April 9th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Thursday, March 26, 2009 
| Dealer:
South
Vul: None
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
8 7 6 |
| ♥ |
A J 3 2 |
| ♦ |
4 |
| ♣ |
8 7 6 4 3 |
| West |
 |
East |
| ♠ |
K 3 2 |
♠ |
5 4 |
| ♥ |
10 9 |
♥ |
Q 8 7 6 5 |
| ♦ |
K J 7 6 |
♦ |
Q 10 9 5 |
| ♣ |
A 10 9 2 |
♣ |
K Q |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
A Q J 10 9 |
| ♥ |
K 4 |
| ♦ |
A 8 3 2 |
| ♣ |
J 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
| 4♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥10
“Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”
— William Shakespeare
The record may sound stuck by now, but it is nonetheless true that you must plan your play of the hand at trick one. If you do not, it may well be too late by the time you stop to think.
To take just one example, when you are planning to ruff losers in dummy, ask yourself how many hand entries you need and make appropriate provisions.
In today’s deal, you have reached the giddy heights of four spades and West leads the heart 10. You plan to ruff three diamonds in dummy, eventually conceding two clubs and a spade. Win the opening lead in DUMMY, play to your diamond ace and ruff a diamond, return to the heart king, and ruff another diamond. Now for the key play. Ruff the heart jack with the spade ace and ruff your fourth diamond in dummy. This way you will lose two clubs and one spade, but have guaranteed your contract.
There are two easy mistakes you might make here. The first is to win the opening lead in your hand; if you do that, you can kiss your game goodbye.
The second pitfall is to fail to appreciate your trump spots when planning to take ruffs in one hand or both . If you have all the middle cards, as here, you may elect to ruff a loser with a high trump (here, the ace) to avoid the embarrassing overruff by West followed by the trump return that would reduce 10 tricks to nine.
ANSWER: This double is for takeout, suggesting both minors and a good hand. In context, you have an excellent hand for your initial pass. Maybe you are worth more than a jump to three clubs, but the bad trump spots should persuade you not to go past the three-level. A bid of two clubs would be an enormous underbid.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
8 7 6 |
| ♥ |
A J 3 2 |
| ♦ |
4 |
| ♣ |
8 7 6 4 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
Pass |
1♦ |
1♥ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 8th, 2009 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer:
North
Vul: Both
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
9 7 6 |
| ♥ |
K 4 |
| ♦ |
A J 9 8 7 5 |
| ♣ |
K 4 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 8 5 4 2 |
♠ |
A 3 |
| ♥ |
A 10 |
♥ |
9 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
6 3 2 |
♦ |
K 4 |
| ♣ |
8 5 3 |
♣ |
J 9 7 6 2 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
K J 10 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 5 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 |
| ♣ |
A Q 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1♦ |
Pass |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠4
“Every age has had its specialists. When smoke signals were the medium, there were surely some American Indians a little more nimble with their blankets.”
— Upper & Lower Case magazine
One question that many readers ask me is how to signal as a defender. The simple answer is that when one defender leads a suit, it is simplest and best to signal attitude, and if attitude is known, to signal count, unless (and this is a big caveat) the number of tricks the defenders can take in the suit is already defined by bridge logic.
In that last case, suit preference is the most useful signal one can send; and by suit preference I mean the size of the irrelevant spot cards played by the defense indicates their liking or disliking for the higher or lower suit. An example may make this plainer.
When West leads the spade four against three no-trump, East wins with the ace and returns his remaining spade, correctly believing that his partner has a five-card spade suit. South will play the spade jack on the second trick, and West must win the spade queen. What next? We have come to the critical play: West must return the spade eight to clear the suit.
The point is that while establishing his spades, West should indicate to his partner that he has an entry card in the heart suit by returning the highest possible spade (a suit-preference signal showing an entry in a high-ranking suit). As you can see, when East gains the lead with the diamond king, if he leads a club instead of a heart, declarer will make his contract.
ANSWER: If you play the Principle of Fast Arrival (not everybody does), North’s sequence implies some interest in higher things. With no slam interest, he would have jumped to four hearts. That being so, this hand is slam-suitable, and the way to show it is to cue-bid four clubs. This suggests the club ace and a maximum hand.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
K J 10 |
| ♥ |
Q J 8 5 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 10 |
| ♣ |
A Q 10 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♥ |
Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
| 2NT |
Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 7th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
|
Dealer:
East
Vul: None
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
7 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 2 |
| ♦ |
A J 7 6 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A K 3 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 6 |
♠ |
K Q J 9 4 2 |
| ♥ |
10 8 6 5 4 3 |
♥ |
A K J |
| ♦ |
Q 10 8 3 |
♦ |
K 9 |
| ♣ |
5 |
♣ |
8 4 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 8 5 |
| ♥ |
9 7 |
| ♦ |
5 |
| ♣ |
Q J 10 9 7 6 2 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| |
|
|
1♠ |
| Pass |
`Pass |
2♦ |
2♠ |
| 3♣ |
Pass |
4♣ |
Pass |
| 5♣ |
All Pass |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠10
“And he that strives to touch the stars,
Oft stumbles at a straw”
— Edmund Spenser
This month I am running a few deals from Eddie Kantar’s latest book, “Take Your Tricks.” There are no less than 500 pieces of advice, each accompanied by an example of how to do better on defending or declaring.
Today’s advice is that the stronger the trump suit, the more careful you must be to conserve trump entries to the hand that you are establishing.
In today’s deal, you have bid to an optimistic five clubs. With two top hearts to lose, and a slow spade loser lurking, the only realistic hope is to set up the diamonds. If your opponents were playing the hand, they would find diamonds 3-3; but you do not get to be so lucky!
Assuming a normal 4-2 division, THREE diamonds must be ruffed in your hand. This requires three dummy entries outside the diamond ace. As Eddie says, if that club three doesn’t look like an entry to you, get a new pair of glasses.
So long as you ruff three diamonds HIGH, conserving your precious club two, you will be able to set up the diamonds eventually by leading the club two to dummy’s three. Your partner will love you, and the club two will be proud of you.
One more point: the defenders could set the hand, either by leading a heart and shifting to a trump, or by leading a trump immediately. That takes an entry out of dummy prematurely.
ANSWER: This is nominally an invitational sequence, and you should expect to be facing a hand of about 10 points with two or three diamonds. You have a little in reserve, and if your diamond spots were better, you might try for three no-trump. But facing a doubleton diamond, you cannot be confident of running the suit, so I would advocate passing here.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 3 |
| ♥ |
Q 2 |
| ♦ |
A J 7 6 4 2 |
| ♣ |
A K 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
| 1♦ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
| 2♦ |
Pass |
3♦ |
Pass |
| ? |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 6th, 2009 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: None
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
A Q J 6 5 |
| ♥ |
10 7 6 2 |
| ♦ |
8 7 |
| ♣ |
A J |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
10 3 |
♠ |
8 7 4 2 |
| ♥ |
A 5 |
♥ |
8 3 |
| ♦ |
A K J 10 5 4 |
♦ |
6 2 |
| ♣ |
9 4 2 |
♣ |
K 10 7 6 3 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
K 9 |
| ♥ |
K Q J 9 4 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 8 5 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
1♠ |
Pass |
| 2♥ |
3♦ |
3♥ |
Pass |
| 4♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦K
“The U.S. has broken the second rule of war. That is, don’t go fighting with your land army on the mainland of Asia. Rule One is don’t march on Moscow. I developed these two rules myself”
— Field-Marshal Montgomery
We have all been taught that when partner leads an ace or king against a suit contract, we should play high-low, echoing when we have a doubleton. That is all very well in theory but, as always, some common sense is needed.
In today’s deal, East played the diamond six at trick one when West led the king. West, quite understandably, assumed that his partner could overruff dummy’s 10 and so continued with two more rounds of the suit. Declarer ruffed high in the dummy and played a trump. A club switch now was too late, and the game rolled home.
East should have seen that he had to persuade West to switch to a club at either trick two or trick three. If East plays the diamond two at trick one, West is likely to find a club switch immediately, but even if he continues with a second top diamond, he will then “know” that East still has the diamond queen and that a third diamond would give declarer a ruff and discard. A club switch is now the obvious way for him to proceed.
Incidentally, can you see why it is logical for West to switch to a club rather than a spade? If East has the spade king, he will always come to it even if West switches to a club. But if East has the club king, there is a real danger that South will discard clubs on dummy’s spades.
ANSWER: The spades can wait, but there may be an extra trump trick or two to be generated by playing on diamonds early, before trumps are drawn. Best therefore is to lead the diamond six. Even when you have an apparent trump trick, as here, it is surprising how frequently getting a ruff may help your side’s cause.
LEAD WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
J 8 4 2 |
| ♥ |
K 9 8 4 |
| ♦ |
6 3 |
| ♣ |
Q 7 3 |
| South |
West |
North |
East |
|
|
|
1♣ |
| Pass |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
| 1♠ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
2♣ |
| 2♠ |
3♣ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 5th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Sunday, March 22, 2009
| Dear Mr. Wolff:
As dealer, I held ♠ A-2, ♥ K, ♦ K-J-9-7-4, ♣ A-Q-10-7-4 and opened one diamond. The next hand overcalled one heart, my partner doubled, and the next player jumped to three hearts, pre-emptive. I was not sure what a double would show and whether I had enough to bid four clubs, since my plan had been simply to rebid two clubs if my RHO had passed
— Roadblock, Ketchikan, Alaska
ANSWER: Had your RHO passed, the right call would have been three clubs. This is strong but NOT a game-force, since you are jumping in a suit suggested (if not shown) by partner. That said, in competition you can bid one level higher than you planned, so bid four clubs. A double of three hearts might be a balanced or semi-balanced 18-19.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
What sort of hand would pass in first or second chair and then back into the opponents’ auction with a pre-empt?
— Back-and-Fill, Walnut Creek, Calif.
ANSWER: The obvious answer is that you have a hand with the shape for a pre-empt but not the right honor location. However, it all depends on your position and vulnerability. You might be either too good or too bad to pre-empt, or have too much shape in the side-suits. If vulnerable, I play my opening pre-empts as good suits. I am unlikely to be two-suited or have a major on the side. But I might pass and then bid with a hand unsuitable for the initial action.
Dear Mr. Wolff:
If you held ♠ A-J-4-3, ♥ Q-7-3-2, ♦ K-Q, ♣ 10-6-3, what would you open in third seat — and why?
— Careful Preparation, Atlanta, Ga.
|
|
ANSWER: Bottom of my list would be to open one club. Why bid your worst suit and get partner off to the wrong lead? I also would not open one diamond (though I might prefer it to one club!), but would bid either one heart or one spade. In third seat it is a mistake to stick rigidly to playing five-card majors if the alternatives are so unpalatable. With the majors reversed, one heart is a heavy favorite
Dear Mr. Wolff:
In a recent column, you talked about opener raising partner’s major-suit response with only three trumps. Is this allowed? And when do you do it?
— The Raiser’s Edge, Durango, Colo.
ANSWER: Opener will raise partner’s response of one of a major whenever he has four trumps, or a minimum unbalanced hand with three trumps, and sometimes with a semi-balanced hand with three trumps and an unguarded suit. After opening one diamond and hearing a one-spade response, with a 3-2-5-3 pattern and two small hearts I would raise spades. With a doubleton heart queen and three small spades, I might rebid one no-trump (but in my opinion a raise is not wrong).
Dear Mr. Wolff:
Holding ♠ A-3-2, ♥ K-9-6-4-2, ♦ Q-4, ♣ A-Q-2, you would probably open one no-trump. But what would you do if your RHO opened one club? What if they opened one spade?
— Pressing Suit, Saint John’s, Newfoundland.
ANSWER: I would open one no-trump without a second thought — that five-card suit does not look like five, does it? If my RHO opened one club, I’d also bid one no-trump. That my RHO is likely to be balanced means I am exactly where I was on opening bid. Over a one-spade opening, I might bid two hearts because of the strength of my hand, but would not want to have to defend the call. I’d rather bid one no-trump than double or pass. |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave comments at this blog. This column is reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc. Copyright 2009.
April 4th, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Saturday, March 21, 2009
| Dealer: West
Vul: Both
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
A K J 2 |
| ♥ |
K |
| ♦ |
Q J 7 5 4 |
| ♣ |
K Q 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 10 9 8 |
♠ |
7 6 5 3 |
| ♥ |
A 8 4 |
♥ |
7 5 2 |
| ♦ |
6 2 |
♦ |
K 10 9 |
| ♣ |
8 7 5 3 |
♣ |
10 9 4 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
4 |
| ♥ |
Q J 10 9 6 3 |
| ♦ |
A 8 3 |
| ♣ |
A J 6 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Pass |
1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
| Pass |
1♠ |
Pass |
2♦ |
| Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
3♥ |
| Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5♠ |
| Pass |
6♥ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♣8
“’Tis a lucky day, boy, and we’ll do good deeds on’t.”
— William Shakespeare
Today’s deal comes from the finals of the Vanderbilt, in which an all-Polish international squad defeated a team that included Marcin Lesniewski, a former player for Poland.
In the other room, Lesniweski’s partner (South), after learning he was facing a singleton heart and five diamonds, drove to six diamonds. That contract, given the worst possible heart and diamond holdings in dummy, had almost no chance and had duly gone down.
But in a sense I think Poland deserved their good fortune here. As North, Krzysztof Martens found out about South’s good hearts via South’s use of fourth suit to set up a game-force, then his bidding hearts facing known shortage, which showed a suit at least this good.
So Marten took control to drive to the heart slam. Before you look at declarer’s line, note that there are 11 top tricks (three clubs two spades one diamond and five hearts). Where should the 12th come from?
Declarer, Krysztof Jassem, won the club lead and knocked out the heart ace; West could do little but play back a club. Now, rather than rely on the diamond or spade finesse, Jassem played the ace and king of spades, ruffed the third spade in hand, and drew trumps. Had the spade queen fallen, he would have been home. As it was, he could go back to dummy in clubs and take the diamond finesse to bring home the slam.
ANSWER: This auction asks you to bid no-trump with a heart stop or make another descriptive call. Since you have a heart stop, do as you are asked and bid two no-trump. Your partner rates to have long diamonds and a good hand and is exploring whether to play no-trump or diamonds. If he has some other hand-type, you will soon hear him describe it.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
Q 10 9 8 |
| ♥ |
A 8 4 |
| ♦ |
6 2 |
| ♣ |
8 7 5 3 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1♦ |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
| Pass |
2♥ |
Pass |
? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 3rd, 2009 ~ admin ~ 5 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: E/W
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
A 10 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K Q |
| ♦ |
K J 6 2 |
| ♣ |
7 3 2 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q 8 4 2 |
♠ |
K |
| ♥ |
J 8 2 |
♥ |
A 10 9 5 4 |
| ♦ |
10 5 3 |
♦ |
9 8 7 |
| ♣ |
A J 10 |
♣ |
Q 6 5 4 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
J 9 7 6 |
| ♥ |
7 6 3 |
| ♦ |
A Q 4 |
| ♣ |
K 9 8 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Pass |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ |
| Pass |
2♠ |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♥2
“Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.”
— Sir Arthur Helps
The Spring Nationals at Detroit last year was open to all players. If and when you get eliminated, you can play in regional events, but the knockouts, which are bracketed so that you meet a team with an equivalent number of masterpoints, might be even more challenging.
In the top bracket of the knockouts, you can expect to see more than a few world champions competing, but not necessarily in their regular partnerships.
In the Monday knockouts, Drew Cannell, playing with Carol Kasle, defended well. He imagined a hand that his partner might hold that would set the opponents, then proceeded on that basis.
As East, defending two spades, he won the opening heart lead with the ace and decided a club shift was necessary. It looks natural to shift to a low club, but that might not have been sufficient as the cards lie.
Going for the jackpot, Cannell played the club queen, hoping to find today’s exact layout, and was rewarded. The defenders cashed three clubs, then went back to hearts. When declarer crossed back to his hand with a diamond to play a spade to dummy’s 10, Cannell won and played another heart, forcing dummy to ruff and giving the defense their second trump trick for down one.
ANSWER: Were you tempted to bid two spades? Bear in mind that your first call was not exactly an underbid — you do not have a robust opening bid. Once you have shown the unbid suits and values, you must rely on partner to compete to the appropriate level. To bid again now would require your complete lack of faith in partner’s short-term memory.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 10 5 3 |
| ♥ |
K Q |
| ♦ |
K J 6 2 |
| ♣ |
7 3 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| 1♣ |
Pass |
1♥ |
Dbl. |
| Pass |
1♠ |
2♣ |
? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 2nd, 2009 ~ admin ~ 4 Comments
| Dealer: West
Vul: N/S
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
7 5 4 |
| ♥ |
9 |
| ♦ |
A Q J 6 2 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 9 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
Q J 3 2 |
♠ |
K 9 8 6 |
| ♥ |
Q 7 |
♥ |
A 5 4 |
| ♦ |
K 9 7 3 |
♦ |
8 5 |
| ♣ |
7 6 5 |
♣ |
A 8 3 2 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 10 |
| ♥ |
K J 10 8 6 3 2 |
| ♦ |
10 4 |
| ♣ |
J 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| Pass |
1♦ |
Dbl. |
4♥ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♠Q
“I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life.
And I have something to expiate; A pettiness.”
— D.H. Lawrence
The final of the Vanderbilt in Detroit last spring saw a team of four from the Polish national squad win a close match. Congratulations to the Polish team, not only for surviving the week with only four players, but also for being the first Polish team to win a major event in the United States.
Playing as four for a week can take it out of you. Krzysztof Martens, one of the victorious players, generously showed me this deal to indicate how fatigue can get the better of anybody.
Four hearts is not a great spot — especially on a spade lead. Before I show you what happened, plan the play. Assume that the cards will allow you to make.
At the table, Martens won and took two diamond finesses. East next ruffed away the diamond ace, so Martens overruffed and played a club to dummy, which held. Then a heart toward the king left the defenders no chance. East ducked, but Martens went up with the king, played another heart, and claimed 10 tricks when the honors appeared.
The defenders could have prevailed by winning the club ace and underleading in spades to allow the lead of the fourth diamond, ruffed with the heart ace. That promotes the heart queen to the setting trick. However, declarer could and should have countered that by discarding his spade on the third diamond. That cuts the defenders’ communications.
ANSWER: In this auction you can pass, treating your hand as a minimum, but I prefer a three-club bid, which ought to show precisely this hand pattern. (If you had four spades, you would insist on making spades trump, and if you were balanced, you would not look for a suit contract.) This way, you let partner decide where to go, having painted him the full picture.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
7 5 4 |
| ♥ |
9 |
| ♦ |
A Q J 6 2 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 9 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
1♦ |
| 1♥ |
1♠ |
Pass |
2♠ |
| Pass |
2NT |
Pass |
? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
April 1st, 2009 ~ admin ~ 2 Comments
| Dealer: North
Vul: E/W
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
9 8 5 |
| ♥ |
A 6 5 4 |
| ♦ |
J 10 9 5 |
| ♣ |
A 4 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
A 4 |
♠ |
K Q J 10 3 |
| ♥ |
K Q 10 2 |
♥ |
J 9 8 3 |
| ♦ |
A K 8 7 6 |
♦ |
4 3 2 |
| ♣ |
10 6 |
♣ |
Q |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
7 6 2 |
| ♥ |
7 |
| ♦ |
Q |
| ♣ |
K J 9 8 7 5 3 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
| 2♦* |
Dbl. |
2♥ |
Pass |
| Pass |
Dbl. |
Pass |
3♣ |
| Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
*Diamonds and a major
Opening Lead: ♦A
“There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them.”
— Charles Caleb Colton
I rarely report deals that have no technical merit, but today’s deal, from the Detroit Nationals last spring, is an exception that you might find amusing. It centers on a psychic bid, a deliberate attempt to misstate high cards and distribution. It is a perfectly legitimate tactic so long as your partner has no reason to be able to work it out better than the opponents.
East and West are top experts who lost the finals of the Trials to play in the World Championships this summer. South, a writer whose sense of humor sometimes gets the better of him, was playing in a very occasional partnership.
South claimed that when he looked at the opponents’ convention card, he noted that they were not playing penalty doubles of one no-trump. So, in third seat, he experimented with opening a strong no-trump, and the auction ended in three no-trump. (Four hearts would have been the best spot for East-West.)
West led the diamond ace and naturally shifted to the heart king. South (who has an outsize and somewhat inappropriate sense of humor) said afterwards that he wished he had had enough nerve to duck, just to irritate his opponents even more. But at the table, he was unable to find a reason to do anything but win the heart ace and cash eight more tricks in clubs. Plus 400 was enough to keep him happy for the rest of the evening — maybe the rest of the tournament.
ANSWER: This auction suggests partner is worried about playing in three no-trump. Your hand confirms that that worry may be justified, but you are enormously suitable for game or slam in diamonds. Cuebid four hearts to show the ace and let partner tell you whether he wants to play in game or in slam.
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
9 8 5 |
| ♥ |
A 6 5 4 |
| ♦ |
J 10 9 5 |
| ♣ |
A 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1♣ |
1♥ |
1NT |
| Pass |
2♦ |
Pass |
3♦ |
| Pass |
3♥ |
Pass |
? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
March 31st, 2009 ~ admin ~ Comments Off on The Aces on Bridge: Tuesday, March 17, 2009
| Dealer: South
Vul: E/W
|
North |
|
| ♠ |
K 8 4 |
| ♥ |
A 10 8 4 2 |
| ♦ |
J 7 3 |
| ♣ |
9 4 |
| West |
|
East |
| ♠ |
7 6 3 |
♠ |
Q J 10 9 |
| ♥ |
Q 9 |
♥ |
J 7 3 |
| ♦ |
Q 9 8 4 |
♦ |
A K 5 |
| ♣ |
K Q 10 8 |
♣ |
6 5 3 |
|
South |
|
| ♠ |
A 5 2 |
| ♥ |
K 6 5 |
| ♦ |
10 6 2 |
| ♣ |
A J 7 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
1♣ |
| Pass |
1♥ |
Pass |
1NT |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Opening Lead: ♦4
“Some people fear gaining fame the way pigs fear gaining weight.”
— Chinese proverb
Let’s look at the three little pigs at work on defense, from the qualifying session of the Life Master Pairs in Detroit. In one no-trump, the lead of the diamond four goes to East’s king, South playing the two.
Little pig number one played the diamond ace and another diamond. When West shifted to the club king, it was allowed to hold. Declarer ended up with seven tricks and a near top.
Little pig number two shifts boldly to a club to West’s 10. West takes his club king (South ducking again), then returns his lowest diamond. Now another club from East through South’s tenace produces plus 100 for the defense. North-South would score a near-bottom now.
But what if declarer had begun life with the heart king and the three top clubs? This line of defense would concede the contract, when a spade shift would have defeated it easily. How can you know which way to go?
Little pig number three goes for a middle-of-the-road defense. At trick two, he returns a low diamond to the queen and waits for his partner’s suit preference from the remaining two diamonds. He will shift to a club to ensure that his side defeats the contract by at least one trick, which will score well enough for his side.
At teams, this last defense is best, but at pairs, number two’s defense has the biggest upside. Moreover, if partner has K-Q-x or K-J-x of clubs, East must play clubs through declarer twice to defeat the contract.
ANSWER: This is an unambiguous penalty double by your partner (suggesting four diamonds, and no fit for clubs) because a pass would be forcing. Without intervention, you would have played in four hearts; but the risk of bad trump splits and diamond ruffs now argues strongly for defending two diamonds. Take the sure plus; you may get more than the value of your game — and your game might not be making!
BID WITH THE ACES
South Holds:
| ♠ |
A 5 2 |
| ♥ |
K 6 5 |
| ♦ |
10 6 2 |
| ♣ |
A J 7 2 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1♥ |
Pass |
2♣ |
| 2♦ |
Dbl. |
Pass |
? |
If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, feel free to leave a comment at this blog. Reproduced with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc., Copyright 2009.
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