trump with a bare honor would probably require you to note it on your card and maybe explain it when you announce range. But as long as the rest of your bidding does not cater to such irregularities either way, your director should have a hard time finding anything to complain about.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

Recently you asked about this hand: ♠ Q-9-7, ♥ K-Q-J-3-2, ♦ Q-J-2, ♣ A-K. You suggested that older players would tend to double first and rebid hearts to show a strong hand, while many younger players would overcall, confident that the auction would allow them to make later bids that show extra values. Please discuss this in more detail. What do you think of opening the hand one no-trump?

— Mad Max, Surrey, British Columbia

ANSWER: Either route is fine by me. If I overcall, I’d plan to double for takeout in any sequence where the opponents have limited their hands or found a fit. I thus get to show most of my extras, although if the opponents bid strongly, I may not come in again. My concern about bidding my long suit is to make sure I get it in early. I do not like bidding no-trump here — we may well regret missing an eight-card fit.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

If you open one of a suit and hear a double on your left and a redouble from partner, followed by a pass on your right, what do direct bids and jumps by you mean? Why you would rebid without waiting for the opponents to rescue themselves?

— Quick-Draw, Duluth, Minn.

ANSWER: All direct actions promise low defense, but the more you bid, the more shape you have. I’d expect a new suit by opener to be at least 6-4 shape, a jump rebid to be at least a seven-card suit, a jump in a new suit to be 6-5.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

Would I be allowed to participate in the upcoming World Championships in Philadelphia, either in one of the main games or a side game? I’d like to scope out the events, either as a player or spectator.

— Unseeded, Newark, N.J.

ANSWER: Bravo! Everyone who is able to should come either to play or to watch. There will be one-session events and longer championships to play in. It will be, if not a once-in-a-lifetime event, at least an unrepeatable opportunity to meet the best in the world and measure yourself against them. See details at the USBF’s website.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

My partner opened 1 NT (15-17), and I held ♠ A-9-2, ♥ K-10-2, ♦ A-2, ♣ K-9-7-4-3. I thought I was worth a quantitative jump to four no-trump but could see no reason not to transfer to my club suit first as a help-suit and then bid four no-trump. Or was this sequence Blackwood?

— Hyperactive, Albany, Ga.

ANSWER: The sequence you define is not a help-suit. A help-suit slam-try occurs when you have agreed a suit and then bid another suit where you have length and need help. But you are spot-on that your sequence of transfer and four no-trump was natural and quantitative — as would be the case in a major. Having agreed that, you also need to define how you would set your minor as trumps and then use Key-Card — maybe transferring to the minor, then bidding the minor at the four-level?

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The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, June 19, 2010

July 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
3♠	Pass	4♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ Queen

“The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.”

— Thomas Carlyle

At the 2004 Olympiad almost every South reached four spades after opening a flimsy three-spade pre-empt here. At every table West led the heart queen. When declarer ducked, West continued with a second heart, which South ruffed.

Now declarer led the spade jack, intending to rise with dummy’s ace if West followed. The plan would have been to take both top diamonds, ruff dummy’s last heart, and play a spade. Whoever won the spade king would have to broach clubs, or give declarer a ruff and discard.

When West showed out on the first trump, South ducked the spade, and with the club honors divided, there was no further problem.

However, as declarer later admitted, a better line would have been to cash both top diamonds and ruff a heart before playing the spade jack. When West shows out, declarer plays low from dummy and East wins his king. If he returns a spade, South wins in dummy and plays a club to the jack, endplaying West if he has both club honors. If instead East switches to a low club, South ducks and West is endplayed. If East switches to a club honor, South wins, draws trumps, and knocks out the other top club.

Of course, had West switched to a club at trick two, declarer would have had no answer. At some tables South covered the heart queen with dummy’s king and now the killing club switch was easier to find from the East hand.

ANSWER: There is no need to rush into bidding three no-trump. You can always get there on the next round, but you may find out more about your partner’s hand by temporizing with a call of two spades. After all, if you are facing a singleton heart, three no-trump may be no fun at all!

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	A Q 5
♥	K 8 7
♦	A K
♣	9 8 6 4 2

South	West	North	East
		1♦	1♥
2♣	2♥	Pass	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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The Aces on Bridge: Friday, June 18, 2010

July 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
2♣	Pass	2 NT	Pass
3♥	Pass	4♣*	Pass
4♦*	Pass	5♦*	Pass
6♥	All Pass
*Cue-bids

Opening Lead: ♠4

“There is no escape by the river,

There is no flight left by the fen;

We are compassed about by the shiver

Of the night of their marching men.”

— Richard Hovey

Consider the spade suit in today’s deal. How can declarer avoid losing two tricks in that suit, unless the king and queen are doubleton?

When South ends as declarer in six hearts, West leads a low spade, and declarer’s hopes are raised. If the lead is away from the 10, declarer will be in excellent shape. South tries a small card from dummy, hoping to force an honor. However, when East contributes the 10, South’s best chance appears to have gone. Can you see how he might recover?

For South to avoid two spade losers, four rounds of diamonds need to stand up so that two spades can be discarded from dummy and a spade ruffed in the North hand.

The problem is that if declarer wins the spade lead and plays on diamonds before drawing two rounds of trump, then East will be able to ruff in. If South draws two rounds of trump before playing four rounds of diamonds, then gives up a spade, West can hop up with his queen and lead a third trump to kill the ruff.

However, the counter is relatively straightforward — simply duck the opening spade lead. East will continue spades, but now you win your ace and, without needing to relinquish the lead again, cash two trumps, then cross your fingers and play four rounds of diamonds to pitch dummy’s spades. Your luck is in today. You can now take your spade ruff in dummy, and your hand is high.

ANSWER: While there is not complete unanimity about the meaning of your partner’s two-diamond call, simplest and best is to play it as natural. Since the opening bid only promised three, and the way the auction has developed makes this a live possibility still, you should assume partner has good diamonds and an opening bid. A simple raise to three diamonds is not an overbid — quite the opposite.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	J 9 6 2
♥	9 7 4
♦	K 2
♣	A J 5 3

South	West	North	East
			1♦
Pass	1♥	2♦	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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, June 17, 2010

July 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

Opening Lead: ♥ King

“Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength.”

— Ecclesiasticus 3:21

These days the proliferation of bridge events, even at the smaller tournaments, means that everyone can find a competition where they have a chance to win. For example, today’s deal is from a 99er pairs (for those with fewer than 100 masterpoints) that was held at the 2006 Chicago Summer Nationals. To succeed, declarer had to employ a strategy that would have been beyond many players in a much higher-level event.

Against four spades (reached after an aggressive limit raise from North) West led the heart ace, then the king, on which the queen dropped from East, and continued with the heart jack. South ruffed in dummy, East overruffed, and when declarer later made the normal but unsuccessful play in clubs, down went the game.

When the heart queen appeared from East at trick two, the danger signals were clearly evident. If dummy ruffed the third heart, an overruff looked certain.

Declarer was unlucky to find the club finesse failing. However, he could have saved himself the decision if, instead of ruffing the third round of hearts, he had discarded a club from dummy, effectively exchanging one ruff for another.

No continuation at trick four can harm South. He wins the return, draws two rounds of trumps, then follows with the ace and king of clubs and a club ruff. He takes the diamond ace, ruffs a diamond to hand, and draws the last trump, securing the contract.

ANSWER: If your partner can compete voluntarily to two hearts, then your 10-count, with nothing wasted in spades, must be worth a raise to three hearts. You have aces and a useful doubleton to offer your partner. Don’t be surprised if he makes game should he bid on.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	5 3 2
♥	10 2
♦	A J 8 4 2
♣	A J 9

South	West	North	East
	1 NT	2♥	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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, June 16, 2010

June 30th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
	2♥	Dbl.	2♠
6♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♣ Jack

“Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.”

— John Milton

Today’s deal features a point of interest in the bidding as well as in the play. When the weak-two from West was doubled, East suspected that his opponents could make a considerable number of tricks in spades. In an attempt to tangle their wires, he tried a baby psyche, hoping to keep his opponents out of spades. (There is nothing inappropriate about such actions — so long as partner is not expecting them any more than your opponents.)

A good idea, perhaps, but South was not fooled. He opted for the simplest way to get to a spade slam, managing to right-side the contract into the bargain.

West was looking at an ace, so knew that a diamond lead was unlikely to succeed. Since South had inferentially promised a heart control, West shrewdly led a top club, giving declarer nothing. South took the club king and drew trumps in three rounds with his king, queen and jack, at which point he knew nine of West’s cards. When that player followed twice more to the top clubs, the contract had suddenly become almost a claim. West had three cards in each black suit and six hearts and thus no more than one diamond.

Declarer took dummy’s diamond king and, when no jack appeared, led a diamond back to his 10, cashed the diamond ace, then returned to dummy with the spade ace to pitch one of his heart losers on the diamond queen.

ANSWER: Although most partnerships will not discuss sequences of this sort until too late, the pass of a redouble by the hand sitting over the trumps can only sensibly be played for blood. Your partner was going to pass out two hearts doubled and will instead enjoy this denouement even more! Do not let West trick you out of collecting your penalty.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	A 8 7 2
♥	10 8
♦	K Q 7 4
♣	K Q 5

South	West	North	East
	2♥	Pass	Pass
Dbl.	Rdbl.	Pass	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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