ACES ON BRIDGE
DEAR MR. WOLFF: One of the issues I struggle with is whether to open borderline hands in first seat. For example, I held ♠ Q-10-7-2, ♥ A-8-3, ♦ Q-7-3
♣ A-9-4. If vulnerable, should I open? Does vulnerability even affect my call? — Head-Scratcher, Pleasanton, Calif. DEAR READER: While to a certain extent this is more about style than anything else, you do have two quick tricks and a good holding in the master suit. Your aces are undervalued even though your honors are scattered, and the 4-3-3-3 pattern is a negative. Incidentally, I always like jack-less hands, if you can find a fit. In summary, though: Get in cheaply at low risk, at any vulnerability if you can.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: I am organizing an in-house duplicate game, and I wonder how long to allow for a bridge hand to be played. My weekly rubber-bridge group always goes too slowly for me, what with players chatting and too much time devoted to eating and drinking. How are tournaments timed and organized?
— Martinet, Sunbury, Pa. DEAR READER: Fifteen minutes for two hands is a decent pace, with 17 minutes the most you should allow. In serious competition, eight minutes a deal is what is generally budgeted for.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: What would you open with ♠ A-9-7-4-2, ♥ A-Q , ♦ A-K-J-9-6-5, ♣—-? I opened one diamond, planning to reverse or jump-shift over a response of one heart, then bid spades again. My rationale was that the suit quality was such that the length difference was more like two cards than one, and I would never be able to show my true strength if I opened one spade. My partner felt that with five spades, I should open one spade. — Canape Diane, Olympia, Wash. DEAR READER: You are right and they are wrong. Contrast the inelegance of bidding spades, then jumping in diamonds (when you won’t know which suit to play if you receive preference for spades). That is by contrast to bidding diamonds, then jumping and rebidding in spades, when you can trust your partner to make an informed decision.
DEAR MR. WOLFF: Recently in a club game, I determined after both sides had taken several bids that my partner was balanced and had to have points in clubs (which were never bid). That was all I needed to bid and make three no-trump, which duly scored us well. Would an expert ever make such a bid in normal circumstances? — Riverboat Ron, Lorain, Ohio DEAR READER: With enough high cards, you can sometimes gamble out a stop if you are sure partner is balanced. You might even play no-trump without a stopper in the opponents’ suit if you have a source of tricks and can infer that neither opponent has more than four cards in the danger suit. This is not unknown after, for example, a Flannery opening, or after the opponents raise opener’s second suit.