The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 19, 2010

March 5th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 19, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 NT	Pass	2♣	Pass
2♠	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead:Your choice

“Like one whose doubts

To comfort on discovery of the truth.”

— Dante Alighieri

In today’s deal from last year’s Yeh Brothers Cup, would you rather play three no-trump on a club lead, or on a diamond lead? In one room Paul Hackett led the diamond two. Declarer won in hand and drove out East’s heart ace. East shifted to clubs, so declarer put up an honor (taken by West’s ace), ducked the second club, and won the third. Now, after unblocking hearts, he had time to test both red suits. Given the opening lead, it was natural for him to misguess by cashing the diamond jack and leading to the diamond nine. He now had only eight tricks.

In the other room, on a club lead, Tom Townsend won and led the heart queen, taken by the ace. East returned a club and the defenders cashed out the clubs, forcing dummy to pitch two spades, with East erring by letting go a spade. Back came a spade, so Townsend won dummy’s spade king, finessed in diamonds, unblocked his heart jack, and cashed the diamond king. East dropped the diamond queen, the card he was known to hold, trying to fool declarer as to who had the diamond 10.

But when Townsend cashed the spade ace, pitching dummy’s heart, East showed out. Now West was marked with 4-4 in the black suits and had followed to two hearts already, so he could not hold more than three diamonds. Therefore, Townsend successfully played for the drop in diamonds.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, February 18, 2010

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Dealer: North Vul: None		North
		♠	A 7 2
		♥	K J 4
		♦	K Q 10 9 6
		♣	A 5
West				East
♠	J 6 5 4 3			♠	K Q
♥	10 8 3			♥	A 9 6 2
♦	3 2			♦	7 4
♣	Q 6 2			♣	K J 7 4 3
		South
		♠	10 9 8
		♥	Q 7 5
		♦	A J 8 5
		♣	10 9 8

 

South	West	North	East
		1♣	Pass
1 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead:♠3

“You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.”

— Abraham Lincoln

Some players hate to go down in a contract they might have made by using a technically sound line. Others would always rather go for what they consider the best practical line and not worry about looking silly. Consider today’s deal from the finals of the Yeh Brother’s Cup last year as a classic example of the two different approaches.

Both Souths reached three no-trump after North had opened a Precision club, keeping East out of the bidding. Both Wests led an attitude spade three. (The smaller the card, the more they liked the suit.)

For the Dutch, Bas Drijver preferred to play the best technical line (hoping that spades would be 4-3 or that there would be a doubleton double-honor in the East hand to prevent the defenders from running four tricks there). He therefore rose with the spade ace and knocked out the heart ace. When the spade suit refused to run for the defenders, he had his nine tricks.

By contrast, the Swedish declarer, true to his nature, went for the psychological line of ducking the first spade. If spades were continued, he would be no worse off and might be much better off. (Consider East with an initial holding of the doubleton spade queen, for example.) Alas for him, East could see that his partner had a near Yarborough and realized that his only chance was to find the club queen in the West hand. He shifted to a club at trick two and defeated the game by two tricks.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

March 3rd, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1♦	Dbl.	Pass
1♥	Pass	3♥	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣K

“Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.”

— James Shirley

In the Yeh Cup last year, this was the last deal of the semifinals between two undefeated teams. Many Wests would open one club, North would double, and South would respond one diamond. North would now bid one spade and play there quietly — no need for drama.

Ah, but what if West opens a Precision one diamond? What does South do after North doubles? He fearfully bids one heart, trying to stop at a low level. That was what the American South did, but his partner produced an unrefined jump to three hearts. Now declarer could never reach his hand to take a heart finesse. Eventually the defenders scored their four plain tricks and could lead the 13th club to promote the heart nine. Down one — but not necessarily a tragedy.

In the other room, West also opened one diamond, Precision, and North doubled. East passed, playing a style where this showed nothing about his hand at all, and Peter Fredin produced the sort of call that makes him such good reporting material. He passed one diamond, knowing that West would almost never sit for it even with moderate diamond length. It worked like a charm. West thought he was walking into a bad split, so escaped to one spade, and when doubled, he ran to two clubs, doubled and down 800. Even on best declarer play in one diamond, West would surely have gone down a trick, so Fredin’s pass would have won points for his side whatever happened next.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, February 16, 2010

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

 

South	West	North	East
			1♠
2♥	4♥	5♥	5♠
6♥	Dbl.	All Pass

Opening Lead:♠A

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many tricks.”

— Homer

All this week’s deals come from last year’s Yeh Brothers Cup in Brisbane, to mark the tournament taking place now.

In the later stages of the event both Souths in one match reached six hearts doubled. Our hero, Peter Fredin, was one of those declarers, after overcalling a one-spade opening with two hearts, then bidding again. Both Wests led a top spade; both declarers ruffed and drew a round of trumps. The Norwegian declarer cashed the diamond ace, playing for his legitimate chance of the singleton diamond king, then played a second diamond. West won his king and cashed out for down one.

By contrast, Fredin — never afraid to put his neck on the block and risk looking stupid — led a low diamond from hand at trick three. Now you know why the commentators and journalists love to watch him play! Of course, this play gives up on a legitimate chance to make the contract, but some declarers would rather go for what they see as their best psychological line, not the best technical line, and who can argue with success?

Sitting West was a member of the current European Championship winning team — no rabbit. Yes, his decision to duck the diamond might look ridiculous, but Fredin had given him the chance to look silly, and I assume he thought Fredin was not capable of such guile. He knows better now.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Monday, February 15, 2010

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

 

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

*Diamonds

**Spade void

Opening Lead:♥9

“When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them.”

— Walt Whitman

All the deals this week come from The Yeh Brothers Cup, held last year in Australia.

In the featured match on Vugraph, both tables bid to slam. The deal reduces to an exercise in percentages — though not an especially simple one. The issue is how to play the trump suit for one loser in six diamonds: What three sensible options are available?

The first, selected by both Souths, is to run the diamond queen, planning a second finesse. This loses when East has both honors — and therefore works approximately three-quarters of the time. Can you do better?

I first thought that a better approach might be to start by cashing the ace. This loses either when West began with a void, or when he began with both the king and jack and one or two small cards. This is fractionally better, but it too would fail today.

Best — and also successful today — is to run the eight from the North hand. This loses when West has jack singleton or doubleton so long as East ducks stoically on the first round (don’t we all?) and you misguess. However, you can negotiate the 4-0 split in either hand. Accordingly, there is one losing combination fewer and it is the best play.

Note: If you have a 5-4 fit, as opposed to the 6-3 fit, playing the ace no longer loses to a void in West, but from a psychological perspective, running the eight still looks to be the best play.

LEAD WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, February 14, 2010

February 28th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, February 14, 2010 

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.

The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, February 13, 2010

February 27th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, February 13, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	3♠	Pass	Pass
3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣10

“The brave man inattentive to his duty is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.”

— Andrew Jackson

When this deal came up in a teams match, both Wests judged well not to lead a spade against three no-trump. A spade lead might be vital if partner has two small spades and an entry, but the lead will concede an important trick if partner has one spade or none, and it may still be fine not to lead the suit if East’s doubleton spade includes the 10.

Both Wests instead selected the club sequence; this was entirely reasonable, and it was just bad luck that a diamond might have worked better. That said, how would you declare three no-trump on the top club lead?

One declarer quite reasonably led a diamond to dummy’s nine. A spade shift by East let West cash his two spades and play a second diamond, establishing the defenders’ fifth trick.

In the other room South preferred to rely on an endplay rather than hoping to find West with a key diamond card. At trick two he exited from hand with a spade to cut the defenders’ communications. West won the trick and could not cash his spade ace or it would have established the ninth trick for South. So West found the diamond shift, and East won the trick cheaply. Back came a club, and declarer led a diamond to dummy again. He eventually got in again to set up his diamond eight for his ninth winner, while he still had a heart entry to hand to cash it.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 12, 2010

February 26th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, February 12, 2010 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		5♦	All Pass

Opening Lead:♥K

“How delicious is the winning

For the knot there’s no untying!”

— T. Campbell

There is no correct answer to the question of whether to lead an ace or a king from a suit headed by both cards. This column favors the lead of the king, but to express a fair and balanced view, I am going to quote a contrasting opinion from “Defensive Signaling” by David Bird and Marc Smith, from the Bridge Technique Series (Master Point Press).

They suggest that on the lead of an ace or queen, you signal attitude; on the lead of a king, give count. If partner leads an ace against a suit contract at the four-level or lower, you assume that he also holds the king, as unsupported ace-leads are rarely successful.

However, when the contract is at the five-level or higher, the lead of an ace denies the king, as partner would then have led the king from ace-king, asking third hand to give count. That player should encourage a continuation only when holding the king.

Here, South has opened five diamonds, and you lead the heart king. Partner gives count with the heart eight — a standard high-low when holding four. Partner rates to have four cards, not two, on the auction, so you continue with the spade ace, this time asking for attitude. East encourages with the spade 10 to indicate possession of the king. Another spade from you sees the contract go down. Had you continued with the heart ace at trick two, declarer would have ruffed and later discarded the losing spades on dummy’s winners.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, February 11, 2010

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

 

South	West	North	East
1♥	Pass	2♦	Pass
2 NT	Pass	4♥	Pass
Pass	Dbl.	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣10

“Henceforth take warning by the fall

Of cruel Barbara Allen.”

— Ballads

When opponents have confidently bid unopposed to game and you have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them, it is a bad idea to warn them.

West doubled today’s final contract of four hearts and led the club 10 to the queen, king and ace. South appreciated that West’s double must be based on a trump stack, so set about trying to score his trumps singly.

Declarer led his singleton diamond to dummy’s ace, then ran the spade queen, which held. A diamond was ruffed back to hand, then came the spade ace, a spade ruff with dummy’s heart two, and another diamond ruffed in hand. With seven tricks in the bag, South next played a low club, on which West made the natural move of discarding his last spade, leaving himself with just his five trumps.

East won the trick, but there was no longer any defense to the contract. Whether East played a club or a spade, West could do no better then ruff low. Declarer could overruff in dummy, ruff a diamond with the heart ace, and ruff a club with the heart queen for the 10th trick.

The defenders had missed their chance. When declarer plays a low club at trick eight, West must ruff his partner’s winner, rather than discard, then continue with the heart king! (A low heart would not be good enough.) Now declarer ends up a trick short.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, February 10, 2010

February 24th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♠6

“But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.”

— William Shakespeare

Today’s deal arose at rubber bridge in the United States, where multiple world-champion Benito Garozzo of the famed Italian Blue Team now resides.

Nine tricks can be taken at no-trump, but after careful exploration, neither North nor South fancied three no-trump without a club stop between them. The game they finally chose was the Moysian fit of four spades. West led the spade six; plan the play.

Admittedly, had Garozzo inserted dummy’s nine, he could have run 11 tricks, but he had another plan in mind: the spade six was allowed to win the first trick! Puzzled, West now switched to a heart, which South won in hand. A trump to the ace found both defenders following, so Garozzo finished drawing trumps, then ran the seven red-suit winners for his contract.

Garozzo had appreciated that by ducking the first trump lead, he would be in control regardless of the continuation as long as spades broke no worse than 4-2. See what would transpire if Garozzo had taken the ace and king of spades, leaving one trump in dummy to take care of a club attack, and had then gone after diamonds. West ruffs the third round of diamonds, cashes the club ace, then plays a club to East. Now a fourth diamond promotes a second trump trick for the defenders. The alternative of drawing three rounds of trump, then playing on diamonds, allows the defenders to take three club tricks and one trump.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

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].