Double Dummy Challenge #11**

The rules are simple. You get the contract and the lead. You may look at all cards and play accordingly (you are always South). However, the defense can do the same, and they never make mistakes. You must find a way to make the contract against any defense.

Challenge #11 (difficulty: medium)



You are playing 7♠. West leads the ♦J. You must make your contract against any defense. Good luck!















Solution:
Win the ♦K, ruff a heart, play the ♣Q and when West covers, win it with the ♣A. Ruff a 2nd heart , return to dummy with the ♦A and ruff another heart. Play the ♦Q and 2 more rounds of club and ruff a 4th heart in hand. You will reach this position:



When you play the ♦8, West will ruff. If he ruffs low, you will overruff with the ♠9 and make the last 2 tricks with the ♠AK. If he ruffs with the ♠J, you will overruff with ♠K and run the ♠9 to finesse East's ♠Q.

Well done to everyone who solved the problem!

Just bid what you’ve got!

Today you will hear a story about 8 couples (husbands and wives) who play "kitchen bridge" every Saturday. Each week another couple hosts. Bridge at home is nothing like tournaments in bridge clubs: gossip, buffet full of goodies, wine, light (and heavy!) drinks and also... a little bit of bridge. Needless to say that all refreshments are on the hosting couple.

But this Saturday one of the men couldn't make it. "He wasn't feeling well," twitted his wife and went without any guilty feelings to her regular table. The ladies and the men sat at different tables – how else can you gossip effectively?

"What are we gonna do now?" said the three widowed men together, feeling miserable for themselves.
"I have a neighbor who used to play, but I think he hasn't touched cards for the past 20 years," said the host.
"Just bring him here," demanded the others.
So they showed up at the neighbor's door, dragged him over in his pyjamas to ask him to be their fourth.
"Guys, I haven't played in ages... I'm going back home," said the neighbor obviously feeling uncomfortable "miles away" from his safe place.
"Oh, come one! Sit down! Just follow suit, and it will all be OK," said his left hand opponent.
"OK , just remind me - what am I supposed to bid if I get a hand with 13 spades?
"Ha, didn't play 20 years and now he wants 13 spades. It never happened and never will happen!" laughed RHO. "If you get such a hand, I'll give you my wife as a present," whispered LHO, throwing a worried glance to the ladies' table just to make sure she didn't overhear his comment (he'd be in big trouble if she did...).
"Just bid what you've got!" said his partner with a warm smile.

So they dealt the first board and here's how the bidding went. Dear readers, have you ever seen such a bizarre auction?






West smiled widely at the bidding and lead the ♣K. Declarer won the ♣A, drew trumps, played 2 rounds of spade, ruffed his spade loser in dummy and claimed.
"What sort of a bidding is that?", shouted the opponents losing their condescendent smile.
"I just followed my partner's advice and bid what I had... I had one club so I bid 1♣... next I bid my two hearts, the three spades and the seven diamonds. I bid them all!" said the neighbor pleased with himself.
"I wonder what you'd bid with 13 spades then?" said LHO mad at this uncanny logic.
"Which of the nice ladies here is your wife?" asked the neighbor.
"Last seat on the left," came the answer.
"Hmm, in that case, with 13 spades, I would surely pass," laughed the neighbor and got up to fill his plate from the rich buffet.

A Search For All The Cards

* Good hand with spade support

Note: This is an intermediate level problem.

West leads the ♣4 and East plays the ♣K.

1. Where is the ♦A?
2. Where is the ♣Q?
3. Where is the ♣J?
4. Where is the ♦Q?
5. Where is the ♠K?
6. Should you win the first trick, duck, or it doesn't matter?

Solution:

1. Where is the ♦A?
   With East. Otherwise he will not have enough to open.
2. Where is the ♣Q?
   With West. If East had the ♣Q he would have played it: 3rd hand is playing a low card from a sequence.
3. Where is the ♣J?
   With East. If the ♣J was with West, he would have lead the ♣Q and not a low club.
4. Where is the ♦Q?
   With East, otherwise he wouldn't have enough to open.
5. Where is the ♠K?
   With East, otherwise he wouldn't have enough to open.
6. Should you win the first trick, duck, or it doesn't matter?
   Don't win the ♣A! As the cards lay open in front of you, should you win it and play the spade finesse (you must draw trumps first to enjoy your long heart suit later), East will take the ♠K, play a club to West's ♣Q and West will continue with a diamond to East's ♦AQ for 1 down. If you duck the first club, West will no longer be able to win the hand to play a diamond. Say East wins and plays another club. Win your ♣A and lose a spade to East's ♠K. East has no defense. Whatever he does, you will be able to draw the rest of the trumps and throw 2 diamond losers on the good hearts.

Things to remember:

• Sometimes you should refuse winning a trick to cut communication between your opponents.
• As a declarer, when you have a good side suit, you must draw trumps first.
• 3rd hand plays high? Not always: when dummy has a high card but you, after dummy, hold a higher card, you should consider saving it in order to not establish dummy's high card.
  Also, when the player on 3rd hand holds a sequence in a suit, he must play the lowest card of the sequence.
  
  Examples:
  
  

  1. 	543				543
     K8762		J		KT762		Q
     	A				A

     
     You lead the 6, your partner plays the J and declarer wins with the Ace. Now you know that the Q is with your partner (else declarer could have won with the Q), and you will play a low card to his Q next .
     
     If your partner is playing the Q , you realize he doesn't have the J (else he should play it) . You will try to put your partner on lead to capture declarer's J.
  
  

  2. 	AJT				AJT
     972		Q		972		K
     	3				3

     
     When your partner wins with the Q, you realize he also has the K so if you regain the lead you will play that suit again. If your partner plays the K, he denies holding the Q.
  
  

  3. 	43
     AJ652		8
     	Q

     
     After the first trick you can place all the cards! Declarer has the K (else partner must play it), Partner has T98 (else declarer could win cheep with the 9 or 10) and declarer has the 7 (else partner plays it as lowest from sequence).
  
  

  4. 	543				Q43
     X		KJT		X		KJT

     
     As East, play the K if dummy holds only low cards. 3rd hand plays high.
     But if dummy has the Q and plays low – then you must play the 10. Dummy's Q completes the sequence in your hand and as 3rd you should play a low from the sequence. Your 10 is high enough to win the trick if the Ace is with your partner and it's high enough to pull out the Ace if declarer has it.

Double Dummy Challenge #10**

The rules are simple. You get the contract and the lead. You may look at all cards and play accordingly (you are always South). However, the defense can do the same, and they never make mistakes. You must find a way to make the contract against any defense.

Challenge #10 (difficulty: medium)



You are playing 7♥. West leads the ♠7. You must make your contract against any defense. Good luck!













Solution:
Ruff in hand, play a club to dummy's ♣A and ruff another spade. Ruff a club in dummy, come back to hand with a trump and ruff another club in dummy. Return to hand on another trump to reach this position:



Play another heart and throw a diamond from the table. Continue with the ♣K (and throw another diamond from the table). Now East is squeezed: If he throws another diamond – You will play the ♦AK , ruff a spade and the last diamond in hand is high. If he lets a spade go, you will play a diamond to the ♦K, ruff a spade, play another diamond to the ♦A and enjoy the last high spade in dummy.

Well done to everyone who solved the problem!

A Beginner

This is a story about a good Dutch friend of mine, who prefers to remain anonymous. Many years ago, he came to visit me in Tel Aviv. After a night flight I was surprised to see him in my club, few hours later, for the morning session tournament.

"Nice place you have here," he complimented me. "Can you find me a partner?". "I have no player here even close to match your level," I warned him. "Doesn't matter, anyone will do," he said. So... I set him up with "the hat lady" – a flashing red haired lady who always wears flowered dresses and hats.
"What is your level?" she fired out with no hesitation. "Reasonable," he answered humbly. "Do you know any conventions?," she continued her cross examination. "Yes, some of them," he answered.
"How long have you been playing?" she insisted. "Ehhh... Few years, I guess," he continued answering politely. "What place did you finish on the last tournament you played?" she kept asking. "Fifth," he said. "Fifth!? – I always finish here first to third!" She came back to me with an angry look: "How dare you set me up with beginners, Oren? I want another partner!" So I gave the "hat lady" another partner and set my friend with one of the weakest bridge players in the club, a bad player but a great person with a healthy sense of humor and a joyful laugh. During the tournament they got to play against the "hat lady":



The bidding:



"Is 3♠ Bergen?” asked the "hat lady" with an evil smile.
"No, we play by the ear, no conventions at all," answered my friend.
After she lead the ♣K and saw the dummy, she continued to nag:
"3♠ with 9 lousy points?"
"Well, I normally bid 2♠ with such a hand but with the wizard I'm playing with today – I thought of bidding 4♠ right away! I have no doubt at all that he will make the contract," said my friend's partner.
"Not even the world's champion would be able to make this contract! No wonder you are always last. You will probably end up last today too, with these foolish bids," replied the "hat lady".
My friend won the lead with the ♣A and ruffed a club. He played the ♠A and saw the bad split. He continued with ♦AK then played another diamond to the ♦Q. Then he ruffed another club, played the ♥AK and ruffed the last club in his hand. He now had remained the ♥5 and the ♠KJ while West still had ♠Q109. When he played his last heart at trick 11, West was forced to ruff her partner’s heart winner and play a spade into my friend's ♠KJ.  "Wonderful performance!" my friend's partner shouted out loud, clapped her hands many times and continued: "You see? I told you he is a wizard! Now you have to eat that foolish hat of yours," she said, bursting into laughter.
The hat lady was all red. "What was this last tournament you played?" she asked feebly. "It was the World Championship," he answered. My friend won that morning tournament at my club with a club record score of 82%. And also... 11 months later he played for Holland winning the next World Championship.