July 17th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Friday, July 3, 2009 
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A J 9 8 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
— |
| ♣ |
10 7 3 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
10 3 |
♠ |
Q J 8 6 5 |
| ♥ |
Q |
♥ |
K 10 7 |
| ♦ |
K Q 10 9 6 |
♦ |
A J 4 2 |
| ♣ |
K 8 6 5 2 |
♣ |
4 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 9 7 |
| ♥ |
5 4 |
| ♦ |
8 7 5 3 |
| ♣ |
A Q J 9 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT* |
Pass |
4♦ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead:♦K
“The best is the best, though a hundred judges have declared it so.”
— Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
In today’s deal look at just the North-South cards and decide how you would play four hearts.
When South opened a weak no-trump, North thought it would be better for his partner to be declarer, so transferred into hearts at the four-level. (These days the expert community plays a two-level transfer followed by a jump to game as a mild slam-try.)
West led the diamond king and declarer proceeded as most of us would have done. He ruffed in the dummy and cashed the heart ace. When West’s queen dropped, he turned his attention to clubs, running the 10, which lost to West’s king. West now switched to the spade 10. Declarer won and played clubs, but East ruffed immediately and continued spades. When declarer played a third round of clubs, East ruffed with his king and cashed a spade, putting declarer one down.
Unlucky, you might say — the game would have made if either hearts or clubs had behaved better. But declarer was actually slightly careless. Suppose, instead of finessing in clubs, he plays a club to his ace, followed by the club queen. West wins and switches to a spade as before. But declarer wins and plays the club jack, which East ruffs to continue spades. The difference now is that declarer has an established club on which to throw dummy’s last spade. East ruffs impotently with his trump trick, and the contract is made.
ANSWER: Bid five clubs now. Your partner has shown opening values and must have at least six clubs to overcall with what you know to be a poor suit. If he has four spades as well, your fitting cards should get you close to 11 tricks, even if he is at the bottom of his range.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 9 7 |
| ♥ |
5 4 |
| ♦ |
8 7 5 3 |
| ♣ |
A Q J 9 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♥ |
2♣ |
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].
July 16th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, July 2, 2009
| Dealer: South
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
7 4 |
| ♥ |
8 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A 10 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 9 7 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 8 3 2 |
♠ |
5 |
| ♥ |
J 10 3 |
♥ |
Q 9 7 6 4 |
| ♦ |
Q 8 3 |
♦ |
K 9 6 4 |
| ♣ |
10 8 5 |
♣ |
A J 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K J 10 9 6 |
| ♥ |
A K |
| ♦ |
J 7 2 |
| ♣ |
6 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| 3♠ |
Pass |
4♠ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♥J
“Actors must practice restraint, else think what might happen in a love scene.”
— Cedric Hardwicke
Against four spades partner leads the heart jack to declarer’s king. At trick two, the club six is played to dummy’s king, partner following with the five. Do you jump on this trick?
If you win the trick, it looks best to return a second heart to the ace. Declarer next plays three rounds of trump, West’s queen winning the third. Partner must play a diamond now, hoping that you have the K-J, in which case you could dislodge dummy’s diamond ace, the entry to the long clubs.
However, you can do no better than win the diamond king and exit with a heart, which declarer ruffs. He then draws the last trump and ruffs the clubs good. The diamond ace remains as an entry to dummy; 10 tricks made.
The key to the defense was partner’s card at trick two. His play of the club five shows an odd number of clubs, so you know the club suit is distributed 5-3-2-3 around the table. (With 10-8-5-4, for example, he should have played the eight to give you the count as clearly as possible.)
If you allow the club king to win trick two, declarer requires two more entries to dummy, one to set up the clubs and one to enjoy the suit. Since the diamond ace is his only entry, he will have no way to access dummy’s winners, assuming best defense. Not capturing honors with honors kills a re-entry within the suit itself and defeats the game.
ANSWER: West’s double calls for East to lead his shorter or weaker major and suggests West has a solid major or the equivalent and a side entry. Since whichever major East leads will find you with nothing, are you prepared to sit this one out and risk a sizable penalty? Run to four clubs and live to fight another day.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 4 |
| ♥ |
8 5 2 |
| ♦ |
A 10 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 9 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 NT |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
Dbl. |
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].
July 15th, 2009 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
10 9 8 7 |
| ♥ |
Q J 2 |
| ♦ |
8 2 |
| ♣ |
K J 9 6 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q |
♠ |
J 4 2 |
| ♥ |
10 9 6 3 |
♥ |
K 8 5 |
| ♦ |
A J 9 6 |
♦ |
K 10 7 5 3 |
| ♣ |
10 8 4 3 |
♣ |
A 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K 6 5 3 |
| ♥ |
A 7 4 |
| ♦ |
Q 4 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
3♣* |
Pass |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *Four spades and 6-9 points |
Opening Lead:♥3
“A hard beginning maketh a good ending.”
— John Heywood
Bridge is a complex game, and the pressure on top-level players is enormous. Consequently, the play in world championship finals is often not of the best. Today’s deal is an example. One team stopped in a spade partscore and collected 10 tricks. The other side bid to game, so there was more at stake.
A heart was led to the queen, king and ace. Declarer cashed the spade ace and led a club to the king and ace. East returned a heart, which declarer won in the dummy. He finessed in spades, drew the last trump, and cashed the club queen. In the light of West’s spade shortage, declarer guessed to play a club to dummy’s nine, thus landing his vulnerable game.
An excellent result, but East made a fairly elementary mistake when he covered the heart queen at trick one. His partner would not be underleading an ace here, so declarer had to hold the ace. In such a situation it is nearly always wrong to cover the first honor — and not just because declarer sometimes has the singleton ace.
Suppose East plays low at trick one and dummy’s queen wins. Declarer plays a spade to his king and leads a club as before. East takes the trick and plays a diamond, allowing West to win and play a second heart. Now East covers dummy’s jack; declarer cannot both play clubs correctly and pick up East’s trumps, so must go one down.
ANSWER: My suggested methods when the opponents intervene over your side’s no-trump opening include doublinh for takeout. Doing so may let the odd penalty double get away, but more often than not, you will find yourself far better placed to compete. And if opener reopens when he is short in their suit, you will end up penalizing the opponents most of the time that it can be done.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 9 8 7 |
| ♥ |
Q J 2 |
| ♦ |
8 2 |
| ♣ |
K J 9 6 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1 NT |
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].
July 14th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
| Dealer: North
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q |
| ♥ |
8 7 4 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A |
| ♣ |
A 8 7 5 4 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 7 4 2 |
♠ |
9 8 |
| ♥ |
A K 6 |
♥ |
Q J 10 5 |
| ♦ |
8 5 |
♦ |
K 7 6 4 2 |
| ♣ |
Q J 9 3 |
♣ |
K 6 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K J 6 5 3 |
| ♥ |
9 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 9 3 |
| ♣ |
10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
Pass |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♥K
“Be prepared, be sharp, be careful, and use the King’s English well. And you can forget all the [other rules] unless you remember one more: Get paid.”
— Robert N.C. Nix
Bidding the South hand scientifically would be beyond most of us. In third seat, however, tactical considerations are paramount. The issue is not just what is your side’s best contract, but where the opponents might play if you gave them a chance to explore. To prevent them from finding their best fit, the pre-emptive opening gives you two ways to win. Four spades might be your best spot, and it might make your opponents’ lives hard.
When West leads two top hearts, South trumps the second and can see that he must establish his diamond suit without losing control of the trump suit. Although he started life with all the high trumps, he does run the risk of losing the lead twice more and then being forced if he is not careful.
Therefore, after cashing the diamond ace, he must overtake dummy’s spade queen and draw three rounds of trump — promoting a trump for West, but saving a vital tempo. Now declarer drives out the diamond king and is sure of a re-entry to his hand to cash his remaining diamonds.
If declarer cashes the spade queen and gets back to his hand by trumping a heart or club from dummy, he loses control of the hand and can be set so long as the defenders lead hearts or clubs at every opportunity.
Any declarer who cashed the ace, king and jack of spades and discarded dummy’s diamond ace had the right idea, but unfortunately this line fails when diamonds divide 5-2.
ANSWER: Your partner has suggested extra shape but not necessarily extras in high cards. In fact, he is quite likely to have a minimum. Your first action guaranteed that you had at least a nine-count. In context you have a minimum, so you have no need to bid more than two spades now. If partner passes, you will be quite high enough!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 7 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A K 6 |
| ♦ |
8 5 |
| ♣ |
Q J 9 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦
|
Dbl. |
| Rdbl. |
1♥ |
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].
July 13th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, June 29, 2009
| Dealer: North
Vul: Both |
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 2 |
| ♥ |
6 5 4 |
| ♦ |
A K 3 |
| ♣ |
A Q 9 4 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
K 9 5 4 3 |
♠ |
Q 10 6 |
| ♥ |
J |
♥ |
K Q 8 2 |
| ♦ |
J 10 8 6 2 |
♦ |
Q 9 7 4 |
| ♣ |
6 2 |
♣ |
8 5 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A J 7 |
| ♥ |
A 10 9 7 3 |
| ♦ |
5 |
| ♣ |
K J 10 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♣ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
1 NT |
Pass |
| 2♣ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead:♦J
“Necessity and chance
Approach not me, and what I will is fate.”
— John Milton
Are more contracts lost by drawing trump too late or too early? It is hard to say, but a little learning can often be a dangerous thing.
One standard bridge play is to generate extra trump tricks by ruffing losers in the short-trump hand. When those losers can be discarded on other winners, such plays may be unnecessary at best and at worst countereffective. In today’s heart game, South has a third-round spade loser. There are two ways to get rid of it: on dummy’s diamonds or on the fifth club. The key here is to avoid losing too many trump tricks.
Accordingly, South wins the diamond lead in dummy and does NOT cash the second diamond — there will be time enough for that later on. His sole focus will be to hold his trump losers to two. The best way to do that is not to lay down the ace — that would look silly if East had a small singleton trump — but to lead to the 10. West will be happy to win his bare trump jack and will elect to defend passively by returning a diamond (although a spade would have forced declarer to rely on a trump break). Declarer wins the second diamond on the board, pitching a spade, and leads a heart, covering East’s card. South still has a spare trump to ruff the next diamond and can draw trumps successfully.
ANSWER: There is no reason to lead anything but a diamond. My choice would be the seven (the four may be too tough for partner to read). This way, partner should be able to avoid finessing against dummy and losing a trick to a singleton honor in declarer’s hand.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
10 4 2 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 2 |
| ♦ |
7 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A J 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦
|
1♠ |
| 2♦
|
2♠ |
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].
July 12th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, June 28, 2009
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
Several of your recent columns showed unorthodox responses to Blackwood four no-trump, For example, there was a five-spade response from a hand that held only two aces. On January 13th a five-club response was explained as showing two aces and the trump king. I am confused!
— Easy Aces, Troy, N.Y.
ANSWER: These days many advanced players use Roman Key-Card Blackwood, where the trump king counts as a fifth ace, Steps are 0 or 3, 1 or 4, 2 without the trump queen, two with the trump queen. You can ask your partner for the trump queen after the first two responses, which have neither promised nor denied that card. These methods generally improve slam bidding — if you can remember the responses and count key-cards. Not all of us can do so.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I held ♠ K-7-5-2, ♥ 7, ♦ A-K-Q-J-2, ♣ 10-8-5. After one heart is bid on my right, what should I do? If I double and partner bids two clubs (my partners always seem to bid my short suits) and I then bid two diamonds, am I not showing a stronger hand — about 18 points?
— Imperfect World, Janesville, Wis.
ANSWER: A lot depends on style. In my book you would indeed be showing real extras (which you do not have). If you bid again. I would therefore pass two clubs — partner has, after all, bid the suit. It may not be our best fit, but it should be playable. Some people play Equal Level Conversion, meaning a two-diamond call here would not show extras, but would be precisely this sort of hand.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
I held ♠ —, ♥ A-K-Q-6-4, ♦ K-9-6-3, ♣ A-K-7-2, and heard my partner open three diamonds. Is there any way my partner and I could have reached a grand slam? When I used Blackwood and found one ace, I was not prepared to bid seven – but, naturally, partner had the diamond ace and seven was laydown.
— Lying Low, Bellingham, Wash.
ANSWER: In response to an opening bid at any level, a jump to five no-trump is a Grand Slam Force. It asks partner to look solely at trump honors. With two he goes to the grand slam. Opinions differ as to how to handle other cases, but a simple way is to say that you don’t go past six of the trump suit with one, but the more you bid the more you have. So if diamonds are trumps as here, six clubs would say no honors or the queen, six diamonds would promise the ace or king. If hearts were trumps, the scale would be 0,1,ace or king plus extra length. |
|
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What is required of a player who discovers he has revoked? Must he say something? And if he revokes again (accidentally or deliberately), what is the penalty?
— Two-Time Loser, Honolulu, Hawaii
ANSWER: The laws forbid a player to deliberately conceal a first revoke by revoking again. If you discover you have a card left, you must follow suit the next time. But you are also not required to say anything if you find you have revoked. The second accidental revoke does NOT carry a new revoke penalty. The first revoke is the only one that counts for the purposes of creating a penalty.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you play two-over-one, should a jump to game show a minimum hand, or something extra?
— Leap Frog, Macon, Ga.
ANSWER: Jumps in no-trump in game-forcing auctions should always be extras (about a strong no-trump). Simple no-trump bids show less — or more if bidder intends to push on over partner’s sign-off perhaps. Jumps in suit contracts require partnership agreement. It is simplest — but not best — to play these jumps as sign-off. However, some play them as always showing good trumps and denying any control in an unbid suit, which is theoretically sounder, but harder to play. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at [email protected]. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
July 11th, 2009 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment
| Dealer: West
Vul: All |
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 8 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A K |
| ♦ |
7 4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
A 6 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 9 5 3 |
♠ |
J 10 6 |
| ♥ |
5 |
♥ |
9 7 3 2 |
| ♦ |
A Q J |
♦ |
10 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 8 4 |
♣ |
J 9 7 3 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 7 |
| ♥ |
Q J 10 8 6 4 |
| ♦ |
K 9 8 6 |
| ♣ |
5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
1♣ |
Pass |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
All Pass |
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♣K
“Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.”
— Miguel de Cervantes
In today’s deal South plays in four hearts after West has opened one club. The club king is led and South should win the club ace — but what next?
The simple player will draw two rounds of trump and find the bad news, then lead a diamond to the king and ace. West will win and press on with clubs at every turn. Eventually declarer will run out of trumps — he has to ruff three clubs — and so East will be able to trump the fourth diamond and set the game.
By contrast, would a more thoughtful approach be to take the ace and king of hearts, then duck two diamonds, hoping the ace was doubleton with West? Probably, but as the cards lie, that would be equally unsuccessful.
So what can declarer do? The answer is simple only if you realize that the danger of a bad trump split can be overcome by not drawing trump, instead using dummy’s trumps to ruff clubs.
Declarer wins the opening lead and ducks a diamond, ruffs the next club, and ducks another diamond. When a third club is played, he ruffs and plays a third diamond. West wins the ace and must return a trump or spade (either of which gives declarer a critical tempo) or cede a ruff and discard. In the latter case declarer ruffs in dummy, plays the remaining high trump, then crosses to his spade ace. He can now draw trump and score his long diamond in peace and quiet.
ANSWER: Jump to two spades to suggest four trumps and a little extra in high cards. This sequence is encouraging but nonforcing. (Since partner could have as little as four spades in a six- or seven-count, there is no need to go overboard.) Wait for your partner to do more if he has extras.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 9 5 3 |
| ♥ |
5 |
| ♦ |
A Q J |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 8 4 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♣ |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
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].
July 10th, 2009 ~ admin ~ 3 Comments
| Dealer: South
Vul: N/S |
North |
|
| ♠ |
7 |
| ♥ |
K 9 4 |
| ♦ |
A 9 8 7 6 5 |
| ♣ |
J 9 7 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
9 8 5 |
♠ |
Q 6 4 2 |
| ♥ |
2 |
♥ |
Q 7 6 5 3 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 2 |
♦ |
4 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 8 5 4 3 |
♣ |
6 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
A K J 10 3 |
| ♥ |
A J 10 8 |
| ♦ |
K |
| ♣ |
A K 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♣* |
Pass |
1♠** |
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| 3♥ |
Pass |
4♥ |
Pass |
| 5 NT |
Pass |
6♦ |
Pass |
| 6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
| *17-plus, any shape |
| **One ace and a king, or three kings |
Opening Lead:♦Q
“Young ladies should take care of themselves. Young ladies are delicate plants. They should take care of their health and their complexion.”
— Jane Austen
Alphonse “Sonny” Moyse was a great advocator of playing in 4-3 fits. He may have gone overboard in espousing it, but it is true that players tend to shy away automatically from such a fit without giving enough consideration to its merits.
This Moysian fit, from the 1972 Vanderbilt semifinal, demonstrates that the key is frequently the possession of good trump intermediates.
In one room South played the apparently normal contract of six no-trump. Even on a helpful club lead, declarer was not well placed. He could do little except pass the heart jack at trick two, because of the lack of entries to dummy. When that lost and the spades were unfriendly, he had to go one down.
In the other room my teammate Jim Jacoby played six hearts on the lead of the diamond queen to his king. He took the spade ace-king and ruffed a spade low. Then came the diamond ace (on which a club was thrown), and the club ace-king. Now, when everyone followed, his slam was cold against any lie of the cards.
He played a third spade and could ruff with the heart king for safety if West followed suit. Then he could ruff a club with the trump ace and ruff another spade with the heart nine. Since he held the J-10-8 of trumps in hand, he was sure to take three of the last four tricks against any defense.
ANSWER: Although you have no serious prospects of buying the contract, the best thing to do is to reraise to three diamonds. This is NOT a game-try. If you had extras, you would bid a new suit, so this is a bar bid, just trying to block the opponents and take away their bidding space.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 |
| ♥ |
K 9 4 |
| ♦ |
A 9 8 7 6 5 |
| ♣ |
J 9 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
Pass |
1♣
|
| 1♦
|
1♠
|
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].
July 9th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, June 25, 2009
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
Q 10 |
| ♥ |
A K 3 2 |
| ♦ |
Q J 10 9 7 3 |
| ♣ |
A |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
7 5 2 |
♠ |
A 6 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 10 6 |
♥ |
9 8 7 5 |
| ♦ |
6 2 |
♦ |
A K |
| ♣ |
J 10 9 6 3 |
♣ |
8 5 4 2 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
K J 9 8 4 |
| ♥ |
J 4 |
| ♦ |
8 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q 7 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
| 3 NT |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:♣J
“I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my angel?”
— Allen Ginsberg
It is natural for a Wolff to take a proprietary interest in the three little pigs as they participate in their local duplicate game. All three ended up declaring three no-trump, each receiving the lead of the club jack. Let’s see how they did.
Nine tricks appear to be there without recourse to the diamond suit, but they cannot be accessed without the defense prevailing.
The first declarer won the club ace and played a spade from dummy. When East refused this trick, South overtook and played a second spade. East won and meanly shifted to a heart, leaving declarer with four unavoidable red-suit losers. Down one.
The second declarer also played on spades. East ducked, so declarer cashed one club and played diamonds. The defenders cleared clubs and had five winners. Had South not cashed his club winner, he would have suffered the same fate as the first little pig.
The third little pig played on diamonds. East won and also astutely switched to a heart to the jack, queen and ace. South saw that playing diamonds again would not work. He needed two tricks from hand, in addition to dummy’s seven potential winners.
At trick four, he played a spade from the board. East had to play low — rising with the ace would have given declarer four spades, two hearts and three clubs. South overtook and cashed just one club to pitch a heart. With two extra tricks safely in the bag, declarer reverted to diamonds and now brought home the bacon.
ANSWER: Do you have enough to invite game? If so, in which suit should you advance? There are two simple choices, each flawed. A raise to three clubs suggests four trumps, but gets the values across. A preference to two hearts is an underbid, but not by much since your spade cards do not rate to be working facing shortage. Take the low road and bid two hearts, supporting the suit where game is most likely.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K J 9 8 4 |
| ♥ |
J 4 |
| ♦ |
8 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q 7 |
| 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].
July 8th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W |
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K Q 4 |
| ♥ |
A Q 10 5 4 |
| ♦ |
6 3 |
| ♣ |
K 5 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
J 10 9 7 |
♠ |
6 2 |
| ♥ |
3 2 |
♥ |
9 8 6 |
| ♦ |
K J |
♦ |
10 9 8 7 5 4 2 |
| ♣ |
Q 9 7 4 2 |
♣ |
10 |
| |
South |
|
| ♠ |
8 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K J 7 |
| ♦ |
A Q |
| ♣ |
A J 8 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2♥
|
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 3♥
|
Pass |
4♣ |
Pass |
| 4♦ |
Pass |
4 NT |
Pass |
| 5♥ |
Pass |
5 NT |
Pass |
| 6♥
|
All Pass |
|
|
Opening Lead:♠J
“Slight not what’s near through aiming at what’s far.”
— Euripides
After a transfer auction you arrive in six hearts, but when dummy comes down, you might think that you have aimed too low. You only have 11 top tricks, but if clubs break or the queen is doubleton, you have 13 winners. Even if that doesn’t happen, your extra chances in spades and diamonds make the grand slam eminently playable. That’s all the more reason not to go down in the small slam!
The danger comes when West has great spade and club length, as here, as well as the diamond king. As you will see, if you try to play the hand along normal lines, you cannot dispose of either the spade or diamond loser on the clubs, so something more subtle is called for.
You start on pedestrian lines by winning the spade lead and drawing trumps in three rounds. Then take a second top spade and, rather than trying anything fancy, take the third top spade, finding West with the length. Now you simply exit with the fourth spade, knowing West has only minor-suit cards left. Whichever suit he leads, you have your 12th trick.
Had East turned up with spade length, you had an equally elegant counter. Instead of leading the fourth spade for an endplay, you take the club king and lead a second club, playing the jack if East follows suit, or playing low if East discards. Again, West will win and be endplayed, forced to concede the 12th winner or to set up a club winner for you.
ANSWER: Three spades. North’s transfer followed by two no-trump invites game, suggesting five spades and about nine points. With a minimum and three spades, you can pass two no-trump or correct to three spades. I would opt to play spades because I may be able to ruff a diamond in my hand for the extra trick.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K J 7 |
| ♦ |
A Q |
| ♣ |
A J 8 6 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1 NT |
Pass |
2♥
|
Pass |
| 2♠ |
Pass |
2 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].
|
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