Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ACES ON BRIDGE
Today’s hand came up in the second International Olympic Committee Grand Prix, which was held in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1999.
Contradictory as it may sound, it may become necessary to finesse for the trump queen in both directions in order to retain control. In certain circles, this is known as the Anne Gallagher finesse.
Try the play as South, declarer in four spades, on the lead of a small heart to the ace, followed by the return of the jack, which holds the trick. Now comes yet another heart.You ruff in dummy, of course, but what next?
If you play the ace and king of spades, the 4-1 break means that you lose control — you are unable to complete the drawing of trumps without being forced. One declarer cashed the trump ace, and when he played a trump to the jack, West thoughtfully let it hold.
The end result was down three, since West could now kill the diamond suit.
Instead, at trick four, try a small trump from dummy and finesse the nine or jack. Should West win, you are in control on any return. On a club or heart return, you can safely trump in dummy, cash the spade ace, then enter hand with the diamond ace to draw the remaining trumps before running the diamonds.
Should West not take his spade queen, you must find the counterintuitive move of finessing in trumps the other way. When the 10 holds, cash the ace, enter hand with the diamond ace, draw the last trump and run the diamonds, for 11 tricks.
BID WITH THE ACES
ANSWER: My suggestion here is certainly not without risk, but if you want to come back into this auction, you can double two spades to suggest a hand like this. Since the auction is still live (in that West could have a decent hand), your double should show an opening bid short in spades. A little pushy, but faint heart never won fair lady.
If“pro” is the opposite of“con ,” is“progress” the opposite of“congress ”? — Gallagher