April 21st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 7, 2010 
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K J |
| ♥ |
J 7 3 |
| ♦ |
9 7 2 |
| ♣ |
A Q 6 4 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
4 |
♠ |
9 7 6 5 3 2 |
| ♥ |
8 2 |
♥ |
Q 10 9 6 5 |
| ♦ |
K Q 10 6 4 3 |
♦ |
J |
| ♣ |
J 9 7 5 |
♣ |
8 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q 10 8 |
| ♥ |
A K 4 |
| ♦ |
A 8 5 |
| ♣ |
K 10 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
4 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
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|
| |
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| |
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|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“Now is not the hour that requires such help, nor those defenders.”
— Virgil
There is nothing more embarrassing than to go past game while exploring slam, stay low for safety, and still go down. To avoid that embarrassing fate, you will need to play today’s contract of four no-trump carefully.
North’s four-no-trump bid is a natural if slightly pushy slam invitation, which South should pass with his 16-point minimum. A 4-3-3-3 distribution is always a negative, and although the controls are good and you have two 10s, that is not quite enough.
It can do no harm to duck the opening lead of a top diamond, but you should win the second diamond. Once East shows out, the only reason to duck would be to tighten the position for a squeeze, and that seems somewhat unlikely today.
The right thing to do next is to test clubs by playing the ace and queen. Deep down you know that if anyone is long in clubs, it MUST be East, so you should arrange to finesse against that player. But lo and behold! It is West who has length in both minors.
When East shows out on the second club lead, your 10 presumed winners have shrunk to nine. But by cashing the top spades and hearts, you can force West to discard two of his good diamonds or unguard the clubs.
Then you can lead a diamond, forcing West to lead a club into your tenace and giving you the game-going winner in clubs.
ANSWER: You have a very good hand, but while you may want to play in game, which is the right strain? The best way to show your values is to bid two clubs, a cue-bid showing a heart raise, planning to follow up over a minimum continuation from your partner with a bid of three no-trump, suggesting that you have a good hand with the black suits stopped.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A K J |
| ♥ |
J 7 3 |
| ♦ |
9 7 2 |
| ♣ |
A Q 6 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 20th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 6, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
10 5 3 |
| ♥ |
9 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 6 5 |
| ♣ |
K J 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
J 9 |
♠ |
A Q 8 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 8 3 |
♥ |
J 7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 3 2 |
♦ |
9 |
| ♣ |
9 7 3 |
♣ |
10 6 4 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 7 6 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 4 |
| ♦ |
J 8 4 |
| ♣ |
A Q 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
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| |
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| |
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Opening Lead: ♥ 3
“Love sounds the alarm, and Fear is a-flying.”
— John Gay
How should you play three no-trump on the lead of a low heart? This is a difficult card to parse. It could be from four hearts or five, so you really have no indication how to tackle the diamonds. At matchpoints your approach would be very different from that at teams since your target is not the same. At matchpoints, although you want to make your contract, your real desire is to take more tricks than the other Souths. If one time in 10 you go down, and nine times in 10 you get your overtrick, that is a fair return on your investment.
By contrast, at teams (and especially at rubber bridge) you would rather follow as safe a line as possible to make your contract; the overtricks rarely matter over the course of a long match.
So at pairs you win the heart lead, play a diamond to the ace, and cash the diamond king. If the queen falls doubleton (as it will about a quarter of the time), you take five diamond tricks instead of four.
Conversely, at teams you cash the diamond ace, noting the fall of the nine on your right, and you drop the eight. You now lead a diamond toward your jack. This protects you against a 4-1 break on either your left or right. As the cards lie, your jack will lose to the queen, but when you regain the lead, you can finesse in diamonds against West and run the suit.
ANSWER: Did you look for some heroic action to catch up in the auction? That is unnecessary; simply respond one diamond. If your partner passes, you will not have missed a game. If your partner bids on, you will get a chance to describe your hand, knowing quite a lot more than you do at the moment.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 5 3 |
| ♥ |
9 6 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 6 5 |
| ♣ |
K J 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
Pass |
1 ♣ |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 19th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 5, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 10 |
| ♥ |
4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
10 9 7 6 |
| ♣ |
A K Q 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
9 8 7 5 3 |
♠ |
K J 6 |
| ♥ |
10 9 |
♥ |
K Q J |
| ♦ |
Q J 8 5 |
♦ |
K 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
9 3 |
♣ |
10 4 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A 8 7 6 5 |
| ♦ |
A |
| ♣ |
J 8 7 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
All Pass |
|
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| |
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Opening Lead: ♥ 10
“Nor force nor fraud shall sunder us! O ye
Who north or south, on east or western land,
Native to noble sounds, say truth for truth….”
”
— Sydney Dobell
Today’s deal shows an application of the forcing no-trump, fast becoming part of Standard American. North’s combination of no-trump response followed by the jump in hearts suggests three trumps and about an 11-count. South has enough in aces and shape to accept the invitation.
When dummy comes down, 10 tricks may seem relatively easy if a spade is ruffed in dummy. Alas, on the trump lead the danger is all too obvious. If the defenders can regain the lead quickly and declarer misguesses spades, the defenders might lead a third trump, causing South to lose two trumps and two spades.
The first question is whether to win or duck the first trump. Ducking the first heart is good technique. It allows a second round of trumps to be drawn — which works to declarer’s advantage, without chancing that the fatal third round will be led.
When South wins the second heart lead and West follows suit, how should you play the spades to best effect? The answer is that no lie of the cards can beat declarer if he ruffs three diamonds in his hand, a technique called reversing the dummy. He cashes the diamond ace and ruffs three diamonds by using dumnmy’s clubs as entries. If a defender ruffs in at any point, then the only other loser will be a spade. At the end of the operation, declarer will have won two aces in the majors and eight minor-suit tricks. He can then gracefully retire.
ANSWER: I seldom advocate the underlead of an ace, but if ever there was a moment to experiment with such a dangerous act, this is it! You must try to set up tricks quickly, and my guess is that the heart lead won’t catch declarer with a singleton, so it is relatively safe — as these things go.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
4 2 |
| ♥ |
A 8 2 |
| ♦ |
5 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
J 8 7 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
| |
|
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|
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 18th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 4, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
As responder to a two-club opening bid, when the opponents intervene, I would like to be quiet when negative and vocal when positive (using the pass as weaker than a double and bids as positives), but our club experts tell me this is the reverse of how the pros handle interference. Who is right?
— Passive-Aggressive, Arlington, Texas
ANSWER: There is NO technical merit that I can see to playing double as weaker than a pass, or vice versa. It seems that once an idea is established, it is stuck to, right or wrong. Go right ahead with whatever you like in this position. By the way, you are not alone in your preferences! In competition, you should, however, be prepared to shade a positive response if you have a good suit. Still, all that matters is that you have an agreement and can remember it.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I held ♠ Q-9, ♥ Q-3-2, ♦ J-8-7-2, ♣ K-Q-7-4. When my RHO opened one diamond, I passed this around to my partner, who doubled. How would you now rate a call of two clubs, three clubs, and one no-trump?
— Rating System, Newport News, Va.
ANSWER: If you believe, as I do, that partner will bid one no-trump with most balanced or quasi-balanced hands in the 10-15 range, then a call of one no-trump by you suggests 10-13 or so. I’d be happier to make that call with the diamond nine instead of the eight (now we have a second diamond stop facing any minor diamond honor), but I’ll do it anyway! Second choice: two clubs, not three clubs.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Do you enforce the rules on penalty cards if an opponent drops a card or leads out of turn? Do you enforce the penalty selectively, all of the time, or none of the time?
— Legal Beagle, Rockford, Ill.
|
|
ANSWER: At the local club I’m inclined to let players pick up their penalty cards, unless my partner would be upset by my being lenient. In serious competition I expect the rules to be enforced on me, and would normally stick by the rules myself unless playing against a someone with a physical disability, when it would not be appropriate to be a stickler.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In third seat, holding ♠ 9-6-3, ♥ 7, ♦ A-J-7-4, ♣ A-Q-9-6-4, I opened one club. My LHO overcalled one spade, my partner doubled, and I was not sure which minor suit to bid, or whether to gamble on one no-trump. My partner told me later that a call of two diamonds would not show extras, since the concept of a reverse does not apply in this auction. Is that so?
— Shady Pines, Jackson, Miss.
ANSWER: With reservations, I agree. I would open your hand one club (some would bid one diamond), and — specifically — after my partner’s negative double, I believe any suit at the minimum level, such as a call of two diamonds, DENIES extras. With reversing values, one would have to jump to three diamonds, or cue-bid if prepared to force to game, then bid diamonds.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
At the Duplicate Club what can you do about folks who replay every hand and jabber away about who should have done what? Is there a rule about limiting conversations?
— Trappist Monk, Lorain, Ohio
ANSWER: There is really no way to stop a post-mortem. Even when players are running late, it is human nature to want to attribute blame appropriately. One must rely on the director to assist in the smooth running of the game, but if a pair is not overly late, it is hard to hurry them up. A firm comment such as “We are running late — PLEASE let’s start the new deal” sometimes helps … but not always. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 3, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K J 10 5 2 |
| ♥ |
A J 8 4 |
| ♦ |
7 |
| ♣ |
10 9 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 7 6 3 |
♠ |
A 8 |
| ♥ |
— |
♥ |
10 9 7 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 6 |
♦ |
K 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
K Q J 6 3 |
♣ |
4 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
9 4 |
| ♥ |
K Q 6 5 |
| ♦ |
A J 10 3 |
| ♣ |
A 8 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2 ♣ |
Pass |
| 2 ♥ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ King
“Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides;
Who covers faults, at last shame them derides.”
— William Shakespeare [BFQ 208.27]
Against four hearts West led the club king, which declarer ducked. With this type of holding in a suit contract and no immediate prospect of a discard, it often works well to duck at trick one. It will cost only if the suit breaks 6-1 — relatively unlikely when West did not overcall. When the suit divides 5-2, it may be much harder for the defenders to take their second winner in the suit.
Declarer won the club continuation and ran the spade nine to East’s ace. Developing the side suit before touching trumps is often a good idea if the defenders are not threatening a ruff. East switched to a diamond, won in hand, and now declarer again resisted the urge to touch trumps. Instead he repeated the spade finesse, ruffed a spade low as East pitched a diamond, and only now laid down the heart king. Had trumps split, he would have drawn them all ending in dummy, but when the 5-0 split came to light, he ruffed a diamond to dummy and led dummy’s low spade. If East ruffed in, declarer could overruff and draw trumps. When East discarded again, declarer simply played on a high crossruff and conceded trick 13 to both defenders.
If declarer had not ducked the first club trick, then, when the spade lost to the ace, East would have returned a club and set the game by force. And if South had started to draw trumps prematurely, that too would have been fatal.
ANSWER: : Your partner has shown six diamonds and five spades, and your miserable seven-count is transformed into gold. Even a jump to five diamonds may not do credit to this hand, but it is hard to see what else you can do. Perhaps partner can now bid slam with the right cards.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 8 |
| ♥ |
10 9 7 3 2 |
| ♦ |
K 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♦ |
Pass |
| 1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 2, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: Neither |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A J |
| ♥ |
A K 6 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 |
| ♣ |
J 10 9 8 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K Q 10 9 5 2 |
♠ |
8 7 6 4 3 |
| ♥ |
5 |
♥ |
Q 9 7 |
| ♦ |
J 7 3 |
♦ |
10 5 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 4 |
♣ |
5 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
— |
| ♥ |
J 10 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
A K 6 4 |
| ♣ |
A K 6 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2 ♠ |
Dbl. |
4 ♠ |
| 5 ♠ |
Pass |
5 NT |
Pass |
| 6 ♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
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|
Opening Lead: ♠ King
“Teach me to feel another’s woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.”
— Alexander Pope
If you look at the North-South cards, you will see that the heart slam seems to hinge on not losing a heart trick and a club trick. You can afford one loser but not two. Now look at the East and West hands and you will see that the cards are not cooperating for you. What can declarer do to avoid going down?
South won the spade-king lead with the ace and discarded a club. This play turned out to be the first good decision. Then he cashed the heart ace, ruffed the spade jack back to hand, led the heart jack (just in case), and went up with the king when West discarded. The club finesse could be taken any time, but declarer saw that it could not cost to cash the top diamonds first. It was now revealed that West had started with precisely three diamonds, one heart, and presumably six spades. He must therefore hold three clubs, so there was no point in taking the club finesse. If the queen was onside, it would be doubleton.
So declarer cashed the club ace-king — no luck there either. However, declarer was still in control. He led the fourth diamond and discarded a club from dummy. East also discarded, postponing the evil day for one more trick; but South could now exit with a trump. East had to win and give a ruff and discard on his return, so declarer’s last club loser went away, and the contract came home.
ANSWER: One of the hardest things to do at the bridge table is give up on a good hand. Here you showed an opening bid with short spades, and partner wants to stop in a partscore. Who are you to say he is wrong? Pass two hearts, since a raise to three hearts would show a trick more (make the spade jack the king, perhaps).
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J |
| ♥ |
A K 6 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 |
| ♣ |
J 10 9 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1 ♠ |
| Dbl. |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 1, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
J 9 8 4 |
| ♥ |
J 6 |
| ♦ |
6 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A K 7 6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
2 |
♠ |
Q 5 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 4 3 |
♥ |
10 9 8 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A K 10 7 5 2 |
♦ |
9 8 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 9 |
♣ |
J 5 4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K 10 7 6 |
| ♥ |
A K 7 |
| ♦ |
Q J |
| ♣ |
8 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♠ |
2 ♦ |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
| 3 ♣ |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
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|
| |
|
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|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“Since all that I can ever do for thee
Is to do nothing, this my prayer must be:
That thou mayst never guess nor ever see
The all-endured this nothing-done costs me.”
— Earl of Lytton
Are you a good guesser? Whatever the answer to that question, why speculate when you don’t need to? Good players guess better than poor ones, but what they really try to do is avoid the need to take a chance at all. Cover up the East-West hands and make a plan in this four-spade contract.
Superficially it looks as if four spades depends on the spade position. Should declarer play for spades to be 2-2 or take a second-round finesse?
Norway’s Geir Helgemo showed why such a guess was unnecessary. West started with three rounds of diamonds. Declarer ruffed and cashed one top spade. He then led a club toward dummy, a heart to his hand and a second club. This was quite safe because if West had started with a singleton club, he would have been ruffing thin air. Declarer now played another heart to his hand and ruffed a heart in the dummy. When West followed suit to this trick, he was known to have started with six diamonds, three hearts, at least one spade and at least two clubs. This left precisely one unknown card. Accordingly, at this point declarer was safe to play a spade to his 10. He would be home if the finesse held and West showed out, or if the finesse lost to the queen, because then West could have no more clubs. He would now be endplayed and have to lead a diamond to give a ruff and discard.
ANSWER: These days it is standard practice at all levels of the game, and not just among experts, to play a jump to three spades here as pre-emptive, suggesting four trumps and 3-7 points or so. Accordingly, one needs a call to show a limit raise; and the standard bid for that is two no-trump. This convention is called Jordan (or Truscott) and I recommend it to everyone.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 9 8 4 |
| ♥ |
J 6 |
| ♦ |
6 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A K 7 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♠ |
Dbl. |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 14th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, March 31, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 3 |
| ♥ |
J 10 7 |
| ♦ |
10 8 6 |
| ♣ |
A K J 6 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 9 4 |
♠ |
— |
| ♥ |
Q 9 8 4 |
♥ |
6 5 2 |
| ♦ |
2 |
♦ |
K Q J 9 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
10 8 7 4 3 |
♣ |
Q 9 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K Q J 7 6 5 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 3 |
| ♦ |
A 3 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
3♦ |
| 6♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♦2
“My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk.”
— John Keats
Eddie Kantar, in his book “Kantar on Kontract,” shows his readers a trick deal that no student ever gets right.
Can you figure out how to make six spades? The trick is to get to dummy to use the ace-king of clubs without crawling under the table. Win the diamond opening lead and play the ace, king and two of spades. West must win the trick and, as you know from the auction, has no more diamonds to lead and so must lead a club or a heart. Either exit puts you in dummy, where you can cash your club winners.
Although Eddie generally does not watch his students play the hands, he couldn’t resist watching this one at several tables. This is what happened. At the first table, declarer ducked the diamond opening lead and East shifted to a heart instead of giving partner a diamond ruff. No matter, declarer still had to lose a heart. Down one.
At table two, declarer won the diamond lead and led a low spade! West rose with the nine and led a heart, so declarer made the hand by winning the heart in dummy and discarding a diamond on the club ace, etc.
At table three, declarer won the opening lead and played the ace-king of clubs from dummy, discarding two red-suit losers. This is clearly the best play if the defenders let you get away with it. “What’s the problem?” she asked, as she tabled her cards.
At that point, Kantar stopped watching.
ANSWER: There are two problems with responding two clubs. The first is that the hand is not quite good enough, since you really don’t have much of a fit for spades. The second is that as a passed hand, many people play two clubs as artificial here. If you play Drury, the call shows a maximum pass and at least three-card trump support. For both of those reasons, I recommend a response of one no-trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 3 |
| ♥ |
J 10 7 |
| ♦ |
10 8 6 |
| ♣ |
A K J 6 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
Pass |
1♠ |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 13th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A J 6 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 3 |
| ♦ |
7 6 5 2 |
| ♣ |
7 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K 10 7 3 |
♠ |
9 8 5 |
| ♥ |
7 6 |
♥ |
10 4 |
| ♦ |
Q J 9 8 3 |
♦ |
K 10 4 |
| ♣ |
J 3 |
♣ |
Q 9 8 6 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q |
| ♥ |
A Q 9 8 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A |
| ♣ |
A K 10 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
| 3♣ |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 4♣ |
Pass |
4♠ |
Pass |
| 5♦ |
Pass |
6♣ |
Pass |
| 7♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead:♥7
“As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land; but the fame that comes after is oblivion.”
— Marcus Aurelius
The Home International Series in Great Britain and Ireland used to be dominated by England. But these days Ireland has become the favorite. Today’s deal from a recent match between England and Scotland accounted for a 20-IMP swing in favor of the latter.
Both North-Souths reached the good seven hearts. The Scottish declarer received a diamond lead to his ace. He cashed the club ace, ruffed a club, ruffed a diamond, and ruffed another club. When clubs did not break, he chose to ruff three clubs in the dummy, playing either for trumps to break 2-2 or for the 10 to fall singleton — a successful line.
The English declarer received a trump lead. Now, although the prospect of a trump loser shrank considerably, he could no longer ruff three clubs in the dummy. In the event, he won in hand, played the club ace, ruffed a club, came back to hand with the diamond ace, and ruffed a club. Now he knew that clubs were not breaking, but the spade blockage meant that he could not take advantage of the favorable position of the spade king.
A better line would have been to cash both the ace and king of clubs at tricks two and three. Now ruff a club, discovering the bad news. Ruff a diamond back to hand and play the spade queen. When it holds, ruff another club, cash the spade ace while discarding a club, and the grand slam is made.
ANSWER: I’m not sure a call of three hearts does justice to this hand. If the hand opposite has the missing major-suit honors, you are cold for game in either major. I would jump to four hearts, assuming that partner will know to go back to spades if he has four-card support.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A J 6 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 3 |
| ♦ |
7 6 5 2 |
| ♣ |
7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 12th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, March 29, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K 10 6 3 |
| ♥ |
A J 7 |
| ♦ |
4 2 |
| ♣ |
A K 4 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
J 4 |
♠ |
9 2 |
| ♥ |
5 4 |
♥ |
Q 10 8 3 2 |
| ♦ |
9 7 6 3 |
♦ |
A K Q 8 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 8 7 3 |
♣ |
9 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q 8 7 5 |
| ♥ |
K 9 6 |
| ♦ |
J 10 5 |
| ♣ |
J 6 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♥ |
| Pass |
1 NT |
Dbl. |
2♦ |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♥5
“Those that merely talk and never think.”
— Ben Jonson
In this deal from the 2005 Central American Championships, the opponents’ bidding gave one declarer the clue he needed to bring home his game.
At the unsuccessful declarer’s table, West passed his partner’s opening bid. North doubled, and South stretched to bid two spades, raised to four. West led the heart five to the seven, 10 and king. South drew trumps and exited with a diamond. East played three rounds of the suit, so South ruffed, then cashed the ace and king of clubs. When the queen failed to fall, he got off play with a low club. All would have been well if East had won the trick or if East had started with a six-card heart suit, but West was able to win his club queen and play his second heart through dummy’s ace-jack. South ended up a trick light.
At our featured table the auction was far more revealing. Declarer won the heart lead in hand, drew trumps, and played on diamonds. Again East sensibly gave nothing away by plugging away with diamonds. With East now marked with a minimum of five hearts and four diamonds and having shown up with two spades, he had room for two clubs at most. Since the diamonds had been eliminated, declarer could cash his remaining heart and club winners, then could choose which opponent to endplay. Whether he played a club or a heart, whoever won the next trick would have to offer a ruff and discard, eliminating the fourth loser.
ANSWER: It certainly feels right to lead a club rather than broaching the diamond sequence. I would guess to lead the club nine rather than a small club, just in case partner takes a finesse against me at the first trick, believing I have an honor, thus letting declarer score a singleton queen or king.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 6 4 |
| ♥ |
A J 6 |
| ♦ |
Q J 9 4 |
| ♣ |
9 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
3♣ |
Dbl. |
| 4♣ |
Dbl. |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
|
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