The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 10, 2010

April 24th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

South	West	North	East
1 ♠	Pass	3 ♦	Pass
3 ♠	Pass	4 ♣	Pass
4 ♦	Pass	4 ♠	Pass
5 ♥	Pass	6 ♠	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♥ King

“Has not (wisdom) come from the dying out of the power of temptation, rather than as the results of thought and resolution?”

— Anthony Trollope

In today’s auction North’s jump-shift followed by a new suit was a cue-bid for spades, since the partnership had the agreement never to jump-shift with a two-suited hand.

That got his side to slam, but pinpointed the heart lead for the defense. Now they were threatening to cash their heart winner on getting in with the spade ace. Obviously, declarer could not draw trumps before trying to discard his losing heart. So he played on side-suits to get his discard, an approach that turned out to present more problems than might have been expected, given the bad side-suit breaks. However, today’s declarer, with careful planning, was equal to the task.

Declarer won his heart ace, unblocked the diamond ace, and went to the club ace to lead a top diamond, ruffed and overruffed. A second club to dummy’s queen let declarer lead a diamond, again ruffed and overruffed.

Now declarer ruffed a club in dummy, led a fourth diamond, again ruffed and overruffed, and finally crossed his fingers before leading the club king and ruffing it in dummy.

Finally, something went right for him: East could not ruff, so declarer was in dummy to lead the fifth diamond and pitch his heart loser. He could now claim 12 tricks.

Notice that declarer has to ruff his winner to get to the board. It does him no good to pitch on the club king since there is still a heart loser left in both hands if he does.

ANSWER: It looks natural to bid two diamonds now, but with such a bad suit it may misdirect partner and get him off to the wrong lead. An alternative is to double. Since one spade was a forcing call, this double cannot be for penalties; instead it suggests values, heart tolerance and some diamond length. It is sometimes referred to as a snapdragon or competitive double.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	A
♥	K Q
♦	9 7 6 5 4 3
♣	J 10 4 3

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 9, 2010

April 23rd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

Opening Lead: ♣ 7

“But if success I must never find,

Then come misfortune, I bid thee welcome,

I’ll meet thee with an undaunted mind.”

— Robert Burns

Had West opened the bidding in this deal, North-South might well have reached three no-trump, which would have been relatively easy to play, given the even heart split. As it was, West passed initially and overcalled on the second round. Now South had to play well to land the major-suit game.

West kicked off with a club against four spades. Declarer won in hand and played a spade to West’s ace. Another club was continued, won by dummy’s ace, and three rounds of hearts stood up. One possibility was for declarer to ruff a club and play a trump. However, if spades were 4-1, then East could take two top trumps and play a fourth round of clubs, promoting a fourth defensive trump trick.

Declarer logically assumed that West had six diamonds for the vulnerable two-level overcall, and could surely be counted for three cards in each of clubs and hearts, so it was probable that the spade ace could be taken at face value as a singleton. Accordingly, declarer continued with a fourth heart, East and South discarding diamonds. Declarer could not allow East to discard his other diamond, so he played a diamond to his ace and ruffed a diamond with the spade eight. East was helpless. If he overruffed and played king and another spade, declarer would make the spade queen and a long heart; otherwise, declarer would be in dummy to play another heart and establish one more trump trick.

ANSWER: Normal partnership agreements these days are to play “system on,” meaning that if you play Stayman in response to the opening bid of a no-trump, you play it in response to an overcall in no-trump too. Here, a 4-4 spade fit could very easily play better than no-trump (imagine partner with only ace-third of hearts for example). So bid two clubs and find out.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	10 9 4 2
♥	6 3
♦	A Q J 4
♣	K 6 4

South	West	North	East
	1 ♥	1 NT	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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 8, 2010

April 22nd, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

Dealer: South Vul: Neither		North
		♠	A 3
		♥	10 7
		♦	A J 9 8
		♣	Q J 10 9 7
West				East
♠	Q 10 7 6 2			♠	J 4
♥	J 3			♥	Q 8 6 5 4 2
♦	7 5 4			♦	6 3 2
♣	A K 2			♣	6 3
		South
		♠	K 9 8 5
		♥	A K 9
		♦	K Q 10
		♣	8 5 4

South	West	North	East
1 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead: ♠ 6

“Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.”

— Polybius

At no-trump it is often right to duck tricks early, not late. But how would you play three no-trump today when West leads the spade six?

At the other table, the declarer allowed East’s spade jack to win. He intended to exhaust East of spades so that if he held at least one of the club honors, he would have no spade to play when he gained the lead. East returned a spade to dummy’s bare ace, and when West turned up with both the high clubs, declarer had to go one down.

Unlucky, admittedly, but this line did not seem best to our featured declarer, Omar Sharif. For one thing, if he ducked a club, a heart switch at trick two could have been dangerous. Additionally, the spade six was a fourth-best card and he could therefore tell from the rule of 11 that East held the queen, jack or 10. (He could not hold the spade seven, because West would surely have led an honor from a Q-J-10 combination.) So declarer could block the spades by rising with the ace at trick one, avoiding the risk of receiving a heart switch.

When declarer played on clubs, West won the first round and returned another spade. Sharif allowed East to win with the bare jack, and now could not be prevented from setting up the club suit, ending with an overtrick. I don’t know about you, but this particular play strikes me as exceedingly elegant.

ANSWER: In a competitive auction of this sort, a bid of three clubs would normally be nonforcing facing your partner’s reverse, whatever your agreements might be had the sequence been noncompetitive. To set up a game-force, cuebid two hearts, then raise clubs later. You are definitely going to game, but you have no idea which strain yet.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠	Q 10 7 6 2
♥	J 3
♦	7 5 4
♣	A K 2

South	West	North	East
		1 ♣	1 ♥
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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 7, 2010

April 21st, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 6, 2010

April 20th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 5, 2010

April 19th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 4, 2010

April 18th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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.

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 3, 2010

April 17th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 2, 2010

April 16th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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].

Uncategorized

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 1, 2010

April 15th, 2010 ~ admin ~ Comments Off

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

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].

Uncategorized

Bridge Blogging: Your #1 Bridge Blog Resource

Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 10, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 9, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 8, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 7, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, April 6, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, April 5, 2010

LEAD WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, April 3, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, April 2, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, April 1, 2010

BID WITH THE ACES

Bridge-related
Websites