May 4th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K 8 5 |
| ♦ |
7 6 3 |
| ♣ |
A Q 2 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
8 4 |
♠ |
6 |
| ♥ |
J 7 6 |
♥ |
10 9 4 3 |
| ♦ |
K J 9 |
♦ |
10 8 5 |
| ♣ |
K J 10 5 4 |
♣ |
9 8 7 6 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q J 10 9 7 2 |
| ♥ |
A Q 2 |
| ♦ |
A Q 4 2 |
| ♣ |
— |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT* |
Pass |
| 3 ♣** |
Pass |
3 ♠ |
Pass |
| 4 ♣ |
Pass |
4 ♠ |
Pass |
| 6 ♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Game-forcing with spades
** Short Clubs
Opening Lead: ♠8
“The best of prophets of the future is the past.”
— Lord Byron
In today’s deal South shows first club shortage, then a club void. After North’s encouraging three-spade bid, nothing will keep South out of slam.
But how you should plan the play in six spades on West’s passive trump lead?
Obviously you will succeed if East has the diamond king, but you can also succeed if West has the club king. Win the trump lead, draw a second trump ending in dummy, then cash the club ace and ruff a club. Now play off three rounds of hearts, ending in dummy, and lead the club queen.
If East plays low, you can discard a diamond, and when West wins, he will be endplayed. He can either lead a diamond into your tenace or give you a ruff-sluff to let you ruff in dummy and discard your diamond queen from hand.
If East plays the club king on the queen, nothing has been lost. You ruff, cash the diamond ace, play a trump to dummy, then lead a diamond toward your queen. All things being equal, you plan to put the queen on in due course, thus taking the finesse against East. But this line is better than taking a straightforward diamond finesse on the first round of the suit. The point is that if West started life with the doubleton diamond king, he will be endplayed upon winning this trick. Again, the ruff-sluff will let you pitch your diamond loser from hand while ruffing in the dummy.
ANSWER: Your partner’s cue-bid of two hearts shows extras and asks you to describe your hand further. Your first duty is to bid no-trump with a heart stop, or to raise partner, or otherwise describe your hand by bidding a second suit or showing extra length in your first suit. Here a simple bid of three diamonds shows your support and lets partner decide where to go from here.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 4 |
| ♥ |
J 7 6 |
| ♦ |
K J 9 |
| ♣ |
K J 10 5 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
Pass |
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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
May 3rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 19, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E-W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 9 4 3 |
| ♥ |
6 5 2 |
| ♦ |
7 5 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A 8 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 7 6 |
♠ |
K J 8 2 |
| ♥ |
K 10 8 3 |
♥ |
J 9 7 |
| ♦ |
K Q J 6 |
♦ |
A 10 9 8 4 |
| ♣ |
K 5 |
♣ |
7 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q 5 |
| ♥ |
A Q 4 |
| ♦ |
— |
| ♣ |
Q J 10 9 6 4 3 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 5 ♣ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“People of quality know everything without ever having been taught anything.”
— Molière
Deciding to follow the principle of bidding to the maximum at your first turn when at favorable vulnerability, you open five clubs. There are, after all, two opponents and only one partner. After everyone passes, how should you play the hand on the lead of the diamond king?
Naturally you ruff, but what do you do next? Instinct tells you to take the trump finesse, rather than playing for the trump king to drop. If West has two clubs, they are twice as likely to include the king as to be two small cards.
When the finesse holds, you would normally hasten to draw trumps and lead a heart to your queen. That would be natural — but wrong.
If the heart finesse is right, it can wait. Far better is to lead a trump to the eight at trick two, then play a spade toward your queen. If this loses to the king on your left, you can take the heart finesse later on. If East has the spade king, he must use it or lose it. His best play will be to shift to a heart, and now comes the next trap. If you finesse, West wins his king and plays back his second club to cut you off from the spades. Instead rise with the heart ace, unblock your spade queen, draw the last trump, cash the spade ace to pitch a heart, and concede one trick to the heart king.
ANSWER: Opinions differ on whether you should trust the opponents in auctions like this. If you had a sensible alternative to a heart lead, you might make it; but nothing else looks remotely attractive, and East may well have no more than a single heart stop. So lead a fourth-highest heart as your best chance to set up and cash winners for your side.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 4 |
| ♥ |
K Q 9 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A 7 4 |
| ♣ |
J 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1 ♣ |
| 1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
| Pass |
2 NT |
All Pass |
|
| ? |
|
|
|
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
May 2nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 18, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
How is the bidding box’s stop card used? Some people employ it; others don’t. Can it ever convey information other than a jump bid?
— Hop-Skip-Jump, Fayetteville, N.C.
ANSWER: The stop card should be used every time a jump bid is made. This is not because you expect the opponents to bid, but because this way no inferences can be taken on comparable auctions. The idea is to relieve your LHO of ethical pressure when you make a skip bid. Emphatically, the player using the card should NOT use it only for weak jumps as opposed to strong ones. No information should be conveyed to the partner of the skip-bidder by his use of the card.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I had a flat hand with 14 points, including four hearts and four clubs. I bid one club, and my partner had 10 points, a stopper in every suit except clubs, and four hearts to the king. She responded one no-trump and we missed the heart-fit. When I later asked her why she had not bid her hearts, she said it was a perfect one-no-trump response. Who was right?
— Losing Heart, Seneca, S.C.
ANSWER: You are right; your partner is wrong. An OPENING bid in a major shows five. A response at the one-level to a minor guarantees only four; you may have more, but not necessarily. When your partner responds in a major, you as opener generally raise only with four, but may in emergencies raise with three. The objective of bidding is to find your eight-card fit. The player with four must help find the 4-4 fit by bidding the suit as soon as is logical — which means at responder’s first turn.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
When are count signals used as opposed to attitude signals? Do some foreign players have methods and priorities different from ours?
— Learning Curve, Dayton, Ohio
|
|
ANSWER: Most people in the United States signal attitude (like/dislike) at their first turn. But when attitude is already defined by what is in dummy or by what declarer is just about to play to the trick, or by the auction, then count or even suit preference may be more important. In many countries players believe that count should take precedence over attitude.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In our local club one member of a pair, after winning a trick on the board and while contemplating his next action, will hear his partner, the dummy, automatically and without fail say, “You’re on the board.” Is this legal? Even if it is legal, is it to be discouraged? And how should the Director deal with this irritating and puzzling situation?
— Bothered and Bewildered, El Paso, Texas
ANSWER: To prevent partner from leading out of turn, dummy is entitled to remind declarer which hand he is in. So long as there is no unauthorized information flowing (e.g., “the spade queen is on your RIGHT partner!”) I would happily ignore the comments from dummy. Preventing irregularity trumps the other issues, I think. My comments may not have the force of law, but so be it!
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I was second to speak with ♠ 9, ♥ A-J-10-3-2, ♦ K-Q-7-4, ♣ A K 4. After a two-spade pre-empt on my right, I doubled and corrected a three-club response to three hearts. Should this be forcing? Does it even show extras? And what if we were playing Lebensohl, so that my partner’s three-club call showed values? (He would have bid two no-trump as a negative.)
— How High Is Up?, Harrisburg, Pa.
ANSWER: In all the scenarios you discuss, the three-heart bid must show extras — though with this hand an immediate three-heart call would not be unreasonable. If the three-club call shows values, then the three-heart bid is forcing; if not, it is highly encouraging. |
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 1st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 17, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: N-S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q J 5 4 |
| ♥ |
9 8 6 5 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 |
| ♣ |
4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
9 6 |
♠ |
10 8 7 2 |
| ♥ |
K J 10 7 3 |
♥ |
4 2 |
| ♦ |
10 4 |
♦ |
Q J 8 3 |
| ♣ |
K Q J 10 |
♣ |
6 5 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K 3 |
| ♥ |
A Q |
| ♦ |
9 6 5 2 |
| ♣ |
A 9 8 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
2 ♥* |
Dbl.** |
Pass |
| 2 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| * Hearts and |
a minor |
|
|
| **Takeout |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ King
“Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one.”
— Marquis of Halifax
Any contract that will make if a finesse succeeds cannot be considered hopeless. Sometimes, though, the auction will tell you that there has to be something better. Put yourself in South’s shoes and see if you can spot the improvement.
At the world championships held in Bermuda in 2000 when Denmark played Canada in the qualifying round of the Venice Cup, both declarers reached three no-trump and knew from the auction that the heart finesse would fail. They ducked the first two clubs, and worked out that West had the long club from the defenders’ signals.
They won the third club and decided against trying to find a doubleton J-10 or the heart king onside. Instead, they cashed the ace and king of diamonds, took two top spades, and exited with the fourth club. At this point West, with nothing but hearts left, had to lead into declarer’s A-Q, conceding the ninth trick.
As you can see, the natural play might be for declarer to win an early club and cash all the spade winners, but then there would be no way back to hand to endplay West in clubs. To succeed, declarer must find West with relatively short spades and diamonds. The auction has made that a virtual certainty since with nine cards in hearts and clubs, West could not have much room for length in either of the other suits.
ANSWER: If the opponents had not tipped you off to a likely bad break in hearts, you might have made a cue-bid of two diamonds to show a good raise in hearts. But the auction has suggested your hand will not be pulling its full weight, so maybe a simple if somewhat heavy raise to two hearts might now be more discreet.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q J 5 4 |
| ♥ |
9 8 6 5 |
| ♦ |
A K 7 |
| ♣ |
4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♦ |
1 ♥ |
1 NT |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
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].
April 30th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 16, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: N-S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K Q 9 |
| ♥ |
A Q J |
| ♦ |
9 6 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
8 6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 6 |
♠ |
8 7 3 2 |
| ♥ |
10 9 2 |
♥ |
7 5 3 |
| ♦ |
10 |
♦ |
A K Q J 8 5 |
| ♣ |
A J 10 9 5 3 2 |
♣ |
— |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A J 5 4 |
| ♥ |
K 8 6 4 |
| ♦ |
7 |
| ♣ |
K Q 7 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
2 NT* |
Pass |
3 ♣ |
| Dbl. |
Pass |
4 ♣ |
Dbl. |
| Pass |
Pass |
Rdbl. |
Pass |
| 4 ♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ 10
“Though I beheld at first with blank surprise
This Work, I now have gazed on it so long
I see its truth with unreluctant eyes.”
— William Wordsworth
When you lead a singleton 10 in a side suit against a suit contract, your main hope is that partner is going to be able to give you a ruff. It is rare to find yourself still on lead at trick two – but you now have a chance to rethink your defense plan. See if you can match the strategy devised by Terry Weigkricht of Austria in this deal from the quarterfinals of the 2000 World Championships, from where all this week’s deals come.
After an artificial auction Weigkricht found herself on lead to four hearts. The diamond 10 held the first trick as Doris Fischer followed with the five, and Weigkricht realized that the auction and play thus far strongly indicated that she should play a club. It may look natural to play the club ace and give your partner a ruff, but that does not defeat the hand. Declarer can ruff the next diamond high, then draw trumps, and throw all three diamond losers on the black-suit winners. Weigkricht found the accurate defense of leading a low club at trick two. Fisher ruffed and led a top diamond, forcing declarer to ruff high. Now declarer could establish the clubs for only one discard. Whether she drew trumps or not, she would finish one trick short.
At several tables, including that at which her teammates were North-South, the defense shifted to ace and another club at trick two against four hearts, letting through the contract.
ANSWER: Your partner is making a slam-try for clubs, with extra values and long clubs. You showed game-forcing values at your first turn; thus, in context, you have nothing to spare. So bid four no-trump, which is discouraging and not Blackwood!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K Q 9 |
| ♥ |
A Q J |
| ♦ |
9 6 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
8 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 ♣ |
1 ♥ |
| 3 NT |
Pass |
4 ♣ |
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 29th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 15, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: E-W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 9 |
| ♥ |
A K Q 3 |
| ♦ |
9 4 |
| ♣ |
A J 9 8 6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
8 5 4 3 2 |
♠ |
Q 10 7 |
| ♥ |
9 8 2 |
♥ |
J 7 5 4 |
| ♦ |
A J 3 |
♦ |
K 10 5 |
| ♣ |
Q 10 |
♣ |
K 5 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A J 6 |
| ♥ |
10 6 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 7 6 2 |
| ♣ |
7 4 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| Pass |
Pass |
1 ♣ |
Pass |
| 1 ♦ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
3 NT |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 3
“A truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
— William Blake
One problem of being known as a great player is that your opponents will think you capable of doing just about anything. You may get away with some mistakes, but equally, you will not be able to fool your opponents that easily.
That bad luck befell Maria Erhart of Austria in today’s deal from the 2000 Venice Cup semifinals against the Netherlands (the eventual winners of the event). She found the best defense, but she was playing against someone who was not going to fall for a subtle falsecard.
In the other room Austria had played one no-trump from the North seat and had made 11 tricks on a heart lead. However, three no-trump by South on a spade lead from Erhart was not so comfortable. Van der Pas took the lead in hand and played a club, intending to cover West’s card, but Erhart found a challenging counter when she put up the club queen on this trick. Van der Pas had to take dummy’s ace and now had to decide what to do at once since she did not have the entries that would permit her to cross back to hand to play a club up. Had she led a low club from dummy, the defense would have collected five tricks in the minors sooner or later. But she knew Erhart was capable of the deception, so she eventually decided to lead the club jack from the table, pinning the 10 and making her contract.
ANSWER: Just because you have a strong hand does not mean your side has a fit, or that you will do better declaring than defending. When you bid two clubs, you suggested you had a reasonable hand. But you have no extra shape, thus no basis for bidding again. So pass in tempo and hope your partner can balance with three clubs if appropriate.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K 9 |
| ♥ |
A K Q 3 |
| ♦ |
9 4 |
| ♣ |
A J 9 8 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| 2 ♣ |
Pass |
Pass |
2 ♠ |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].
April 28th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
| Dealer: North
Vul: N-S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
J 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 9 6 |
| ♦ |
10 9 8 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 7 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
7 6 4 |
♠ |
A K 8 5 2 |
| ♥ |
A 8 5 2 |
♥ |
K J 3 |
| ♦ |
7 5 3 |
♦ |
2 |
| ♣ |
J 3 2 |
♣ |
8 6 5 4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
Q 10 9 |
| ♥ |
7 4 |
| ♦ |
A K Q J 6 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| 2 ♦ |
Pass |
3 ♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠ 4
“And now the matchless deed’s achieved,
Determined, dared and done.”
— Christopher Smart
In the quarter-finals of the 2000 Bermuda Bowl World Championships, from where all this week’s deals are taken, put yourself in Jacek Romanski’s seat (East) and cover up the South and West hands to match wits with Zia as declarer.
Against three no-trump Kowalski led the spade four, promising a three-card suit, and Romanski had to decide on a plan. If his partner had a high diamond, the winning defense would be to duck the first or second spade to preserve communications. West would win his diamond to return a spade and let the defenders cash out for down one.
However, if declarer’s diamonds were solid (and the auction had suggested this might be so), then a different defense might be necessary. Romanski guessed very well when he elected to cash two top spades; Kowalski obediently gave suit preference for hearts on the second one by following with the spade seven, and Romanski shifted to a low heart away from his K-J. Kowalski lost no time in winning his ace and returning the suit, to cash out for down one.
In the other room South reached three no-trump by treating his hand as balanced while concealing his diamonds, making a one-no-trump overcall at his first turn. Now the defense stood no realistic chance of guessing what to do on a spade lead. East returned a low spade at trick two, so declarer finished up with 11 tricks and an 11-IMP gain.
ANSWER: It is not clear whether this auction guarantees five diamonds as well as five spades. But given that your partner may need to ruff spades in your hand, your good diamond spots suggest that the 4-3 diamond fit may play as well as spades. On that basis I would pass out two diamonds rather than correcting to two spades.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 9 6 |
| ♦ |
10 9 8 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1 ♣ |
| Pass |
1 ♥ |
1 ♠ |
1 NT |
| Pass |
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 27th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
| Dealer: West
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 2 |
| ♥ |
A J 10 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 8 7 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 |
♠ |
Q J 9 |
| ♥ |
K 9 7 6 5 2 |
♥ |
Q 4 |
| ♦ |
9 5 2 |
♦ |
J 6 |
| ♣ |
9 7 2 |
♣ |
K Q 10 8 4 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 8 7 6 5 4 3 |
| ♥ |
8 3 |
| ♦ |
A K |
| ♣ |
J 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
Pass |
1 ♦ |
2 ♣ |
| 2 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
Pass |
| 3 ♠ |
Pass |
4 ♣ |
Pass
|
| 4 ♦ |
Pass |
4 ♥ |
Pass |
| 5 ♦ |
Pass |
6 ♦ |
Pass |
| 6 ♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣ 2
“A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came.”
— John Greenleaf Whittier
It is always embarrassing to make a technical error, and to perpetrate it on Vugraph in front of a large audience makes the experience even more painful. Carefully consider the play as South in six spades on a club lead if you want to avoid humiliation — and the turnover of a significant number of IMPs.
What happened in the real world (at the 2000 Bermuda Bowl) was that declarer won the club lead and cashed the top spades, discovering the loser there, then took the diamond ace and king before going to dummy in hearts. When she tried to cash the diamond queen, East ruffed, and while declarer could pitch on this trick, there was still a club or heart loser for declarer one way or the other.
The correct line allows the contract to succeed. Win the club lead, cash the spade king, then take the top diamonds. While you might fail against a 4-1 diamond split, that is considerably less likely than a 3-1 spade split. (Just for the record, spades split evenly somewhat less than half the time; diamonds split 3-2 just over two-thirds of the time.)
Now cross to dummy with the spade ace and cash the diamond queen, discarding your club loser. East can ruff in, of course, but you still have the priceless re-entry to dummy in the heart ace and can discard your heart loser at your leisure.
ANSWER: I do not want you to think I’m a fuddy-duddy; sometimes one has to break the rules. Ignore the fact that you have a six-card suit and instead focus on the fact that this hand is approximately balanced, in the 15-17 range, so the least lie comes from opening it one no-trump. Opening one diamond will give you an ugly rebid problem, no matter what partner does.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 2 |
| ♥ |
A J 10 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 8 7 4 3 |
| ♣ |
A 5 |
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 26th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 12, 2010
| Dealer: South
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
10 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 5 4 3 |
| ♦ |
8 7 2 |
| ♣ |
K 5 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K 6 3 |
♠ |
7 5 4 |
| ♥ |
10 9 6 |
♥ |
Q J 8 2 |
| ♦ |
K Q 10 9 3 |
♦ |
J 6 4 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 |
♣ |
10 7 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A Q J 9 8 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
A 5 |
| ♣ |
A J 8 6 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2 ♥ |
Pass |
| 3 ♣ |
Pass |
3 ♦ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦ King
“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”
— Charles Dickens
To mark the 10th anniversary of the last Bermuda Bowl to be held in Bermuda, this week’s deals all come from that event. In 2000 Fred Gitelman of Canada was part of the team that won the Transnational silver medal. Having missed the ideal contract here, he had to demonstrate that he was capable of recovering from the auction by finding the best line of play.
When North, focusing on the diamond stop, used the fourth suit instead of showing delayed spade support, he put Gitelman into an awkward contract of no-trump, rather than the more comfortable spade game.
Of course the defense led a top diamond, and the diamond-king lead conventionally requested an unblock, so East dutifully played the jack. Gitelman ducked the first trick and won the next round of the suit. Now the game appears to depend on the spade or the club finesse, but each of them is rather less than a 50 percent chance. Gitelman saw the possibility that he might combine his chances in the two suits by tackling them in the right order. He cashed the ace of clubs, then the king, intending to take the spade finesse if nothing nice happened. When the club queen popped up, Fred did not need the spade finesse, but simply ran for cover by taking his nine top tricks.
This strategy of combining two chances is sometimes referred to as an echelon play and is a very useful way to get two bites at the apple.
ANSWER: If you play fourth-highest leads in this position, you may prefer to lead second from a bad suit and start with the club seven. But there is certainly something to be said for simply leading the true-count card, the three. If you play third and lowest leads, then you must lead the four. You cannot sensibly combine second-highest leads with this method.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K Q 5 |
| ♦ |
9 7 2 |
| ♣ |
9 7 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1 ♥ |
Pass |
1 ♠ |
| Pass |
2 ♦ |
Pass |
3 ♠ |
| 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].
April 25th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 11, 2010
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
I notice that the better players use third-and-fifth leads. What are the benefits of them, and where can I learn more about them?
— Willing to Learn, Montreal, Quebec
ANSWER: The theoretical advantages of third-and-fifth as opposed to fourth come when you as a defender are trying to work out how long partner’s suit is. In fourth-highest a player leads the same card from suits one apart in length; in third-and-fifth the same card from holdings two cards apart. Bridge logic normally helps you work out a two-card disparity more easily and more often than a one-card disparity.
Two books called “Opening Leads,” one by Bob Ewen, one by Mike Lawrence, are highly recommended, as is the book by Rosler and Rubens called “Journalist Leads.”
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ Q-8-7-4, ♥ 9, ♦ 9-3-2, ♣ A-J-10-3-2, I responded one spade to my partner’s opening bid of one heart. My partner jumped to three spades, and now I thought with only four trumps and a singleton in his suit that I should pass. He turned up with a singleton diamond and we made five in a canter. Was I wrong to pass?
— Chicken Little, Huntington, W.Va.
ANSWER: I understand your logic and (especially if playing with an aggressive partner) might duplicate your decision. However, the good club spots might enable me to set that suit up for discards and thus persuade me to bid on.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
When should honors be declared? Some of us were taught (we couldn’t remember where or when) that one should declare honors immediately before playing the hand. We thought about this and decided that this system would give the opponents too much information, and therefore began to question what we believed we had learned.
— Honor Bound, Portland, Ore.
|
|
ANSWER: You get to claim honors till the score for the rubber has been agreed. So as you suspected (and for precisely the reason you mention) they do NOT have to be claimed at the start of the play of the hand. Best is to claim them when leading the last of the sequence or when drawing what is clearly the last trump.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What is meant by balancing or protecting? How is bidding in that seat different?
— Shifting Perspective, Columbia, S.C.
ANSWER: When you are last to speak, after two passes, so that your pass would end the auction, you are in the balancing or protecting seat. You tend to reopen when possible, and so overcalls tend to show about a king less than they guarantee in direct seat. By contrast, jump overcalls (often played as weak) should be intermediate in balancing seat, say 12-16 with a good six-carder, and an overcall of one no-trump has a somewhat wider range, say 11-15.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
A few weeks ago you had a column touching on differences in defense between IMPs and matchpoints. Recently I held ♠ A-9, ♥ K-J-3-2, ♦ A-Q-10-8-3-2, ♣ 6. Defending four spades after my partner had eventually raised my diamond suit, I led the club six, won by declarer. I took my trump ace, and underled my diamonds, hoping my partner had the king and would give me a club ruff. Alas, declarer had the singleton diamond king. Result: misery! Was my play sensible?
— Master Blaster, Charlottesville, Va.
ANSWER: Your play sounds reasonable, but let me give you a suggestion. If you use your partner’s plays in trumps as SUIT PREFERENCE — not count or attitude — some of the time you will be able to work out what to do. If your partner follows under your spade ace with a high spot, you may decide not to play him for an honor in the low suit. This requires partnership trust, I admit. But let me leave you with the thought that the pleasure you would have gotten from your play, had it succeeded, would have far outweighed the pain you actually felt when it did not! |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
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