The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 10, 2009

October 24th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 10, 2009 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♦K

“Man can improve himself but never will himself be perfect.”

— W.H. Auden

The Brighton Summer Congress in England often uses prepared hands from other tournaments in its side games. A recent event used the hands from a television tournament, where eight well-known players had competed in an Individual.

In today’s deal West led the diamond king against four hearts. With two sure club losers, declarer hoped to find at least one of the missing spade honors with East for his game. South won with the ace, immediately ruffed a diamond, played a heart to hand, ruffed the last diamond, then drew the outstanding trump. Next came ace and another club.

Declarer hoped that West would win at least one of the two club tricks on offer and so be endplayed either to lead a spade or proffer a ruff and discard, allowing South to pitch a spade from one hand while trumping in the other.

But East was on the ball and, identifying South’s strategy, cashed just one club trick before returning a spade. When South ducked, West won with the queen and returned a club to East’s king for a second spade through.

Can you spot a better line? Duck the first diamond, then win the club return, and cross to a high trump to lead ace and then jack of diamonds, throwing dummy’s two remaining clubs away. West can exit with a second trump, but you win in hand and ruff a club, cross to a heart to ruff a club, and then take the spade finesse to endplay West.

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, October 9, 2009

October 23rd, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 9, 2009 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♣5

“If you do not understand a man, you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.”

— G.K. Chesterton

Playing a 15-17 no-trump and five-card majors, what would you open as South?

In the match between Iceland and Brazil at the 2006 World Championships, both Souths upgraded their hand, bristling as it is with healthy intermediates and a five-card suit. After they opened one no-trump, the bidding continued inexorably to game, both Norths rightly regarding their five-card suit as a useful source of tricks.

The Icelandic West led a club, South unblocking the queen under East’s ace, and East switched to a low heart, which ran to the jack. West continued by underleading his heart ace, and East’s queen was captured by the king. Declarer played on clubs, and after West ducked twice, switched to diamonds. When West showed out on the second diamond, South reverted to clubs. West won and, hoping to get East in for a heart through, led a spade, even though he knew declarer really had to hold the spade ace. As a result, declarer ended with 10 tricks.

The lead was the same at the other table, but at trick two, Brazil’s Diego Brenner, sitting East, knew that he was unlikely to be on lead again and so thoughtfully returned the heart queen to the king and ace. Marcelo Branco cashed his jack, then returned a third heart to the eight and 10. Branco’s established heart seven proved to be the setting trick when he came in with the club king.

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, October 8, 2009

October 22nd, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, October 8, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
2♥	Pass	2 NT	Pass
3♥	Pass	4♥	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣K

“There is always inequity in life … Life is unfair.”

— John F. Kennedy

You and I play that weak twos promise six cards. But some people are less rigid.

In today’s deal a difference of opinion as to the minimum required for a nonvulnerable weak-two opening led to South declaring a dreadful four-heart contract.

West led the club king, East playing the five and South the four. Obviously the contract would have been beaten easily had West continued clubs and given East a ruff. However, it seemed more likely to West that East’s club five was from an original holding of 10-5-3-2, in which case such a defense would merely establish dummy’s queen. So at trick two West switched to the spade 10.

Declarer won the ace and drew trumps in three rounds. He then played a club toward dummy’s queen. West won and, still thinking South held the doubleton club, continued with a second spade. (A third club would disrupt the timing for the squeeze that followed, but one can hardly blame West for failing to work out what was about to happen.)

East won the spade eight and continued with the spade king. Declarer ruffed, and West, to his intense irritation, found himself squeezed in the minor suits.

If he discarded a diamond, declarer would cash dummy’s top diamonds and ruff a diamond, establishing the eight; the club queen would be the entry card to reach it. If West discarded a club, his jack would fall under declarer’s queen and declarer would still have a trump to reach his club winner.

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, October 7, 2009

October 21st, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1 NT*	Pass	5♦
5♥	All Pass

*10 – 12 points

Opening Lead:♣K

“I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honorable by being necessary.”

— Nathan Hale

Today’s hand comes from the 2006 McConnell Cup, the women’s world teams championship, and it produced a wide variety of results — hardly unexpected, given the wild distribution. Here’s what happened at the table where two of the victorious team, Carlin Steiner and Marinesa Letizia, were defending.

After Steiner opened the bidding to show a balanced minimum hand, East exerted maximum pressure by jumping to five diamonds. South was fixed: a double would have been for penalties; and she could not show her two-suiter without committing the partnership to slam. So she simply bid five hearts, which was passed out.

Carlin Steiner had no difficulty with her first two leads. She cashed her two top clubs, East signaling her doubleton. But how to proceed at trick three? She expected South to be void in diamonds, given Letizia’s majestic leap to the five-level. So she played for her partner to hold the one card that would lead to a trump promotion — the heart seven — and returned the club five.

“Don’t send a boy to do a man’s job” is a well-known bridge maxim, and Letizia accurately ruffed dummy’s club eight with the heart seven. South was forced to overruff, and Steiner had her trump promotion for a one-trick set.

Note the damage caused by East’s high-level pre-empt. Five spades cannot be touched, and you can imagine how some people might allow a spade slam to make if it were declared by North.

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, October 6, 2009

October 20th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♠6

“A swarm of bees who have lost their queen.”

— Christopher Fry

This month the deals used on Tuesdays will all be from Ron Klinger’s latest book, “Right Through the Pack Again.” Each of the deals features one of the 52 cards in a lead role. All of them are trying to rouse the real hero of the book — the Old Master — from a coma.

Here is the tale of the spade queen, told in the first person. How would you fare as declarer with this problem?

“After the lead of the spade six to the king, and the spade jack return, the natural temptation is to rise with the spade queen, expecting East to have A-K-J-10-x-x. The Old Master resisted the impulse and played low after a brief moment’s thought. The defense could take only three tricks and the Old Master finished with an overtrick.

“‘Might it have been right to play you?’” asked the club two.

“’Not if the contract was to succeed,’” replied the spade queen. “’The Old Master’s clear mind instantly saw that if the spade queen won, he would have eight tricks. However, to make more, he would need to find the club king with East, but was that possible?

“‘Surely if East held the spade A-K-J-10-x-x plus the club king, he would have been too strong for a weak jump-overcall. Placing the club king with East as a matter of necessity meant that the spade ace figured to be with West. Hence the Old Master kept me in hand in order to block the spade suit.’”

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, October 5, 2009

October 19th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, October 5, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		1♠	Pass
2♣	Pass	2♦	Pass
3♣	Pass	4♣	Pass
4♥	Pass	4 NT	Pass
5♦	Pass	6♣	All Pass

Opening Lead:♥K

“Like one that on a lonesome road

Doth walk in fear and dread.”

— Samuel Coleridge

Most people go into a cold sweat when faced with a squeeze, but often only a bit of technique is needed. In today’s deal, for example, declarer employed the Vienna Coup, a device whereby a long suit can be run without one hand being embarrassed for discards.

West leads two top hearts against six clubs and South ruffs the second one. If the diamonds break 3-3, there are 12 tricks. But even if they don’t, there is a chance for a squeeze.

Suppose that you continue by running the clubs. Four discards are needed from dummy, spades being the obvious candidates. But if either defender holds the spade king and four diamonds, as here, he should simply bare his spade king. When dummy’s spade ace is cashed, the king will fall, establishing the queen. But now there is no way back to your hand to cash that spade winner.

If instead you cash the spade ace before running the trumps, your problems are solved. Here it is East who holds the spade king and the diamond guard, but it could have been West for the same money. When you play your last club, dummy’s last low spade is discarded. If the spade king has been discarded, you cash the spade queen, then dummy’s three top diamonds. If not, simply play diamonds from the top and hope for the best.

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, October 4, 2009

October 18th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, October 4, 2009 

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, October 3, 2009

October 17th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, October 3, 2009 

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

 

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

*Spades and a minor

**Asking for a minor

Opening Lead:♥J

“Nature is under control but not disturbed.”

— Queen Beatrix, on opening a sea barrier

Berry Westra and Enri Leufkens of the Netherlands are the only partnership ever to have won a World Junior Championship and a Bermuda Bowl. They did very well today, first to reach four hearts from East after the four-card major opening, and then to combine well in defense.

North-South’s sacrifice in five diamonds looks very reasonable. Although their opponents’ game could have been defeated, it was never going to be easy for South to lead the spade ace at trick one against four hearts, while five diamonds appeared to be one down at worst. However, despite the big trump fit, five diamonds doubled turned out to be very expensive.

Westra (conveniently sitting West, to make life easy for the journalists) led the heart jack and switched to a trump. Now declarer made the slightly careless play of drawing three rounds of trump, ending in dummy, instead of attacking clubs at once. It is far from obvious why this play is so dangerous; indeed, against most people he would not have been punished. The point is that it looks simple for declarer now to give up two clubs and set up dummy’s suit, but when declarer led a club to his queen, Westra found the fine play of ducking! Westra hopped up with the club ace on the next club play, and led a second heart. Now there were not enough entries to dummy to establish the club suit. With the spade suit similarly dead, declarer finished three down for minus 500.

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, October 2, 2009

October 16th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, October 2, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
		1♣	Pass
2♥	Pass	3♥	Pass
4 NT	Pass	5 NT	Pass
6♥	All Pass

Opening Lead:♣K

“Think nothing done while aught remains to do.”

— Samuel Rogers

Josephine Culbertson was credited with playing today’s deal. As was the style in those days, the bid of four no-trump showed two aces and the king of a bid suit. The response promised two aces.

West led the club king against the heart slam, and declarer could count only 10 tricks: five trumps, the two sets of ace-kings and the club ace. Even if spades produced an extra trick, that would still leave her a trick short. The only hope for an extra trick was to rely on trumps being 3-2 and to ruff three clubs in hand. This would give her six trump tricks, three on power and three from club ruffs.

So she took the lead with the ace and ruffed a club with the 10. Then she crossed to the spade king and ruffed a club high. Next she played the heart four to the eight and ruffed dummy’s last club with the king. When the clubs proved to be 4-4, her chances had improved. Things looked up still further when she overtook the heart jack with dummy’s queen and both opponents followed suit.

After discarding her losing diamond on the third trump, she continued with the spade ace and then a third spade. All she needed now was to be able to play the spades for three tricks. That would come about if the spade queen fell in two or three rounds, or if East had the length in spades. Her luck was in today.

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, October 1, 2009

October 15th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1♠	5♦	Pass	Pass
Dbl.	Pass	5♠	All Pass

Opening Lead:♦A

“Something between a hindrance and a help.”

— William Wordsworth

When I am asked what the secret of bridge is, my answer is that it is a game of error. The people who win make the fewest mistakes and, crucially, help their partners make the fewest errors. There is not much you can do when partner is declaring — except put trumps on your right. But on defense it is a different story.

Take this deal from the match between Israel and Canada in a Junior World Teams tournament, where the Israeli East had a chance to cherish his partner. After both Souths opened one spade, the Wests had to decide how much to bid. Wolpert for Canada at our featured table bid five diamonds, but South ended up in five spades.

After the diamond-ace lead, Wolpert decided to shift and (correctly in my opinion) elected to play his partner for the heart ace rather than very good clubs, or a slow club trick plus a major-suit winner. He shifted to his heart, and that meant 11 tricks for declarer.

By contrast, in the other room the Israeli West bid only four diamonds at his first turn. North bid four spades now, and Amir Levin, East, bid five clubs as a lead director, suggesting clubs and a diamond fit. When North-South pushed on to five spades, the defense led clubs and could now set the game. (Note, by the way, that five spades was necessary insurance over five diamonds, which might easily have made.)

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].