June 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, May 20, 2010 
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K J 8 |
| ♥ |
K Q 4 2 |
| ♦ |
5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 5 4 2 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
9 6 |
♠ |
10 7 5 4 3 2 |
| ♥ |
J 9 |
♥ |
8 6 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 9 2 |
♦ |
K 8 7 3 |
| ♣ |
Q J 10 6 |
♣ |
8 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A Q |
| ♥ |
A 10 7 5 3 |
| ♦ |
A 6 |
| ♣ |
A 9 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2NT* |
Pass |
| 3 NT** |
Pass |
4♥ |
Pass |
| 6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| *Game-forcing trump raise |
Opening Lead: ♦ Queen
“The end of man is an action and not a thought, though it were the noblest.”
— Thomas Carlyle
A piece of advice that recurs in bridge columns is that if you reach a contract that you can see is excellent, you should go out of your way to consider what might go wrong, then protect yourself against that eventuality.
Today’s deal (surprise!) provides one such example. You play in six hearts on a diamond lead, which you win. You test trumps, protecting yourself against East’s having the length by leading to the heart king, but they break 2-2. Then you lead out your three top spades, discarding your diamond loser, and note that East turns up with six spades while West has only two. You ruff the last diamond to hand and now know that West is the only defender who can hold long clubs. If the suit is 3-2, you are home, of course, but what if the suit is 4-1?
You should lead a low club from hand and duck West’s card — a line that will ensure your slam unless West holds Q-J-10-8, in which case you were doomed anyway. If West plays his low club, then East must win the first club and give you a ruff and discard. If West plays a high club on the first round, then he can do no better than exit with a high club. You win in hand and are left with the 9-7 of clubs with the K-5 on the board and can finesse West out of his remaining honor.
ANSWER: In third seat with a marginal opening bid, your first thought should be to open with your best suit. Even if you play five-card majors, as most of us do, it will generally work better to bid one heart with a hand of this sort. You shut out diamonds (the suit LHO is most likely to be bidding) and get your partner off to what you assume to be the best lead.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K J 8 |
| ♥ |
K Q 4 2 |
| ♦ |
5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 5 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
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].
June 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q J 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 6 3 |
| ♦ |
J 8 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A 8 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
8 7 6 5 |
♠ |
A K 10 |
| ♥ |
10 4 |
♥ |
8 7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A 10 |
♦ |
9 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K 10 6 5 4 |
♣ |
9 7 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
9 3 2 |
| ♥ |
A K J 9 |
| ♦ |
K Q 6 |
| ♣ |
Q J 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 NT* |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| *14-16 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣5
“The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.”
— Oscar Wilde
Today’s deal comes from the Carrousel Cup, a European junior event which was contested between eight national teams.
Playing in three no-trump, Maria Dam Mortensen as South won the club lead in her hand and could count eight tricks. Sensibly enough, she went after diamonds, leading the king out of her hand to try to establish her ninth trick. West took the king with the ace and returned a heart.
Declarer won in hand, and tested the diamonds. When they failed to break 3-3, Mortensen’s only realistic hope was spades. The most likely division of the top spade honors was one for each defender, but declarer realized that this would not help her cause. East would win the first spade, cash the winning diamond, then return a club. The other spade honor would then be the entry for the set-up clubs.
So South had to assume that both the ace and king of spades sat with one defender. But which? If West, then a spade toward dummy would suffice. However, West was already marked with the diamond ace and club king and would not have passed if holding the top spades.
Deciding to play East for both spade honors, Mortensen cashed the hearts and the club ace, stripping East of exit cards, then led a spade to dummy’s jack. East won and could cash the diamond nine and spade ace, but then had to give dummy the game-going trick with the spade queen.
ANSWER: You would not have committed your hand beyond two hearts without the opponents’ pre-emption, but as it is, you cannot afford to sell out. It is a good general rule with a fit to allow yourself to be pushed up one level but not two. So bid three hearts and tip your hat to the opponents if they have jockeyed you into trouble.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 6 3 |
| ♦ |
J 8 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A 8 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
1♥ |
3♣ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
June 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 10 9 3 |
| ♥ |
10 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 9 3 |
| ♣ |
K 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
A 8 7 6 5 |
♠ |
Q 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 5 4 |
♥ |
K J 8 7 2 |
| ♦ |
6 5 |
♦ |
A 8 |
| ♣ |
J 9 3 |
♣ |
10 8 7 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
J 2 |
| ♥ |
A 9 6 |
| ♦ |
K J 7 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A Q 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠6
“Until you understand a writer’s ignorance, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding.”
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Today’s deal comes from Patrick Jourdain’s “Problem Corner,” a collection of excellent bridge problems with degrees of difficulty ranging from relatively simple to intriguingly difficult. This one ranks somewhere in the middle. How should South play three no-trump on a low spade lead?
The answer is that you should make the unnatural move of rising with dummy’s spade king at once. This is not your best play to maximize tricks in the spade suit. Rising with the king virtually ensures two losers sooner or later, but you need only one spade trick for your contract.
More to the point, your plan is to win the first trick and set up the diamonds for your nine winners. To succeed in this plan, you must obtain the lead before the defense has a chance to switch to hearts. By successfully putting up the spade king, you have gained a vital tempo. The defenders can win the diamond ace and unblock their spade winners, but still have only three fast winners. Meanwhile, you have nine tricks — four diamonds, three clubs, and one trick in each major.
Finessing in spades by playing low from dummy at trick one is an error because even if West has the queen and East the ace, a heart switch beats you. And if the cards lie as shown, East will find it easy to switch to a heart after winning his spade queen at trick one.
ANSWER: This is more of a problem of system than of judgment. You want to get to four hearts as fast as possible. (Who knows who can make what here?). Equally, you would jump to four hearts with a far weaker hand, so that action might easily miss a slam. The solution is to reserve the response of three no-trump to one heart as artificial, suggesting a shapely raise to four hearts with some defense.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 4 |
| ♥ |
K J 8 7 2 |
| ♦ |
A 8 |
| ♣ |
10 8 7 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
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 2010. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
May 31st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, May 17, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: None |
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 6 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 10 4 |
| ♦ |
A 7 4 |
| ♣ |
6 5 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
— |
♠ |
K Q J 10 7 3 |
| ♥ |
9 8 5 3 |
♥ |
— |
| ♦ |
K Q J 10 9 |
♦ |
8 6 5 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 7 4 |
♣ |
J 10 8 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 9 5 4 |
| ♥ |
A Q 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
2 |
| ♣ |
A K 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
2♠ |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“You’re leaping over the hedge before you come to the stile.”
— Miguel de Cervantes
Today’s deal is perhaps misleadingly straightforward, until you consider the implications of the auction. If you declare four hearts from the South seat, you’d imagine there would be no problem in taking 10 tricks. You’d expect to be able to draw trumps and ruff a spade in dummy.
However, the auction has indicated that spades will surely split 6-0, and if trumps are 4-0, you may find that the route to 10 tricks will be a rocky one if you don’t start out properly.
The key to the deal is that even if hearts do break 4-0, you will not be able to trump a spade in the dummy without your spade ace getting ruffed away. However, the hearts in dummy are robust enough to be used to draw West’s trumps.
This means that a dummy reversal is the safest line: win the diamond ace, ruff a diamond, play a heart to the king, and ruff a diamond high. Then take the heart queen, followed by a heart to dummy to draw trumps and claim.
One piece of advice that bridge columns give the improving player is to get the women and children off the streets — i.e., draw trumps as soon as possible. But the corollary is that if you want to ruff the side suits, don’t draw trumps.
Try to make the contract if you play anything but a diamond from the dummy at trick two.But don’t work too hard at it — it can’t be done!
ANSWER: Your partner’s double calls for an unusual lead, typically with a void and a trick on the side. He did not have to double to get you to lead a club (you would probably have done that without the double, since East was clearly ready for a heart lead), so with some fear and trembling, lead a low diamond. Maybe your RHO is 5-5 in spades and diamonds.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 2 |
| ♥ |
10 9 5 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 5 3 |
| ♣ |
7 5 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
1♥ |
1♠ |
| 3♥ |
3♠ |
Pass |
6♠ |
| Pass |
Pass |
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].
May 30th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, May 16, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a club duplicate, with both sides nonvulnerable, you hold ♠ A-K-9, ♥ K-2, ♦ A-K-10-3-2, ♣ J-7-4. You open one diamond in second seat, and LHO bids three clubs, passed back to you. What is your call?
— Dream Spinner, Raleigh, N.C.
ANSWER: While passing might work, I’d be inclined to speak. A call of three diamonds seems too unilateral, so why not gamble with a bid of three no-trump, or double and hope something good happens? I’d try the latter, but without even the slightest confidence in my decision.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Given that our opponents in my local club intervene aggressively over our strong no-trump, should we not play penalty doubles and teach them a sharp lesson?
— Hard Knocks, Muncie, Ind.
ANSWER: The idea is not to maximize your result from the double; it is to maximize the use of the call when you would otherwise not have a bid. Best is to use double for takeout at your first turn to act, and to agree that opener should also double for takeout both under and over the trumps whenever he has a small doubleton in their suit. This way, responder won’t miss too many penalty doubles, since opener will pick up the slack.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Playing in a knockout match, I was pleased to pick up ♠ A-Q-7-3-2, ♥ 10-3-2, ♦ Q-4, ♣ A-J-7. I was faced with a three-heart pre-empt on my left and a four-diamond call from my partner. What is forcing here — and what would a four-heart bid mean?
— Help Wanted, Honolulu, Hawaii
|
|
ANSWER: Four spades and five clubs both sound natural and nonforcing to me. So four hearts should be an all-purpose good hand with diamond support — perfect! I’d make that call, and accept a sign-off in five diamonds.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
My partner wants me to hold a minimum of 12 HCP to overcall when we are vulnerable. I agree with that when overcalling at the two-level, but not at the one-level, as it seems to me that too many opportunities would be lost. Do you agree?
— Lone Star, Dallas, Texas
ANSWER: I side emphatically with YOU (and not just because it was you who wrote to me!). Overcalls are about offensive strength; hence, at the two-level we require tricks and suit length.
Conversely, at the one-level there is virtually no nine-count with a good five-carder that I wouldn’t overcall with … I think. The more space a one-level overcall consumes, the more latitude you have to intervene.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I assume you would respond one spade to a one-diamond opening with ♠ A-J-6-3-2, ♥ 7-3, ♦ J-9-3-2, ♣ K-Q. What would a jump by your partner to four spades mean now, and what should you do next?
— Freedom Fighter, Salinas, Calif.
ANSWER: In Standard American a jump to four spades suggests a relatively balanced hand in the 18-19 range. With a side-suit singleton, partner can make a splinter raise to four hearts or four clubs. Given that, your hand has real slam potential, but using Blackwood with two small hearts feels wrong. I suggest cue-bidding five clubs and reverting to five spades over a red-suit response. Partner will have to do the running from here 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.
May 29th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 15, 2010
| Dealer: East
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 10 9 |
| ♥ |
A 6 5 3 |
| ♦ |
K 7 5 2 |
| ♣ |
K 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
7 6 5 4 |
♠ |
A Q 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 7 2 |
♥ |
9 |
| ♦ |
J |
♦ |
8 4 |
| ♣ |
J 9 7 3 |
♣ |
A Q 10 8 6 5 4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
J 8 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 10 4 |
| ♦ |
A Q 10 9 6 3 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
2♣* |
| 2♦ |
4♣ |
5♦ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥2
“At every word a reputation dies.”
— Alexander Pope
On this deal from the 1999 Cavendish Pairs, three no-trump by North is as good a spot as any (if the opponents let you play there), assuming the auction has marked East with both black aces. On a passive diamond lead, you can run the heart jack to establish a ninth winner painlessly.
If you are going to play a suit game, reaching four hearts may not be all that easy, particularly if East-West can pre-empt actively in clubs, as happened at our featured table. And of course the five-club sacrifice would be extremely cheap.
Fred Gitelman found a great extra chance in five diamonds, giving East the missed opportunity for an equally fine defense. West led a heart, providing declarer with a helpful start. Gitelman won in hand, crossed to dummy with a trump to ruff a club, drew a second trump, and then cashed the heart ace to get the bad news that he had a slow heart loser. Now he found the neat maneuver of leading the club king, on which he discarded a low spade from hand. East won his club ace (ducking does not help) and had to avoid giving a ruff-sluff.
So he cashed the spade ace and led another spade, playing his partner for the spade jack, and now Gitelman had a home for his heart loser on dummy’s spade winner — contract made. To beat the game, East had to find the unusual play of underleading his spade A-Q. That would have left declarer with an inevitable loser in each major.
ANSWER: This three-diamond call is forcing. (That you opened one diamond is irrelevant — spades are going to be trump.) The three-diamond call asks for help in diamonds; your partner has three or four cards to an honor and most likely a game-try for spades. You have good controls but nothing else, and only three trumps, so sign off in three spades.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 10 9 |
| ♥ |
A 6 5 3 |
| ♦ |
K 7 5 2 |
| ♣ |
K 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
1♥ |
1♠ |
2♥ |
| 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].
May 28th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, May 14, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 7 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 6 4 |
| ♦ |
J 10 5 |
| ♣ |
5 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K 6 5 4 |
♠ |
J 10 9 2 |
| ♥ |
10 2 |
♥ |
Q J |
| ♦ |
Q 3 2 |
♦ |
A 9 7 6 4 |
| ♣ |
K 10 6 3 |
♣ |
Q 7 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 8 3 |
| ♥ |
A 8 5 3 |
| ♦ |
K 8 |
| ♣ |
A J 9 8 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥2
“I to my perils
Of cheat and charmer
Came clad in armour
By stars benign.”
— A.E. Housman
This week’s deals all come from the Cavendish tournament in Las Vegas a decade ago. Today’s deal shows Paul Soloway getting the worst of it against a fine defense.
Soloway was South in the delicate contract of four hearts. West found the best lead of a low trump to South’s ace, and Soloway drew trumps in two rounds, then led a club from the board, intending to put in the nine.
If West had won his 10, his best play would have been to return the suit. Declarer wins and plays a third club, and West can do no better than exit with a fourth club. Declarer discards dummy’s spade, ruffs out the spades, and has to guess diamonds for his contract.
Shifting to a diamond at trick four is no better for West. That clears up the diamond guess, but lets East play a spade. Now the second club loser will eventually go away on the spades.
However, at trick three East put up the club queen! This was the critical defensive play, in that it enticed declarer to release the club ace prematurely and set up two quick club winners for the defense. When Soloway took this trick with the ace and exited with a low club, West took his 10 and led a small diamond to his partner’s ace.
That allowed East to win and switch to a spade, which set up the defense’s fourth winner before declarer had any discards coming for his black-suit losers.
ANSWER: In this auction three clubs by you (the cheaper minor) is commonly played as a very weak hand, all other calls being natural and game-forcing. The question is whether your hearts are good enough to bid now, or if a temporizing bid of two no-trump might prove more economical. I can see both sides of the case, but I’d prefer somewhat better hearts to introduce the suit now. So bid two no-trump.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 7 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 6 4 |
| ♦ |
J 10 5 |
| ♣ |
5 4 2 |
| 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].
May 27th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, May 13, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 7 |
| ♥ |
J 6 3 |
| ♦ |
J 5 |
| ♣ |
Q J 9 6 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q J 9 3 |
♠ |
8 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A 4 |
♥ |
Q 10 2 |
| ♦ |
K 9 8 7 3 2 |
♦ |
Q 6 |
| ♣ |
K |
♣ |
A 10 8 7 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 10 6 5 |
| ♥ |
K 9 8 7 5 |
| ♦ |
A 10 4 |
| ♣ |
5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
2♦ |
2♥ |
Pass |
| Pass |
2♠ |
3♣ |
Dbl. |
| 3♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥ Ace
“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!”
— William Wordsworth
At the Las Vegas Cavendish in 1999 Jeff Meckstroth won the Best Played Hand of the Year on the following deal.
Tim Cope led ace and another trump against three hearts, after Meckstroth had opened systemically on very light values. Declarer now knew West had four spades and six diamonds and inferred that each opponent had a top honor in each of the minor suits.
At trick three he led his singleton club, won West’s return of the spade queen in dummy, and advanced the club queen, covered (ducking would be a better play) and ruffed.
At this point, playing on diamonds does not work: East will win and draw a third round of trumps. Similarly, ruffing a spade in dummy brings in only eight tricks. Meckstroth found the spectacular coup of leading the spade 10 from hand. Be honest — would you have thought of it?
If West takes the trick and leads a spade back (a diamond is no better), declarer wins in hand, pitching a diamond from dummy. He plays the diamond ace, ruffs a diamond, ruffs a club, and leads his losing heart. East is endplayed, forced to lead a club at trick 12 into the tenace in dummy.
In fact, West ducked the spade 10, hoping his partner had the king. That let Meckstroth cash the spade king to pitch a diamond. Then he could take the diamond ace and a diamond ruff and cash the top club in dummy, with a heart trick to come, for plus 140.
ANSWER: When your partner doubles a pre-empt, he is forcing you to bid, even with a Yarborough. When you have extras, as here, you must show them by making more than a minimum call. The logical bid now is five clubs; you can do no less. If you were playing matchpoints and wanted to try for a swing, you might try three no-trump, but it would be hard to explain to your partner if you were wrong!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 7 |
| ♥ |
J 6 3 |
| ♦ |
J 5 |
| ♣ |
Q J 9 6 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
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].
May 26th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 9 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 7 6 |
| ♣ |
K 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K J 3 |
♠ |
10 8 7 2 |
| ♥ |
7 3 |
♥ |
9 5 4 2 |
| ♦ |
K 5 |
♦ |
A 8 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A J 8 7 6 3 |
♣ |
5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 6 5 |
| ♥ |
A K J 10 6 |
| ♦ |
9 4 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 9 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2♣* |
Pass |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ Ace
“He ventured neck or nothing — heaven’s success
Found, or earth’s failure.”
— Robert Browning
In today’s deal from the 1999 Cavendish, from which all this week’s deals are taken, the defenders added insult to injury.
It is bad enough to stay low and miss a cold game, but when your opponents beat you in the “safe” partscore you have reached, it rubs salt into the wound. After Peter Weichsel’s natural but limited opening of two clubs, Paul Chemla (North) did not have enough to overcall in diamonds. When Christian Mari (South) reopened with two hearts rather than a double, Chemla decided not to explore for the no-trump game. a contract where nine tricks would have been straightforward. Instead, he settled for what he thought was a safe partscore in hearts.
Weichsel led the club ace, an incisive shot, then carefully played the club seven for Alan Sontag to ruff. In situations of this sort, the size of the spot-card West leads should tell East what to play next. Sontag now found the fine move of underleading the diamond ace. (Weichsel’s middle club clearly indicated that he had no preference between the pointed suits; hence, he was likely to have both kings.)
Weichsel won his diamond king, then led a high club, giving Sontag a second ruff. At this point, Sontag led the spade two to ensure one down, setting up the defense’s spade trick before declarer could establish the diamonds for discards.
Accordingly, declarer had to lose three clubs tricks, two diamonds and one spade, for down one.
ANSWER: Your partner had a forcing cue-bid available (a two–heart bid). Two spades was therefore natural, showing a good hand. You now have more than enough to jump to four spades. If your partner foolishly meant the spade bid as artificial, no doubt he will have diamond support and can revert to five diamonds.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 9 4 |
| ♥ |
Q 8 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 7 6 |
| ♣ |
K 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
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].
May 25th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 11, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 4 2 |
| ♥ |
10 9 5 |
| ♦ |
J 6 |
| ♣ |
K Q J 6 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K Q 9 5 |
♠ |
AJ 10 7 6 3 |
| ♥ |
6 |
♥ |
J |
| ♦ |
A K 10 9 7 2 |
♦ |
8 |
| ♣ |
10 9 |
♣ |
A 8 7 4 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
— |
| ♥ |
A K Q 8 7 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q 5 4 3 |
| ♣ |
5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ |
| 4♥ |
4♠ |
5♣ |
5♥ |
| 6♥ |
Pass |
Pass |
6♠ |
| Pass |
Pass |
7♥ |
Dbl. |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“They say everything in the world is good for something.”
— John Dryden
All the deals this week come from the Cavendish Pairs and Teams from 10 years ago to celebrate this year’s event currently taking place in Henderson, Nev.
The Cavendish Teams in Las Vegas is the precursor to the main event, the auction pairs. Ten years ago this was the deal from the final match that decided the eventual winner.
As you can see, six spades goes down when diamonds refuse to behave, but that was not obvious to anyone at the table. The auction generally began with South pre-empting in hearts and North bidding clubs to promise a heart fit and club values.
When the eventual winners of the event were doubled in six hearts with the East-West card, Zia Mahmood as West led a top diamond and shifted to a spade, letting South escape for minus 500. But in the other room the auction went as shown. For the winners, Lew Stansby led two top diamonds and Chip Martel threw a discouraging spade. Eventually Stansby worked out to play a third diamond, promoting the heart jack to a trick for down 1100 and a 12-IMP swing to the winners.
Was this the clearest way to get West to continue with a third diamond? Perhaps not, as demonstrated somewhat flamboyantly by Fred Gitelman, who was sitting East, partnering Brad Moss. They were defending six hearts doubled on an auction almost identical to the one shown, and when Moss cashed two rounds of diamonds, Gitelman discarded his spade ace! Now Moss knew what was necessary.
ANSWER: The simplistic answer is to double for takeout, showing four spades. But that would ignore the main feature of your hand, the diamond suit. There will be plenty of time to bid spades later, but for the time being bid two diamonds, which is natural and forcing.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K Q 9 5 |
| ♥ |
6 |
| ♦ |
A K 10 9 7 2 |
| ♣ |
10 9 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
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].
|
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