Aces on Bridge — Daily Columns

The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

February 3rd, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 
Dealer: East

Vul: None

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

 

South West North East
      Pass
Pass Pass 1♥ 1♠
1 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass
       

Opening Lead:♠5

“Oh, tempt me not! I love too well this snare

Of silken cords.”

— Laurence Housman

When West leads the spade five against three no-trump, declarer must plan to knock out both red aces. (It should also be clear that East does not have both aces, by virtue of his failure to open the bidding).

 

At first glance, it seems that South must guess which ace East holds, and to isolate the spades, attack that suit first. But in fact that may not be necessary if East falls for the bait and covers North’s queen with his king. The safe way home now is to duck this trick. If East continues spades, declarer wins in hand and can attack either red suit, as spades are not established, and even if West gains the lead with his ace, he will have no spade left to play to his partner.

 

Note though, that East has a counter. By withholding the spade king at trick one, he leaves declarer on a straight guess as to which red suit to play on for his contract. South fails if he attacks hearts before diamonds, as West has a second spade to play through to his partner, and East will get in with the diamond ace to run his spades.

 

If South plays low from dummy at trick one, would East be up to playing the nine rather than the jack? I do not know. But bear in mind that it might even be necessary to cover if declarer had a four-card spade suit, holding South to two tricks.

ANSWER: Bidding a hand like this is largely a generational issue. Those over 40 will double, convinced that an overcall could never describe a hand this strong. Those under 40 will be happy to overcall one heart here, believing that as the auction advances, they can come in again to show extras. They worry that if they start by doubling, pre-empting by the opponents will make it hard to bid the hand at a safe level.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ Q 8 7
♥ K Q J 9 5
♦ Q J 3
♣ A K

 

South West North East
      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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, January 19, 2010

February 2nd, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 
Dealer: West

Vul: None

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

 

South West North East
  Pass Pass Pass
1♥ Dbl. 1♠ Pass
3♥ Pass 4♥ All Pass
       

Opening Lead:♦5

“How can I then return in happy plight

That am debarr’d the benefit of rest?”

— William Shakespeare

Bjorn Fallenius of Sweden has been a resident of New York for two decades and has been a regular player in the Cavendish tournament for many years. When this deal came up in the Cavendish Teams, he found a way to demonstrate how to eat your cake and have it too when he received the lead of a small diamond against his four-heart contract. The first important issue was whether to win or to duck. Fallenius correctly worked out that he could not duck this trick for fear of a heart switch, so he took dummy’s diamond ace. The next question was how best to combine the chances in hearts and clubs. Clearly the contract hinges on holding the combined losers in the two suits to one. The correct answer, which Fallenius found, was to play a low club to the queen, preserving dummy’s club jack.

 

If this finesse lost, then he would still have the necessary side-suit entry to dummy to pick up the heart king doubleton or tripleton onside, and if the finesse won, as happened in real life, he could simply ruff a club in dummy for his 10th trick. (Note that if he had led the club jack from dummy and the finesse had lost, he would have needed to ruff a club to dummy to to play on hearts; so he would not have been able to pick up a twice-guarded heart king onside.)

ANSWER: Sometimes the simplest answers are best: raise your partner’s reverse into diamonds (which shows a good hand and four diamonds together with five or more clubs) to three diamonds. Your raise is forcing to game and will let partner describe his hand further so that you can work out whether to play in diamonds, spades, or no-trump.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ J 10 8 5 3
♥ J 2
♦ A J 4 3
♣ J 6

 

South West North East
    1♣ Pass
1♠ Pass 2♦ Pass
?      
       

 

For details of Bobby Wolff’s autobiography, The Lone Wolff, contact [email protected]. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, please leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

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The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 18, 2010

February 1st, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 18, 2010 
Dealer: South

Vul: E/W

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♠7

“Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

— Lewis Carroll

Today’s deal presents a problem for North-South in both the bidding and the play. Look first at South’s rebid. Although he has three-card support for his partner, the positional nature of his spade stop suggests rebidding no-trump rather than raising hearts. After South’s rebid, North has no interest in any game other than no-trump.

 

West might do better as the cards lie to lead a low diamond, but after South’s opening call, his choice of a low spade looks natural enough. How should declarer play when allowed to win the first spade cheaply?

 

The key is that South must set up four heart tricks. He does not mind losing the lead to West, but must prevent East from getting on play, or a second spade lead through his tenace will spell disaster. He must therefore lead a club to dummy’s king, then lead an intermediate heart from dummy, playing low from his hand unless East covers. When the finesse wins, South can repeat the heart finesse through East if necessary, untangle the heart winners, then get back to dummy in the minors, ending up with 10 tricks.

 

The contract is ironclad, no matter how hearts divide, by taking a first-round finesse through East. The second-best play, of cashing the heart ace before finessing, loses when East has four or five hearts to the queen.

ANSWER: Your partner rates to have a zero-count; the most he could have is a red jack, so you really do not want to lead either of those suits. Safest is to lead a spade rather than a club, and the spade nine covers the unlikely possibility that your partner has four spades to the 10, when a low-spade lead might cost your side control of the fourth round of spades.

LEAD WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ J 9 3
♥ Q 7 4 2
♦ A 4
♣ J 6 3 2

 

South West North East
      2♣
Pass 2♥ Pass 2 NT
Pass 4 NT Pass 6 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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, January 17, 2010

January 31st, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, January 17, 2010 
Dear Mr. Wolff:

Do you recommend using trumps just to show suit preference, or can they signal other things as well?

—  Signal Corps, Davenport, Iowa

ANSWER: Some people play a trump echo as indicating a desire to ruff; others use it to show an odd number of trumps. However, a trump signal to show suit-preference is far more useful. You can convey the desire to ruff just as well by giving appropriate suit preference. Moreover, your number of trumps normally becomes apparent very early on in the hand for other reasons and is rarely critical to the defense.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

When your partner opens a weak two-bid in hearts and the next hand doubles, what is the right action with ♠ A-J-3, ♥ K-4, ♦ A-Q-3-2, ♣ J-10-3-2? If you redoubled, would you do the same with a heart less and a spade more?

—  Off and Running, Albany, Ga.

ANSWER: In my opinion redoubling announces ownership of the deal and asks your partner to act — normally by doubling the opponents but occasionally by rebidding his suit with extra trump length and no defense. If you had a 4-1-4-4 shape and were about to double the opponents wherever they stopped, you would pass, then double, and not give partner the chance to act.

Dear Mr. Wolff:

Is there any literary work that portrays bridge seriously as opposed to mentioning the subject in passing?

—  Bookworm, Cincinnati, Ohio

   ANSWER: Recently some bridge-themed action novels have come out; I can’t whole-heartedly recommend any of them as a great read. But in my youth I read “Duplicate Death” by Georgette Heyer and “Cards on the Table” by Agatha Christie, both of which took bridge seriously. Comic author S.J. Simon was a superb player, and Somerset Maugham a very keen one. Both wrote fiction that touched on the game.

 

Dear Mr. Wolff:

If you were third to speak, holding ♠ A-9-6-4-2, ♥ K-10-3, ♦ 7-3-2, ♣ K-2, would you open? Would you overcall an opening bid on your right? Does the vulnerability matter?

—  Active Andy, Danville, Ill.

 

ANSWER: I must confess that whether it is winning tactics or not, I would open this hand at all vulnerabilities. I realize that this may trigger a penalty larger than our opponents’ partscore or game, but I feel that if I do not bid, I make life too easy for my opponents. Yes, I would overcall any bid on my right — one cannot afford to lose the spade suit. It is not so clear to bid with the same hand but with a diamond or heart suit, and I would NEVER overcall at the two-level.

 

Dear Mr. Wolff:

I was confused with a recent answer to a “Bid With the Aces” quiz. Your answer was that if you opened one club and jumped to four clubs after a response of one spade, you had six clubs and four spades. Is this a convention and is it in standard use?

—  Missing the Point, Texarkana, Texas

 

ANSWER: Yes, it is commonly understood that this sequence shows good clubs (six of them at least) and four spades, with the values to drive to game. This helps partner envision a source of tricks for his side in a spade slam.

 

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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The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, January 16, 2010

January 30th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, January 16, 2010 
Dealer: South

Vul: All

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

 

South West North East
1♦ Pass 1♥ Pass
1♠ Pass 2♣ Pass
3 NT Pass 6♦ All Pass
       

Opening Lead:♣Q

“I could have stemmed misfortune’s tide,

And borne the rich one’s sneer,–

Have braved the haughty glance of pride,

Nor shed a single tear.”

— Anna Peyre Dinnies

Declarer sees that six diamonds is cold if the trumps break 2-2 or 3-1. He should therefore plan to do what he can against a possible 4-0 split. The first move is to lay down the diamond king, as he can pick up four trumps if in West’s hand, but not if in East’s. Since the missing trumps include the jack and 10, declarer must lay down the honor in the hand with one high trump to be able finesse twice if necessary.

 

When the 4-0 split is revealed, the next move is for South to give up a heart, hoping to guess the suit if possible. The plan is to establish the North hand by ruffing two hearts and eventually discarding the other on South’s fourth spade. Entries must be manipulated so that trumps can be led twice through West, picking up his guarded jack, and South can be left with an eventual re-entry. South wins the club lead, cashes the diamond king, then leads a heart. East wins and returns a club, which South wins. South leads a trump to dummy and plays back a heart to ruff with the eight or nine.

 

South leads another trump and repeats the finesse. He exits dummy with another heart, ruffed with his last trump. A spade puts the lead back in dummy and a high spade is led. Declarer can claim the rest, pitching North’s heart loser on the good spade.

ANSWER: Although most experts play responsive doubles (meaning that a double of a bid-and-raised suit in response to their partner’s double is for takeout), this situation is not parallel. Spades have not been raised; hence, the double shows defense to spades, typically four cards or more in that suit. So pass and find out more about what is going on.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ K Q 4
♥ K J 8 3
♦ A Q 7 5
♣ 9 8

 

South West North East
      1♣
Dbl. 1♠ 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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

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The Aces on Bridge: Friday, January 15, 2010

January 29th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, January 15, 2010 
Dealer: North

Vul: E/W

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

 

South West North East
    1♣ Pass
3 NT All Pass    
       
       

Opening Lead:♥5

“Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,

And like enough thou know’st thy estimate.”

— William Shakespeare

Today’s deal, which comes from a teams match, shows an approach one might follow if making the contract is paramount and overtricks are irrelevant.

 

In both rooms of the match South declared three no-trump on a low heart lead to East’s nine and South’s queen. South now played a club to the 10 and jack. Back came the heart four, and the first point of the deal is that for the defense to have a chance, West must hold up his ace, conserving his vital third-round entry.

 

Both defenders did so, and at one table where West had meanly concealed his lowest heart, South expected the hearts to be splitting evenly and simply repeated the club finesse. The defenders now won three heart tricks and two clubs before declarer could establish nine tricks.

 

In the other room the play to the first three tricks was the same, with West playing the heart seven at his second turn. But South could infer from East’s return of the heart six (high from a remaining doubleton) that West had a five-card suit. Declarer could see the risk of the second club finesse, so he countered by playing a third round of hearts himself. If West cashed his hearts (as he did at the table), East could be squeezed in the minors. If he did not, a club winner could be safely established for declarer’s ninth trick since declarer had cut the defenders’ communications in hearts.

ANSWER: This hand is borderline for a free call of two hearts, but I think you require just a little more to enter the auction at the two-level. With the same hand but a queen in any of the four suits, you would probably risk a bid, but as it is, you should pass and plan to balance with a call of two hearts if the opponents allow you an entry into the auction.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ 8 7 4 2
♥ A 8 7 5 4
♦ 9 2
♣ 7 3

 

South West North East
  1♣ Dbl. 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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, January 14, 2010

January 28th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, January 14, 2010 
Dealer: South

Vul: All

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

 

South West North East
2♣ Pass 3♦ Pass
4 NT Pass 5♠* Pass
7 NT All Pass    
       
*Two of the five key-cards and the trump queen

Opening Lead:♣10

“There’s not a joy the world can give like that it takes away

When the glow of early thought declines in feeling’s dull decay.”

— Lord Byron

Are you familiar with the concept of premature euphoria? This is one of two commonly occurring situations at the bridge table when a player fails to focus properly. The first one occurs when partner (or you yourself) have just done something so bad that you lose focus and compound the earlier error. Your second mistake is fatal.

 

By contrast, premature euphoria arises when your side does something very good — or the opponents do something very bad. You have now virtually ensured success for your side, but euphoria gets in the way and you turn triumph into disaster. Again you have nobody to blame but yourself.

 

Consider today’s deal. North guesses well to treat his hand as a positive response to the two-club opening, allowing you to take control. Once your partner can show the three top diamond honors, you can count 13 top tricks as long as the diamonds provide five tricks.

 

On the lead of the club 10 to the ace, you see a bare minimum in dummy, but your calculations appear to be correct. Are you euphoric? Take care to lead the diamond eight to the ace. Then cash a top diamond from dummy and unblock your highest diamond. Under the queen you complete the unblock by playing the diamond five, and finally the diamond four and three in dummy will provide the two long-suit tricks necessary for the grand slam to come home. Fail to unblock even once, and the grand slam goes down!

ANSWER: Things have developed very favorably from your perspective. Your hand looks far too good now for a simple raise to three diamonds. A jump raise to four diamonds looks appropriate since it is hard to imagine ending in three no-trump. The advantage of this route is that if partner bids four hearts now, you can happily pass.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ 8 4 2
♥ 8 7
♦ A K Q 4 3
♣ 5 3 2

 

South West North East
    1♥ Pass
1 NT 2♣ 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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

January 27th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 
Dealer: West

Vul: None

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

 

South West North East
  1♣ Pass 1♠
4♥ Dbl. All Pass  
       
       

Opening Lead:♠J

“Calm, calm me more! nor let me die

Before I have begun to live.”

— Matthew Arnold

Players do not always play their best under tournament pressure. When today’s hand occurred at the table, many players went off. Yet when presented as a problem, in leisurely surroundings and with no time constraint, many more found the winning line.

 

Against four hearts doubled, West naturally led the singleton spade jack. At the table, the unsuccessful South won with dummy’s ace and continued with another spade to the king, his plan being to ruff two further spades in dummy. Unlucky! West ruffed the king and continued with ace and another trump. Now, only one trump remained in dummy with which to cope with two losing spades in hand. South could still have succeeded if both the ace and queen of clubs were with West, but as you see, it was not to be, and these declarers ended with just eight tricks. East could win the club queen and play a third spade, cutting declarer off from dummy’s club winner.

 

However, there is a virtually foolproof line for 10 tricks, as long as West holds the club ace, very likely on the bidding. On winning with the spade ace in dummy, declarer continues with the spade three and ducks in hand. Now the defense is helpless. Even if East had a trump to return, or West had ruffed East’s spade winner and then played ace and another heart, there is still a trump in dummy to take care of South’s losing spade.

ANSWER: Both your opponents have limited their hands at their second turn to speak, so you need have no reason to assume that you will be poking your head into the lion’s mouth by bidding two diamonds now. You have both the values and the suit-length to make bidding far more attractive than passing. If you assume your partner will always be shape-suitable for his takeout double, how badly can two diamonds play now?

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ A 3
♥ 10 9 6
♦ 8 7 5 4 3
♣ K 10 6

 

South West North East
  1♣ Dbl. Rdbl.
1♦ 1♥ 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].

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The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, January 12, 2010

January 26th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 
Dealer: South

Vul: E/W

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♥K

“Peril as a possession

’Tis good to bear,

Danger disintegrates satiety.”

— Emily Dickinson

Today’s four-spade contract contains a theme that we are all familiar with in theory, but that we all occasionally miss at the table.

 

When the deal came up, it was at IMP scoring, meaning that overtricks were relatively unimportant, while ensuring the contract was really all that mattered.

 

The unsuccessful declarer received the defense of three top hearts. Having seen East echo in hearts, he guessed to ruff the third heart high, then drew two rounds of trumps and found the bad news. Now he could throw East in with a trump after playing off three rounds of clubs, hoping the queen-jack would fall, but it was in vain. That player could exit in either minor, and when the diamond finesse lost, declarer was down one. This was admittedly unlucky — the bad heart and spade breaks and losing finesse had all conspired against him. But was there anything he could have done?

 

Indeed there was. At the other table declarer executed a loser-on-loser play to all but guarantee his contract. He would fail only against a 4-0 break in trumps, a far smaller chance than having the spades and hearts failing to cooperate. Here too the defenders led out the three top hearts, but declarer riposted by throwing dummy’s diamond loser away on the third trick.

 

Now as long as the trumps split no worse than 3-1, he was guaranteed 10 tricks by ruffing a diamond in dummy.

ANSWER: Your partner is not looking for no-trump, so you should have no reason to be interested in playing in anything except a minor-suit. It looks simplest to raise diamonds now; if partner wants to play in diamonds, you will have no objections, of course. But this may also be the way to get to a minor-suit slam.

BID WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ Q 10 4 2
♥ 5 2
♦ A 6 2
♣ K 10 5 2

 

South West North East
    1♦ Pass
1♠ Pass 2♣ Pass
3♣ 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 2009. If you are interested in reprinting The Aces on Bridge column, contact [email protected].

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The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 11, 2010

January 25th, 2010  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, January 11, 2010 
Dealer: South

Vul: None

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

 

South West North East
1 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass
       
       
       

Opening Lead:♥2

“Between the dark and the daylight,

When the night is beginning to lower,

Comes a pause in the day’s occupations,

That is known as the Children’s Hour.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

No doubt you are all sick to death of being told that you should think carefully before playing from dummy at trick one. Having been given that clue, cover up the East and West hands and plan the play in three no-trump on the heart-two lead.

 

Start by counting your tricks: there are two spades, one heart, two diamonds (after you have knocked out the ace) and four clubs (after you have knocked out the king).

 

Look at what could happen if you were to finesse in hearts. East might win the king and, if in inspired mood, might find the switch to a spade. You would win in dummy and take a club finesse. West would win and knock out your last spade stopper so that the opponents would have two more spades to cash when in with the ace of diamonds. You would lose two spades, one heart, one diamond and one club.

 

If, by contrast, you win the ace of hearts at trick one and take a club finesse, then West will win the trick. Whether he plays a heart or a spade now, you cannot be denied your nine tricks before the defenders set up five winners. If he plays a second heart, you will duck in dummy, prepared to concede two heart tricks, but not three.

 

Note that West has found the best lead. On an initial spade lead, the defense can establish only two spades to go with one trick in each minor.

ANSWER: A spade lead might not hold out much hope of setting the game, but you have no likely entry with your weakish clubs. When partner overcalls, it is generally right to lead his suit in case of doubt, just to keep him happy (and perhaps also to stop him from overcalling on bad suits in the future!).

LEAD WITH THE ACES

South Holds:

♠ J
♥ K 7 4
♦ 8 6 5 4
♣ Q J 7 6 5

 

South West North East
  1♥ 1♠ 2♦
Pass 2♠ Pass 2 NT
Pass 3 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].

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