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.
|
|
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].
July 9th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, June 25, 2010
| 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 |
|
|
| **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].
July 8th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, June 24, 2010
| 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].
July 7th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, June 23, 2010
| 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].
July 6th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 22, 2010
| 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].
July 5th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, June 21, 2010
| 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 |
| |
|
|
|
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].
July 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, June 20, 2010
| 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? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
|
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related