Oren's Double Dummy Challenge #18****

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.

Oren's Double Dummy Challenge - 18****

You are playing 6♠. West leads the ♣6. You must make your contract against any defense. Good luck!
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**** Difficulty level: evil.

















Solution:




Contract: 6♠. Lead: ♣6. Difficulty: ****Evil.

Win the first trick with dummy's ♣Q. Ruff the ♦3 in hand. Draw ♠AKQ. Play a heart to the ♥A and continue with the ♦A (throwing a heart from hand), then with the ♦10 (throw another heart) to arrive at this position:




West must win with the ♦J (if he allows your ♦10 to win the trick, you simply continue with a heart, losing it to East, win the club return, ruff a heart and throw the last heart on the ♣K). When he plays another diamond – Ruff in hand and throw your heart from dummy. East is in trouble: If he throws the ♥Q – Ruff a heart, play club to the ♣A and the ♥J10 are high. If East throws a club - Play the ♣A first, ruff a heart, and the ♣K3 are high.

Well done to everyone who solved the problem!

Oren's Double Dummy Challenge - 17**

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.

Oren's Double Dummy Challenge - 17**

You are playing 7♠. West leads the ♣K. You must make your contract against any defense. Good luck!
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** Difficulty level: Medium.
















Solution: 







Contract: 7♠. Lead: ♣K. Difficulty: **Medium.

Win with the ♣A, finesse diamonds to the ♦J, cash the ♦K, play the ♥A, enter dummy with a trump, discard your last heart from hand on the ♦A, ruff a heart with a low trump, enter dummy with another trump and ruff a 3rd heart with the ♠A.

You have now reached this position:




Play another trump to dummy, drawing West's last spade on the way, throw your 2 club losers on dummy's ♥ K10 and ruff the last club in hand.

Well done to everyone who solved the problem!

Seeing Through Cards #9

Dealer North, N-S vul


Against 4♠, West leads the ♥J.

1. How is the heart suit divided?
2. Where is the ♥K?
3. Where is the ♥10?
4. What is the only chance to make the contract?

Solution:

1. How is the heart suit divided?
   5 with East, 3 with West, according to the bidding.
2. Where is the ♥K?
   With East. East would not have overcalled without at least 1 honor (normally 2 honors required).
3. Where is the ♥10?
   With West. With Jxx, and without the ♥10, West would have lead a low heart.
4. What is the only chance to make the contract?
   You have 4 immediate losers and if you will lose a trick, your opponents will be wise enough to cash 3 diamonds and the ♣A. So you need to find a way to get rid of 1 of them. If you ruff 2 hearts, you will drop the ♥10 from West's hand. There is a chance to promote your ♥9 but for that you will need another 2 entries to dummy:
   
   Win the ♥A and ruff a heart. Continue with spade and when West will play low , try the ♠9 (!) to finesse his ♠10. That is your only chance! When the ♠9 wins, play the ♥Q and ruff it when East covers with his ♥K. The ♥10 falls from West's hand and your ♥9 is high now. Enter dummy with the ♠A and throw 1 diamond loser on your high ♥9. You will lose 2 diamonds and the ♣A.

Things to remember:

• When you lead to a suit your partner bid:
  
  • XX: With a doubleton , lead the high card first.
  • J10X: With a sequence of 2 or more - lead top of sequence.
  • XXX / XXXX : With 3 or more low cards - lead the 2nd high card.
  • KXX / KXXX : With 3 or more cards which include an honor - lead the lowest card.
• South's 1♠ bid (after a 1♥ overcall) shows 5 cards. With 4 spades he should've doubled (negative double) .
• Never bid an overcall with a poor suit. If you are finally on defense , your partner would normally lead your suit. Bidding it with a bad suit, might cause damage for the defense (also here, the heart suit was not good, and defenders can set the contract with another lead).
• When you play a contract and you see only 1 chance to make it - Go for it, even if your chances are low and even if it might cause you to lose another trick. (Sure thing at IMPs. At MPs, you need to reconsider.) Like here, if the spade finesse will fail, you will go 2 down.
• Always think about the timing of the hand: When to play which suit, when to win/give up a trick and how many entries are needed.

Seeing Through Cards #8

South dealer, N-S vul


West leads the ♠5. East wins your ♠Q with his ♠A and returns the ♠J. West discards and you win with the ♠K.

1. How does the Diamond suit split?
2. Who has the ♦Q?
3. How will you play?

Solution:

1. How does the Diamond suit split?
   Unknown. Can be either 2-2, 3-1 or 4-0.
2. Who has the ♦Q?
   Unknown. Can be with East or West.
3. How will you play?
   You need to investigate. Count East's hand: East has 7 spades. In order to find the diamond split you need to play the club and heart suits first:
   Say you play 3 rounds of clubs first to find East discards on the 3rd round. So, East has 7 spades and 2 clubs. Now play the Hearts: If East follows only once, it means he has 3 diamonds (and West has a singleton). So play the ♦A, and if the ♦Q doesn't fall single from West's hand, play another Diamond and finesse to the ♦J to capture East's ♦Q. If East follows to 2 rounds of Hearts (and shows out on 3rd), it means that Diamonds are 2-2 and you just need to cash ♦AK to drop the ♦Q, wherever it is.
   In this particular deal, East shows out only on the 4th round of Hearts, meaning he has a singleton Diamond. That is not good news as if West's Diamonds are ♦QTx, the contract cannot be made. You can make the contract only if East has a stiff ♦Q or ♦10. Play the ♦K. When East shows up with the ♦10, play a 2nd Diamond and finesse to the ♦9 to capture West's ♦Q.

Things to remember:

• Counting is very important: You can count tricks, losers, points and distributions. Notice the bidding! East revealed more than half of his cards by bidding 3♠. You only need a little investigation to complete the full layout of his hand.
• Notice South's bid after East's 3♠. He cannot bid 3NT without a spade stopper, he doesn't have 4 Hearts to bid 4♥ but he can Pass, showing just that (no 4 card heart and no stopper in spades), leaving the decision to North.

Double Dummy Challenge #16***

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.

Oren's Double Dummy Challenge - 16***

You are playing 7♥. West leads the ♦K. You must make your contract against any defense. Good luck!
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*** Difficulty level: Hard.
















Solution: 





Contract: 7♥. Lead: ♦K. Difficulty: ***Hard.

Throw a club form dummy and win with the ♦A. Finesse heart as cheaply as possible and ruff a low spade with the ♥J. Finesse heart again and ruff another low spade with the ♥Q. Finesse heart once more to reach this ending:




Play the ♥A and the ♠AK and discard the ♣AKQ from your hand. Dummy's clubs are high.

Well done to everyone who solved the problem!