South to play. It is a NO-TRUMP contract. What is the maximum number of tricks South can win? And how?
Cheers!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
THE GREAT 88 - Problems 1:
Thus starts the GREAT 88 series! The deals in this series come from the book "Double Dummy Bridge", written by George Coffin. All 88 are available here. I am selecting a few which I found interesting!
South to play. It is a NO-TRUMP contract. What is the maximum number of tricks South can win? And how?
Cheers!
South to play. It is a NO-TRUMP contract. What is the maximum number of tricks South can win? And how?
Cheers!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Ruff and Sluff
I found this puzzle while going through some puzzles online. Here is the hand -
You find yourself in a contract of 6S, in a 7-4 fit! LHO is kind enough to lead a club. How will you plan your play to maximize your chances of winning?
Will you ruff in hand and discard a diamond (or heart) in dummy, or will you discard a diamond (or heart) from hand and ruff in dummy?
Solution :
You ruff in dummy, and smile at LHO as you discard a diamond from your hand. Without thinking twice, you pull out the pesky trumps your opponents are holding. Then, you relax, and play one heart after the other, awaiting the ace to come, so that you can claim the rest.
Alas, RHO ducks the first two hearts, and blocks you out of dummy. Another heart will be disaster, as there is definitely one more diamond loser to manage (once you win the ace). What do you do?
To make this contract, on the first trick, declarer has to ruff in both hands! After over-ruffing (!) in hand, pull out the remaining trumps, and play two rounds of hearts. This is how the hand will look (with declarer to play from dummy) -
Play the Jack of Diamonds from dummy.
(a) If East covers with the queen, play the ace and play back a diamond.
(b) If East doesn't cover with the queen, let West win the king, and keep attacking diamonds (whatever west plays, you can reach into dummy again!)
Looking at the problem double-dummy, this does appear to be the best solution, but I am still not convinced that this forms a reliable line of play with East and West hands concealed. Any comments?
You find yourself in a contract of 6S, in a 7-4 fit! LHO is kind enough to lead a club. How will you plan your play to maximize your chances of winning?
Will you ruff in hand and discard a diamond (or heart) in dummy, or will you discard a diamond (or heart) from hand and ruff in dummy?
Solution :
You ruff in dummy, and smile at LHO as you discard a diamond from your hand. Without thinking twice, you pull out the pesky trumps your opponents are holding. Then, you relax, and play one heart after the other, awaiting the ace to come, so that you can claim the rest.
Alas, RHO ducks the first two hearts, and blocks you out of dummy. Another heart will be disaster, as there is definitely one more diamond loser to manage (once you win the ace). What do you do?
To make this contract, on the first trick, declarer has to ruff in both hands! After over-ruffing (!) in hand, pull out the remaining trumps, and play two rounds of hearts. This is how the hand will look (with declarer to play from dummy) -
Play the Jack of Diamonds from dummy.(a) If East covers with the queen, play the ace and play back a diamond.
(b) If East doesn't cover with the queen, let West win the king, and keep attacking diamonds (whatever west plays, you can reach into dummy again!)
Looking at the problem double-dummy, this does appear to be the best solution, but I am still not convinced that this forms a reliable line of play with East and West hands concealed. Any comments?
Saturday, April 04, 2009
The ubercool 6S from TNSC # March 31st
East - West got this awesome deal.
A7x
Kxx
AT9xx
xx
KJ9xx
AQ
-void-
AKJT9x
Most tables bid and made 6S. The fun is in the play of the deal. Think if a line of play to maximize your chances. Lead is a small D or a small H, shouldn't matter much.
Vinoth and Kedar like this: play for one of the black queens with RHO. i.e finesse spade first then the clubs. It will also cater to certain 4-1 breaks. (?)
Prajwal and I like this: Play of two top spades, followed by top two clubs, saving a trump to ruff a club in dummy. This caters to the case where Qxx of both spades and clubs are with LHO.
Try analysing the various combinations, there will only be few where one works and the other doesn't.
Notice that the Ten of spades is missing, but the ten of clubs is in hand.
Ashok passed this double dummy analyser link to me. I've tried it and I like it. But it needs all the hands to be known, so it can't answer single-dummy problems. Ideas anyone?
Cheers
Guthi
A7x
Kxx
AT9xx
xx
KJ9xx
AQ
-void-
AKJT9x
Most tables bid and made 6S. The fun is in the play of the deal. Think if a line of play to maximize your chances. Lead is a small D or a small H, shouldn't matter much.
Vinoth and Kedar like this: play for one of the black queens with RHO. i.e finesse spade first then the clubs. It will also cater to certain 4-1 breaks. (?)
Prajwal and I like this: Play of two top spades, followed by top two clubs, saving a trump to ruff a club in dummy. This caters to the case where Qxx of both spades and clubs are with LHO.
Try analysing the various combinations, there will only be few where one works and the other doesn't.
Notice that the Ten of spades is missing, but the ten of clubs is in hand.
Ashok passed this double dummy analyser link to me. I've tried it and I like it. But it needs all the hands to be known, so it can't answer single-dummy problems. Ideas anyone?
Cheers
Guthi
Friday, April 03, 2009
The Mysore 5C
I picked up this awesome 1=0=4=8 hand Mysore BAM event. SP was dealer and started with a pass.
x
-void-
AQTx
KQJ98xxx
White on red, I overcalled 2C after partner passed and RHO opened 1S. What is your choice of overcall?
The bidding went
P - 1S - 2C - 2H
P - 4S - 5C - P -
P - X -end
The lead is Spade King and dummy tables :
xxx
QTxxx
KTx
xx
x
-void-
AQTx
KQJ98xxx
RHO overtook the Spade King lead with his Ace and pushed another spade. I ruffed and played club King. LHO showed out, discarding a low heart (showing interest). RHO takes the trick with Ace of clubs and bangs Heart Ace on the table. I ruff it and start running trumps. None of the opponent discarded a diamond.
And reaching this position with 5 cards in every hand.
---
Qx
KTx
---
---
---
AQ9x
x
The last trump in hand being a winner. Notice that I can take the diamond finesse either way. On the bidding and play so far, its more likely that LHO has longer diamonds , and with that the Jack. On the play of my last trump, my LHO hesitantly discarded a small diamond. Clearly LHO can't let go the king of heart! 5C doubled made. No extra points for the squeeze. :|
I excitedly opened the scoresheet, only to find that the result was duplicated at the other table too! Later when I enquired how the play went, I was shocked.
Play was the same till Ace of heart was led. then after drawing trumps in 2 more rounds he played low diamond to the ten!
Bidding is another point of interest in this deal. Bidding at the other table was 1S - (5C) - X end
Though this hand dosen't offer much in defence, I judged that I had too much to preempt. One of the black suit aces and king of diamonds is all I need from P to make 12 tricks in clubs. ( need to guess the Jack of diamond again) On the other hand, opponents might have a 5 level game which they may not find if the overcall is 5C, clouding their bidding space.
Cheers
Guthi
x
-void-
AQTx
KQJ98xxx
White on red, I overcalled 2C after partner passed and RHO opened 1S. What is your choice of overcall?
The bidding went
P - 1S - 2C - 2H
P - 4S - 5C - P -
P - X -end
The lead is Spade King and dummy tables :
xxx
QTxxx
KTx
xx
x
-void-
AQTx
KQJ98xxx
RHO overtook the Spade King lead with his Ace and pushed another spade. I ruffed and played club King. LHO showed out, discarding a low heart (showing interest). RHO takes the trick with Ace of clubs and bangs Heart Ace on the table. I ruff it and start running trumps. None of the opponent discarded a diamond.
And reaching this position with 5 cards in every hand.
---
Qx
KTx
---
---
---
AQ9x
x
The last trump in hand being a winner. Notice that I can take the diamond finesse either way. On the bidding and play so far, its more likely that LHO has longer diamonds , and with that the Jack. On the play of my last trump, my LHO hesitantly discarded a small diamond. Clearly LHO can't let go the king of heart! 5C doubled made. No extra points for the squeeze. :|
I excitedly opened the scoresheet, only to find that the result was duplicated at the other table too! Later when I enquired how the play went, I was shocked.
Play was the same till Ace of heart was led. then after drawing trumps in 2 more rounds he played low diamond to the ten!
Bidding is another point of interest in this deal. Bidding at the other table was 1S - (5C) - X end
Though this hand dosen't offer much in defence, I judged that I had too much to preempt. One of the black suit aces and king of diamonds is all I need from P to make 12 tricks in clubs. ( need to guess the Jack of diamond again) On the other hand, opponents might have a 5 level game which they may not find if the overcall is 5C, clouding their bidding space.
Cheers
Guthi
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