The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, May 14, 2009

May 28th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, May 14, 2009 

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

 

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

*Transfer to spades

Opening Lead:♣

4

“A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be.”

— Thomas Paine

In today’s deal from last year’s Cavendish Pairs you can see how hard it is for the defenders to lead one suit and shift to another when it looks as if the opening lead has struck gold. Although five diamonds is surely the best game here, it was very tempting to get to the no-trump game via an inelegant sequence like the one shown here. A fourth-highest club lead went to East’s queen. Declarer, Louk Verhees, ducked this and the club 10, won his ace on the third round, tested diamonds, then finessed in hearts. East won his heart king and underled his spade ace, but Verhees put up the king and claimed nine tricks when it held.

To set the hand, East has to shift to a spade at trick three. (West could not realistically overtake the club to play spades from his side, in case his partner has the spade king instead of the ace.) But if West had concealed the club three at trick two, would his partner have shifted to spades?

At another table North declared six diamonds after an auction that was too optimistic for a family paper. East did well to lead the club 10. Declarer won and ruffed a club, led a spade to the king, and played a spade to the jack and ace. (Yes, West should have hopped up with the spade queen to lead a heart!) Declarer ruffed the spade continuation, ruffed a club, drew trumps, and claimed 12 tricks. Easy game, bridge.

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, May 13, 2009

May 27th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	1♥	Dbl.	Pass
4S	All Pass

Opening Lead:♥K

“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”

— Raymond Chandler

The Cavendish teams is an appetizer for the main event, the auction pairs. In 2008, 20 of the top teams in the world gathered for the event and played a nine-round Swiss — three stanzas of three matches. Here is one of my favorite deals from the event.

After West’s opening bid of one heart, the room had to choose between a three-no-trump contract, which had little play on three rounds of hearts, and a four-spade contract that was apparently doomed by the bad trump break.

At the table that I was watching, Eric Rodwell (ever the purist) pointed out that even against 4-1 trumps, four spades could be set on best defense. After his partner, Geoff Hampson, had led out the heart ace, king, and jack, Rodwell pitched a diamond rather than ruff in.

Now declarer would have been unable to draw trumps and set up diamonds since the hearts were ready to run against him, even if the trumps had split 4-1.

Remarkably, despite the 5-0 trump break, some declarers made their game. If they were lucky enough to have the defenders in the East seat miss the point and ruff in on the third heart, they could overruff, cash one top trump to find the bad news, then lead a low diamond from hand. Now the defenders were helpless. If West rose with the king, there was no ruff coming. If he ducked, declarer played three rounds of diamonds and claimed the rest.

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, May 12, 2009

May 26th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  2 Comments 

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

 

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

*A heart raise with short diamonds

**Two keycards out of the four aces and trump king, but no trump queen

Opening Lead:♠

10

“Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.”

— Walt Whitman

It is sometimes hard to tell what a good result looks like. Consider this deal from the Cavendish Teams, where one East-West pair was allowed to play four spades doubled for plus 590. Since their teammates had collected a quiet plus 450 in four hearts, that added up to a substantial 14-IMP gain.

But that plus 450, did not look quite so good when it came to scoring up in a different match. At their teammate’s table, Paul Chemla opened the South cards one heart, bid Blackwood over the response of four clubs (which showed a singleton diamond), and then bid slam over the keycard response.

On the spade lead, Chemla won the ace, crossed to the diamond ace to discard a club loser on the spade king, and exited with a club. East won the club queen and returned an uninspired spade. Declarer ruffed in hand, and now he could ruff three diamonds in dummy, the third with the heart king. At trick 11 he was able to lead a club and ruff low in safety, with two high trumps for the last two tricks.

Had East returned a diamond at trick five, the timing for the crossruff is altered. Declarer is left with one more trump in hand and will have to read the ending very well to avoid losing a trump to East’s guarded jack. (In the four-card ending, having ruffed the fourth diamond high, he must take a trump finesse, playing for trumps to be 3-0.)

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, May 11, 2009

May 25th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Monday, May 11, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1 NT	Pass	3 NT	All Pass

Opening Lead:♥10

“In baiting a mousetrap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse.”

— Saki

To mark that the Cavendish tournament is about to start in Henderson, Las Vegas, this week’s deals all come from last year’s Cavendish.

Steve Weinstein was declarer in today’s deal. He played three no-trump on a heart lead ducked to East’s king, and East shifted to a spade. Steve took the third spade, cashed his top diamonds, then went to the club ace and cashed the diamond queen. At this point he had reached a five-card ending. When West followed to the third diamond, declarer could infer that he begun with 3-5-3-2 shape.

(Had West shown out on the diamond queen, Weinstein would have had to guess where the club queen was, knowing the suit to be 3-3. He would have had the choice of finessing, or of endplaying West with it on the third round of the suit.) As it was, though, declarer knew from East’s play to trick two that West had begun with five hearts and was still clutching four of them; but what was his other card?

So now Weinstein led a club back to his nine for a guaranteed endplay on West. Even if West had been able to win the club 10, he would have to give dummy a trick and a heart entry for the repeat of the club finesse if needed.

If the club nine had held the trick, declarer does not get the endplay, but he gets an extra club trick. Either way, he has nine tricks.

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, May 10, 2009

May 24th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, May 10, 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, May 9, 2009

May 23rd, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, May 9, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
	Pass	1 NT*	Pass
3♠**	Pass	4♠	All Pass

*10-12 points

**5-5 majors, forcing

 

Opening Lead:♦4

“If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.”

— Jascha Heifetz

A defender who gives declarer a ruff-sluff is usually a beginner. The same might be said about a declarer who takes a practice finesse (a finesse that appears to be unnecessary). But sometimes appearances are deceptive.

Graham Kirby found an ingenious variation on a practice finesse in today’s deal from the 1987 European Championships — an event in which Britain qualified for the Bermuda Bowl, but lost to the United States in the finals.

Kirby (South) reached four spades after North had opened a kamikaze 10-12 no-trump. He received a diamond lead to East’s ace and a diamond continuation. After West shifted to a club, you or I might draw trumps and then rely on a heart honor being onside — a 75 percent shot, but one that would not pay off today.

By contrast Kirby inferred from the lead away from the diamond king that West had the club king or he would have led the club — so he followed a different route. He finessed in clubs and cashed the diamond jack, pitching a heart, played the club ace, and ruffed a club. He then drew three rounds of trumps ending in dummy and passed the heart 10 around to West, who was now securely endplayed.

Note that if Kirby had not taken the club finesse, he would have been an entry and a trump short of being able to establish the endplay.

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: Friday, May 8, 2009

May 22nd, 2009  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♠2

“When earth breaks up and heaven expands,

In the house not made with hands?”

— Robert Browning

West found the only lead to give South a problem in his contract of four spades — namely, a trump. With any other attack, declarer wins, plays ace and another club and, when on play again, a third club. If the club suit fails to break 3-3, South’s fourth club can be ruffed in dummy.

It is always difficult to reject a good plan when circumstances render it unlikely to succeed. But South appreciated that the plan of playing on clubs was unlikely to work, unless they broke favorably, as the lead must be lost twice and two further trump returns would denude dummy of ruffing values.

The winning line was perhaps more elegant than taking the club ruff in dummy, but just as sure to come home. It involves a dummy reversal — declarer taking three ruffs in the South hand. Declarer carefully won the opening trump lead in hand with the ace. Then the ace and king of hearts were cashed, a diamond played to dummy’s ace, and a heart ruffed high. Another diamond followed, and on winning, West returned another trump. This was won in dummy and a diamond was ruffed. (Notice that care was needed when winning the opening lead and when ruffing a heart, that dummy’s trump entry was not compromised.)

Now a club to dummy’s ace and a further diamond ruff brought the tally to nine. Although the South hand is now bereft of trumps, the master spade remaining in dummy is the 10th trick.

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: Thursday, May 7, 2009

May 21st, 2009  ~  admin  ~  3 Comments 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♦

8

“We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of earth.”

— Abraham Lincoln

Today’s deal raises the issue of when, if ever, to ruff in when declarer has a potential loser in a suit.

You can predict what will happen at most tables. East will cash the diamond king and ace, then lead his lowest diamond. On this trick South will pitch a club. West will ruff in and hope to score either a trump trick or a club trick later on. But he will be disappointed.

Let’s rewind and consider West’s defense here. Despite his possible trump trick, it must be right to lead the singleton diamond against four spades — it is partner’s suit after all — planning to set up slow diamond winners or to take two ruffs.

But what about his play to the third trick? The likelihood that he will generate an extra trump trick by ruffing in is slim to none. Declarer is not likely to lose a spade finesse to West once East shows up with six diamonds to East’s one.

If, instead of ruffing, West simply discards on the diamond six, dummy’s queen wins the trick. Declarer must lose a trump trick to West, and there will be no parking place for declarer’s remaining club loser.

Ruffing in here would be a variation of ruffing on air — it just happens to be a less obvious bad idea than usual.

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: Wednesday, May 6, 2009

May 20th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 

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

 

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

Opening Lead:♣K

“I don’t like work — no man does — but I like what is in work — the chance to find yourself.”

— Joseph Conrad

One aspect of the game that distinguishes the serious player from the amateur is the amount of hard work that the expert puts in to every deal.

While it is not true that there is no such thing as an easy deal, most hands require the defenders to work out what declarer has shown in the bidding, and therefore what high cards partner has and what shape his hand is likely to be. Sometimes the exercise accomplishes nothing; but every time you make those calculations, it gets a little easier the next time.

Take today’s deal, for example. Sitting West, you lead a top club against four hearts and see an encouraging high spot-card from partner. A decent partner would have a singleton so you could give him a ruff, but no, on the second round of clubs everyone follows suit as declarer produces the queen. What next?

One possibility would be to cash two diamonds tricks before declarer discards a diamond loser on the club jack. You cash the diamond ace, see partner encourage violently and …

Wait one cotton-picking minute. What shape has declarer shown? He will be 6-4 in the majors unless he has taken leave of his senses. So the chance that the second diamond will stand up is approximately zero. Instead, play partner for a card he is reasonably likely to hold, namely the heart jack. Lead a third club and let partner ruff with his trump jack for the setting trick.

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: Tuesday, May 5, 2009

May 19th, 2009  ~  admin  ~  Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 

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

 

South	West	North	East
1♠	Pass	1 NT	Pass
4♠	All Pass

Opening Lead:♦Q

“He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell.”

— Lord Byron

The defenders can only do one thing at a time. Failing to appreciate this truism cost a few declarers their four-spade contract in today’s deal, from a Swiss Teams tournament.

The lead of the diamond queen was the choice of most Wests. Those declarers who won with the ace, then returned the suit, hoping to take a third-round ruff in dummy, were doomed to failure when, at trick three, East took his diamond king and returned the spade nine. This left South with two losing diamonds in addition to a club and a heart loser, so long as West guessed well enough to take the heart ace on the first round of the suit. It was by no means an automatic play, but was logical enough if declarer could be counted out for seven spade tricks.

By contrast, consider the effect of ducking the opening diamond lead. West would like to continue the suit to remove the entry to the hearts, while at the same time leading a trump to kill dummy’s ruffing value. But both actions cannot be done at the same time.

If the diamond continuation is chosen, declarer wins in dummy, enters hand with the club ace, and ruffs the last diamond. And if the trump is led, declarer wins, draws the rest of the trumps, then sets up a heart trick for a diamond discard. Meanwhile, the diamond ace remains in dummy as an entry.

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].